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Azumi
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yū Koyama. It was serialized in Shogakukan's manga magazine ''Big Comic Superior'' from 1994 to 2008, with its chapters collected in 48 volumes. A sequel series with the same title (rendered in all caps Latin-script) was serialized in the same magazine from 2008 to 2014, with its chapters collected in 14 ''tankōbon'' volumes. The story follows the title character, a young woman, brought up as part of a team of assassins charged with killing the warlords that threaten the uneasy peace in Feudal Japan in the aftermath of its long Sengoku civil war period. The series has been adapted into two feature films starring Aya Ueto, '' Azumi'' in 2003 and '' Azumi 2: Death or Love'' in 2005, and a video game and a stage play in 2005. ''Azumi'' received the Excellence Prize at the 1997 Japan Media Arts Festival and won the 43rd Shogakukan Manga Award in the general category in 1998. Plot Azumi is a young female assassin ope ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Azumi (film)
is a 2003 Japanese jidaigeki film directed by Ryûhei Kitamura and starring Aya Ueto, Yuma Ishigaki, Shun Oguri, Hiroki Narimiya, Takatoshi Kaneko, Eita, Shogo Yamaguchi and Joe Odagiri. ''Azumi'' is a live-action adaptation of Yū Koyama's manga series of the same title, and was followed by the sequel '' Azumi 2: Death or Love'' in 2005. Plot In feudal Japan, old master Jiji and a survivor of the Tokugawa shogunate converse after surviving a brutal battle, with Jiji asked by the Tokugawa Shogunate to raise a band of assassins. Their task is to finish off Toyotomi Hideyoshi's three allies: Nagamasa Asano, Kiyomasa Kato and Masayuki Sanada, to prevent an outbreak of a new civil war. Azumi is discovered as a little girl kneeling without visible emotion next to the body of her dead mother by Gessai and his entourage of young students. She is then raised by him in the martial skills of sword fighting and the art of assassination in a secret mountain area with no interac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aya Ueto
is a Japanese actress, singer and television personality. In 1997, Ueto participated in the seventh Japan Bishōjo Contest, where she won the special jury prize. Soon thereafter, Ueto joined the talent agency Oscar Promotion and began taking singing, dancing and acting lessons. In 1999, she formed the girl group Z-1 with three fellow Japan Bishōjo Contest participants. The group disbanded in 2002 and later that year, Ueto signed with Pony Canyon and released " Pureness", her debut single as a lead artist. She has since released five studio albums which have spawned ten Oricon top-ten singles. At the age of thirteen, Ueto made her acting debut in the 1999 thriller ''Satsujinsha: Killer of Paraiso''. In 2001, Ueto appeared in the sixth season of the TBS drama '' 3-nen B-gumi Kinpachi-sensei''. Her portrayal of a high school student with gender dysphoria garnered critical acclaim and led to several leading roles and advertising endorsements, establishing Ueto as one of Japan's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meisa Kuroki
Satsuki Shimabukuro (Japanese: 島袋 さつき, ''Shimabukuro Satsuki'', Born on 28 May 1988 in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan), better known by her stage name Meisa Kuroki (Japanese: 黒木 メイサ, ''Kuroki Meisa''), is a Japanese actress, model and singer. She is represented by the agency Sweet Power and is signed to Sony Music Japan. She made her acting debut in 2004. She has modeled for the popular Japanese fashion magazine '' JJ'', among others, and is the current Japanese representative for Epson and Giorgio Armani. She has appeared in numerous television dramas, commercials, films, and stage productions. Kuroki released her debut single "Like This" in 2008, followed by the extended play '' Hellcat'' (2009). Her debut studio album, ''Magazine'' (2011) peaked at number six on the ''Oricon'' and featured her first top fifteen single, " LOL!". Kuroki is best known for the song " Wired Life", which served as an ending theme for the anime series '' Blue Exorcist''. It was incl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yū Koyama
is a Japanese manga artist. After graduating from Shizuoka Prefectural Shimada Commercial High School he moved to Tokyo and in 1968 took a job with Saito Productions, the company run by Takao Saitō. In 1971 he worked with Kazuo Koike at Studio Ship. Koyama debuted in '' Shōnen Sunday'' in 1973 with '' Ore wa Chokkaku''. He has won multiple awards in the manga field, winning the Shogakukan Manga Award twice, once in 1977 for '' Ganbare Genki'' and again in 1998 for '' Azumi''. ''Azumi'' also won an Excellence Award at the 1997 Japan Media Arts Festival The Japan Media Arts Festival was an annual festival held since 1997 by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs. The festival begins with an open competition and culminates with the awarding of several prizes and an exhibition. Based on judging by .... Works * * * * * * * * * * * * References * Gifford, Kevin. "Azumi". (November 2006) ''Newtype USA''. p. 154. External links Yū Koyama's Official Website ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ryuhei Kitamura
is a Japanese film director, producer, and screenwriter. Kitamura relocated to Sydney, Australia at age 17 and attended a school for visual arts for two years. In 1997, Kitamura directed and produced the short film ''Down to Hell'', which received a positive response from students, teachers, and an award which motivated Kitamura to seriously pursue a film career. He went on to independently finance and direct his feature film debut '' Versus'' (2000). The film proved to be successful within the film festival circuit and opened doors for Kitamura to direct more high-profile films such as '' Alive'' (2002), '' Sky High'' (2003), '' Godzilla: Final Wars'' (2004), ''The Midnight Meat Train'' (2008), '' No One Lives'' (2012), the live-action adaptation of '' Lupin the 3rd'' (2014), and several other Japanese and Hollywood productions. Biography Early life Ryuhei Kitamura was born in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. Kitamura spent more of his adolescent years at the cinema than school. At the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Entertainment Software Publishing
(ESP) was a Japanese video game publisher headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo. It was founded in 1997 as a publisher for games developed by the Game Developers Network (GD-NET). GD-NET, which included companies such as Treasure (company), Treasure and Game Arts, was established due to concerns over smaller developers not having the same financial backing like larger game companies did, as production of console games was beginning to rise. ESP was best known for publishing shoot 'em ups and role-playing video game, role-playing games. While primarily a publisher, ESP also developed a handful of games internally. ESP primarily published games for the Sega Saturn and Dreamcast. When both systems met their demise, the company started shifting operations towards consoles such as the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, and Nintendo DS. ESP was purchased by Game Arts in 2002 and became its publishing division. In 2004, ESP was sold to D3 Publisher, which had noticed ESP's track record and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Japan Media Arts Festival
The Japan Media Arts Festival was an annual festival held since 1997 by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs. The festival begins with an open competition and culminates with the awarding of several prizes and an exhibition. Based on judging by a jury of artistic peers, awards are given in four categories: Art (formerly called Non-Interactive Digital Art), Entertainment (formerly called Interactive Art; including video games and websites), animation, and manga. Within each category, one Grand Prize, four Excellence Prizes, and (since 2002) one Encouragement Prize are awarded. Other outstanding works, are selected by the Jury as Jury Selections. The winning works of the four categories will receive a certificate, a trophy and a cash prize. Digital Art (Non-Interactive Art) awards Digital Art (Interactive Art) awards Art awards Entertainment awards Animation awards Manga awards See also * List of animation awards * List of manga awards * Lists of animated feature fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Action Film
The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as David Bordwell suggested they were films that favor spectacle to storytelling, others such as Geoff King stated they allow the scenes of spectacle to be attuned to storytelling. Action films are often hybrid with other genres, mixing into various forms such as comedy film, comedies, science fiction films, and horror films. While the term "action film" or "action adventure film" has been used as early as the 1910s, the contemporary definition usually refers to a film that came with the arrival of New Hollywood and the rise of antihero, anti-heroes appearing in American films of the late 1960s and 1970s drawing from war films, crime films and Western (film), Westerns. These genres were followed by what is referred to as the "classical period" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tokugawa Ieyasu
Tokugawa Ieyasu (born Matsudaira Takechiyo; 31 January 1543 – 1 June 1616) was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which ruled from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was the third of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga, Oda Nobunaga and fellow Oda clan, Oda subordinate Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The son of a minor daimyo, Ieyasu once lived as a hostage under daimyo Imagawa Yoshimoto on behalf of his father. He later succeeded as daimyo after his father's death, serving as ally, vassal, and general of the Oda clan, and building up his strength under Oda Nobunaga. After Oda Nobunaga's death, Ieyasu was briefly a rival of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, before declaring his allegiance to Toyotomi and fighting on his behalf. Under Toyotomi, Ieyasu was relocated to the Kantō region, Kanto plains in eastern Japan, away from the Toyotomi power base in Osaka. He built Edo Castle, his castle in the fishing village of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shogakukan Manga Award
The is one of Japan's major manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ... awards, and is sponsored by Shogakukan Publishing. It has been awarded annually for serialized manga and features candidates from a number of publishers. It is the oldest manga award in Japan, being given since 1955. Categories Until 2022, the award categories were: * * * * Each winning work will be honored with a bronze statuette called "Minori", designed by Shigeru Nakano; a certificate, and a prize of 1 million yen (about US$7,500). Special awards are also occasionally given out for outstanding work, lifetime achievement, and so forth. Recipients The laureates were awarded for comics published during the years listed in the table. However, the laureates were not presented and the prizes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shusuke Kaneko
is a Japanese filmmaker. Life and career Shūsuke Kaneko was born in Tokyo on June 8, 1955. According to the biography on his official website Kaneko was interested in science fiction, particularly Godzilla and Gamera films, from a young age. He became involved in amateur film making in his teen years, but majored in education when he attended Tokyo Gakugei University. After graduation, he found a job at the major Japanese movie studio Nikkatsu. By 1982 he was a screenwriter and assistant director for Nikkatsu's '' Roman Porno'' film series. Kaneko made his debut as a director with Nikkatsu in February 1984 with ''Kōichirō Uno's Wet and Swinging'', part of a long-running Nikkatsu series based on the works of erotic novelist Kōichirō Uno. That work along with two other ''Roman Porno'' films he directed for Nikkatsu that year, and , won him the Best New Director award at the 6th Yokohama Film Festival. The next year, his manga-based April 1985 movie for Nikkatsu, '' Minna Ag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Big Comic Superior
is a semimonthly seinen manga magazine published since July 1, 1987, by Shogakukan in Japan. Its target audience is somewhere between the audience for ''Big Comic Original'' and '' Big Comic Spirits''. The magazine has published works by a number of well-known manga artists, including Ryoichi Ikegami, Mochiru Hoshisato, Yū Koyama, Yūji Aoki, Fumi Saimon, Norifusa Mita, George Akiyama, and Buronson. ''Superior'' was originally a special issue of ''Big Comic Original'', published twice monthly on the 1st and 15th. However, since it was selling just as well as the main three magazines (''Big Comic'', ''Big Comic Original'', and ''Big Comic Spirits''), it began to be released every other week. It is currently released twice monthly on the second and fourth Fridays. As of 2015, ''Superior'' has a reported circulation of 115,334 for each issue. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
