Kotaro Shiga

On a cold Monday morning, a group of counselors clock in at an old-fashioned social services office. Their task is to interview the recently deceased, record their personal details, then, over the course of the week, assist them in choosing a single memory to keep for eternity.

A spell of time in the life of the five-piece Haruno family in rural Tochigi Prefecture. Yoshiko is not an ordinary housewife, instead working on an animated film project. Uncle Ayano, a successful music producer, is looking to get his head together after living in Tokyo. Meanwhile, Sachiko is concerned with why she seems to be followed by a giant version of herself. As the lazy days pass by, each member of the family is followed in a series of episodic vignettes.

Five bizarre stories with no apparent connection to one another eventually become intertwined, resulting in surreal circumstances.

In an era where aliens have invaded and taken over feudal Tokyo, a young samurai finds work however he can.

An outrageous collection of surreal, short attention span non-sequiturs largely revolving around Guitar Brother, his randy older sibling, and the pair's portly Caucasian brother.

A young girl named Kiki must leave her home for a year to begin training in witchcraft. She leaves on her broom, but first says goodbye to her friends and family. Kiki then begins her new life with her trusted cat Jiji.

Set in the near future of Japan with the educational system nearing collapse. To rehabilitate the lawlessness at public schools and its troubled students, the government sends Kamen Teacher to designated schools.

Takuma knows that his life is shorter than the others and he feels that his demise is getting near. He chose to stay away from the girl that he loves so that she can easily move on. What he didn't know is that he is under-estimating her.

Set 3 years after the drama series. Kitano Yuichiro comes to give a lecture in the town where divorcee Sasamoto Sawa now lives quietly. The two meet again and their love story continue.

An entry in a series focused on "love" and "erotica," in which six creators from multiple fields -- from film and TV to direct-to-video and manga -- compete. Director Zeze Takahisa, known for his bold undertakings, including Heaven's Story, presents an unabashed depiction of the tormented heart of a woman who lives in the countryside. Yuko (Ezawa Midori) meets the man (Kawai Ryunosuke) suspected of leaking inappropriate pictures of her younger sister having an affair onto the Internet. She agrees to let him take nude photos of her on the condition that he stays away from her sister.

Katsu (Mitsuko Baisho) is a 73-years-old woman. She often makes trouble with her biting remarks. While raising a daughter alone, Katsu was unable to live the life she wished for. One day, Katsu goes to a photo studio and takes a picture. She leaves the photo studio, but finds that she is now 20-years-old (Mikako Tabe) again. Katsu changes out of her grandmother clothes, picks out a more youthful style and names herself Setsuko Otori. Later, Katsu decides to take part in a singing contest held in a shopping district. Her singing fascinates the audience and she wins the contest. Katsu begins to move closer to her past dream of becoming a singer.

A family restaurant late at night. The customers visiting the restaurant are faced with a variety of shurahas: marital quarrels, break-ups, love triangles, and so on. In the awkward atmosphere, Parfait Oyaji looks at the seats where life's drama unfolds. And for every parfait, he mumbles one sobering quote.

In 1959, a body of a flight attendant of an international airline is found, strangled. Detective Rokuro Fujisawa takes charge of the investigation with a young detective Ichimura and his investigations lead him to Father Tolbeck as a suspect. But the police are forced to move very discreetly as the time was right after the Second World War, when a sensitive situation that involves Western people and religion is likely to become an international issue. The investigation leads to an unexpected discloser of a shadowy business behind the church that reflects the uncertainty of the time.

After taking the blame for another disastrous advertising campaign, Ota Kiichiro is asked by his arrogant boss Otaki Ichiro to take his place as a judge at the world's biggest advertising competition in Los Angeles.

27-year-old Hatsumi Takimoto is a former teacher and now waitress. She holds a secret. Three years after her boyfriend died, she receives a letter from him. After meeting a former student, Hatsumi Takimoto confesses about her past.

Haruta is handsome and smart, Chika is bright and naive. When they were children, they were friends until Haruta's family moved away while he was in the 3rd grade. They meet again during a high school entrance ceremony. After all of these years, Chika is eager to join the wind instrument club. Due to an incident, the wind instrument club is about to be disbanded. Chika can't give up the flute so she attracts Haruta to her side and tries to recruit members from the wind instrument club. The group attempts to solve various cases taking place at their school while they plan to take part in a contest.

Once a year, on Christmas Eve, Cafe Telekinesis holds a real psychic party. At the party, psychics gather together to show off their abilities while for the rest of the year they hide their abilities. Yone Sakurai is a program director for a psychic variety TV show called "Asunaro Psychic". She is stressed out and tired from her work, but proud of what she is doing. Yone actually believes in psychic abilities. By an audience request a new plan is set out for the program, a plan which requires the show to uncover real psychics or psychic events.

In this direct continuation of the earlier special, Godai tries to figure out what to do with his life after college while competing with Kyoko's impossibly perfect tennis coach for her affection.

Introvert Jiro Shiba (Jiro Sato) who came out of his shell a bit with the help of a cute puppy faces a crisis, when he loses his pet due to being accused of exploiting it for economic purposes...

At a young age Kyoung-won knows she wants to become a pilot. When she reaches the right age, she travels to Japan to learn how to fly, and becomes Korea's first female pilot.

Saeko and Yukako live together in a small apartment complex in Tokyo. After the Tohoku earthquake in 2011, both live in a state of unease. Saeko, who is in a divorce, is worried that her daughter is exposed to radiation. Yukako is also afraid of radiation and tries to convince her husband to move. The two become friends after Yukako tries to save Saeko after a suicide attempt.

After failing her university entrance exam, Sakuko is invited by her aunt Mikie to spend summer vacation in a beautiful seaside town. Sakuko gets to know the people of the town, including Takashi, a shy relative of her childhood friend.

Short films by top CM directors and CG creators: MUSIC POWER GO! GO! ダモン君の巻; BUS PANIC!!!; GAME SHINGO; 治療; Good-bye, cruel world; ROLLING BOMBER SPECIAL; 菅原さん ・コンセント ・トイレ ・のれない ・脱出不可能. Produced for and aired together as TV special of SMAPxSMAP

The seventh in a series of sitcoms in which Matsun, Mickey and Jumbo dabble in family restaurants. Mickey receives a warning email! He has to forward it to someone within an hour... What will Mickey do?? Includes 10 complete short stories, including ‘I don't care’.

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To commemorate the 35th anniversary of the popular omnibus drama "Tales of the Unusual," in which Tamori serves as the storyteller, "Tales of the Tales of the Unusual 35th Anniversary Special: Legendary Masterpieces One Night Only Revival Edition" will be broadcast on Fuji TV's "Saturday Premium" slot (Saturday 9pm) on May 31st. The program will feature five of Tamori's most famous works from the series' past. The programs that will be broadcast on the 31st are as follows: "BLACK ROOM" (broadcast in 2001, starring Takuya Kimura) "The Night Train Man" (broadcast in 2002, starring Ren Osugi) "Locker" (broadcast in 1990, starring Yuji Oda) "Bijokan" (broadcast in 2005, starring Satoshi Tsumabuki) "Memories of Love, Don't Stop" (broadcast in 2019, starring Yuki Saito)

Sachiko is an university student. Her nickname is Buko, because she has been negative about everything since she was young. Sachiko believes someday she will meet a man like in a romance manga. Her university life is boring and she spends her time reading romance manga in her room. One day, on Twitter, she meets a man who uses the user ID of Sparrow. He likes reading manga and looks like Johnny Depp. Sachiko makes a date to meet the man. She tries to change herself, but it's not so easy due to various unexpected incidents.

After 5 years in Tokyo, 5 part-time jobs, 5 boyfriends, Sawako's life is going nowhere. When her father gets seriously ill, she has to take over his struggling factory. Gradually she becomes the decider of her own life.

The movie is centered around five friends as they end up spending the summer of 1962 shackled up together in a tiny studio apartment in Tokyo. The five friends are Eisuke - the manga artist, Shoichi - the singer, Ryuzo - the novelist, Kei - the painter and Yuji – the 5th wheel (?). The friends spend the summer in pursuit of their own ideals of personal freedom - being able to do what they want. In the process of pursuing their dream they learn firsthand that however ideal it may seem, its not as easy as they think.

Saori is a high school student at a provincial city. She is a member of playgroup at her school. Yoshioka begins to work at the same high school as a new teacher. Yoshioka performed in plays when she was in college back in Tokyo. Saori, Yukko, Garuru, Nakanishi, Akemi decides to compete in a play competition. Their goal is to make it through the regional competions, but Teacher Yoshioka tells them their aiming low and that they should think about the national competition.

With the recession still occurring in Japan and the area of Osaka thought to be hit hardest by the economic downtown, Osaka's gubernatorial election occurs. The surprise winner of the election is Sekai no Nabeatsu (Atsumu Watanabe). Three months into his gubernatorial term and with little help from national government, Sekai no Nabeatsu declares Osaka an independent country and takes office as its first President. The Osaka Police then receives a message warning of an impending assassination attempt on the President of Osaka. Police Detectives Hayakawa (Daisuke Miyagawa) and Banba (Kendo Kobayashi) then set out to search for the criminal group. Can the bumbling detectives protect the president? Will there be a future for the country?

When Hanako Yuino (Mieko Konya) was a young child, her beloved mother, Minazuki (Sachiko Kokubu), suddenly passed away. Too young to understand what had happened, she simply imitated her father Katsuichi’s (Toshikazu Nunokawa) tearful expression; yet, upon seeing the smoke rising from the crematorium chimney, she somehow began to grasp the reality of her mother’s death. Subsequently, Katsuichi abandons Hanako at the children’s home where his late wife had served as director. Watching the marionette show performed by the director, Yasunaga, Hanako is drawn into a world of fantasy and undergoes a dramatic transformation. Then, 18 years later— Hanako, who has grown up retaining her innocent heart, spends her days performing her own puppet shows for the children at the children’s home where she was raised. One day, however, a vague memory of her mother suddenly appears in a dream, and Hanako gradually finds herself tormented by the harsh realities of life.

A strange phenomenon takes place. A beautiful flower blooms on a selected woman's body and that flower is called the "Shanidar". When the Shanidar is in full bloom, the flower produces a substance which is then sold at a high cost to develop new drugs. Kenji Otaki works as a researcher at the facility where the Shanidar is grown.

Jiro (Jiro Sato) is a 32-year-old man who doesn't have a job. He lives at his parents' house and doesn't go outside or socialise with people. After the death of his father, Jiro's mother runs away and leaves behind a 6 month dog named Ichiro and some clues for Jiro. To find his mother, Jiro has to venture out into the world.

No description available.

A 1998 performance of Oriza Hirata's play set in a Tokyo museum sheltering paintings evacuated from a European war, where family and friends trade quiet conversations that reveal loneliness, love, and social unease, amid growing tensions.

Yoneda Katsumi (Nishida Toshiyuki) is a police sergeant who exudes little presence.One day, Yoneda happens to come across an article on a cafe called Kohaku in a booklet at his regular cafe. Then he abruptly takes leave and heads to Kohaku which is located in Uozu, Toyama Prefecture by bullet train. For some reason, he has documents on an unsolved arson cum murder case which took place in Kichijoji 25 years ago.The owner of Kohaku is Arai Toshio (Terao Akira) who has seemingly sad eyes. They spend time together with his only regular customer, Hirai Sachiko (Suzuki Kyoka), a married woman who works at the port’s fisheries cooperative. Their interactions gradually start to deepen even as they sense the darkness in each other. What is the fate that awaits them?

a japanese love comedy

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War photojournalist Yasuyuki Tsukahara married popular manga artist Yuki Sonoda and had children. Because of Yasayuki's drinking problems the couple divorced. Yasuyuki is now coughing up blood, hospitalized, and violent. Even with all of these problems Yasuyuki can't give up drinking alcohol. His family gets tired. Yasuyuki is then hospitalized in an alcoholic ward. There he finds comfort living with other patients and having conversations with doctors. With the help of his family, Yasuyuki recovers mentally and physically, but his body has already paid a heavy toll.

A unique film in which three freelancers talk about unimportant things in a family restaurant. The fast-paced talk exchanged in a loose atmosphere is sure to generate strange laughter. Jumbo, Matsun and Mickey are three freelancers who gather at the family restaurant Big Boy at 2am. They come here night after night to catch up on their contentless conversations. The three of them and an old man eating a parfait by himself at another table...

Theatre 1 (Observational Film Series #3) is a feature length documentary, which closely depicts the world of Oriza Hirata, Japan's leading playwright and director, and his theatrical company, Seinendan. By depicting them, the film leads the audience to revisit fundamental but timely questions: What is theatre? Why do human beings act?

In a quiet farming village in northeastern Japan, there lives an elderly couple. One day, a notice arrives in the mail about an antique camera sale in Tokyo. This triggers the old man's memory of the time when he used to love cameras and he decides he wants to go to Tokyo. Going on this shopping trip is like embarking on an adventure for them and is is full of surprises and unexpected happenings, but through this adventure, the old couple's lives slowly get revealed. Before heading home, the couple stops by Tokyo Station, a place that holds fond memories for them. They take a photo together with the old man's camera and quietly reflect back on the long life that they spent together.

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Suddenly Mickey says, ‘The era is comedy’, and the three start talking about what role they should each play as comedians (‘What should I do?’). [Contents. Mickey's talk is on top form again today. But Jumbo and Matsun look at him... (‘This is now, isn't it?’). (‘This is now, isn't it?’).

'Human Comedy in Tokyo', describes ordinary everyday lives without any significant incidents. Various dialogues are elaborately woven to bring tiny splits in human relationships to light, and through the three episodes the characters have their moments of realizing that they are actually in solitude.

A high schooler who dreams of leaving her rural town for Tokyo puts out an ad for her job at her family's restaurant. Satoshi Yamaguchi directs.

The three freelancers Mickey, Matsun and Jumbo start dabbling as usual. For some reason, the conversation turns to Sentai Mono. Their fantasies grow as they think that the Famidala Sentai Famiranger will stand up to the evil of the Familess world... (‘The leader is Red, isn't he?’). (The leader is Red, isn't he?).

Jumbo, Matsun and Mickey are still having the same loose, delusional talk in a family restaurant late at night. Tonight, they thought they would be talking nonsense again, but for some reason, they started talking about foreign countries. Do you think they're going to leave the family restaurant?

An unemployed middle-aged man, Shiba Jiro, who has been living at home for 38 years on his parents' back, breaks away from his NEET lifestyle through his mother's strategy. He works at a pet store and lives alone in an apartment with his partner, Ichiro Mameshiba, a dog.