Atsuro Watabe

A bracing triptych of horror stories uniting three of East Asia's most compelling directors -- Japanese cult figure Takashi Miike, Hong Kong's Fruit Chan and Korea's award winning Park Chan-Wook. (Lions Gate Films)

After a young girl's mother dies, she is cared for by Glico, a brassy hooker, who gives the girl the name "Ageha" (Butterfly). Ageha goes to work for a collection of oddballs who run a junkyard and salvage business.

Being a failure as a teacher and a familyman, Shinichi tries to escape everyday live by dressing up as "Zebraman", the superhero. Although the TV series whas canceled after only 6 episodes, this cannot stop him from acting out his escape fantasy in a self made zebra-suit. (imdb)

Forced to confess his sins by his priest father, Yu devotes himself to wrongdoing and becomes a legend of sneak photography. Then he meets Yoko, and becomes involved with a mysterious religious cult... (filmex.net)

Akira, a teacher from Tokyo, has just arrived in a small rural town to begin his new job. Soon after arriving, he meets, and begins to fall for, Miki, a papermaker and part of a large and unusual family. When he learns of an ancient legend that the family carries the curse of the Inugami, or Dog God, he brushes it off as silly superstition. After a series of mysterious deaths, however, the townspeople begin to grow restless, and Akira must confront the truth about Miki and her family. (imdb)

On the outset, the Okunos seem like a normal happy family with father Tadashi (Kohinata Fumiyo), mother Rieko (Suzuki Kyoka), and their two bright sons, genetics researcher Izumi (Kase Ryo) and artsy Haru (Okada Masaki). When a series of arson attacks strike the neighborhood, clues left at the crime scenes all seem to be somehow related to the Okunos. Izumi tries to get to the bottom of mystery, slowly unveiling a tragic family secret that has come back to haunt them. (www.yesasia.com)

Proffesor layton has been told about a elixir of life. The professor and his assistant decided to go to the village in question and investigate this story.

A Westerner finds refuge with a group of women in a church during Japan's raid of Nanking in 1937. Posing as a priest, he attempts to lead the women to safety. (imdb)

The adventures of a volunteer with an alpine search and rescue team in the Japanese Alps. (Wikipedia)

Based on the 1995 novel by Itami's brother in law and Nobel Prize-winning author Kenzaburo Oe, this film adaptation centers on the exploits of Iiyo (Atsura Watabe), a mentally challenged, but musically gifted teen, and Maa (Hinako Saeki), the boy's artistic younger sister who is put in charge of caring for her sibling after their parents go to Australia. Loosely based on the real life experiences of Kenzaburo's Oe's handicapped son. (myac.asia)

A mild-mannered family man with a secret taste for S&M finds himself pursued by a gang of ruthless dominatrixes -- each with a very special talent -- in this hilarious and bizarre take on the sex comedy from Japanese comedy giant Hitoshi Matsumoto (Big Man Japan, Symbol). (tiff.net)

Adapted from the successful play, the film takes place in the 19th Japan where a war between demons and their slayers is fought. Izumo, an Kabuki actor with a demon-slaying past, meets and falls in love with Tsubaki. However, something is not right as mysterious marks appear on her body as time progresses. At the same time, it is announced that Ashura, the queen of all demons, will be resurrected and bring destruction to the universe. (Written by Ploy P. (imdb)

Kasumi is shocked to discover that her older sister's fiance is the man she first fell in love with five years ago in high school. At the time, he was her high school teacher and ultimately quit his job racked with guilt over their relationship. Kasumi was deeply hurt and struggled for a long time to overcome her sadness. Now the two of them must come to terms with their secret past before the ones they care about in the present are hurt. (mydramalist.com)

Two young people meet by chance and fall in love but the woman is diagnosed with leprosy and sent away to a remote mountain sanitorium. (imdb)

Each episode of this three-part miniseries centers on the life of one of three generations of women (all played by Nanako Matsushima). The first takes place in Tokyo in the 1920's, at the time of the Great Kanto Earthquake. The second (centering on the star of the first episode's niece) takes place just after the Second World War. In the final episode, the granddaughter of the family tours through 1990's America with her husband. (imdb)

This 50 minute film is predominantly a character study within an intense action drama. Those familiar with Kitamura's later works, perhaps especially Versus will realize this is the beginning of his characetristic modus operandi. Here, the well defined characters consist of the innocent (the cop), the relatively good (Atsuro Watabe), the relatively bad (Shinichi Suzuki), and the absolutely bad (Shigeru Izumiya), and a few other Yakuza hoodlums thrown in for entertainment. (dailymotion)

Newspaper correspondent Kyoko Togakure (Haruka Igawa) visits a nursing home in the outskirts of Tokyo. She finds the dead body of a resident. It was an apparent suicide. He's holding a piece of paper with the mystifying word "Death Water" written on it. Nearby are blood-stained scissors, and his eyes are squashed. She has no idea that this death is just the beginning of a horrendous nightmare. (imdb)

Rica and Kengo have been living together for the past four years. It's been a very happy time for Rica; the only dark spot being an accident she caused during a shoot for a commercial in which Kengo's good friend, Shibata, nearly lost his life. The memory of this event weighs heavily on Rica's conscience. One night Kengo tells Rica that he has fallen in love with a charming but "inscrutable" woman named Hanako. Kengo moves out of their apartment and, although Rica is terribly hurt and confused,

Hosted by veteran comedian Tamori, "Bizarre Tales 2004 Spring Special" presents five tales. 1. Koroshiya desu no yo (It's a Hitman, You Know) - starring Mizuki Alisa. 2. Jibun-counsellor (Self-counsellor) - starring Inohara Yoshihiko. 3. Be Silent - starring Watabe Atsuro. 4. Sasoimizu (Pump-priming) - starring Harada Taizo. 5. Saigo no Hitotoki (The Last Moment) - starring Nagasaku Hiromi.

Story of two detectives and their relationship as father and son. (imdb)

A drama about a nurse starring Hiroko Yakushimaru

Eiko Yagami is a "Marubo", a unit of Ueno Central Police Station's Organized Crime Division which deals directly with organized gangs to try and keep the peace. However, Eiko has some sidelines: she's a moneylender to her fellow police officers without charging interest in return for information and is also willing to do the odd side job for those on the criminal side for the money. One day, Kasumi, who is the daughter of the Senma-gumi gang's leader, is found stabbed to death...

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Shuji, a confident young hairdresser working in Tokyo, has an accidental run-in with Kyoko, a wheelchair-bound, mousy librarian. When Shuji asks Kyoko to be his makeover model, she is skeptical, but agrees to give it a try. The two start to grow closer and eventually fall in love. Things seem to be going well for the couple until Kyoko's illness grows more severe. Will she recover, or will this young romance end in tragedy? (imdb)