A trailer has been uploaded to YouTube for the upcoming theatrical release of Thee Michelle Gun Elephant’s final performance at the Makuhari Messe convention complex in Chiba city on October 11, 2003. The film will feature remastered footage and an exclusive look backstage.

“Michelle Gun Elephant Thee Movie - Last Heaven 031011” will be released first at Cine Saison Shibuya on December 19, 2009 with a nation-wide road show to follow.

Sources: Official website | YouTube

Aibu will play a peculiar university student named Sugina Mayama who’s researching ways to create a ghost. Mizobata will play a fellow university student named Tomokazu Shudo who’s fallen hard for Sugina but has trouble confessing because she’s his first love. One day Sugina invites Tomokazu to her lab. When he arrives, the room is dark and there’s a large, ominous looking wooden box inside. The box is a mysterious device called a “neck machine” and Sugina aims to make the love-struck Tomokazu the first “victim” of her new creation. Yuta Hiraoka and Chiaki Kuriyama also star.

Maijo will also be adapting Neck as a stage play with a completely different story, but the same general motif. Aibu won’t appear in the play, but Mizobata will in a different capacity than in the film. Itsuji Itao, Kosuke Suzuki, and Hiroyuki Morisaki will have roles in the stage adaptation which will begin its run at Tokyo’s Aoyama Round Theatre on February 12, 2010.

“Neck” is being produced and distributed by Asmik Ace Entertainment with a release slated for Summer 2010.

Here’s a clip of the film’s two stars talking about the project (no subtitles): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtPwRtL1BX0

Sources: Eiga.com | Unleash the Geek

Japanese distributor Happinet will be releasing Sang-il Lee's Hula Girls (2006) on region A Blu-ray in December.

Plot: In 1960s Japan, the small mining town of Iwaka is going through a severe economic downturn. The mining company decides to combat this by starting a Hawaiian center in town to encourage tourism. They hire a dance teacher from Tokyo named Madoka (Yasuko Matsuyuki) to teach some of the local teenage girls how to hula, but it's soon clear they're a hopeless lot when they hesitate to bare their midriffs or shake their hips. Madoka is ready to give up on the whole ordeal, but eventually is inspired by the kids' perseverance and decides she'll stick with it until she makes them great hula dancers.

Blu-ray region A, 16:9 anamorphic widescreen, 1080p HD, dual-layer. Japanese Dolby TrueHD audio with selectable English and Japanese subtitles. Features include theatrical trailer, TV spots, and audio commentary (not subtitled).

Trailer:

A full trailer has been added to the official website for Yoji Yamada‘s Ototo, the director’s first modern-set drama in 10 years.

The story centers around a widow named Ginko (Sayuri Yoshinaga) and her foolish younger brother Tetsuro (Tsurube Shofukutei). Even though Tetsuro has been a nuisance to the family, Ginko has always been willing to overlook his flaws and take care of him. However, an incident causes her to break all ties to him, leaving him completely alone and devastated. When they’re finally reunited, she discovers he’s fighting a fatal disease and doesn’t have long to live. Yu Aoi also stars as Ginko’s daughter Koharu and Ryo Kase plays Koharu’s friend Toru.

Shochiku will be releasing “Ototo” in Japan on January 30, 2010.

The story is based on a real diary describing the life of a 3rd-generation samurai household during the late Edo period, in the midst of the Meiji Restoration which marked the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Sakai will play Hachidaime Naoyuki, an accountant within the once-powerful Kaga Domain. At any other time, his position in society would have brought him great wealth, but Hachidaime and his wife (Nakama) are now forced to live frugally as their social status deteriorates along with Japan’s feudal system. Through all their hardships, Hachidaime maintains his integrity and his wife makes do with what little they have left to make their home life as happy as possible.

“Bushi no Kakeibo” will be jointly distributed by Shochiku and Asmik Ace Entertainment and will be released nationwide in Japan next year.

Sources: Eiga.com | @tokyograph

Kanno will play Doctor Rie Sonezaki, a fertility specialist dubbed the “Obstetrics Joan of Arc” for her willingness to go to extraordinary lengths to help women who want to have babies—even if it means risking her career by violating the policy most Japanese obstetricians have long held against assisting with the use of surrogate mothers.

Surrogacy is a highly controversial topic in Japan, with an ongoing debate over whether it should be officially banned. While technically legal, there are few obstetricians willing to do it on principle. And when a mother does manage to go through with it, there’s often a significant social stigma attached to having another woman bear their child. There’s also a severe shortage of obstetricians in the country, both caused by the low birthrate and simultaneously compounding the problem. It’s Kaido’s hope that turning his novel into a film might help in bringing the obstetrics field back from the brink of ruin.

Seiichi Tanabe will co-star as Goro Kyokawa, Sonezaki’s superior at Mikado Hana Medical School Department of Obstetrics who also wishes to change the system. The rest of the cast includes Miho Shiraishi, Nana Katase, Kaho Minami, Jun Fubuki, and Ruriko Asaoka.

“Gene Waltz” will be completed by February 2010 with an eye toward a Fall theatrical release by Toei.

Sources: Cinema Today | @tokyograph

A new teaser and full trailer have been added to the official website for Yoshihiro Nakamura‘s Golden Slumber, which is based on a novel by Kotaro Isaka. Nakamura previously adapted Isaka’s “The Foreign Duck, the Native Duck and God in a Coin Locker” in 2007 and “Fish Story” in 2009.

Plot: During a parade in Sendai City for Sadayoshi Kaneda, the opposition party’s first Prime Minister, a radio-controlled bomb suddenly explodes and kills him. Around the same time, a courier named Aoyagi (Masato Sakai) meets up with an old friend named Morita. Morita seems to be acting very strange, and mentions the assassination before it happens. Suddenly police arrive with their guns drawn. Aoyagi witnesses Morita’s death and makes a run for it, completely confused by what just happened. Soon, several witnesses come forward to frame Aoyagi for the assassination. With nowhere left to turn, Aoyagi must place all his trust in a small circle of friends to help him along the way including his university junior Kazu, fellow delivery driver Iwasaki, a serial killer named Kiruo, and former girlfriend Haruko (Yuko Takeuchi).

“Golden Slumber” will be released in Japan on January 30, 2010.

Well, this is a bit more like it. After enduring a cheesy flash mini game with no purpose and a completely sedate first teaser, we finally get some evidence that Tae-gyun Kim’s upcoming live-action adaptation Higanjima may actually be at least partially geared toward the same mature audience Koji Matsumoto’s original manga was.

Plot: A teenager named Akira (Hideo Ishiguro) travels to creepy Higan Island to find his missing older brother (Dai Watanabe) with the help of several friends. Unfortunately, the island is inhabited by vampires and no one has ever escaped alive. He eventually discovers that his brother has not only survived on the island alone, but has honed prolific vampire hunting skills in the hopes of avenging the brutal murder of his fiancee.

“Higanjima” premiered in Pusan on October 9th and will be released by Warner Bros. in Japan on January 9, 2010.

Source: Official website

The manga, which is serialized in Morning and Morning 2 magazines, won the Tetsuya Chiba Prize in 2003 and is known for its unique brand of nonsense comedy which is evidenced pretty well by its description: Assisted by a dog named Mugi with a 3rd-grade intelligence and a foul-mouthed parrot named Piitan, Detective Yoshida uses his ability to communicate with insects to solve various bug-related cases.

Aikawa has starred in over 100 films over his career and has earned the nickname “Emperor of V-Cinema” for memorable roles in many direct-to-video yakuza flicks in the late 80s and early 90s. He’s worked with Sato before, playing the insane yakuza boss Ozaki in Takashi Miike‘s bizarre 2004 yakuza film Gozu, which Sato wrote, and he also starred alongside Tadanobu Asano in Sato’s 2005 comedy Tokyo Zombie. He also happens to be an enthuiastic insect collector and breeder himself, keeping a large collection of rhinoceros beetles and stag beetles in his home.

“Konchu Tantei Yoshida Yoshimi” will be released sometime in 2010.

Sources: Anime News Network | Mainichi Shimbun

A trailer has been added to the official website for Isao Yukisada‘s A Good Husband, which is based on a play by Mayumi Nakatani.

In the film, Etsushi Toyokawa plays a formerly successful photographer named Shunsuke Kitami who’s recently been in a personal and professional slump. His wife Sakura (Hiroko Yakushimaru) spends her days at home meticulously clipping health-related articles from magazines, making carrot tea, and pestering Shunsuke to go on a trip with her to conceive a baby. Eager to appease Sakura so he can go back to his old lifestyle of cheating on her, Shunsuke finally agrees to go on a trip to Okinawa just before Christmas. However, when they arrive, their relationship begins to go through subtle changes. Sakura seems to be losing her affection for Shunsuke, and for some reason his photographs aren’t coming out right anymore. When he finds a picture of Sakura running away from him, he comes to an unexpected realization…

“A Good Husband” premiered at the Pusan International Film Festival on October 15, 2009. Toei will be releasing it publicly in Japan on January 16, 2010.

Thanks to logboy for the tip.

A teaser for Tatsushi Omori‘s upcoming road movie A Crowd of Three was recently released to various Japanese websites and media outlets for some early PR before the film premieres at Tokyo FILMeX later this month.

Shota Matsuda and Kengo Kora star as Kenta and Jun, two working class guys who grew up together at the same orphanage like brothers. They take demolition jobs straight out of junior high school, but are overworked and forced to endure terrible conditions for meager pay. Frustrated with their lot in life, the pair decide to break through their “invisible wall” and travel north to visit Kenta’s real older brother in jail. Now armed with a dim glimmer of hope, Kenta and Jun burn their bridges and take to the road, unaware that they’ve got a passenger with them named Kayo-chan (Sakura Ando).

Distributor Little More will be releasing “A Crowd of Three” in theaters sometime in 2010.

Source: CinemaCafe

A new theatrical trailer has been added to the official website of Itsuji Itao’s King of the Escape. The film is the feature-length directorial debut of comedian, actor, and television personality Itsuji Itao with a script co-written by Itao, Shoichiro Masumoto, and Yudai Yamaguchi.

Plot: In the early Show period, there was a prison escape artist named Masayuki Suzuki (Itao). No cuffs or prison bars could hold him because he utilized his unique intellect and physical abilities to escape at will. Other prisoners started to view him as a hero, dubbing him “Datsugoku-o” (Jailbreak King). Every time Suzuki broke out, he’d allow himself to be caught after a few hours, so what exactly was the purpose of his escapes?

“King of the Escape” was screened earlier this year at the Okinawa International Movie Festival as part of a special presentation by Yoshimoto Kogyo. Kadokawa will release the film publicly in Japan on January 16, 2010.

A teaser has been added to the official website for Production I.G.‘s animated film Bungaku Shojo (literally “literature girl”).

Based on a series of light novels by Mizuki Nomura, the story revolves around the only two members of a high school literary club: the president, a senior named Toko Amano and author Konoha Inoue. Inoue once wrote a novel under the pen name “Miu” which went on to become wildly popular, but the experience of going uncredited made him wary of releasing his work publicly ever again. Luckily, his senpai Amano is a yokai (mystical creature), who gets sustenance by literally devouring stories, giving Inoue a reason to continue writing new works everyday.

“Bungaku Shojo” will be released during Golden Week 2010 (sometime in April or May).

Source: Anime News Network

Trick was originally a TV drama which first aired on TV Asahi in 2000 and continued on for 2 addition seasons, a TV special, and 2 theatrically released films. In season 1, Nakama played a talented but struggling magician named Naoko Yamada who answers an ad from a stuffy physics professor and fierce skeptic of all things non-scientific named Jiro Ueda (Abe). He offers a cash reward for anyone who can prove to him magic exists. Naoko dazzles the professor with a few simple tricks, and he enlists her help in his investigation of a mysterious cult. Yamada’s insight into the world of magic and trickery becomes invaluable to Ueda, and the pair continue pairing up to debunk various spiritualists and charlatans.

The new film is set in a village which is holding a “spiritual medium battle royale” to replace their former leader, Kamihaeru, whom they believed to be a powerful clairvoyant. It is said that they have 100 days to replace Kamihaeru or harm will come to the village. Yamada decides to utilize her talents in the event to earn some cold hard cash, and Ueda reluctantly tags along in the hopes of putting a stop to the battle.

Yoko Nogiwa, Katsuhisa Namase, Ken Matsudaira, Takeru Sato, Keiko Toda and Kaho also star.

It was also announced that a new TV anniversary special, “Trick Daikanshasai”, will be produced for TV Asahi next year to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the original Trick drama series. Many of the same people involved in the film will also be working on the drama, which should be completed by early April.

Sources: Sports Hochi | Cinema Today

A teaser has been added to the official website for Masaaki Taniguchi‘s new live-action film version of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. And if it seems as though this one sneaked up on us, it kind of has; distributor stylejam has kept this project remarkably low-key for the better part of a year for whatever reason.

The film stars Riisa Naka  (the voice of Makoto in the 2006 animated film) as Akari, the 18-year-old daughter of the protagonist of the original novel, Kazuko Yoshiyama (played by Narumi Yasuda). When Kazuko is injured in a car accident and falls into a coma, Akari leaps back in time to the 70s to seek out her mother’s first love, Kazuo Fukamachi. Instead, she meets a college student named Ryota (Akiyoshi Nakao) who helps her with her search.

The film will be released first at Cinequanon’s Human Trust Cinema Shibuya and Yurakucho 1-chome in March, 2010.

Thanks to logboy for catching the site update.

In addition to various TV and film roles as bodyguards, he also played "Muscleman" (the guy with the gigantic sword) in Yuji Shimomura's Death Trance and recently co-starred with Asami in the yet-unreleased Yakuza Hunter parts 2 and 3.

Check out Chuck's official website for more info on his career.

The film is based on the true story of science fiction writer Taku Mayumura whose wife died of colon cancer in 2002. After a doctor told him laughter can help the immune system, Mayumura began writing one story of at least 3 pages every day for his cancer-stricken wife. Although the initial prognosis was that she would only survive one year, she went on to live 5 good years with the help of the 1,778 total stories written by her husband for her over that time.

Kusanagi will be playing Sakutaro, a character modeled after Mayumura and Takeuchi will play Setsuko, his wife since they graduated from high school. Shosuke Tanihara, Michiko Yoshise, and Ren Osugi also star.

Mamoru Hoshi (University of Laughs) is directing. Filming began on October 24th and will finish on December 26th. The film is expected to be completed by February and will be ready to make a hard push overseas, including Cannes in May.

Source: Sports Hochi

Only a week after the upcoming Gintama theatrical release was officially announced, a teaser has been uploaded to the film’s official website.

Based on a Hideaki Sorachi manga, Gintama was first adapted to an anime series by Sunrise and has been airing on TV Tokyo since 2006. The new film will be based on the Benizakura story arc from episodes 58-61 of season 2 of the series.

“Gekijoban Gintama: Shinyaku Benizakura-hen” will be released by Warner Bros. sometime during Golden Week 2010 (April or May).

Source: Anime News Network

Tsumabuki will play a lonely blue collar worker from rural Kyushu named Yuichi who murders a woman he meets through an online dating website and takes another woman to a love hotel by force. Eri Fukatsu (36) also stars as Mitsuyo, a woman who runs away with Yuichi as police sort out the details of his crime and the motive behind it.

Filming will begin on November 10th, and as you can see from the picture above, Tsumabuki has already dyed his hair blond in preparation for the role. Release is slated for Fall 2010.

Sources: Tokyograph | Cinema Today

Now that we’re into November, pretty much all the 2009 Japanese films have either been released or announced, so logboy has magnanimously released his master list for 2009, which you’ll find in its entirety after the break. I’ve covered many of these titles on Nippon Cinema in one way or another, but there are some I haven’t even mentioned.

If you want to follow logboy on Twitter, his username is yobgol.