The Japan Academy Film Prize Association held the 47th edition of its awards ceremony on March 8, 2024. The nominees are selected by the Nippon Academy-Sho Association of industry professionals from the pool of film releases between January 1 and December 31, 2023 which must have screened in Tokyo cinemas.
Following its success at the recent Blue Ribbon Awards and leading with 12 nominations, Toho Studios' and Takashi Yamazaki's kaiju cinema masterpiece “Godzilla Minus One” takes top honours winning Picture of the Year and a slew of technical awards. Sakura Ando cements her place as one of Japan's top actresses securing both awards for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role (for “Monster”) as well as Supporting Role (for “Godzilla Minus One”).
The full list of winners is described below.
Picture of the Year
Monster
Godzilla Minus One
Mom, Is That You?!
September 1923
Perfect Days
Animation of the Year
Kitaro Tanjo – GeGeGe no...
Following its success at the recent Blue Ribbon Awards and leading with 12 nominations, Toho Studios' and Takashi Yamazaki's kaiju cinema masterpiece “Godzilla Minus One” takes top honours winning Picture of the Year and a slew of technical awards. Sakura Ando cements her place as one of Japan's top actresses securing both awards for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role (for “Monster”) as well as Supporting Role (for “Godzilla Minus One”).
The full list of winners is described below.
Picture of the Year
Monster
Godzilla Minus One
Mom, Is That You?!
September 1923
Perfect Days
Animation of the Year
Kitaro Tanjo – GeGeGe no...
- 3/12/2024
- by Suzie Cho
- AsianMoviePulse
Japan’s Toei Company has teamed with Amazon to produce a live-action feature and TV series adapation of Oshi No Ko, a hit manga series that has sold more than 15 million copies.
Prime Video will premiere the series on its global streaming platform in winter 2024 and the feature will be distributed in Japan by Toei Company, which is also expected to introduce the title to international buyers at the European Film Market (EFM) in Berlin next month.
The manga, written by Aka Akasaka and Mengo Yokoyari, was launched in 2020 followed by an anime series in 2023, whose theme song Idol became...
Prime Video will premiere the series on its global streaming platform in winter 2024 and the feature will be distributed in Japan by Toei Company, which is also expected to introduce the title to international buyers at the European Film Market (EFM) in Berlin next month.
The manga, written by Aka Akasaka and Mengo Yokoyari, was launched in 2020 followed by an anime series in 2023, whose theme song Idol became...
- 1/24/2024
- ScreenDaily
The official Twitter for Prime Video Japan announced today that the Oshi no Ko manga series will get a live-action adaptation in winter 2024. The drama series will stream exclusively on Amazon Prime Video worldwide, while the additional feature film will be released in Japan and distributed by Toei. The live-action project's official Twitter account also opened with a teaser visual featuring the six main voice cast members. The main cast includes: Aqua Hoshino played by Kaito Sakurai (Kou Mabuchi in Blue Spring Ride live-action drama) Ai Hoshino played by Asuka Saito (ex-Nogizaka 46 member) Ruby Hoshino played by Nagisa Saito (ex-=Love member) Kana Arima played by Nanoka Hara (the voice of Suzume Iwato in Suzume ) Akane Kurokawa played by Mizuki Kayashima Mem-cho played by ano (singer/YouTuber) The manga is serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Young Jump since April 2020, with its total circulation surpassing 15 million copies. The TV anime adaptation...
- 1/24/2024
- by Mikikazu Komatsu
- Crunchyroll
The official website for the upcoming live-action film adaptation of Fujimomo's romance shojo manga Lovesick Ellie (known as Koiwazurai no Ellie in Japan) has posted a 60-second main trailer. The clip features the film's theme song, "Sweet Nonfiction," performed by nine-member girls unit NiziU. "We were really happy when we were offered to perform the theme song for the film 'Lovesick Ellie.' The story takes place in a high school, so it feels familiar to us, and we are really looking forward to the film," NiziU said. "The song 'Sweet Nonfiction' matches the worldview of the film. We think this song will cheer you up if you listen to it when you are wondering 'Is this love?' or 'Is this feeling - love?' Please enjoy the film and the theme song 'Sweet Nonfiction' together!" 60-second main trailer 30-second trailer 15-second trailer Related: Fujimomo's Romance Shojo Manga Lovesick...
- 1/19/2024
- by Mikikazu Komatsu
- Crunchyroll
This post contains spoilers for Makoto Shinkai's "Suzume."
Makoto Shinkai's strengths as an animator lie in his ability to mesh vividly beautiful visuals with thoughtful fantastical narratives, where the mundane and magical come together to tell emotionally-resonant stories. Shinkai's highly acclaimed "Your Name" underlines this thread of wonder that is ever-present in his work, as it delves into a mystical, inexplicable connection between two teenagers, whose love for one another is rooted in the spiritual. Shinkai's latest, dazzling entry in his impressive oeuvre, "Suzume," follows a similar format, where the love shared between Suzume (Nanoka Hara) and Sōta (Hokuto Matsumura) is eclipsed by a need to return to the self and honor the past to make way for the future.
Shinkai's art style and narrative prowess have often been compared to legendary animator Hayao Miyazaki and the artistic identity of Studio Ghibli as a whole — and for good reason.
Makoto Shinkai's strengths as an animator lie in his ability to mesh vividly beautiful visuals with thoughtful fantastical narratives, where the mundane and magical come together to tell emotionally-resonant stories. Shinkai's highly acclaimed "Your Name" underlines this thread of wonder that is ever-present in his work, as it delves into a mystical, inexplicable connection between two teenagers, whose love for one another is rooted in the spiritual. Shinkai's latest, dazzling entry in his impressive oeuvre, "Suzume," follows a similar format, where the love shared between Suzume (Nanoka Hara) and Sōta (Hokuto Matsumura) is eclipsed by a need to return to the self and honor the past to make way for the future.
Shinkai's art style and narrative prowess have often been compared to legendary animator Hayao Miyazaki and the artistic identity of Studio Ghibli as a whole — and for good reason.
- 4/25/2023
- by Debopriyaa Dutta
- Slash Film
Ah, Suzume.
You want me to review the latest feature from top anime director Makota Shinkai? But, of course. Though, to be fair, you had me the moment you mentioned that two key characters of the action were Japanese Gods who fight as giant felines to prevent ancient chthonic forces from breaking loose from the underworld and wreaking chaos in the world above.
Go, cats!
But, to begin at the beginning. Suzume is about loss. We learn, early on, that our hero, Suzume (voiced by Nanoka Hara) lost her mother to some awful, unspecified event a dozen years previously. Since when she has been brought up, for better or worse, by aunt, Tamaki (voiced by Eri Fukatsu). It is not an easy relationship, as the now 17-year-old Suzume strains at the restriction of life in quiet southern...
You want me to review the latest feature from top anime director Makota Shinkai? But, of course. Though, to be fair, you had me the moment you mentioned that two key characters of the action were Japanese Gods who fight as giant felines to prevent ancient chthonic forces from breaking loose from the underworld and wreaking chaos in the world above.
Go, cats!
But, to begin at the beginning. Suzume is about loss. We learn, early on, that our hero, Suzume (voiced by Nanoka Hara) lost her mother to some awful, unspecified event a dozen years previously. Since when she has been brought up, for better or worse, by aunt, Tamaki (voiced by Eri Fukatsu). It is not an easy relationship, as the now 17-year-old Suzume strains at the restriction of life in quiet southern...
- 4/17/2023
- by Jane Fae
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
A schoolgirl and a haunted chair waft through a land of sunsets and cherry blossom in this fleeting tale set in the wake of the 2011 tsunami
The apocalypse rarely looked so appealing as it does in Makoto Shinkai’s latest anime – a painterly coming-of-age tale that’s back-shadowed by the spectre of the 2011 tsunami. Suzume (voiced by Nanoka Hara) is the schoolgirl heroine on a mission to close various portals to hell, wafting cross-country through a world of pink sunsets and cherry blossom. She’s on the trail of a talking cat, accompanied by a haunted three-legged chair. Her mother is dead; she needs whatever friends she can find.
Shinkai has fun with his big fantasy set pieces, but he’s brilliant with the little details too, conjuring up a vivid sense of modern-day Japan, right down to the lobster traps and the level crossings and the snaking freeways outside Tokyo.
The apocalypse rarely looked so appealing as it does in Makoto Shinkai’s latest anime – a painterly coming-of-age tale that’s back-shadowed by the spectre of the 2011 tsunami. Suzume (voiced by Nanoka Hara) is the schoolgirl heroine on a mission to close various portals to hell, wafting cross-country through a world of pink sunsets and cherry blossom. She’s on the trail of a talking cat, accompanied by a haunted three-legged chair. Her mother is dead; she needs whatever friends she can find.
Shinkai has fun with his big fantasy set pieces, but he’s brilliant with the little details too, conjuring up a vivid sense of modern-day Japan, right down to the lobster traps and the level crossings and the snaking freeways outside Tokyo.
- 4/16/2023
- by Xan Brooks
- The Guardian - Film News
Hollywood doesn’t make movies like Suzume, anime auteur Makoto Shinkai’s latest, about a teen girl who traverses Japan to prevent a series of natural disasters. We get stories about young people saving the world all of the time, sure, but the protagonists are usually dressed in spandex rather than school uniforms, and — even when the stakes are similarly cataclysmic — there is usually a bad guy to punch at the end. In Suzume, there are no bad guys for our eponymous schoolgirl-on-the-lam to take out. There is only the...
- 4/15/2023
- by Kayti Burt
- Rollingstone.com
Spoiler Alert: This interview includes details about Crunchyroll’s Suzume.
Writer-director Makoto Shinkai continues to reap the rewards of building his ecological cinematic universe. Following the recent success of his domestic, international, and record-breaking hits Your Name and Weathering With You comes his latest light romance adventure film Suzume. The film follows a 17-year-old girl named Suzume (Nanoka Hara)who joins forces with a young man named Sōta (Hokuto Matsumura) to track down and close a series of mysterious and supernatural portals that have the potential, once opened, to release devastating natural disasters all over Japan. Since its release in Japan last year, Suzume has earned the designation of becoming the fourth-highest-grossing film of all time in Japan and globally; it also garnered especially attention at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year, as it was the first Japanese animated film to play in competition in two decades. With such...
Writer-director Makoto Shinkai continues to reap the rewards of building his ecological cinematic universe. Following the recent success of his domestic, international, and record-breaking hits Your Name and Weathering With You comes his latest light romance adventure film Suzume. The film follows a 17-year-old girl named Suzume (Nanoka Hara)who joins forces with a young man named Sōta (Hokuto Matsumura) to track down and close a series of mysterious and supernatural portals that have the potential, once opened, to release devastating natural disasters all over Japan. Since its release in Japan last year, Suzume has earned the designation of becoming the fourth-highest-grossing film of all time in Japan and globally; it also garnered especially attention at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year, as it was the first Japanese animated film to play in competition in two decades. With such...
- 4/15/2023
- by Destiny Jackson
- Deadline Film + TV
Years ago, I was sent to a screening of a film called "Your Name." I wasn't told until minutes before it started, and I had no idea what I was about to see. It was an anime film by Makoto Shinkai about two young people who switch bodies and learn about each other's lives, and it was so stunningly beautiful and touching that I had to sit in my seat for a bit before I could talk about it. Shinkai is back with another magical teen story in "Suzume," which got me in the gut yet again.
The teenage years are rough. Anyone who has lived through them will tell you that. You're trying to figure out what sort of person you'll be, find your place in the world, deal with massive changes in your body and your feelings, and navigate your love life. I don't know how Shinkai manages to take what can feel,...
The teenage years are rough. Anyone who has lived through them will tell you that. You're trying to figure out what sort of person you'll be, find your place in the world, deal with massive changes in your body and your feelings, and navigate your love life. I don't know how Shinkai manages to take what can feel,...
- 4/10/2023
- by Jenna Busch
- Slash Film
Tapping into the Japanese national zeitgeist once again with “Suzume,” writer-director Makoto Shinkai surpasses his peers in making films for and about teenagers. Now 50 years old, the anime master christened his latest blockbuster after its heroine, Suzume Iwato (voiced by Nanoka Hara), a 17-year-old orphan on the southwestern island of Kyushu swept up in a cross-country trip to prevent a series of natural disasters. That such a responsibility should fall to someone so young is typical of his oeuvre (see “Weathering With You”), but also an apt way of illustrating the lingering trauma and vulnerability that adolescents feel in many parts of Japan.
Funnier and more streamlined than Shinkai’s earlier hypercharged toon epics, “Suzume” is a massive hit in its home country, where it has earned more than $100 million since opening last November — his third film to pass that milestone. The film made its international premiere at the Berlinale,...
Funnier and more streamlined than Shinkai’s earlier hypercharged toon epics, “Suzume” is a massive hit in its home country, where it has earned more than $100 million since opening last November — his third film to pass that milestone. The film made its international premiere at the Berlinale,...
- 2/24/2023
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Although one might feel weary in advance to hear Suzume is yet another anime in which a young person is enlisted into a struggle to save their family/hometown/Japan/the world, this one’s a keeper.
A hefty hit locally in the wake of its November 2022 release — where it’s grossed over $100m — this latest feature by multi-hyphenate talent Makoto Shinkai (the force of nature behind hits Your Name and Weathering With You) offers his signature blend of fantasy, quotidian realism and idealistic young lovers. Although often funny, a deep sense of loss is baked into the bones of the film by the fact that its title character (voiced in the original Japanese version by Nanoka Hara) lost her mother in the 2011 tsunami-earthquake that killed nearly 20,000 people and caused the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster.
Not unlike the way Weathering With You sought to link the climate crisis with magical thinking,...
A hefty hit locally in the wake of its November 2022 release — where it’s grossed over $100m — this latest feature by multi-hyphenate talent Makoto Shinkai (the force of nature behind hits Your Name and Weathering With You) offers his signature blend of fantasy, quotidian realism and idealistic young lovers. Although often funny, a deep sense of loss is baked into the bones of the film by the fact that its title character (voiced in the original Japanese version by Nanoka Hara) lost her mother in the 2011 tsunami-earthquake that killed nearly 20,000 people and caused the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster.
Not unlike the way Weathering With You sought to link the climate crisis with magical thinking,...
- 2/23/2023
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Your Name director’s mythic and comic new animation is an absorbing, intriguing and bewildering work
Here is the new animation from the Japanese film-maker Makoto Shinkai, whose 2016 fantasy Your Name captured moviegoers’ imagination and led him to be thought of as a new master and perhaps even the heir to Hayao Miyazaki himself. It is an absorbing, intriguing, bewildering work: often spectacular and beautiful, like a sci-fi supernatural disaster movie or an essay on nature and politics, but shot through with distinctive elements of fey and whimsical comedy.
Suzume (voiced by Nanoka Hara) is a lonely, smart teenager, who lives with her aunt after the death of her mother. While walking one day she chances across a mysterious young man called Souta (Hokuto Matsumura), who is apparently in search of a door. Fascinated and somehow nettled by this stranger and his eccentric quest, Suzume sets out to follow him,...
Here is the new animation from the Japanese film-maker Makoto Shinkai, whose 2016 fantasy Your Name captured moviegoers’ imagination and led him to be thought of as a new master and perhaps even the heir to Hayao Miyazaki himself. It is an absorbing, intriguing, bewildering work: often spectacular and beautiful, like a sci-fi supernatural disaster movie or an essay on nature and politics, but shot through with distinctive elements of fey and whimsical comedy.
Suzume (voiced by Nanoka Hara) is a lonely, smart teenager, who lives with her aunt after the death of her mother. While walking one day she chances across a mysterious young man called Souta (Hokuto Matsumura), who is apparently in search of a door. Fascinated and somehow nettled by this stranger and his eccentric quest, Suzume sets out to follow him,...
- 2/23/2023
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Suzume no tojimari Trailer 3 — Toho Company has released the third movie trailer for Suzume no tojimari (2022). Crew Makoto Shinkai‘s Suzume no tojimari stars Nanoka Hara, Hokuto Matsumura, Eri Fukatsu, Koshiro Matsumoto, and Shota Sometani. Makoto Shinkai wrote the screenplay for Suzume no tojimari. “This new anime adventure features character design by Masayoshi Tanaka, [...]
Continue reading: Suzume No Tojimari (2022) Movie Trailer 3: An Abandon Door Leads to a Mystery in Makoto Shinkai’s Anime Film...
Continue reading: Suzume No Tojimari (2022) Movie Trailer 3: An Abandon Door Leads to a Mystery in Makoto Shinkai’s Anime Film...
- 9/30/2022
- by Rollo Tomasi
- Film-Book
"I'm afraid of a world where Souta doesn't exist!" Japan's Toho has revealed a second official trailer for Suzume no Tojimari, the latest from acclaimed animation filmmaker Makoto Shinkai (of Your Name and Weathering with You). We've featured two other Japanese trailers previously - the most recent one here during the summer. It's an action adventure road story about a girl named Suzume, starring Nanoka Hara as her voice. 17-year-old Suzume's journey begins in a quiet town in Kyushu when she encounters a young man who tells her, "I'm looking for a door." Soon, doors begin to open across Japan, bringing destruction upon any who are near them. Suzume must close these portals to prevent further disaster. This new anime adventure features character design by Masayoshi Tanaka, art direction by Takumi Tanji, animation by Kenichi Tsuchiya. It will be released under the title just Suzume internationally, from Crunchyroll / Sony Pictures / Wild Bunch.
- 9/29/2022
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
"Time is a sleeper, wind the soft skin, star is a cradle, people are mirage." Japan's Toho studio has debuted a new full-length official trailer for Suzume no Tojimari, the latest from acclaimed animation filmmaker Makoto Shinkai - best known for his films Your Name and Weathering with You (recommend watching both). The title roughly translates to Suzume's Door-Locking or Closing Suzume's Door. It is a modern action adventure road story about a girl named Suzume, starring Nanoka Hara as her voice in the film. 17-year-old Suzume's journey begins in a quiet town in Kyushu when she encounters a young man who tells her, "I'm looking for a door." Soon, doors begin to open all across Japan, unleashing destruction upon any who are near. Suzume must close these portals to prevent further disaster. The anime features character design by Masayoshi Tanaka, art direction by Takumi Tanji, and animation by Kenichi Tsuchiya.
- 7/18/2022
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Suzume’s Journey is About to Begin—!
Toho and CoMix Wave are proud to reveal the latest trailer for Makoto Shinkai’s upcoming film, “Suzume”, which also reveals for the first time, Nanoka Hara’s performance in the lead role of Suzume.
Since the key visual was revealed in April along with the four keywords, “Traveling Young Man”, “White Cat”, “Small Chair” and “The Key to Doors”, the film has gained considerable interest from press around the world. The upcoming film follows his previous two blockbusters, “Your Name” (2016) and “Weathering with You” (2019), which garnered unprecedented international acclaim.
“Suzume” is expected to be hitting movie theaters in Japan on November 11, 2022. Crunchyroll is distributing “Suzume” globally beginning in early 2023. In North America, Crunchyroll is the sole distributor. In Latin America, Australia/New Zealand, the Middle East and portions of Europe, the film will be distributed by Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures Entertainment. In French- and German-speaking Europe,...
Toho and CoMix Wave are proud to reveal the latest trailer for Makoto Shinkai’s upcoming film, “Suzume”, which also reveals for the first time, Nanoka Hara’s performance in the lead role of Suzume.
Since the key visual was revealed in April along with the four keywords, “Traveling Young Man”, “White Cat”, “Small Chair” and “The Key to Doors”, the film has gained considerable interest from press around the world. The upcoming film follows his previous two blockbusters, “Your Name” (2016) and “Weathering with You” (2019), which garnered unprecedented international acclaim.
“Suzume” is expected to be hitting movie theaters in Japan on November 11, 2022. Crunchyroll is distributing “Suzume” globally beginning in early 2023. In North America, Crunchyroll is the sole distributor. In Latin America, Australia/New Zealand, the Middle East and portions of Europe, the film will be distributed by Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures Entertainment. In French- and German-speaking Europe,...
- 7/17/2022
- by Suzie Cho
- AsianMoviePulse
Filled to the rafters with sacks of abandoned materials and supplies like unfinished maze walls, colourful with some sense of order, the warehouse boasts a secret many will never discover, forever lacking something quaint yet no less eccentric. For within this makeshift home resides a songstress, long forgotten by the annals of time and memory; clad in school uniform her longing heart and ukulele sing harmoniously waiting to be heard by anyone in tune with the most minutiae of sensitivities. And who shall stumble upon the songstress’ song but a wandering soul, lost in her own bubble floating through life in a daydream of doodles and ideas. As if enchanted by what she hears, our coasting protagonist is about to have her life change in an unimaginable way.
And so begins the unscripted rabbit-hole exploration of female adolescence that is “Infinite Foundation”, Akira Osaki’s answer to a saturated sea...
And so begins the unscripted rabbit-hole exploration of female adolescence that is “Infinite Foundation”, Akira Osaki’s answer to a saturated sea...
- 4/1/2020
- by James Cansdale-Cook
- AsianMoviePulse
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