Kengo Kora

One day, a boy's body is found again under the same bridge. The case is eerily similar to Masaki's case from 22 years ago. Haru has a connection with the deceased boy. Akira meets Haru while investigating the boy's death. By meeting each other again, the three men face the case from 22 years ago that they buried deep within their minds.

The story of a family of five strangers living under one roof. Naotatsu is set to stay with his uncle as he enters a new high school. However, a woman he has never met, Sakaki-san, picks him up at the station. He now shares a house with a salaryman who quit to become a mangaka unbeknownst his parents (the uncle), a cross-dressing fortune teller, a college professor, and a 25 year old office lady all quirky in their own ways. Naotatsu, a high school freshman, begins the strange days of living under the same roof with them.

Debut feature by Ito Chihiro based on her own novel, produced by Yukisada Isao. In his first starring role in a film, Iguchi Satoru plays an awkward and sensitive dentist who is troubled by love.

WOWOW Actors Short Films Season 3

Tenmasou is a long-established inn atop a mountain overlooking the sea, in a town called Mitsuse that exists between heaven and earth. The inn is run by Nozomi Tenma, the proprietress. Her younger sister Kanae works as a dolphin trainer. Their mother Keiko is the inn's elder proprietress, who is still resentful of her ex-husband that deserted his wife and family.

Depicts the love story between an idle author and a provincial geisha.

In 1934 (Showa 9), Maj. Gen. Yamamoto Isoroku was ordered to be the chief representative of the preliminary negotiations for the Disarmament Conference to be held in London. If negotiations break down and Japan becomes isolated from the international community, the gap with Britain and the United States will deepen, and it may eventually become a war. Knowing the mighty national power of the United States and thinking that war should be avoided, Yamamoto is forced to make a tough decision with the speculation of senior military personnel who want to withdraw from the disarmament system and hope for a path to arms race. Under such circumstances, Yamamoto comes up with a secret plan!

Six friends, who hanged out together during their high school days, gather again after 5 years for a friend's wedding. The six friends are: Kazuki Yoshio, Tetsuya Akashi, Taku Sogawa, Taisei Tajima, Yusaku Mizushima and Kinichi Fujita. At the wedding, the friends perform an embarrassing dance routine for the bride and groom. The friends reminisce about their high school days and they believe their friendships will last forever, but...

Hanako Haibara was born and raised in the city of Tokyo. After she gets dumped by her boyfriend, while in her late 20's, she goes on blind dates to find a man to marry. Miki Tokioka was born in a province. She studied very hard and entered a prestigious university in Tokyo. She experienced difficult financial times, but she now works at an IT company. Due to a man, Hanako Haibara and Miki Tokioka meet each other.

A frustrated young woman returns from Tokyo to her hometown in Toyama where she meets an old woman who lives alone. There she slowly finds purpose in life by taking "photographs" that spin memories instead of ghosts.

It is a youth film about the boys in their late teens spend before they become adults. Sho and Tiaga, who grew up in the same neighborhood since they were little, are in their last year of high school. They are also the duo who beat the drums at town festivals. However, Taiga announces that he will not play drums this year to prepare to go to college. Sho, who has no plan of his future, cannot think straight. Like The Blue Bird by Maurice MAETERLINCK, the film tells the story of the youth realizing that happiness is not far away.

When Chihiro was a baby, she suffered from eczema. Her parents tried to find a cure, but nothing worked. Her father's co-worker then gave him some water from a strange religious group. Chihiro was miraculously cured by the water. Her parents began to follow the strange religion and became fervent followers. Chihiro is now in the 3rd grade of middle school and she faces changes in her life.

Set at a movie theater in a small village around 100 years ago. Silent films are play at the movie theater. A young man aspires to become a benshi, a performer that provides live narration to silent films.

A girl finds an old handgun in her attic and the symbolic object conjures a mystical scene of samurai (a stellar cast of actors joined by the 20-person Edo punk band Seppuku Pistols, who also provide the soundtrack) gathering within the moss-grown location of Kasosan Shrine in Tochigi Prefecture.

Alumni of Ibaraki High School learn that one of their classmates is killed in an accident on the tenth anniversary of their graduation, necessitating an unexpected reunion and “on-campus funeral”. They spend a strange night together, during which the secrets of his life are revealed and they rededicate themselves to his memory, with a new outlook on life.

The story of Osamu Dazai, one of Japan's most celebrated novelists, absorbed in alcohol and love; married and in a relationship with two other lovers.

Naoto was ignored by other people. During his school days, Chihiro was the first person who called his name. Naoto dreams of seeing her again and tries to find her. Finally, after 11 years, he locates her, but she is a totally different person now. Naoto becomes obsessed with her. Naoto sneaks into her house and stays under her bed.

Set in Kyoto in the last days of the Edo Period, the bloody conflict continues between local feudal domains, which aim to overthrow the Tokugawa Shogunate, and the Shogun's police and city patrol. Tajuro Kiyokawa, once the master of the sword but now a depraved samurai who left his domain putting aside his past ambition, barely makes ends meet. Toyo, a woman who runs a tavern next door, feels affection for Tajuro who guards her place against nasty customers, but he never realizes Toyo's feelings.

The movie of Natsume's Book of Friends series. Natsume has been busy, navigating between humans and Yokai when he coincidentally reunites with an old classmate, Yuki. It brings back painful memories of a certain Yokai. Meanwhile, Natsume also became acquainted with Yorie Tsumura, a woman in the memories of a Yokai whose name he had returned. Yorie knew much about Reiko, but now lived a peaceful life with her only son, Mukuo. Being with this family was comforting for Natsume, but apparently a mysterious Yokai has been lurking in their town. On the way back from investigating, a "Yokai seed" that had latched itself to Nyanko Sensei drops into the Fujiwaras' garden and grows overnight into a fruit tree. When Nyanko Sensei eats a fruit that is somehow shaped like himself, he suddenly splits into three!

After one of their shoplifting sessions, Osamu and his son come across a little girl in the freezing cold. At first reluctant to shelter the girl, Osamu’s wife agrees to take care of her after learning of the hardships she faces. Although the family is poor, barely making enough money to survive through petty crime, they seem to live happily together until an unforeseen incident reveals hidden secrets, testing the bonds that unite them.

When Yasuko (Eriko Hatsune) was a child, her mother left their home. She grew up not knowing what an ordinary family is. Satoshi's (Kengo Kora) mother was the girlfriend of Yasuko's late father. One day, Satoshi appears in front of Yasuko. Since that moment, Yasuko's monotonous life begins to change.

Based on the novel "Kanojo no Jinsei wa Machigai ja Nai" (literal translation: Her life is not at fault) by Director Hiroki, it is a powerful story of survivors, who are all trying to find their own silver linings in life.

When a massive, gilled monster emerges from the deep and tears through the city, the government scrambles to save its citizens. A rag-tag team of volunteers cuts through a web of red tape to uncover the monster's weakness and its mysterious ties to a foreign superpower. But time is not on their side - the greatest catastrophe to ever befall the world is about to evolve right before their very eyes.

Kako (Fumi Nikaido) is a female high school student. She lives at a restaurant run by her family in Kitashinagawa, Tokyo. Unexpectedly, Kako's aunt, Mikiko (Kyoko Koizumi), suddenly appears. Kako thought her aunt died 18 years ago. Her whole family is embarrassed by Mikiko's appearance due to a past incident caused by Mikiko. Kako is also irritated when Mikiko lives in her room. They spend the summer together.

Akako, a shape-shifting goldfish in the form of a coquettish nymphet clad in diaphanous red dresses, naively plays the role of erotic muse and adoring pet for an aging writer seeking greatness. Things quickly get complicated for the odd couple, however, when the writer's deceased former student/lover enters the picture as a ghost and helps Akako realize her own desires, activating her agency and frustrating the one-sided male fantasy the writer is so keen to continue.

A college student works a part time job at a bookstore, and meets an older patron wearing a long coat who tells her that "the young are beautiful, but the old moreso". Shortly afterwards, a friend tells her of a suspicious person who has been following her mother. When she gets home, she finds her mother watching a high school film from decades ago, featuring her mother and father, as well as another boy they both seemed to get along with. On the path to find her mother's stalker, our heroine arrives at a second floor detective's office with her friend. Together, they tail the suspect in a car, but...

Tasuku Okano is a diligent young man who was raised by decent family. He works as a new teacher at an elementary school. Tasuko deals with his students the way his head teacher told taught him, but the situation in his classroom isn't very good. He notices that one of his students might be abused, but he tries to ignore it by reasoning that he is too busy to become involved. Tasuko though feels terrible about the situation and decides to help his abused student. Masami was raised by an abusive mother. She is now violent towards her own 3-year-old daughter Ayane. Masami can't help lashing out at her daughter since her daughter was 10-months-old. When she hangs around other mothers in the park, she tries to justify her abusive manners by thinking the other mothers treat their kids the same way.

A daughter is constantly overshadowed by her famous father, but she is determined to make her own mark in the world.

Shizuto Sakatsuki (Kengo Kora) is a mourner. He goes to scenes of accidents and mourns for the victims. Yukiyo Nagi (Yuriko Ishida), who killed her husband and served prison time, goes to the scene of the murder and meets Shizuto. She follows him from that time. Other people that exists in their lives are Shizuto’s mother Junko who is terminally ill with cancer and waits for Shizuto’s return, his younger sister Mishio who is pregnant by her now ex-boyfriend and a magazine reporter who chases after Shizuto. The movie examines life and death, love and hate and sin and forgiveness through these characters.

For his first film in fourteen years animation director Isao Takahata embarked on a visually sumptuous adaptation of "The Tale of the Princess Kaguya". A dream project for the director that would hopefully establish the recently formed Ghibli Studio 7, created to meet the demands of a new type of modern animation process. But almost immediately the epic production is faced with difficulties and falls dramatically behind schedule. In this compelling and insightful documentary we follow Isao Takahata and his dedicated team of artists as they frantically strive against adversity to make their vision a reality and bring Studio Ghibli into a new Era.

Set within the fictional city of Mahoro, Keisuke Tada runs a "benriya" - a general problem solver for hire. His assistant is his former high school classmate Haruhiko Gyoten. A big crisis then occurs for them.

After losing everything in a tsunami, 10-year-old Hana is taken in by 26-year-old distant relative Jungo Kusarino. They live as father and daughter but share a profound sense of loss. Jungo works as a cook for the coast guard, leaving young Hana alone for days at a time. In wintry Hokkaido, Jungo and Hana both desire to fill their empty, love-starved hearts as they set foot into a forbidden world. Eventually, an elder benefactor in their small town learns of their illicit relationship. When he tries to separate them for Hana's own good, it provokes her emotional rage. Soon after, a murder quietly occurs atop the ice floes. With their dark secret, Jungo and Hana escape to Tokyo. However...

In this love story set in the Edo period, 27-year-old Oharu is a genius in the kitchen. Oharu attracts the attention of the master chef of the Kaga Domain, who arranges for her to marry his son and heir, 24-year-old Yasunobu. But, Yasunobu is cold to his new wife, and he's more interested in swordplay than cookery.

Former college buddies Horaguchi and Okawa suddenly reunite on a whim after 15 years apart and try to resume their friendship by planning a trip together. Meanwhile, Okawa’s live-in girlfriend Kaede and the pair's old friend Kyoko get roped into joining them. Soon, the four head off on a trip together with the goal of sharing sukiyaki by the sea.

Found inside a shining stalk of bamboo by an old bamboo cutter and his wife, a tiny girl grows rapidly into an exquisite young lady. The mysterious young princess enthrals all who encounter her. But, ultimately, she must confront her fate.

Harumi Hagiwara lands in the hospital after being involved in an accident. She hits it off with her nurse, Reiko Nishimura, and the two decide to move in together after she's discharged. However, Harumi begins to witness a series of mysterious events soon after noticing Reiko's strange behavior. Additionally, she fears for her own safety when Reiko starts referring to herself as 'Mari' as if she's become an entirely different person. Before long, the situation develops into a case of murder.

Kanna Seto lost her childhood friend Haruta in a car accident when she was a freshman in high school. Carrying the emotional pain from that incident throughout her life, Kanna is still wounded as an adult. Kanna then meets Roku Akazawa, who also carries a painful experience from his past. When Roku was an elementary school student, a girl who was with him got into an accident and died. Because of that incident, Roku carries a heavy sense of guilt. When they meet, time, frozen since that day, begins to tick again.

The hospitality division in Kochi Prefecture can't promote the beautiful nature in the area due to a strict rule by the prefecture government. Popular writer and Kochi area native Kyosuke Yoshikado is appointed as a special envoy for tourism in the area. He then receives a recommendation to meet Seien, a former employee of Kochi Prefecture, who once hatched an unusual idea to promote tourism. Seien pushed forward a project to import pandas into the area, but lost his job because of that project. Meanwhile, hospitality division employees Fumitaka and Taki visits the tourist house which is run by Seien and his daughter. When they arrive, the daughter throws a bucket of water at them, still angry for the way her father was dismissed from his job. From there, a plan for the hospitality division is born.

The year is 1987 and Japan is just reaching the peak of its economic success. Eighteen-year old Yonosuke Yokomichi arrives in Tokyo from Nagasaki. Ordinary in every way possible, he lives in a suburb far from the excitement of the big city and commutes to a university in the center of Tokyo.

Married couple Aiko Tsumari and Ayumu Muko live a happy and peaceful life. Aiko is bit naive, while Ayumu works as a not so popular novelist. One day, a letter arrives for Ayumu. Because of this letter, the couple become estranged...

Sennen no yuraku is set in a small community called “Roji” where Kenji Nakagami—one of the most famous novelists in Japan—drew the absurdity and passion of life since its inhabitants have been living and dying. There were beautiful men in “Roji” who struggled to live with the blood of the Nakamato Clan, blood called “noble yet unholy.” Oryu, a midwife, has watched all those men growing up, living and dying... She is now aging old and starts to talk with the dead men souls of the Nakamoto Clan...

In this offbeat coming-of-age tale, a charming, rebellious high school dropout named Kanta befriends the kind, provincial Shoji. The two bring out the best in each other, each gaining confidence from their friendship - especially regarding pursuit of the opposite sex. The working class Kanta becomes a sort of unruly anti-hero, maintaining his pride, defiance, and self-assurance even as his prospects seem increasingly grim.

University student Keisuke returns to his hometown during his summer holiday and takes a part-time job at a run-down movie theater. However, his boss Ruka, a projectionist who lives on the premises, has not set foot outside in three years, and always falls into a deep depression on Mondays. Keisuke feels himself becoming attracted to the mysterious Ruka, but...

A widowed lumberjack's life is turned upside down when a film crew shooting a zombie movie asks for his help and increasingly starts to rely on him.

Kazu attacks a bar in Kabukicho, a Tokyo red-light district, and flees to his hometown with abducts Machiko, a pole dancer he's been stuck on. They begin living together, but their happiness is short lived as their pasts torment them both.

In Mahoro, the fictional suburb of Tokyo, Tada works as a general problem solver for hire. One day, former classmate Gyoten appears unannounced. Both men are over 30 years old and divorced. With no explanation, Gyoten suddenly asks to spend the night at Tada's home. Eventually, Tada accepts Gyoten as his assistant and together they become involved in various cases concerning an assortment of people from different walks of life.

A pawn shop owner in Osaka is murdered, but due to a lack of conclusive evidence the police lists the man's death as a suicide. Detective Sasagaki, who investigated the case, can't forget the dark eyes of the main suspect's daughter Yukiho and the pawn shop owner's son Ryouji. As time goes by, more mysterious deaths surround Yukiho & Ryouji. Detective Sasagaki still unable to let go of the pawn shop owner case discovers startling details about Yukiho and Ryouji ...

Toru recalls his life in the 1960s, when his friend Kizuki killed himself and he grew close to Naoko, Kizuki's girlfriend, and another woman, the outgoing, lively Midori.

Set during the Edo Period, a young man from a noble family meets a young woman under a special tree called "Raiou" (the tree was struck by lightning at one time with the broken part eventually sprouting out cherry blossoms). The young woman lived freely in the mountains after she was abducted as a young child. The couple soon fall in love under the Raiou tree, but become acutely aware of their different social positions & the ramifications it has on their relationship.

On September 9th, the day of the Katakai Fireworks Festival, high school student Hana comes home from the hospital after six months of treatment for leukemia. She then discovers that her older brother Taro has become a social recluse. Taro used to be tender, smart and proud of his younger sister, but now he even turns his back on her and stays in his room. With Hana's help Taro slowly opens up to the world again. Then, with winter approaching, Hana has a relapse with her leukemia. Taro comes to the hospital everyday to visit Hana and soon learns that the Katakai Fireworks Festival is a symbol of happiness for Hana. Taro then takes the initiative to make Hana happy and approaches the town's youth group once more for admittance.

A Crowd of Three tells the story of two men, Kenta & Jun, who grew up as almost brothers at a children's facility. Kenta & Jun now works as part of a demolition crew but become fed up with their jobs. The friends then decide to take a road trip up north to visit Kenta's brother at the Abashiri prison.

A shy high school student meets his childhood friend, who moved away years earlier, and who encourages him to join their school's boxing club

Meiko Inoue is a recent college grad working as an office lady in a job she hates. Her boyfriend Taneda is permanently crashing at her apartment because his job as a freelance illustrator doesn't pay enough for rent. And her parents in the country keep sending her boxes of veggies that just rot in her fridge. Straddling the line between her years as a student and the rest of her life, Meiko struggles with the feeling that she's just not cut out to be a part of the real world.

Set in the 1990s during Japan's "band boom" era, the film tells the tale of a girl in high school, Asako, who goes to a concert and meets Natsu, vocalist of the new band LANDS. Asako ends up being the band manager, but as the band's popularity starts to soar, the band's friendship begins to suffer.

A young woman named Miyuki returns to her hometown, camera in hand, after a difficult breakup. As she walks and takes photographs, she meets a variety of people and begins to realize she doesn’t have to go through this painful time in her life all alone.

When eight men are assigned to live 14,000 kilometers from home in inhumanly cold conditions, food becomes their new existence.

On board at the boat Kanikosen, where fish and crabs preserves, forced workers to work under miserable conditions, with minimum wages. Some can not cope with conditions and even death from malnutrition, and is also the supervisor of the more vicious variety. Shinjo, one of the employees, trying to convince the others that they will get good luck and fortune in his next life, and persuades them because they commit suicide to get there faster. It ends, however, in a single major failure. Rather than flee Shinjo being picked up by a Russian ship. Once there, he is overwhelmed by the social conditions that are completely different from those he has just left and decided therefore to return to Kanikosen to save their employees.

A Japanese company is being targeted by a Chinese financial group that takes advantage of weak and struggling firms - in other words, a vulture. A Japanese financier/former vulture Masahiko Washizu is recruited to fight the threat.

A rock band writes a song called "Fish Story" based on a sentence from a badly translated novel by a quack translator. The song exceeds the boundaries of space and time and ties people and their stories together. Thirty-seven years go by, and the song strikes a comet and saves the Earth from total destruction.

In the early 1200s, Dogen brought Chinese Zen philosophy to Japan, and established the Japanese Zen school of Buddhism. He taught that a person was capable of realizing Buddhahood within himself, by way of Zazen. Zazen is extended hours of sitting and meditating to achieve a state of “Mu” (nothingness, or empty existence).

While alone in a nightclub, straight-laced Lui meets sensitive but troubled punk kid Ama. Mesmerized by his split tongue, she becomes obsessed with body modification and soon wants the same treatment. After Ama's heavily-tattooed friend Shiba pierces her tongue, Lui finds herself inexorably drawn to both men – and to her growing list of desires, she now adds a tattoo.

At a high school in the city of Yokohoma the baseball team trains to go to the top. There are struggles, hardships and successes and not all of it is due the star pitcher or batter and those in the centre of attention. There are rewards to being the great, but it is a long way to the top and they know it.

Hana, 21-year old, is sent to a mental hospital for attempting a suicide. She suffers from hearing a deep male voice in her head almost everyday that goes, "Twenty yards of linen are worth one coat..." She gradually regains her peace of mind by traveling across Kyushu dragging with her Nagoyan, a guy from Nagoya who is suffering from depression. They take on their journey on Nagoyan's old faithful car, Luce.

Kenji Shiraishi is involved in the trafficking of illegal immigrants from China to Japan. One such case leaves an immigrant child to be an orphan. Instead of selling him along with others that arrived, Kenji flees with the boy to look after him and make an attempt at everyday life. The people after the boy, unexpected encounters with long-lost family members, and his vengeful nature are standing in the way of his future.

Mixed up by desire, love and hatred, a disturbed young man begins tailing and eventually tries to save his neighbor, a housewife who has turned to prostitution despite her comfortable lifestyle.

Shinji (Shinichi Tsutsumi) steps out of a train station to find himself transported back to 1964.

Set in Kyoto, 1990 Mizuho Oshima is a high school girl who hates her alcholic mom, adores her father, and has a crush on school swim team member Sho Sugimoto. Her father lives with another women, but Mizuho hopes to reunite her family. Her mother then takes up with an Amerian soldier named Charlie and they become an item. This crushes Mizuho's hopes of reuniting her family. Mizuho then seduces her mother's lover ...