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Hello Junichi! (2014) // Sorasoi (2008) // Norioka Workshop (2022)

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Welcome to Sensei Sensibility!  You  are the hungry mind yearning to devour quality Asian cinema;  I  am the (questionably) knowledgeable  Sensei , more than happy to satiate your cinematic appetite. The great thing about the  Katsuhito Ishii Collection Box Set  from Third Window Films is that the works selected show the staggering diversity and continued growth of the director they're highlighting. Everything from violent, hyper-surreal, stylized V Cinema pieces to charming, heart warming coming-of-age movies. The genres may change, but Kasuhito Ishii stays very much - wonderfully - the same.  Hello Junichi! (2014): Who doesn't love a Little Rascals-esque coming of age story that shows the beauty of friendship but in a cool, non-saccharine way? The lives of wimpy third grader Junichi Hayashida (Amon Kabe) and his little pals are changed forever when a sassy new student teacher Miss Anna (Mitsushima Hikari) enters their classroom.  The divisive Miss Anna is worshipped by th
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Party 7 (2000) - Katsuhito Ishii Movie Review

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Welcome to Sensei Sensibility!  You  are the hungry mind yearning to devour quality Asian cinema;  I  am the (questionably) knowledgeable  Sensei , more than happy to satiate your cinematic appetite. Oh sweet baby Jesus gently swaddled in a manger with assorted farm animals lowing reverently in his general mystical direction. The  Katsuhito Ishii  from Third Window Films is the bonkers gift that keeps on giving. I'm rarely stuck for words and yet - here we are! I will attempt to review Party 7 , however, in the interests of journalistic integrity I must admit... I hadn't a bloody clue what going most of the time.  So, without further ado: Elvisly coiffed, pink leather jacket wearing Miki (majestically portrayed by Masatoshi Nagase)  is on the run from his Yakuza family with a suitcase full of stolen syndicate moolah.  He decides to lie low at hotel New Mexico where he bizarrely ends up crossing paths with stunning ex-girlfriend the gold-digging Kana-chana (hilariously played b
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Location: New Mexico, USA
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Shark Skin Man & Peach Hip Girl (1998) // Promise of August (1995)

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  Welcome to Sensei Sensibility!  You  are the hungry mind yearning to devour quality Asian cinema;  I  am the (questionably) knowledgeable  Sensei , more than happy to satiate your cinematic appetite. If you like girls, guns, gangsters, and bloody hideous (but weirdly fabulous) outfits - then you are in for a treat . Tonight, my dear readers, we have a double-bill of Katushito Ishii related madness that we know will melt your butter. So dim the lights and grab the popcorn, it's time to raid the Third Window Films  Katsuhito Ishii Collection . SHARK SKIN MAN & PEACH HIP GIRL (1998) Based on Minetaro Mochizuki's manga of the same name, SSM&PHG is a violent flick about on-the-run Yakuza Samehada. (Mischievously played by the absolutely gorgeous Tadanobu Asano .)  Samehada has been a very bold boy indeed and has stolen 100 million yen from his syndicate; an act his Bond-Villain-Esque boss Tanuki (coldly played by Ittoku Kishibe) takes exception to. During a high-stakes
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Location: Japan
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Non Non Biyori (2023) - MVM Anime Review

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  Welcome to Sensei Sensibility!  You  are the hungry mind yearning to devour quality Anime -  I  am the (questionably) knowledgeable  Sensei , more than happy to satiate your televisual appetite. "The sky and the earth are far apart - but the people are close together." The pace at which we now live - or perhaps "just exist" is more appropriate? - has amplified to a terrifying degree. Hustle culture is king making down-time "on-time", and everything we do is under the surreal veil of a vaguely dystopian atmosphere. If you didn't laugh - you'd cry. The perfect (temporary) antidote to this is the quaint manga-turned-anime  Non Non Biyori (Season 1)  /  Non Non Biyori (Season 2 ). Non Non Biyori focuses on the day-to-day adventures of five young pupils at Asahigaoka Branch School. These youngsters are unique in that they are the only pupils in the entire school, such is the sheer smallness of village. Things are mildly shook up (and I use the term
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Who's Scarier: Sadako or Kayako? ChatGPT Finds Out!

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Welcome to Sensei Sensibility!  You  are the hungry mind yearning to devour weird Asian horror;  I  am the (questionably) knowledgeable  Sensei , more than happy to satiate your cinematic appetite. As someone who spends an awful lot of time writing words, with many of my peers also primarily engaging in the act of also writing words, the rapid growth of AI engines being able to mock up reviews and articles at the click of a button is of course, terrifying to us all.  However, can the robots actually  help  us bloggers, journalists, and content creators galore? For absolute shits and giggles (and as the curator of a spooky Asian themed blog) I decided to ask the Notorious G.P.T the burning question that has been dividing fans of Japanese horror since the noughties: Once and for all, WHO IS SCARIER: Sadako or Kayako?! While I copy/pasted the core factual text, I  did  edit Chat's findings to give it the good old  Sensei Sensibilty  "Voice".  Without further ado, let the rob
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Location: Tokyo, Japan
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GO Movie Review (2001) - Super Great Chicken Rage

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Welcome to Sensei Sensibility!  You  are the hungry mind yearning to devour quality Asian cinema;  I  am the (questionably) knowledgeable  Sensei , more than happy to satiate your cinematic appetite. "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." - Juliet Capulet If cinema is the great zeitgeist reflector it claims to be, what does that say about turn-of-the-millennium Japan? While Isao Yukisada 's adaptation of Kazuki Kaneshiro 's novel GO isn't as dystopian as Battle Royale (2000) , it's still as grim a portrayal of disillusioned, angry youths as Blue Spring   (2001) or Bright Future (2003).  Not exactly a bunch of happy campers, are they? Sugihara, (played with seething perfection by Yosuke Kubozuka) however, has even more cause for displeasure. Part Korean, part Japanese, all " Zainichi ", Sugihara is too Japanese for the Koreans (he wears jeans and listens to Mariah Carey! "Traitor!") and
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Location: Shinjuku City, Tokyo, Japan
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The Tunnel to Summer, The Exit of Goodbyes (2022) - Time Travel Anime Review

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Welcome to Sensei Sensibility!  You  are the hungry mind yearning to devour quality Asian cinema;  I  am the (questionably) knowledgeable  Sensei , more than happy to satiate your cinematic appetite. Who doesn't love an overly long anime title that refuses to trip elegantly off the tongue, but awkwardly stumbles out in the wrong order, complete with loo roll stuck to its shoe. Such is the fate of light-novel-now-anime The Tunnel To Summer, The Exit of Goodbyes. Gloomy but handsome Kaoru Tono (Oji Suzuki) is just one in a long line of awkward anime teens who decide to tamper with the very fabric of existence in order to escape their grim reality. Kaoru has begun fleeing his troubled homelife and traversing ever further into the secluded Urashima Tunnel. Local legend has it that the further you go into this mysterious, ethereal tunnel, the closer you are to regaining a lost heart's desire. As Kaoru is harbouring a dark secret pertaining to his tragic past, he has every reason to
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Location: Japan
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Japan's Top 15 Most Haunted Places - According to ChatGPT

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Welcome to Sensei Sensibility!  You  are the hungry mind yearning to devour weird Asian horror;  I  am the (questionably) knowledgeable  Sensei , more than happy to satiate your cinematic appetite. As someone who spends an awful lot of time writing words, with many of my peers also primarily engaging in the act of also writing words, the rapid growth of AI engines being able to mock up reviews and articles at the click of a button is of course, terrifying to us all.  However, can the robots actually help us bloggers, journalists, and content creators galore? For absolute shits and giggles (and as the curator of a spooky Asian themed blog) I decided to ask the Notorious G.P.T to generate for me a list of the top fifteen most haunted places in Japan. While I copy/pasted the core factual text, I did edit Chat's findings to give it the good old  Sensei Sensibilty "Voice".  (1) Baddest of Them All: Aokigahara Forest (Yamanashi): Known as the "Sea of Trees" or &quo
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Location: 68 Honmachi, Himeji, Hyogo 670-0012, Japan
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Blue Thermal (2022) - Anime Movie Review

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Welcome to Sensei Sensibility!  You  are the hungry mind yearning to devour quality Asian cinema;  I  am the (questionably) knowledgeable  Sensei , more than happy to satiate your cinematic appetite. This is your captain speaking, buckle your seatbelts as we land in bumbling college newbie Tamaki Tsuru's world.  Fresh from a less-than-ideal high school experience, Tamaki is determined that college will be the new start she desperately longs for.  Our defiantly optimistic and somewhat klutzy heroine has it all mapped out. She's going to join an extra-curricular society, be Belle of the Ball, meet the love of her life at said society group and live happily ever after. Aw.  And by " aw " I mean, "Aw shit! Watch what you're doing, you fool! You're about to send a tennis ball soaring straight through an expensive piece of aviation equipment belonging to the Aviation Society, thus landing yourself in crippling repairs related debt that you'll spend the res
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Location: 794-1 Yanaidanimachi, Matsuyama, Ehime 790-2641, Japan
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