Sensei Sensibility

  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...

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 ...

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...

Welcome to Sensei Sensibility!  You  are the hungry mind yearning to devour Asian horror cinema;  I  am the (questionably) knowledgeable  Sensei , more than happy to satiate your cinematic appetite. "I can't shake this creepy feeling..." In a terribly jaded world where everyone has already seen everything , it's a tremendous pleasure to stumble across something that one has not in fact, seen. One such previously un-seen entity is Kiyoshi Kurosawa's 2001 made-for-T.V. movie Séance (Kôrei).  Starring Japanese screen legends Koji Yakusho (Cure, Pulse, Tokyo Sonata) and Jun Fubuki (Like Father, Like Son, Our Little Sister, Call me Chihiro),  Séance is a cerebral slow-burn paranormal thriller. And bloody eerie to boot. Based on Mark McShane's  Séance on a Wet Afternoon (1961 novel, 1964 film adaptation), Kurosawa's version centres around Junko and Koji Sato, a couple whose outwardly placid marriage is irreparably rocked by the kidnapping of a yo...

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. "Is this literature, or a prank?" - Masahiro Higashide Gakuryu Ishii 's 2018 movie adaptation of Ko Machida 's novel Punk Samurai Slash Down - how the hell do I review this without sounding like I've been licking hallucinogenic toads?  Let us start at the beginning, dear readers.  Picture it: Rural feudal Japan. A purple haze rolls over the mountains of the Kuroae domain. The camera surfs along with the rock 'n' roll soundtrack. A lone samurai and a ne'er do-well cross (exquisitely framed) paths. The ne'er do-well is obviously a member of the troublesome "Bellyshaker Party" and must be cut down by the lone samurai. And in an explosion of blood worthy of a  Tokyo Gore  flick, we are introduced to the potty-mouthed, "superhuman swordsm...

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. "Joy and despair on an endless cycle..." If you like non-linear storytelling, oddly-disjointed but still loosely connected overlapping vignettes, based on a cult manga then Zokki from  Third Window Films  should definitely be next on your watch list!  Based on the manga  "ZOKKI A" and "ZOKKI B" by Hiroyuki Ohashi's and directed by not one, not two, but THREE top-notch Japanese directors - Naoto Takenaka, Takayaki Yamada, and Takumi Saitoh; Zokki is a quirky comedy that draws its laughs from the toilet, and its characters from the heart. Starting off Road Movie style, the film sees thirty-something Fujimura (Matsuda Ryuhei) cycling away from his ramshackle apartment, and travelling "aimlessly" around the picturesque rural roads out of Sakamoto To...

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 dragon lives in the human heart..." Every now and then, a movie comes along that reminds you exactly why you want to spend all your spare time thinking, talking and writing about Asian cinema. Sogo (now Gakuryu ) Ishii's 2000 cult classic Electric Dragon 80.000 V is one such film. Move Over Detective Pikachu... Highly reminiscent  of the works of Shinya Tsukamoto,  Electric Dragon  is an  electrifying , punk renegade sci-fi, that draws on an exquisite B-Movie aesthetic. Shot entirely in black and white and set in a vaguely dystopian future/alternate reality Tokyo, we meet "Dragon Eye" Morrison, the great reptile detective. Trawling the backstreets and side-alleys of the city, Dragon Eye makes his living tirelessly searching for lost or mis...