The Movie:
Despite the medium's popularity among DVD buyers, theatrical anime features have rarely been able to dent the American box office. Mamoru Oshii's 1995 film adaptation of Ghost in the Shell (originally a manga by Masamune Shirow) was one of the few to make a splash. Its mix of gritty action, detailed technological futurism, and philosophical musings struck a chord with audiences, and the title has endured as a classic of the sci-fi genre, animated or not. Without Oshii's involvement but with that of Shirow, the Production I.G studio later launched a spin-off TV series called Stand Alone Complex, leaning a little more towards the action and a little less towards the philosophizing, that has proven equally popular. Although utilizing the same characters and settings, Read the entire review

The Movie:

NOTE: Please be aware that this DVD is a Korean import and is coded for Region 3 DVD players. In order to view this DVD, you'll have to have either a Region 3 coded or Region Free DVD player. [Recommended Region Free Players] It will not play in standard Region 1 North American DVD players.

Ha Yu's A Dirty Carnival is an interesting take on what is essentially a fairly standard and straight forward rise and fall gangster story. The central plot focuses on Byung-du (Jo In-seong who won a Best Actor prize at the 2006 South Korean Film Awards), a man fast approaching his thirtieth birthday who has, for the last few years of his adult life, been working for a thug named Sang-chul (Yoon Jae-Moon of Antarctic Journal). When he's not obliging his employer, Byung-du spe...Read the entire review

THE MOVIE:

Wong Kar-Wai fans will debate endlessly about his films. Not just the strange and elliptical plots, but the meanings of images and even further, how those images are presented on DVD. Most of his work hasn't been given the best treatment in the DVD age, a real crime when you consider the singularly beautiful work he has done with cinematographer Christopher Doyle. So, even though in most cases one has cause to groan when a bogus upgrade edition of a given Hollywood studio picture tries to tempt us into a double dip, when a Wong Kar-Wai movie finally gets done right, it's cause for celebration.

This new Korean twofer combining 1994's Chungking Express and 1995's Fallen Angels is a real boon for Kar-Wai aficionados. Finally, these two movies look the way we've always dreamed they could, and the new packaging is sleek and affordable. Coupling these two films tog...Read the entire review

THE MOVIE:

Wang-ui namja, a.k.a. The King and the Clown, was a sensation upon its release in Korea in 2005, becoming the country's highest grossing film that year. In viewing the region 3 limited edition release of the movie, it's easy to see why. This gripping costume drama is brimming with a unique charm, with original characters and a special setting that will likely be new to most viewers. Art Service has put together a three-disc DVD package that capitalizes on The King and the Clown's popularity while also giving the movie the appropriate red carpet treatment.

The story concerns itself with two performers, Jang-sang (Woo-seong Kam, Spider Forest) and Gong-gil (Jung-gi Lee, My Girl), who are forced to leave their traveling tr...Read the entire review

The Movie:

NOTE: Please be aware that this DVD is a Korean import and is coded for Region 3 DVD players. In order to view this DVD, you'll have to have either a Region 3 coded or Region Free DVD player. [Recommended Region Free Players] It will not play in standard Region 1 North American DVD players.

While Korean director Kim Ki-duk isn't all that popular in his native land, he's quickly becoming quite renowned abroad for his dark dramas and twisted human interest stories. His latest film, Time, finds him returning once again to the bleak, misanthropic world view that has been so integral to many of his better known pictures, but this time he takes a much quieter approach to the subject matter. The results are, sadly, rather middle of the road.

Pretty Seh-hee (Seong Hyeon-...Read the entire review

The Movie:

NOTE: Please be aware that this DVD is a Korean import and is coded for Region 3 DVD players. In order to view this DVD, you'll have to have either a Region 3 coded or Region Free DVD player. [Recommended Region Free Players] It will not play in standard Region 1 North American DVD players.

Ryoo Seung-wan, the man behind Crying Fist, returns to the action genre he's so well known for in his native South Korea with The City Of Violence, a fun and entertaining fight film that succeeds more on style than on substance but which entertains from start to finish.

The film begins when a detective named Jeong Tae-su (Jeong Du-hong) heads back to the small town where he grew up to attend the funeral of a man who he was close friends with during his years in high sc...Read the entire review

The Movie:

NOTE: Although this DVD is an import from Hong Kong, it is NTSC Region 0 which means that it should play in all DVD players.

A fairly simple premise gives director Pou-Soi Cheang ample opportunity for over the top melodrama and bleak, nihilistic violence in his latest crime film, Dog Bite Dog. A Cambodian named Pang (Edison Chen of the Infernal Affairs trilogy) assassinates a woman at a restaurant in Hong Kong and draws the attention of the local police. A chase ensues and Pang winds up putting a dagger into the throat of Fat Lai, a negotiator, right in front of his partner, Wei (Sam Lee of the Gen-X Cops films). As soon as Wei draws his gone to shoot him, Pang puts his hands up and surrenders and the rest of the squad come running in and arrest him. They take him into custody and find that he'd been hired by the woman's husband, and soon Pang e...Read the entire review

THE MOVIE:

Something's rotten in the Ten Kingdoms...

The Banquet, the new film from director Feng Xiaogang (World Without Thieves), is a loose adaptation of Hamlet set just after the fall of the Tang Dynasty, in a period of political confusion called the Period of Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. It's a lush costume drama, full of compelling performances and exceptionally lavish art direction. The result is something more than a Shakespearean adaptation, transcending the material to create a motion picture that feels indigenous to the country it hails from (a la Untold Scandal, Je-yong Lee's Korean version of Dangerous Liaisons).

Daniel Wu (One Night in Mongkok) is Lu Wan, the crown prince of China. He has left the royal ...Read the entire review

When I first heard the buzz on Wilson Yip's Sha Po Lang/S.P.L. (2005), advance word was that the film was a welcome return to the glory days of HK's no nonsense action. I was skeptical. While I ended up enjoying S.P.L., the resulting film was a bit of a mixed bag, a typical cops versus crooks crime drama with some decent action. After some drought years, S.P.L. at least gave Sammo Hung and Donnie Yen something substantial to do with their physical talents, but still the film was a little too polished and serious to call it a sign of old school HK stunt action on the resurgence.

So, when Wilson Yip and Donnie Yen announced they'd be working together again on a comic book adaptation Dragon Tiger Gate (2006) I was still very skeptical. Years of flat action films and the death of actual talented stunt performers makes an old school fan a little more guarded when it comes to...Read the entire review

After hitting big with his "Infernal Affairs" trilogy and a live action reworking of "Initial D," director Andrew Lau hopped over to South Korea to make "Daisy," an action thriller/romance combo with an all-star cast that became one of the most highly anticipated Asian titles of late, an anticipation that fizzled upon its release earlier this year.

Looking at the film, it's easy to see why it fizzled; "Daisy," as it originally appeared in Korean theaters, is sloppy and rushed, shoving too many ideas into too little time, leaving its sharper moments to crumble under audience apathy and confusion. But then we see Lau's director's cut, which is nearly a half hour longer, and which rearranges many key scenes, including a complete restructuring of the story's opening and a slight but important alteration to the finale, and we discover a film that not only works, but works wonders. Characters are give...Read the entire review

The spirit of Spielberg persists throughout "Hinokio: Inter Galactic Love," the sci-fi fantasy about a boy who uses a robot to live his surrogate life. The knowing take on young life has an "E.T." vibe, while the more mature, grim aspects stir up memories of "A.I." Rookie director Takahiko Akiyama, a former visual effects artist, displays a natural sense of wonder with his tale, capturing with impressive ease the same sort of cinematic storytelling know-how that the Bearded One has always brought to his own family-oriented projects.

The title and robot theme suggest "Hinokio" will replay the Pinocchio themes of "A.I." Yet this is a wholly different story; "A.I." toyed with the puppet who wanted to be a real boy, while "Hinokio" finds a boy who wishes to hide behind his puppet. The story (written by Akiyama, Masumi Suetani, and Shoji Yonemura), set in a near future, finds sixth grader Satoru (Kan...Read the entire review

The Movie:

NOTE: Please be aware that this DVD is an import set from Hong Kong and is coded for Region 3 DVD players. In order to view this DVD, you'll have to have either a Region 3 coded or Region Free DVD player. [Recommended Region Free Players] It will not play in standard Region 1 North American DVD players.

Oxide and Danny Pang, collectively known as The Pang Brothers, made quite a splash a few years ago with their interesting ghost story, The Eye, which starred lovely Angelica Lee. Their latest effort, Re-Cycle, seems to be a follow up film of sorts to that movie as it not only finds the Pangs working with Lee in the lead again but it also puts them back into ghost story territory. Rest assured, however, that this is not just another 'long black haired ghost' movie...Read the entire review

The Movie:
It's a sad day when a Terry Gilliam film can be called a third-rate Tim Burton knockoff. Such is the fate of The Brothers Grimm, Gilliam's most recent attempt to play nice with a big Hollywood studio (Miramax in this case). The uncompromising director is notorious for battling with the producers who employ him, but usually manages to bring his idiosyncratic vision to even hired-gun projects. Something went wrong on this one, unfortunately. Totally, miserably wrong.

Blatantly patterned after the success of Burton's Sleepy Hollow, the film is a "reimagining" of those famous fairy tales collected by German scholars Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. Decidedly not a historical bio-pic, in this version of the story Matt Damon and Heath Ledger star as Will and Jake Grimm, traveling con artists roaming the German countryside in 1811. Exploiting the fears and superstitions of...Read the entire review

Opening Thoughts:

In the last 4-5 years, Hong Kong cinema has taken a back seat in my film viewing life. This largely has to do with all the great films coming out of Japan, Korean and even Thailand. However, I'm not one to overlook HK films completely these days. Whenever I hear rumblings about a hot film, I'm always eager to check it out. In this case, I happened to hear some very good things about Isabella and it's director, Ho-Cheung Pang (a.k.a. Edmond Pang).

Movie:

In the year 1999, Macau Province is getting ready to be handed over to the Chinese government after 442 years of Portuguese rule. Police corruption and violent crime run rampant through the city leading up to the monumental handover. Isabella takes place du...Read the entire review

Korean crime films really seem to love the old, opposites attract, buddy scenario. Call it the Lethal Weapon syndrome. Recent films like Public Enemy and Memories of Murder play up the formula to hilt, as does this film Running Wild (2006).

The opposites attracting each other are scraggly, rough and tumble, break the rules cop Detective Jang (Kwon Sang-woo- Once Upon a Time in High School, Volcano High) and prim and pressed, by the book Prosecutor Oh Jin-woo (Yu Ji-tea- Oldboy, Natural City). Already, right off the bat, I cannot make their descriptions sound anything other than generic. ‟He's a little bit country. He's a little bit rock n' roll‟- it really is that basic. You've got your hot-head and your cool-head. Together they make for a lukewarm crime picture.

Martin Riggs... er... I mean, Detective Jang has a flagging career. You k...Read the entire review

The Movie:

This follow up to Johnny To's 2005 gangster drama treads a lot of the same ground that the first film did but manages to top that earlier effort in both the drama and the brutality associated with Triad life. It's a bleak movie, but one well worth investigating for fans of To's work or by those who just enjoy a good crime story and who don't happen to mind healthy doses of politics thrown in for good measure.

Two years after the events in the first movie, Lok (Simon Yam of Dr. Lamb infamy), the current boss of the Wo Shing gang, is getting ready to step down as leader and it's time for an election to appoint his successor – or so tradition dictates. A few up and coming Triad heavies are interested in following Lok's reign, primarily Jimmy (Louis Koo) who is the popular choice among the gangsters despite the fact that he personally doesn't really want to be in char...Read the entire review

NOTE: Although this Japanese Import DVD is NTSC, it is coded for playback in Region 2 only. In order to watch this disc, you'll have to have either a player coded for Region 2 or a Region Free DVD Player.

THE MOVIE:

As a longtime Studio Ghibli fan, I was stoked to hear they had a new short film coming out on DVD in Japan. Directed by their longtime background artist, Kazuo Oga, Taneyamagahara no Yoru (Night on Taneyamagahara) was made in celebration of the 110th anniversary of the birth of author Kenji Miyazawa. This new animated film is an adaptation of Miyazawa's 1924 play of the same name, and it was intended as a companion to the new DVD of the 1982 adaptation of the writer's famous story Cello Hiki no Gauche.

Unfortunately, I didn't do enough research, and when my copy of Taneyamagahara no Yor...Read the entire review

NOTE: Although this Japanese Import DVD is NTSC, it is coded for playback in Region 2 only. In order to watch this disc, you'll have to have either a player coded for Region 2 or a Region Free DVD Player.

THE MOVIE:

Because Hayao Miyazaki has been the most public face of Studio Ghibli, many often forget that he's not the only creative force at work within its walls. Director Isao Takahata has also made several features, including the acclaimed Grave of the Fireflies and the underrated Only Yesterday. In 1982, before Studio Ghibli was formed, he made an hour-long animated film based on a classic Japanese story by Kenji Miyazawa called Cello Hiki no Gauche (Gauche the Cellist). 2006 was the 110th anniversary of Miyazawa's birth, so Cello Hiki no Gauche has been re-released in Japan as a double-disc DVD in the Studio Ghibli collection.

Gauche (...Read the entire review

NOTE: Although this Japanese Import DVD is NTSC, it is coded for playback in Region 2 only. In order to watch this disc, you'll have to have either a player coded for Region 2 or a Region Free DVD Player.

Opening Thoughts:

In 2005 Always - Sunset On Third Street swept not only the hearts of the Japanese people, but also captured 12 of 13 possible awards at the '06 Japanese Academy Awards. With the massive buzz coming out of Japan about this film, I was more than eager to find out what all the commotion was about. I'm usually skeptical about films that garner both critical acclaim and popularity with the masses, but then again I'm more than willing to be proven wrong.

Movie:

Set in Tokyo in 1958, Always - Sunset On Third Street...Read the entire review

The Movie:

NOTE:Although this Japanese Import DVD is NTSC, it is coded for playback in Region 2 only. In order to watch this disc, you'll have to have either a player coded for Region 2, or a Region Free DVD Player.

Dario Argento's masterpiece, the dark fairy tale known as Suspiria, remains one of the most beloved Italian horror films of all time. A fantastic exercise in style and atmosphere it might be light on plot but it definitely fires on all cylinders when it comes to eerie mood and memorably bizarre set pieces and it stands as one of those perfect unions of sound and vision wherein the soundtrack to the film plays just as important a role as anything else in the movie.

The plot follows a young woman named Susie Banyon (Jessica Harper) who arrives in Freiburg one dark and stormy night and who wastes no time hailing a cab. Her bags loaded, the cab whisks her ...Read the entire review

THE MOVIE:

Spanning five generations, Jasmine Women is a multiple-hankie "women's picture." Based on a novel by Su Tong (also the author of Raise the Red Lantern), this grand epic of the struggle of mothers and daughters has a classic Hollywood feel, but replacing the sudsy gloss with a more realistic melodramatic approach Chinese filmmakers have always had a special handle on. Think Zhang Yimou directing Imitation of Life.

Jasmine Women begins in Shanghai in the 1930s. Mo (Ziyi Zhang, House of Flying Daggers) lives alone with her mother (Joan Chen, Saving Face). The two run a photo studio that Mo's mother intends to pass on to her daughter to support the family she'll eventually have. Except Mo has other plans: she wants t...Read the entire review

The Movie:
Johnny Depp cleans up nicely when he wants to. Sometimes you get the feeling that the scruffy beard, mascara, and frilly shirts he sported in Pirates of the Caribbean aren't far off from his daily real-life appearance, while the clean-shaven, suit-and-tie look is what he considers a ridiculous costume. There's no denying that Depp is a talented actor, but he's also something of an eccentric kook. Given his penchant for playing oddball characters in offbeat movies, it's almost a surprise to find him in a stuffy Merchant Ivory-wannabe period drama like Finding Neverland, and even more surprising just how bland and formulaic the whole thing is.

Nominated for seven Academy Awards, arguably only two of them deserved (the art direction and costumes are indeed quite nice), the film tells the supposedly true story of Peter Pan playwright J.M. Barrie's scandal...Read the entire review

THE MOVIE:

In 2001, Toshiaki Toyoda adapted the juvenile delinquent manga Blue Spring into an irreverent film about how young men maintain secret lives away from the prying eyes of authority. His 2005 feature, Kuchu teien (Hanging Garden), tackles similar themes, but the approach is more head-on and the target is the modern Japanese family.

This time adapting a novel by Mitsuyo Kakuta, Toyoda's Kuchu teien is the story of Eriko Kyobashi (Kyoko Koizumi), mother of two. The scene opens at the Kyobashi breakfast table. It's daughter Mana's birthday, and Mana (Anne Suzuki, Initial D) wants to know where she was conceived. While this would be strange conversation for most families, the Kyobashi clan swears to keep no secrets from one another. Mana, as it turns out, was made by her parents at a "love motel" called Wild Monkeys. This, of course, opens a whole can ...Read the entire review

Nana started out as a manga series by Ai Yazawa and became anovernight sensation in Japan. The first twelve volumes of this shojo(comics aimed at girls and young women) title have sold an astounding 22million copies in Japan. An award winning comic, it has inspiredwomen's fashions, dolls, makeup, and even desert cakes and there is a CDof songs inspired by the series too. It's only natural that a mangawith such a large and devoted fan base would make the jump to movies, andin 2005 Nana came to the big screen as a live action movie. While many comic-to-movie transitions leave a bit to be desired, this one'sadaptation not only stays faithful to the original material, but is alsovery entertaining if you've never read the manga.

Nana Komatsu (Aoi Miyazaki) is a 20-year-old woman from an upper middleclass background. She'...Read the entire review

THE MOVIE:

Shadowless Sword is a Korean entry into the wuxia (swordplay) genre, which is kind of the Asian equivalent of Western superhero stories. Heroes and villains fly and fight, and usually the good guys win. Directed by Kim Young-Jun, he attempts to blend action, comedy, romance, and historical epic into one picture, achieving mixed results.

Story-wise, Shadowless Sword is nothing new. Two kingdoms are at war. The armies of Dongranguk have aggressively expelled the royal family of Balhae and are now killing them off one by one while exiling their subjects. The remaining Balhae resistance has located the final member of the court, a prince who left some years before. They send a badass female member of the royal guard, Yeon So Ha (Yoon So-Yi), to retrieve him. Prince Jeongh Yeon (Seo-Jin Lee) is now going by the name of Sosam, and he's earning a living as a fen...Read the entire review

The Movie:

NOTE:Although this Japanese Import DVD is NTSC, it is coded for playback in Region 2 only. In order to watch this disc, you'll have to have either a player coded for Region 2, or a Region Free DVD Player.

Sakuma (Japanese television star Naohito Fujiki) is an employee at an advertising firm who really does try pretty hard at his job. When his boss Katsuragi (played Ryo Ishibashi of Moon Child and Juon – The Grudge cancels his latest project, one that he's invested no small amount of hard work into, he decides to head to Katsuragi's house and teach him a lesson. On the way there, or more aptly once he reaches the front gate, he cools off enough to realize that maybe revenge isn't such a great idea and then he sees Katsurugi's daughter, Chiharu (Yukie Nakama recently of Shinobi). Not quite sure what to make of what he's just seen, he trails the ...Read the entire review

THE MOVIE:

Respect to Seijun Suzuki. At the age of 73, after directing fifty-five motion pictures, he could have easily coasted on his reputation and made another of his trademark crime films. Instead, he chose to make Tanuki-Goten (Princess Raccoon), a gonzo musical that attempts to marry traditional Japanese theatre with modern digital effects, rock 'n' roll, and even a little hip-hop. By all accounts, the legendary director has lost none of the fierce independence and contrariness that got him fired from Japan's Nikkatsu Studios in 1967, securing his cult status for generations.

Unfortunately, when you dare to leap so high, you sometimes fall short.

Tanuki-Goten is the story of two star-crossed lovers. A little bit of Romeo & JulietRead the entire review

The Movie:

NOTE:Although this Hong Kong Import DVD is NTSC, it is coded for playback in Region 3 only. In order to watch this disc, you'll have to have either a player coded for Region 3, or a Region Free DVD Player.

A kind of hybrid mish-mash of A Better Tomorrow, Underworld and Interview With A Vampire, Zeze Takahisa's Moon Child is a gangster by way of vampires action horror combination that hits a few high notes during playback but ultimately leaves one feeling pretty vacant. In short, it looks really good and delivers some fun shoot outs and gore effects, but doesn't give us much story to chew on in between set pieces until the last third of the movie, at which point it's too little too late.

In the year 2014, Japan's economy has deteriorated to the point where there has been an exodus of sorts. Japanese people have moved off of their isl...Read the entire review

The Movie:

NOTE:Although this Hong Kong Import DVD is NTSC, it is coded for playback in Region 3 only. In order to watch this disc, you'll have to have either a player coded for Region 3, or a Region Free DVD Player.

Written and directed by Yoichi Sai, Blood And Bones is about as dark a film as you're likely to see any time soon, complete with a powerhouse performance from Japanese superstar Takeshi Kitano and a grim storyline to boot. It's not an easy movie to get through and it tackles some very ugly subject matter to be sure, but it's so well done that you can't help but appreciate the movie even if you'll find yourself wanting to turn away more than a few times during playback.

We're first introduced to a Korean immigrant living in Japan since the 1920s named Kim (Kitano) as he's slapping his wife around before he winds up brutally raping her. This sets the st...Read the entire review

The Movie:

NOTE:Although this Japanese Import DVD is NTSC, it is coded for playback in Region 2 only. In order to watch this disc, you'll have to have either a player coded for Region 2, or a Region Free DVD Player.

Takeshi Kitano has proven himself to be one of the most interesting filmmaker's still working in the Japanese movie industry. His films have a tendency to be rather dark but also very emotional and, at times, quite personal. While Zatoichi, his most successful film to date in terms of box office, fell completely flat for this reviewer, his follow up – 2005's Takeshis' proves to be a completely odd return to form that will probably end up dividing his fan base right down the middle. While he is relatively unknown outside of cult movie circles in North America, he's nothing short of a superstar in his native Japan, which is (sort of) where the inspira...Read the entire review

The Film:

A man of tremendous financial skills whose most recent deeds have put the French police in a state of mass confusion Anthony Zimmer is now also being wanted by the White Barons – a powerful organization of Russian tycoons whose business spreads all over Europe. Unsure about his identity as well as his physical appearance the French police have designed a slick plan where Anthony Zimmer must fall for a woman he once loved.

Filled with plenty of flashy cut-and-zoom camera moves creating the impression that this is a film where Jerry Bruckheimer had plenty to say Anthony Zimmer comes amidst a sea of recent spy thrillers that were produced in Europe. Teaming Yvan Attal (My Wife is an Actress) with Sophie Marceau (La Boum) this modest Fr...Read the entire review

The Movie:

NOTE: Please be aware that this DVD is an import from Hong Kong and is coded for Region 3 DVD players. In order to view this DVD, you'll have to have either a Region 3 coded or Region Free DVD player. [Recommended Region Free Players] It will not play in standard Region 1 North American DVD players.

Jet Li has stated that Fearless is to be his last wuxia film, but if it has to end, at least he went to some efforts to ensure that it did so with a bang. In the movie Li plays Huo Yuan Jia, a martial arts master and a bit of a Chinese folk hero in his own right, as in real life he started the Jing Wu Sports Federation which would go on to have a huge impact on the day to day living of the Chinese people. His story is one of inspiration and of a man who overcame insurmounta...Read the entire review

The Movie:

NOTE: Please be aware that this DVD is a Korean import and is coded for Region 3 DVD players. In order to view this DVD, you'll have to have either a Region 3 coded or Region Free DVD player. [Recommended Region Free Players] It will not play in standard Region 1 North American DVD players.

In Princess Aurora the pretty and 'gentle' looking Eom Jeong-Hwa plays Jung Soon-Jung, a woman who makes quite a first impression on the audience. When she walks into the bathroom and sees a woman abusing her step-daughter, she scurries the girl away and then does the woman in with an fork to the head in a bloody and brutal murder that effectively sets the tone for the revenge drama to come.

The cops are called in to investigate and they seem a little stumped, at least, all of...Read the entire review

Cromartie High School started out as a popular manga strip whichwas adapted into an outrageously funny anime show.  (Read my reviewsof that series here: Volume one,two, three,and four.)  In 2005 the characters even made the leap to the big screen in a live actionfilm directed by Yudai Yamaguchi (Battlefield Baseball) entitledSakigake!!Cromartie High The Movie.  While both the manga and anime serieswere laugh-out-loud funny, it is unfortunate that this movie fails to capturethe spirit of those earlier adaptations.  It comes ac...Read the entire review

The Movie:

NOTE: Please be aware that this DVD is an import from Hong Kong and is coded for Region 3 DVD players. In order to view this DVD, you'll have to have either a Region 3 coded or Region Free DVD player. [Recommended Region Free Players] It will not play in standard Region 1 North American DVD players.

Tadashi (Ryunosuke Kamiki, best known for some of the voice work he's done on a couple of Studio Ghibli films) is sad little kid. His parents are divorced and he lives out in the country with his mother and strange old grandfather who doesn't give him nearly the amount of attention or love a child his age really needs. As such, he's a pretty lonely kid and more than a little sad. His luck looks to be turning up one summer as he's chosen to be the 'Kirin Rider' (a mythical hero who...Read the entire review