Yû Aoi

Life isn't easy for a group of high school kids growing up absurd in Japan's pervasive pop/cyber culture. As they negotiate teen badlands- school bullies, parents from another planet, lurid snapshots of sex and death- these everyday rebels without a cause seek sanctuary, even salvation, through pop star savior Lily Chou-Chou, embracing her sad, dreamy songs and sharing their fears and secrets in Lilyholic chat rooms. Immersed in the speed of everyday troubles, their lives inevitably climax in a fatal collision between real and virtual identities, a final logging-off from innocence. (imdb)

When two best friends develop a crush on the same boy, they develop a plan to trick him into dating them. (imdb)

..Town elders hope to exploit international fascination with Polynesian culture by building a Hawaiian-theme resort as bait for Japanese tourists and promoting it by training local girls as hula dancers.. Their teacher.., a hard-drinking, smart-mouthed Tokyo dancer whose very presence causes local parents to grouse that their daughters are being corrupted. In due course, the spunky teacher whips her crew of social misfits into professional artists and freethinking women. (movies.nytimes.com)

In Treasure Town, life can be both peaceful and violent. This is never truer than for our heroes, Black and White - two street kids who claim to traverse the urban city as if it were their own. But in this town, an undercurrent of evil exists and has its sights set on the pair of brothers, forcing them to engage in battle with an array of old-world Yakuza as well as dangerous assassins vying to rule the decaying metropolis, Treasure Town. (imdb)

Aoi Miyazaki (EUREKA) plays Sachiko, a thirteen year-old girl living with her depressed mother (ryo, DISTANCE). The film starts by showing her mother's suicide attempt, a scene that pretty much sets the tone, both content-wise and stylistically. (DVDBeaver.com)

When Junichi Naruse woke up from a coma, he was in bed in a hospital. He was surrounded by doctors and nurses, but he had no idea why he was there. He didn't know what injuries he had. His doctor, Doumoto tells him, "The whole world wishes for your quick recovery." but this meant nothing to him at this point... (cooljapanesemovies.com)

Two film students meet and fall in love while working on a school project. (iMDB)

I opened my eyes to find myself in a locked room of a hospital. Can I get out?-- Get ready for a humorous yet suspenseful new roller coaster you won't be able to keep your eyes off of. (sensasian.com)

A traveling mystical doctor, a "Bugmaster' passes through remote regions of Japan curing the ill effects of supernatural creatures, the Mushi, who spread plague. (imdb)

"TOKYO!," the dynamic new film by three of world cinema's great visionaries: Michel Gondry, Leos Carax, and Bong Joon-ho. A uniquely entertaining modern-day triptych, "TOKYO!" explores Japan's multifaceted capital city through three indelible stories: a Kafkaesque fable about a young woman's bizarre physical transformation; an arch-punk mini-monster-movie in which a man rises from the sewers to wreak havoc on the city; and a beguiling tale about a hermit who ventures outside in search of love. (movieweb.com)

Katakura Suzume (Ueno Juri) is a really bored housewife. Her most important job is to feed her husband's turtle. Desperate for something else, she answers a secret ad that she accidently finds for a..spy agency. Suddenly, she's working for one of the weirdest couples you've ever seen. Come to find out, she's not the only spy in the neighborhood. The mission they giver her; act normal and do not act suspicious. (http://community.livejournal.com/asian_movies/)

Mirume (Ken'ichi Matsuyama) is a 19 year old college student who falls in love with Yuri (Hiromi Nagasaku), an almost 40 year old art teacher at his university. Yuri isn't your typical college professor, having a quirky sense of humor and unpredictable personality. When Yuri invites Murume to her studio, she playfully seduces the still naive 19 year old student. Things become more complicated when Murume discovers that Yuri is married to a much older man... (AsianMediaWiki)

A 21-year-old junior college graduate is involved in an incident which leads to her getting arrested and leaves her with a criminal record. She wanders from town to town, working part-time jobs to save up the 1,000,000 yen needed to get out of her predicament. (Eigapedia)

Leo, a young Japanese college student, travels to Hawaii and eventually falls in love with Maray, an older Japanese-[Caucasian] woman. (http://asianmediawiki.com/Honokaa_Boy)

Makiko Uchida arrives in a southern Japanese port hoping to find a boat that will take her to the final resting place of the Battleship Yamato on the 60th anniversary of its sinking. She is rebuffed by all until she reveals to Katsumi Kamio that she is the daughter of Petty Officer Uchida. (imdb)

Set in the distant future where multi-wheeled flying air-cars replaced today's four-wheel vehicles, Redline follows the intertwined journeys of competitors in the deadliest car-racing game in the universe. (madhouse)

The story centers around a widow named Ginko (Sayuri Yoshinaga) and her foolish younger brother Tetsuro (Tsurube Shofukutei). Even though Tetsuro has been a nuisance to the family, Ginko has always been willing to overlook his flaws and take care of him. However, an incident causes her to break all ties to him, leaving him completely alone and devastated. When they're finally reunited, she discovers he's fighting a fatal disease and doesn't have long to live. (Nippon Cinema)

Simon is a fairly normal young man, dedicated to his teaching job and ailing mother. Underneath, however, things are not what they seem. Simon hunts online chat rooms, searching for young, suicidal women. Simon has a particular condition: he craves blood. (berlinale.de)

A group of Japanese art college students attempt to find their way through life and love.

The film focuses on fictional events that take place during the early Meiji period in Japan, telling the story of a wanderer named Himura Kenshin, formerly known as the assassin "Hitokiri Batt?sai". After participating in the Bakumatsu war, Kenshin wanders the countryside of Japan offering protection and aid to those in need as atonement for the murders he once committed as an assassin. (en.wikipedia.org)

The movie centers on Shotaro, who is living in the modern age with his widowed mother. Tetsujin 28 is accidentally discovered, and Shotaro's mother explains that it was left for Shotaro. He, with the help of Chief Otsuka and an older female classmate, learns to control Tetsujin. In the meantime, a Dr. Reiji Takumi activates Black Ox and plans to attack Tetsujin. (Wikipedia)

An elderly couple who have lived in a remote village for many years already, bring a visit to their three grown children in the big city of Tokyo. (imdb)

A story of six women from three different generations, each living their own journeys in their respective periods, spanning decades of dramatic changes in Japan from the 1930s to the present.

Mankind is dying. Only one man can do anything about it, Space Captain Harlock, but the Gaia Coalition will stop at nothing to end him.

Kenshin Himura goes up against pure evil Makoto Shishio who is attempting to overthrow the Meiji government. The fate of the country hangs in the balance as Kenshin Himura takes up the sword that he vowed to never draw again.

Shishio has set sail in his ironclad ship to bring down the Meiji government and return Japan to chaos, carrying Kaoru with him. In order to stop him in time, Kenshin trains with his old master to learn his final technique.

A disillusioned Natsume arrives at Coin de Rue, a popular Tokyo pastry shop, begging for work. Aiming to become a high-calibre pastry chef, she is determined to overcome her past as well as the challenges ahead. Pastry critic Tomura is a frequent visitor. Moved by Natsume's persistence, he slowly begins to confront his own painful past - aided, of course, by mouthfuls of tasty pastries in between. (japanesefilmfestival.net)

After being deserted by her parents, 11-year old Miyori shuts her heart from the rest of the world and denies any form of human relationships. She was entrusted in the care of her grandmother who lives near a forest. Miyori will take a walk in the forest where she felt a strong sense of loneliness in the forest which seems to have nothing. However, she soon encounters unbelievable things and gradually realizes that the forest is more than what it seems... (Anime News Network)

A young girl, Emili, is killed by a stranger in elementary school. Although her four friends saw the suspect, they say they don't remember it. 15 years have passed and the incident is still unsolved. Emili's mother, Asako (Kyoko Koizumi), makes them do penance for it. The series focuses on the psychological repercussions on each of the four girls, 15 years later. (wikipedia)

After her parents separate, 14 year-old Tetsuko (Alice) moves with her mother to a new town in what she calls "The Boonies" and must enroll as a transfer student in a new middle school. She immediately finds herself bullied due being assigned the seat of "Judas" who is said to have been murdered over a year before. She is told that if anybody knows his fate it would be Hana, the recluse in the house next door, who has been unable to bring herself to attend class since "Judas" disappeared. (imdb)

A family must deal with the fact that their elderly mother wants a divorce from their curmudgeonly father.

Based on the true story of a young boy who travelled to Thailand to become Japan's first elephant trainer.

...three loosely connected stories. The first is the story of Aina, an aimless 20-year-old seeking connection through whatever shallow means she can. The second is the story of Haruko, a 27-year-old office worker trapped in a joyless cycle of sexual harassment, domestic disturbance, and unrequited love. The third is the story of a nameless gang of high school girls that terrorize the masculine streets of Tokyo like the manifest fury of all womankind. (comicsverse.com)

A Tokyo college student is attacked by a ghoul, a superpowered human who feeds on human flesh. He survives, but has become part ghoul and becomes a fugitive on the run. (imdb)

In this sequel to the first It's A Wonderful Family, the characters who are still based on those in Tokyo Family (which itself was based on Tokyo Story), are a couple of years older with the father, grandfather and husband has taken up driving, albeit not without a few bumps. The family revokes his privilege, which leads to an intra-family conflict. (imdb)

A recently divorced and traumatized man moves to Hakodate, Hokkaido and attends a vocational college to learn carpentry along with several other students who are in the same boat as he. When a couple of the guys go to a hostess club the man meets an unconventional girl who likes him and a relationship is born. (imdb)

At the Hirata home, three generations of their family live together. A crisis ensues when one afternoon, housewife Fumie falls asleep and wakes up to find a thief has stolen her secret money she kept hidden in the refrigerator. (imdb)

Tawako's boyfriend is not her kind, but she puts up with it in exchange for shelter. Her old boyfriend of almost a decade ago is long gone, and was also not nice, but like most girls she still reminisces about him and is attracted to his bad ways. Enter Mizushima who reminds Tawako of her old boyfriend, but soon more transpires to remind the girl of her old relationship. (imdb)

The film stars Sosuke Ikematsu ("Shoplifters") as a masterless samurai in mid-19th century Japan. Yu Aoi ("Birds Without Names") co-stars as a peasant girl from the same farming village as the hero. (variety)

A fourth-grader, Aoyama-kun, investigates the mysterious reason behind the sudden appearance of penguins in his village, which is somehow related to a power from a young woman working at a dental clinic. (imdb)

Akatsuka Detective Agency stands inconspicuously at Shimo Akatsuka in Tokyo's Itabashi ward, right above a small snack shop run by their landlord. Akatsuka's eccentric chief Kaze Kaoru founded it with her two investigators Goro and Gure in order to take on odd cases that others are reluctant to do anything about. Their motto is "to be compassionate and meddlesome", which leads them to get involved in strange situations with their clients. (imdb)

Young Yoshio's young life has not begun well. He has lost his father, has an unkind mother and even worse schoolmates. He is not all alone however. Ike-chan is there for him. She is not quite real however. Well, she is real to him. He is not all alone after all. (imdb)

A seventy-year-old retired school headmaster informs his wife and daughters that he has Alzheimer's disease. They are all concerned, but react differently due to their individual situations. The family watches as the husband and father regresses due to the disease and loses his memory. Interestingly, there are sparkling moments of his life of which the man will not let go. (imdb)

A Japanese merchant who leaves his wife behind in order to travel to Manchuria, where he witnesses an act of barbarism. His subsequent actions cause misunderstanding, jealousy and legal problems for his wife. (imdb)

Kenshin's past catches up to him causing the destruction of Akabeko Restaurant, which was Kenshin's favorite place to eat. There, he finds a note with the word "Junchu" on it.

***A woman sees a company called "Fushiawase wo Anata ni" promoting a new sales concept. ***A woman wakes up in her bed every morning not remembering the events of the past night and finding that someone has moved around... ***As there is no more room in hell, the evil/sinful find they cannot die. ***A struggling author chances upon a diary which changes his life. ***A woman's husband dies in a car accident, but that same evening he is heard pounding on the door for someone to let him in.

It was a pre-destined love and marriage for Sonoko and Tetsuo. They tied the knot and became husband and wife no questions asked. All is well then. Well, perhaps not. Each holds a secret that even the binds of matrimony cannot untie. Sonoko does not know that Tetsuo makes sex dolls or Dutch wives. Sonoko has a secret too. She is about to tell Tetsuo what she has been hiding. Will they make it? (imdb)

Following the manga series and the subsequent television serial of the same name, and featuring the same cast, a young and relatively inexperienced man comes across a woman during his working day and sparks fly. (imdb)

Uchiyama Kaede and Shiina Kasumi used to be best friends. Now in high school, Kasumi grew more popular than Kaede, which has led her to continually bully her ex-best friend. One day after school, Kaede meets Kishida Takumi, a bike thief who's especially talented in picking locks. She asks him for a favor: if he could possibly open the key to the school roof. Meanwhile, the arrival of a new teacher seems to bring changes to the school.

The show revolves around Rakugo, a traditional Japanese comedy that can look back on a 400 year long history. It tells about a Yakuza who goes to a Rakugo performer to collect debts, and a talented comedian who tries to change his destiny. (imdb)