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Iranaimono (SINGLE+GOODS) (First Press Limited Edition) (Japan Version)
Kitani Tatsuya x Natori
| Kitani Tatsuya
| Natori
Two of Japan's most notable breakthrough singer-songwriters of the past few years, Kitani Tatsuya and natori have teamed up for a collaboration single, and it's a total mood. natori has cited Kitani as an influence on his music in the past, so it's no wonder the two match so well. Kitani and natori jointly wrote and composed both songs on the single, Iranaimono ("Chained") and Uwagaki Shichatta ("Overwritten"). The opening lines of "Chained" (Track 1) sum up the sentiments of both songs: "I broke free of my dearest. I don't need it anymore because I can't be here.” The opening theme for Rurouni Kenshin -Kyoto Disturbance-, "Chained" speeds through reflections of wavering weakness,... [read more]
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Got boost? (SINGLE+TOY) (Limited Edition) (Japan Version)
FANTASTICS FROM EXILE TRIBE
For anyone in need of a sugar-high kick to their morning playlist, FANTASTICS' latest single has got the boost. Or rather, it's "Got-Boo-Got Got-Boo-Got Energy." Embracing bubblegum pop in the best possible way, Got Boost? delivers a burst of energy from the very first line sung by Yagi Yusei, declaring "Dazzling moments that can't be returned, I won't let anyone take them away." The unabashedly catchy and upbeat track is the opening theme for Kamen Rider Gavv, and it's only appropriate that our candy-colored, sweets-powered Rider has such a bright and positive theme song. The fun, uptempo melody is laced with electronic dance beats and playful lyrics by tokusatsu song specialist... [read more]
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Love Again (ALBUM+DVD) (First Press Limited Edition) (Japan Version)
Nishino Kana
After a five-year hiatus, Nishino Kana finally returned this year in time for her 15th anniversary. Her recent EP Love Again is her first new studio album since 2017. Though much has changed in the Japanese music scene in the years between, Love Again demonstrates again why Kanayan is the epitome of trendy girls' pop. Love Again carries five love songs with lyrics written by Nishino, starting with the title track EYES ON YOU (Track 1). The pop ballad boldly annnounces the desire for more love, even if love may be a fleeting flower: "I can't settle for just 'I love you,' such ambigious words... I need so much more love from you." EYES ON YOU also announces Nishino's return with a refreshing... [read more]
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Cobweb (2023) (Blu-ray) (Hong Kong Version)
Song Kang Ho (Actor)
| Krystal Jung (Actor)
| Jang Young Nam (Actor)
| Jang Gwang (Actor)
Kim Jee Woon is perhaps now better known for crime action genre fare, but his dark, atmospheric style started in 1998 with the black comedy The Quiet Family. The Korean director returns to his dark comedy roots with Cobweb, a satirical comedy-drama written by Shin Yeon Shick about the making of a film in the early 1970s. Back then, Chungmuro was subjected to heavy censorship under the Park Chung Hee regime, and productions had to pass government censors before and after filming. Nevertheless, director Kim, portrayed by Kim Jee Woon regular Song Kang Ho, is determined to reshoot a different ending for his already wrapped film. Obsessed with his visions of a masterpiece – and his desire for... [read more]
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![Black Box [Anime Ver.] (SINGLE+BLU-RAY) (Limited Edition) (Japan Version)](https://d3tvwjfge35btc.cloudfront.net/Assets/46/218/S_p0210321846.jpg)
Black Box [Anime Ver.] (SINGLE+BLU-RAY) (Limited Edition) (Japan Version)
LiSA
Besides stunning visuals and themes, the NieR:Automata franchise has consistently served compelling, moody music evocative of its dystopian worldview. Arguably, the artist whose music most fits NieR:Automata's dark, soul-searching melancholy is amazarashi's Akita Hiromu. amazarashi contributed the Nier: Automata game tie-in song "Deserving of Life" in 2017 and the NieR:Automata Ver1.1a anime's Season 1 ending theme Antimony in 2023. For the second season of NieR:Automata Ver1.1a in 2024, Akita Hiromu writes and composes the opening theme Black Box (Track 1) performed by LiSA. This dream combination of Akita's songwriting and LiSA's singing yields a powerful and evocative rock number that... [read more]
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All the Long Nights (Blu-ray) (Special Edition) (Japan Version)
Miyake Sho (Director)
| Shibukawa Kiyohiko
| Kamishiraishi Mone
| HI'SPEC
PMS is a common condition but there are very few films that seriously and empathetically portray how it affects life for women. Based on a novel by Seo Maiko, Miyake Sho's All the Long Nights shines a light on the everyday pains of a woman with severe PMS, while also emphasizing that her story is one of many in a world where everyone carries pains of their own. Kamishiraishi Mone plays Fujisawa Misa, a young woman whose premenstrual syndrome symptoms include fatigue and heightened anger and irritability. Her mood swings are so bad that it can be difficult for her to function normally during those few days of the month. We first see Misa leaving her job after some embarrassing moments in... [read more]
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Mad Fate (2023) (DVD) (Taiwan Version)
Gordon Lam (Actor)
| Lokman Yeung (Actor)
| Chan Charm Man (Actor)
| Wong Man Wai (Actor)
Soi Cheang has been on a run in recent years with 2021's Limbo and 2023’s Mad Fate winning major awards, and this year’s Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In winning the box office. The Hong Kong director has cycled through various genre specialties over the years, but atmospheric crime action is where he does his best work. Mad Fate premiered last year at the Berlin Film Festival and won Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Editing at the Hong Kong Film Awards. Though the uncanny thriller has received less attention than Twilight of the Warriors or even Limbo, Mad Fate has the distinction of bearing the increasingly rare Milkyway Image signature. Johnnie To is one of the film's... [read more]
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Seo In Guk 2024 Single Album - SEO IN GUK
Seo In Guk
Seo In Guk has generated buzz this year for the TV drama Death's Game and his recent appearance in K.Will's "No Sad Song For My Broken Heart" music video – but let's not forget that the actor-singer has new music out himself! Seo In Guk's 2024 self-titled single album, his first Korean release in two years, is composed of the double title songs Out of time and "Anything With You," both of which highlight his strong and emotive vocals. Out of time has a K.Will-type soulful ballad melody, but the groovy arrangement, pulsating bass line and silky vocals take the song to a different vibe. Seo In Guk sings moodily of being lost over a lost love – "I'm still in the lost time without you tonight"... [read more]
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Everything Under Control (2023) (Blu-ray) (Hong Kong Version)
Ivana Wong (Actor)
| Hins Cheung (Actor)
| Michael Ning (Actor)
| Hung Kaho (Actor)
For some reason, the 2004 Korean horror comedy To Catch a Virgin Ghost has inspired not one but two Chinese-language remakes in recent years – Taiwan's Treat or Trick in 2021 and Hong Kong's Everything Under Control in 2023. Both remakes follow the same premise of a desperate guy and a gang henchman entering a creepy remote village in search of a colleague who ran off with stolen diamonds that the mob wants back. Each film localizes in different ways, particularly in the relative emphasis of the comedy, mystery and horror elements. Comedy comes first for Everything Under Control which was released in Hong Kong during Chinese New Year. Singer Hins Cheung makes a rare leading film appearance... [read more]
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Here I Am (Limited Edition)
Energy (Singer)
If you wait long enough, they will come. After 15 years of hiatus, oughties Taiwan boy band Energy officially returned this year. What's more, Energy is back in the original lineup of Milk, Edy, Toro, Kunda and Shuwei! Milk and Toro had previously left the group before their hiatus, with Toro's departure in 2003 in particular being a turning point for Energy back then. Having all five members together again is a true blast to the past to peak Energy circa early 2000s. This comeback was put in motion after the group reunited to great fanfare for a guest performance at a Mayday concert in 2023. Afterwards, Energy joined Mayday's B'in Music, and they make a full-blown return this year with a... [read more]
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Old Fox (2023) (Blu-ray) (English Subtitled) (Taiwan Version)
Akio Chen (Actor)
| Bai Run Yin (Actor)
| Liu Kuan Ting (Actor)
| Hsiao Ya Chuan (Director)
Nearly four decades of martial law came to an end in Taiwan in 1987. Along with the lifting of martial law came ripples of changes to Taiwanese life and society. Hsiao Ya Chuan's Old Fox is set in 1989 during this transitional era of myriad economic and social changes. These changes at first elude Liao Tai Lai (Liu Kuan Ting), an honest and hardworking restaurant server who lives frugally with his 11-year-old son Liao Jie (Bai Run Yin). Tai Lai has been slowly saving up to buy a home, but unbeknownst to him, property prices have surged beyond his expectations. While Tai Lai takes the news in stride, reality hits hard for the young Liao Jie who has stubbornly latched on to the hope of having... [read more]
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Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction Theme Song: Zezezezettai Seiiki (Limited Edition) (Japan Version)
ano feat. Ikuta Lilas
| Ikuta Lilas
| ano
Zezezezettai Seiiki is exactly the kind of riot grrrl collaboration song I want from ano and Lilas Ikuta! Two of Japan's most exciting new-generation female vocalists, ano and Lilas Ikuta came together to voice the main characters of the two-part anime feature Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction, and naturally they're also singing the theme songs. Written by ano and composed by TK, Zezezezettai Seiiki is a thoroughly fun, fast and fierce punk rock banger that gets an extra kick from the two singers' distinctive vocal tones. The song echos the predicament and bond of the anime's bestie teenage heroines who try to live normally in a time of absurd war. The lyrics are as playfully catchy,... [read more]
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Anytime Anywhere (SINGLE+BLU-RAY) (First Press Limited Edition) (Japan Version)
milet
milet applies her husky, soulful vocals and songwriting talents to four songs of different vibes in her latest EP Anytime Anywhere. Two of the songs, title track Anytime Anywhere and bliss, are ending themes for the anime Frieren: Beyond Journey's End. Anytime Anywhere (Track 1) begins as a medium-tempo ballad that milet performs with a toned-down, almost conversational touch. The song and her singing build to a soul-freeing refrain and realization: "So if I were to be born again / I would surely choose this place once more / So if we were to meet again / I'd never let you go, I'd choose the present." The song's second verse after the refrain again assumes an intimate and conversational air... [read more]
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![Ambivalent [Anime Ver.] (SINGLE+BLU-RAY) (Limited Edition) (Japan Version)](https://d3tvwjfge35btc.cloudfront.net/Assets/38/487/S_p0205148738.jpg)
Ambivalent [Anime Ver.] (SINGLE+BLU-RAY) (Limited Edition) (Japan Version)
Uru
Uru's new single Ambivalent should sound familiar to anyone who's been watching the anime series The Apothecary Diaries. As the soaring second opening theme of the palace intrigue anime, Ambivalent is one of Uru's most upbeat and refreshing songs yet. Composed by YAS, the song's relaxed, uptempo melody dances over lightly whimsical yet driving beats to create a gently exhilarating feeling that perfectly matches The Apothecary Diaries. What matches the anime even more are Uru's warm and heart-fluttering lyrics capturing the character Jinshi's feelings for spunky heroine Maomao. Ambivalent opens with the declaration "You're always fearless, like a cat obsessed with what it likes" – that's... [read more]
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Turn To Me, Mukai-kun (Blu-ray Box) (Japan Version)
Akaso Eiji
| Haru
| Ikuta Erika
| Ichihara Hayato
Ten years of singledom can make you cluelessIt's hard to not get just a tinge of Cherry Magic deja vu from Turn To Me, Mukai-kun when Akaso Eiji appears as a fluffy-haired, thirtysomething salaryman who is trying to decipher his feelings and relationship status. Mukai-kun is slightly less panicky than Cherry Magic's Adachi, but no less sincere and self-analytical on his bumpy journey towards understanding love and himself. Based on Nemu Yoko's manga, the NTV comedy-drama takes a fresh approach to analyzing modern perspectives on romance and relationships through hapless hero Mukai-kun's encounters with different women. Having been single for a decade since getting dumped by his college sweetheart, Mukai-kun is determined to find a... [read more]
January 31, 2024 Picked By Sanwei See all this editor's picks
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Sonzaishoumei (SINGLE+DVD) (First Press Limited Edition) (Japan Version)
KID PHENOMENON from EXILE TRIBE
LDH debuted three new EXILE TRIBE groups in one fell sweep in August this year - KID PHENOMENON, THE JET BOYZ and WOLF HOWL HARMONY - and the first of the Gen Z groups to return with a second single is KID PHENOMENON. Sonzaishoumei ("Existence") continues the young, fresh and energetic vibes of their major debut single Wheelie, but with an added soulful edge of determination. "Existence" draws you in with a silky medium-tempo melody in the verses and an exuberant uptempo chorus that embodies the courageous spirit of "running through the darkness." The song's rousing message of shaking off doubts and worries and forging ahead on one's own path is ever appropriate as the ending theme of... [read more]
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Moonlight Chicken (2023) (DVD) (Ep. 1-8) (End) (Gift Boxset) (English Subtitled) (Thailand Version)
Mix Sahaphap Wongratch (Actor)
| Earth Pirapat Watthanasetsiri (Actor)
| First Kanaphan Puitrakul (Actor)
| Fourth Nattawat Jirochtikul (Actor)
In 2021, writer-director Aof Noppharnach Chaiyahwimhon took GMMTV's idol BL dramas in a new direction by leaving campus romance behind for a more mature story and rural setting in A Tale of Thousand Stars. This year, Aof and stars Earth Pirapat and Mix Sahaphap again bring something different with the warm human drama Moonlight Chicken. The original series is centered around a Hainanese chicken rice diner in Pattaya. Earth plays Uncle Jim who keeps the friendly neighborhood diner open till late, and offers all-you-can-eat chicken after midnight even though he barely makes enough to pay the bills. Mix is Wen, a designer who frequents the diner one drunken night and clicks immediately with... [read more]
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The Narrow Road (2022) (DVD) (Taiwan Version)
Angela Yuen (Actor)
| Louis Cheung (Actor)
| Tommy Chu (Actor)
| Chu Pak Him (Actor)
There's a Chinese saying that enemies are bound to meet on a narrow road. While there are no concrete enemies in Lam Sum's 2022 film The Narrow Road, there are many tangible troubles that are clearly coming and yet can't be avoided when all of life itself is a narrow road for those living hand to mouth. Set during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the poignant yet low-key drama offers a realistic look into the daily lives and struggles of Hong Kong's low-wage working class. Louis Cheung is excellent as Chak, a decent hardworking everyman who runs a small one-man cleaning company. While it may seem like pandemic is great business for cleaners, he is barely getting by with limited help... [read more]
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Lost Love (2022) (Blu-ray) (Hong Kong Version)
Sammi Cheng (Actor)
| Hedwig Tam (Actor)
| Alan Luk (Actor)
| Ka Sing Fung (Director, Writer)
Sammi Cheng's award-winning performanceSammi Cheng was nominated for Best Actress at the Hong Kong Film Awards eight times previously before finally winning the prize this year with her performance in Lost Love. Different from the lovable, quirky romantic heroine roles she's best known for, Sammi Cheng's character Mei in Lost Love is a normal, slightly gloomy woman carrying an unspeakable pain. When we first meet Mei, she seems like a typically jaded, irritable and resourceful working Hong Konger who takes up foster parenting at least partially for the foster care allowance. We gradually learn that Mei and her husband Bun (Alan Luk) lost their son when he was three-years-old, and she has never really come out of the grief. Mei's... [read more]
September 30, 2023 Picked By Sanwei See all this editor's picks
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Kamen Rider Black Sun (Blu-ray) (Japan Version)
Nishijima Hidetoshi
| Nakamura Tomoya
| Shiraishi Kazuya (Director)
| Otoo Takuma
Director: Shiraishi Kazuya. Cast: Nishijima Hidetoshi and Nakamura Tomoya. Released on: Amazon Prime Video. Rating: 18+. Kamen Rider Black Sun is clearly not your usual kid-friendly Kamen Rider for network television. Produced to mark the iconic tokusatsu franchise's 50th anniversary, the 2022 Kamen Rider Black Sun series is a reboot of 1987's Kamen Rider Black. The Showa-era classic is one of the most famous titles of the franchise, and its hero Minami Kotaro is perhaps the most quintessential image of the lone-wolf, motorcycle-riding, angular-posing Kamen Rider. Targeted for adult audiences, Kamen Rider Black Sun digs deep into the dark and disturbing aspects of the Kamen Rider Black... [read more]
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