people: Izō Hashimoto

'Evil Dead Trap 2: Hideki': The Lady Killers June 07, 2021

A deeply unappreciated David Lynch-esque jolter, from two major writers of anime live-action adaptations; a horror-feminist project that deserves reexamination with fresh eyes

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'Crazy Thunder Road': Wild To Be Wreckage Forever March 03, 2022

Never before available for English-speaking audiences, Gakuryū Ishii's raw and rousing micro-budget motorcycle mini-epic heralds what was to come in his future films

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'Tokyo Decadence': The Dark Age Of Love January 24, 2022

Ryū Murakami's adaptation of his own story about a Tokyo sex worker is noisome social commentary that won't reach anyone who hasn't already gotten the message

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'ODDTAXI': Drive, He Said January 20, 2022

This labyrinthine noir about a third shift cabbie grows in unexpected directions, becoming one of the best anime offerings in a long time

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'Project A-Ko': Girl Trouble January 10, 2022

Once thought lost, then found intact, this rapid-fire sendup of/homage to anime tropes is fitfully funny, but better in its pieces than across its whole

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'Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within': Persistence Of Vision December 06, 2021

Critically maligned, a financial disaster, and dramatically murky -- but dazzling nonetheless, and as a milestone for how CGI functions as its own storytelling medium

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'How Do You Live?': Letters To A Young Wonderer November 29, 2021

Not some genteel life-lessons story, but the quiet plea of a man resisting the growing militarism and reactionary violence of his world

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Netflix's 'Cowboy Bebop': A New Jam Session November 22, 2021

Lopsided, but still very enjoyable; if this hasn't raised the upper bound for anime-to-live-action, it sure has raised the lower bound

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'Cop Craft': An Isekai Lethal Weapon November 15, 2021

Your standard cop-buddy story, made only slightly more interesting by having the buddy being a magic-wielding paladin

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'I Am A Cat': All Humans Are Gray In The Dark November 08, 2021

A scaled-down adaptation of Sōseki Natsume's dark comedy of human nature as seen through the eyes of a cat, but with all its cutting humor intact

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'The Castle Of Cagliostro': Thief Of Hearts November 02, 2021

Anyone curious about 'Lupin III' or Hayao Miyazaki's career, start here, as this is a grandly entertaining introduction to both at once

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