Archive
DVD Review: Nura – Rise of The Yokai Clan Season 1 Part 1
Based on the manga by Hiroshi Shibashi
Japan is reputedly one of the most haunted countries in the world and the TV anime Nura – Rise of the Yokai clan makes use of a wide selection of demons (yokai) from Japanese folklore and places them in modern day Tokyo.
Life can be tough for most humans but spare a thought for good-natured twelve-year-old Rikuo Nura who has to deal with being a quarter demon. Rikuo may seem like a normal schoolboy but he lives amongst yokai who belong to the Nura clan which is led by his grandfather, the Supreme Commander of the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons. With Rikuo’s Read more…
Music Review: Raychell “L>R”
The eagerly anticipated debut album from Japan’s hottest new singing sensation!
Release date: 24 April 2013
This dazzling assortment of songs which consists of a mixture of styles from rock to dance confirms that Raychell is a singer – songwriter of immense talent who is equally comfortable performing ballads as she is up-tempo songs. Her vocal skills are outstanding. She can make a simple tune sound full of meaning and an intricate melody sound easy on the Read more…
Art Exhibition Review: Works On Nature & Dance/Movement By Hiroko Imada
Expressive moods in colour!
Riverside Studios Gallery London - 16 March – 7 April 2013
On Monday, 18 March Diverse Japan attended a private viewing of the exhibition Works on Nature & Dance/Movement by Japanese artist Hiroko Imada, which is being held at the Riverside Studios Gallery in London from 16 March until 7 April (see foot of post for opening times). The exhibition is registered with Read more…
DVD Review: Blue Exorcist Part 2 – Episodes 14 – 25
Rin defies his Hellish heritage and enrols at the True Cross Academy, determined to become the world’s strongest exorcist.!
Blue Exorcist Part 2 is the final collection of Manga Entertainment’s release of the popular shounen anime title. It covers episodes 14 to 25 and it features an increase in macabre monsters, creepy characters and awesome action as the show reaches its climax.
At the end of the first collection 15-year-old Rin Okumura and his new-found friends at the True Cross Academy have advanced a level in their Exorcist training to the rank of Ex-Wires. Rin and his Read more…
DVD Review: Needless Part 1 Episodes 1-12
An anime series about a group of post-holocaust survivors with extraordinary powers!
It is the year 2130, 50 years after the catastrophic events of World War III. Where Tokyo once stood, there is now a nuclear contaminated hole full of rubble and destruction, known as ‘The Black Spot’. Now populated by refugees and outcasts, many of The Black Spot’s inhabitants have developed special powers ranging from telekinesis to super strength, speed and even transmutation. These powers are known as ‘fragments’ and the people who wield them known as the ‘Needless’. Read more…
DVD Review: Chaos; Head Collection
From the mind that brought you Death Note comes a schizophrenic anime experience!
Based on a virtual novel developed for the PC (and later Playstation and XBox systems) by 5pb and Nitroplus and consequent Manga adaptation, Chaos Head (also known as the stylised ChäoS;HEAd) is a psychological thriller with sci-fi and fantasy elements.
The story follows Takumi Nishijō, an otaku with a love of action figures and dolls, specifically of his favourite anime heroine, Orgel Seira. He is reclusive and a self confessed ‘hermit’ with most of his social integration taking place Read more…
Theatre Review: Anjin: The Shogun And The English Samurai
A lavish three-hour stage production of the relationship between William Adams and Shogun to be Tokugawa Ieyasu!
On the 12th April 1600, some six months before the battle of Sekigahara took place on 20th October that same year, the first Englishman to step foot in Japan, William Adams (Stephen Boxer), arrived off the coast of the Japanese province of Bungo in the Dutch ship the Liefde. It was a combination of these events which, that year, brought together and changed the fortunes of two men; William Adams, a maritime pilot from Gillingham, and the Shōgun to be Tokugawa Ieyasu (Masachika Ichimura), a descendant of the Minamoto and the wealthiest Daimyō (Lord) in Japan at Read more…
DVD Review: Persona 4 The Animation Volume 1
An adaptation of the hugely popular Persona 4 videogame!
High school dramas form a large majority of anime series, and can be set in many genres. Persona 4 contains fantasy situations that happen to the students outside of school and one student in particular, Yu has moved into the area, experiencing some strange phenomena from a TV left on overnight. As he is new he has to make sure that he keeps up a good profile if he wants to make friends, but once he does, his life will change forever.
Chie and Yukiko want to welcome Yu as he is the new guy, but he’s finding it difficult settling into the school routine even if Read more…
DVD/Blu-ray Review: The Woodsman And The Rain – A Film By Shuichi Okita
A gentle story of a local woodsman who forms a friendship with a young director of a zombie film!
In The Woodsman and the Rain (Kitsutsuki to Ame), 60 year-old lumberjack Katsu (Koji Yakusho) is about to undergo a life changing experience, but is at first reluctant to have his run of the mill life interrupted by a film crew that arrives in his hometown to shoot a zombie movie.
Director Shuichi Okita (The Chef of South Polar, City Boys’ Film Noir) shows the normal everyday life of a woodcutter, Katsu and how it changes when he is asked to help out the young withdrawn director, Koichi (Shun Oguri) by assisting with location scouting since he is a local and knows the Read more…
DVD Review: The World God Only Knows Complete Series One Collection
12 episodes over 2 discs!
Anime series about computer games are quite popular among the Japanese audiences at the moment. Baka and Test is one that springs to mind, but there are many more. As most technology comes from Japan, and the gaming industry as a whole has taken off greatly, this anime is an example of what happens when school kids get embroiled in hand held gaming devices like the PSP.
The World God Only Knows is seen through the eyes of Katsuragi Keima, a middle school student who is fascinated by his new game. He enjoys Read more…
DVD Review: The Foreign Duck, The Native Duck & God in a Coin Locker
A charming and quirky story with an unexpected twist!
Student Shiina (Gaku Hamada) moves into an apartment in Sendai. One day while Shiina is outside getting the rubbish ready, Kawasaki (Eita) comes along and asks him in for a drink and a chat.
Shiina thinks this will be a normal chat, but this is when the movie changes into one of strange proportions. After Kawasaki tells him of his younger life at high school, he also decides to ask his help with one of his neighbours, a Bhutanese man who hasn’t left his apartment in a long time. He tells Shiina Read more…
NEO Magazine Issue 106 Profiles Film Director Toshiaki Toyoda (9 Souls) OUT NOW!
A special double cover issue – Plus free MCM Comic Con cosplay 2013 diary!
NEO magazine welcomes in the New Year with bumper coverage of the hottest titles UK-bound over the months ahead. From musical predictions to the best anime releases, NEO has all bases covered! Plus, plan your year in style with a free MCM Comic Con Cosplay 2013 Diary!
Then, flip the magazine over to discover everything you need to know about Ni no Kumi: Wrath of the Read more…
DVD Review: Shiki Part 1
From the studio that brought you Black Butler and Fullmetal Alchemist!
Nothing happens in a sleepy town and Megumi knows that for sure. She hates the villagers and their gossip and the rural location she came to. Megumi has a deep desire to leave the next chance she gets, but she soon realises the village isn’t as sleepy as she once thought. A new family have moved into the area. No one knows much about them and strange things have begun to occur in her neighbourhood; Jizo statues have been desecrated, and a mystery illness has started to take the lives of Read more…
DVD Review: Rosario & Vampire Capu2 Collection
Contains complete second series!
Due to his failing grades, Tsukune Aono has been unable to get accepted into any well thought of human high schools. Consequently, he has been enrolled at Youkai School, a private school for monsters and other supernatural beings. As the only human boy in the school, he has obviously aroused the interest of several monstrous young girls. Most notably he has taken interest in Moka Akashiya, a powerful vampire who has hidden her full supernatural power through the use of a magical rosary necklace, which only Tsukune seems to be able to Read more…
DVD Review: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Complete Series One
3 discs, 12 magical episodes, uncut and waiting to blow your mind!
Five high school girls get approached by a fox type spirit/mascot who offers to make them magical girls – as a form of incentive, they get one wish. All they have to do is search and destroy dangerous witches who threaten their existence. Being a magical girl isn’t a walk in the park though, there is more to it than even they realise, but each one has a special power they can use as a result of the wish granted to them. They all have problems with being magical girls, but have to get through the difficulties of forming relationships, love, betrayal and Read more…
Book Review: Strong in the Rain By Lucy Birmingham and David McNeill
Living through the historic earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown!
No one could have thought that in March of 2011, the northeast coast of Japan would be hit by an earthquake 9.0 magnitude, one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded, sending a tsunami crashing through the towns, destroying all in its wake. Even though the country has regular earthquake evacuation drills, and sea walls as high as forty feet, nothing could’ve prepared it for a disaster of such scale. The catastrophe continued with a meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant that would rival Chernobyl. After the disaster, Japan faced being in the news, and sympathy from around the globe grew, as did the Read more…
DVD Review: Princess Resurrection Complete Series Collection
A supernatural mystery/comedy with werewolves, beautiful vampires, grotesque flesh-eating Cthulhu-esque monsters!
Hiro Hiyorimi has been invited to live with his older sister, who has taken a job as a maid for a mysterious Princess. On his way to meet with his sister he encounters a young woman in the street just as she is about to get into a serious accident. Sacrificing himself to save the life of this woman he has never met, Hiro is killed and taken to the local mortuary. The woman is actually the supernatural Princess who Hiro’s sister has been working for and he is blessed with magical powers of regeneration and ressurrection. Struck by Hiro’s heroism, but also the needlessness of his sacrifice due to her Read more…
DVD Review: Towanoquon Complete Series Collection
A wild dance of chaos!
In a dark and distant future children have awoken to the power within, a strange phenomenon that turns them into superhuman entities. Each one has a trigger, but not all know they have this power. These people are known as Attractors, and have two separate factions interested in capturing them. Only one can benefit them, the other only wants to use them for their own selfish needs. Quon is the good guy, an Attractor himself a faction called Custos, or the Order has given the name Read more…
Film Review: Karakara – A Film By Claude Gagnon
Karakara: An onomatopoeic Japanese word meaning rattle!
Pierre a 61 year old retired professor from Montreal played by Gabriel Arcand attends a Qigong retreat in Okinawa intending to make a solitary exploration of Okinawa and its islands after the retreat is over. He has reached a point in his life where the recent death of his best friend and his own advancing years have triggered an existential crisis.
By chance Pierre connects with Junko an English speaking downtrodden abused housewife played by Youki Kudoh and her friend Akemi played by Read more…
