Japanese cinema

A new documentary revisits the Tokyo gas attack 25 years on

By Matt Turner

In Me and the Cult Leader, filmmaker and survivor Atsushi Sakahara confronts both his own trauma and that of a nation.

The story of Border 1939, the great lost Studio Ghibli film

By Alex Dudok de Wit

Isao Takahata’s unrealised passion project was intended as a follow-up to Grave of the Fireflies.

Studio Ghibli’s next feature will air on TV this winter

By Charles Bramesco

Aya and the Witch tells the story of the smartest girl in the world and her hex-casting companion.

A new online anime festival promises to broaden horizons

By Kambole Campbell

Screen Anime will allow fans to discover more of Japan’s animation output, offering a wide range of films new and old.

Discover this awe-inspiring collection of Japanese ghost stories

By Anton Bitel

Masaki Kobayashi’s Oscar-winning 1964 anthology film Kwaidan is now available on Blu-ray for the first time.

Is this the pinnacle of Japanese pink cinema?

By Anton Bitel

Atsushi Yamatoya’s 1967 Inflatable Sex Doll of the Wasteland subverts expectations of this softcore genre.

Only Yesterday is a masterful reflection on youth’s impermanence

By Kambole Campbell

With the release of Studio Ghibli’s back catalogue on Netflix, we look back at one of their unsung greats.

A second wind for Ocean Waves, Studio Ghibli’s only TV movie

By Zoe Crombie

Tomomi Mochizuki’s teenage love triangle drama is fascinating outlier in the studio’s catalogue.

Most of Studio Ghibli’s back catalogue is coming to Netflix

By Hannah Strong

Rejoice, Totoro fans: 21 of the Japanese animation studio’s feature films are headed your way.

Weathering with You

By Kambole Campbell

Your Name director Makoto Shinkai returns with a riveting fantasy romance backdropped by environmental ruin.

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Promare

By Kambole Campbell

Pyrokinetic mutants, shirtless firefighters and eco-fascists collide in the first feature film from Studio Trigger.

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Criterion’s collection of Showa-era Godzilla films is a cinematic feast

By Andrew Northrop

Fifteen of the iconic kaiju’s adventures have been compiled in a long-overdue commemorative boxset.

Science-fiction and songwriting find perfect harmony in Carole & Tuesday

By Kambole Campbell

The latest anime series from Shinichirō Watanabe is among his kindest and most soulful to date.

Audiences deserve better than Netflix’s Enter the Anime

By Henry St Leger

This soulless documentary is an insult to subscribers who wanted to learn more about Japanese animation.

Arson at Kyoto Animation Studio takes both a human and artistic toll

By Charles Bramesco

A fire at one of Japan’s foremost animation houses has resulted in the loss of precious life and work.

Tetsuo: The Iron Man and the dark side of transhumanism

By Sam Moore

Shin’ya Tsukamoto’s nightmarish 1989 body horror explores the morbid fusion of biology and technology.

Former Studio Ghibli artists are making a short for the Tokyo Olympics

By Charles Bramesco

A new Studio Ponoc film is the first anime ever commissioned by the IOC.

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Little White Lies was established in 2005 as a bi-monthly print magazine committed to championing great movies and the talented people who make them. Combining cutting-edge design, illustration and journalism, we’ve been described as being “at the vanguard of the independent publishing movement.” Our reviews feature a unique tripartite ranking system that captures the different aspects of the movie-going experience. We believe in Truth & Movies.

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