title: Ganmu
2019
'Alita: Battle Angel': She, The Ultimate Weapon February 17, 2019
A prime case study for how a film can be an fine adaptation of beloved source material, while also being breathless, overcrowded, and tangled as a story
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More at Ganriki
'Promare': The Burning World September 15, 2019
Studio Trigger's first theatrical film is so dazzling it threatens to melt the eyes right out of the head, but suffers from feeling like a TV series truncated into a two-hour slot
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Akio Jissōji's 'The Buddhist Trilogy' September 9, 2019
Almost totally unseen outside Japan, these three art projects by a director best known for his 'Ultraman' work are anything but easy viewing, but also seething with vision and ambition
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Tomihiko Morimi's 'The Night Is Short, Walk on Girl': How One Thing Leads To Another September 2, 2019
This newly translated novel, the basis for Masaaki Yuasa's madcap movie, is just as wild as its successor, with the advantage of slightly more insight into its female protagonist
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'Tomie': The Infinite Bad Penny August 12, 2019
Like all great horror, Junji Ito's now-classic series about an undying supernatural siren has something to say other than "boo!"
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'Princess Jellyfish': Girls, Be Ambitious! August 5, 2019
A sly treatise on gender roles and presentation, wrapped in a screwball romantic farce and delivered with great affection
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Katsuhiro Ōtomo's 'Domu': A Child's Book Of Nightmares July 15, 2019
A shame that any of Katsuhiro Ōtomo's work should still be out of print, especially this precusor to 'AKIRA' that pits psionic warriors against each other in a high-rise apartment complex
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'No-No Boy': John Okada's First, Last, And Only July 8, 2019
The first major piece of fiction by an Asian-American originally vanished from sight, and seemed all but gone after the death of its author, but found new life in reissues across the decades
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'Unforgiven'/'Yurusarezarumono': From The Wild West To The Deep North July 1, 2019
Sang-Il Lee's Meiji-era remake of Clint Eastwood's now-classic Western doesn't quite eclipse its predecessor, but it doesn't need to; it stands very nicely on its own
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'Steins;Gate': Stand Back, We're Going To Try Weird Science June 24, 2019
How comedic banter, science-fiction mind-bending, and an irresistible cast of characters combined alchemically to make one of anime's best moments in recent years
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'The Face Of Another': Confessions Of A Mask June 17, 2019
Kōbō Abe's novel, and Hiroshi Teshigahara's film adaptation, explore an extreme case: a disfigured man given a new face to present to the world, and thus all the perils of existential absolute freedom
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