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Animation film director Satoshi Kon , who passed away in August 2010 at the age of 46, was born on October 12, 1963 in Hokkaido, Japan. Ikebukuro Humax Cinemas, operated by Humax Entertainment, will hold a special screening event of the director's works as “Satoshi Kon Birthday Celebration" from October 11, 2024. In conjunction with the screening, there will be special bonus gifts for visitors, original drinks, and merchandise for sale that can only be available there. Ticket prices and sales dates will be announced shortly. Screening Schedule: October 11 (Fri) - 17 (Thu) “Tokyo Godfathers” (2003), “Paprika” (2006) October 12 (Sat / Satoshi Kon's Birthday) “Perfect Blue" (1997) October 18 (Fri) - 24(Thu) “Millennium Actress" (2002) October 18 (Fri) “Paranoia Agents” (2004) - all-night screening on Blu-ray Tokyo Godfathers and Paprika will receive their first Dcp (Digital Cinema Package) screenings in Japan, and the system will allow for very high resolution images to be displayed and high quality, clear sound to be enjoyed. Additionally, the two main...

TV Asahi aired a special program on April 21, 2024, dedicating nearly three hours to unveil the top 20 favorite anime songs as voted by non-Japanese anime fans. The program aimed to explore the widespread popularity of Japanese anime culture and its music overseas.

The program was hosted by comedy duo Bakusho Mondai along with Eiji Wentz and featured insights from various guests and voice actors, including Daisuke Sakuma from Snow Man, Miho Watanabe, Yuriko Tiger, Megumi Han, Ryo Horikawa, Rica Matsumoto, and Yuko Miyamura.

After conducting a survey among 1,740 anime fans living abroad, the program revealed the highly anticipated rankings, shedding light on the most beloved anime songs among overseas fans.

Checkout the top 20 anime songs loved by foreign fans below:

20. “Guren no Yumiya” by Linked Horizon (Attack on Titan)

19. “Shinzo wo Sasageyo!” by Linked Horizon (Attack on Titan)

18. “Akuma no Ko” by Ai Higuchi (Attack on Titan)

17. “Tank! by Seatbelts (Cowboy...

Now that he’s officially become the very best, like no one ever was, Ash Ketchum is heading into retirement. The long-running and perpetually 10 year-old star of the beloved “Pokémon” anime will exit the series with an upcoming 11-episode run airing in Japan this January, the Pokémon Company announced Friday.

In his place, two new protagonists, Liko and Roy, will be introduced in a new series set in the Paldea region, first seen in this year’s Generation IX “Pokémon” games “Scarlet and Violet.” The series will premiere sometime later in 2023, and feature the starters from the game: Sprigatito (a grass cat), Fuecoco (a fire-breathing crocodile baby), and Quaxly (a water duck).

The news of Ash’s retirement from the anime comes a month after the Japanese airing of the 132nd episode of the “Pokémon Journeys” series, and the 1,217th episode of the anime overall, which saw Ash (voiced in...

Otaku and Kawaii

It feels like November has barely begun, and yet here we are three weeks in. Like most months on Horror Queers, we’ve been all over the place, including the dream-like pastel world of Jennifer Reeder’s women-centric Knives and Skin and the 25th-anniversary fascist machismo world of Paul Verhoeven’s Starship Troopers. Now we’re pivoting for a return trip to Japan with our second foray into animated fare (after ParaNorman) with Satoshi Kon‘s stunning first film, Perfect Blue.

In the film, Mima (voiced by Junko Iwao) is an Idol being groomed for a career jump from singing to acting. Despite the protests of her manager Rumi (voiced by Rica Matsumoto), Mima agrees to a controversial and confronting storyline on the derivative police procedural ‘Double Bind.’ But her shift into increasingly adult fare doesn’t sit well with all of Mima’s controlling fans, including...

The leaves are withering, the air is turning crisp, and film festival season is well underway — which means even more foreign-language movies to receive raves on the fall awards circuit before getting promptly buried on a streamer. But don't let that happen to "Athena," a staggering French drama that is in danger of falling into the Netflix abyss, crowded out by your "Gray Men" or "Kissing Booth's." Or check out one of last year's forgotten festival darlings in Céline Sciamma's "Petite Maman." And because spooky season is now here, we have a horror anime classic making their streaming debuts, alongside a cyberpunk anime classic. Plus, "Little Women," but make it crime?

Let's fire up those subtitles and get streaming.

Athena – Netflix

Country: France

Genre: Action drama

Director: Romain Gavras

Cast: Dali Benssalah, Sami Slimane, Anthony Bajon, Ouassini Embarek, Alexis Manenti.

"Athena" is a Molotov cocktail of a movie: incendiary,...

It’s the anime equivalent of LeBron winning his first ring or Scorsese winning his first Oscar. After 22 years on the air, the long-running “Pokemon” anime series gave fans what they’ve always wanted, as Ash Ketchum finally won his first Pokemon league title Sunday.

For decades, Ash has traveled through the various regions of the world of Pokemon with his buddy Pikachu, meeting friends and foiling the plots of Team Rocket. Along the way, he has caught dozens of Pokemon and competed in six regional league tournaments, but every time he has fallen short. He did bring a trophy back to his home in Pallet Town way back in 1999 by winning all four badges in the Orange League, but that league did not have a full tournament.

Ash’s constant setbacks have been praised for teaching kids how to learn and grow from failure, but longtime fans have been...

The Pokémon Company is having quite a year. Hot off the trails of Warner Bros.’ successful live action adaption Detective Pikachu, the next animated Pokémon film, Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution, is headed straight to Japanese theaters next week. Though, no release date has been revealed stateside, fans at the 2019 Anime Expo were treated to a special screening last night, and reactions are slowly rolling in on social media.

The film, which is a nearly shot-for-shot CGI remake of Pokémon: The First Movie, finds Ash and his friends lured to a mysterious island, where the villainous Mewtwo has trapped them as a part of a larger villainous scheme. Updating the very first Pokémon movie, which broke box office records upon its 1998 release in the United States and is still beloved by ‘90s kids today, quickly drew the ire of many fans. After the first trailer debuted online, many of these...

Directed by: Satoshi Kon

Written by: Sadayuki Murai, Yoshikazu Takeuchi

Cast: Junko Iwao, Rica Matsumoto, Shinpachi Tsuji, Masaaki Ôkura, Yôsuke Akimoto, Yoku Shioya, Hideyuki Hori, Emi Shinohara, Masashi Ebara, Kiyoyuki Yanada, Tôru Furusawa, Shiho Niiyama, Emiko Furukawa

Diving headfirst into Kon Month, I’ll be starting off with Satoshi Kon’s very own directorial debut, Perfect Blue. An adaptation loosely based off a book of the same name written by Yoshikazu Takeuchi, Perfect Blue originally hit theaters in 1997 and was greatly received by many around the world, not just anime fans.

To this day, Perfect Blue has strong holding in the anime industry. Many people consider this movie to be Kon’s magnum opus among his many great films. I personally had not seen it and was skeptical of their opinions; even as I began watching the film I was skeptical of its greatness. However, by the end my opinion was greatly changed,...