Recap: Katsuhito Ishii et al.'s FUNKY FOREST, Sabu's HOLD UP DOWN, Kazushi Watanabe's SPACE POLICE,

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Aniki (Hajime Ishimine), Katsuhito Ishii, and Shin'ichirô Miki's Funky Forest (Naisu no mori: The First Contact)

Cast: Susumu Terajima, Tadanobu Asano, Ryô Kase, Chizuru Ikewaki (Ikewaki Chiduru), Kazue Fukiishi, Machiko Ono, Yoshiyuki Morishita, Kanji Tsuda, Kaiji Moriyama, Mariko Takahashi (b. April 24, 1984), Erika Nishikado, Rinko Kikuchi, Hideaki Anno, Seiji Tanaka, Kôtarô Shiga, Anri Ban, Shihori Kanjiya, Kaho, Kenji Mizuhashi, Akiji Minegishi, Ikki Todoroki, Aoi Miura, Nana Shimoda, Maya Banno, Ryû Morioka, Andrew Alfieri (Andoryû Arufieri), and Takahiro Satô.

Synopsis: "Katsuhito Ishii (TASTE OF TEA, Golden Maile winner, LVHIFF 04) is back! This time he's joined with two other hip directors to create this extremely odd omnibus, which stitches together a number of funny and/or weird short films with overlapping themes and crossover characters into a wild quilt of trippy dreams, unrequited desire, horny losers, odd aliens, awesome dancing, bodily functions, cool music, and some really disgusting creatures straight out of David Cronenberg's fever dreams. ¶ A talented cast led by Tad[a]nobu Asano provides a certain gravity to such far-out sequences as the girl in the after school club whose 'sport' involves using a badminton racquet to swat at the milk squirted towards her by a shy fellow with foot-long nipples, after which he starts pulling bloodsucking creatures out of his pants and tossing them at her. ¶ The preceding sequence is not the strangest part of the movie - it isn't even the strangest part of that particular short. ¶ FUNKY FOREST is not for everyone, but Ishii fans, VERMILLION PLEASURE NIGHT lovers, and the curious or daring will find it a richly rewarding, one-of-a-kind experience."

Sabu's Hold Up Down (Hôrudo appu daun)

Cast: V6 (Masayuki Sakamoto, Hiroshi Nagano, Yoshihiko Inohara, Gô Morita, Ken Miyake, and Jun'ichi Okada), Yû Kashii, Ayumi Itô, Arata Furuta, Yûki Himura (of Bananaman - on the right), Leo Morimoto (Morimoto Reo), Masatô Ibu, Tomu Miyazaki (9th person listed), Eihi Shiina, Osamu Shitara (of Bananaman - on the left), and Hitomi Takahashi.

Synopsis: "Two men, Kimata and Sagawa, rob a bank while dressed in tight-fitting Santa outfits. But when they run out of the bank, the robbers discover their getaway car has been towed away. They decide to stash the loot in a coin-operated locker in the subway. Because they don't have any change on them, they steal from a street musician's guitar case. After a chase and a car accident, the musician, Koichi, ends up with the locker key. But after an unlucky series of accidents that leaves Koichi unconscious in a river, with the key in his stomach, a suicidal church minister turned truck driver discovers Koichi's body in the river and believes him to be the Lord Jesus in need of rescue. Meanwhile, the two robbers have been picked up as suspects for the bank robbery. Confident Kimata and Sagawa are the guilty ones, two detectives release them, hoping the robbers will lead them to the hidden money. The robbers, detectives, minister and musician all cross paths in this fast-paced quirky comedy and action film. Who will end up with the locker key?"

Kazushi Watanabe's Space Police (Supêsu porisu)

Cast: Shûgo Oshinari, Nana Eikura, Yôsuke Asari, Masami Yamamoto, Daisuke Hirose (2nd last entry, 2nd name), Minoru Torihada, J-Tarô Sugisaku, Takanori Takeyama (on the left), Kôichi Ôhori, Daijirô Kawaoka, Arata Saeki, Fooh Murabayashi (Fû Murabayashi), Misako Yasuda, Mayuko Iwasa, Itsuji Itao, and Yûki Meguro.

Synopsis: "Life's pretty dull for glum Japanese teenager Koichi, who spends his time drifting around and trying to make a little money. It's all a matter of perspective, though - when Koichi encounters a rather unusual character called the Sergeant, he gets a different spin on his world and the wide universe its situated in. The Sergeant claims to be an agent of justice from the farthest reaches of deep space, on a mission to round up the most nefarious villains in the cosmos. Judging by his limited understanding of things like stoplights and video stores (he thinks they're factual news outlets), he might well be from out of this world. Or maybe he is just a crazy homeless guy. But the Seargeant has dire warnings about the Andromeda Burger fast-food chain and its evil plans for the human species, and there's evidence that he's not just talking nonsense...."

Yûdai Yamaguchi's Sakigake!! Cromartie High School - The Movie (Sakigake!! Kuromati Kôkô - The Movie)

Cast: Takamasa Suga, Mitsuki Koga, Hiroshi Yamamoto, Hiroyuki Watanabe, Yoshihiro Takayama, Itsuji Itao, Noboru Kaneko, Shinji Takeda, Robert (Robâto = Ryûji Akiyama, Hiroyuki Baba, and Hiroshi Yamamoto), Shôichirô Masumoto, Kai Atô, Sadayoshi Shimane, Ken'ichi Endô, Noboru Takachi, and Tak Sakaguchi.

Synopsis: "You'd probably have to look a long time before finding someone who speaks really highly of their high school. But there are crummy high schools, and then there's Cromartie High. It's a real slap in the face to the well-behaved, straight-A student Takashi Kamiyama when he finds himself, through a cruel twist of fate, enrolled at Cromartie. At the next desk over is a surly brute who eats the contents of Takashi's pencil case. Partly to freak Takashi out, of course - but mostly because pencils are his favourite snack! But that menace is among the more normal of Takashi's classmates, if the word 'normal' even applies at Cromartie. Sneering thugs with mohawks are everywhere, but they're nothing compared to the likes of Mechazawa, an overgrown coffee tin of a robot who's as rude and obnoxious and any flesh and blood student. Then there's Gorilla - they don't call him that because he's big, dumb and smells bad, though he is and does. No, he actually is a gorilla. That's Cromartie High School for you - like a zoo crossed with a nuthouse, minus the cleanliness and sanity!"

Minoru Kawasaki's Executive Koala (Koara kachô)

Cast: Hironobu Nomura, Elli-Rose (Erirôzu; a.k.a. Ellirose), Ho Lee (I Ho), Eiichi Kikuchi, Arthur Kuroda (Kuroda Âsâ), Hideki Saijô, Ryû Hariken, Megumi Yamanaka, Hitomi Takashima, and Chika Kumada.

Synopsis: "Tamura is an average divorced salaryman in Japan - and also a man-sized, suit-and-tie wearing, upright-walking koala bear. Though not a human being, he's a successful businessman with ventures overseas who refuses to play office politics. He hopes to marry his girlfriend, Yoko, and raise a child. His visions are of an ordinary life with an ordinary company until his ordinary retirement. But when his girlfriend turns up dead one morning, the police finger the Executive Koala as their prime suspect. Temura runs from Detective Ono and fights to prove his innocence. Tamura wants to know why there are gaps in his memory. Is he a murderer? Does he have multiple personalities? And what does his bartender (the frog) and his boss (the rabbit) know about the two-hundred year old terrifying secret behind the EXECUTIVE KOALA?"

Funky Forest theatrical trailer (downloadable 18.9 MB AVI file)
Funky Forest teaser trailer (downloadable 5.4 MB AVI file)
Hold Up Down trailer (streaming Windows Media)

Hold Up Down official website
Space Police trailer (streaming Windows Media)
Space Police trailer (streaming RealMedia)
Space Police official subsite
Sakigake!! Cromartie High School - The Movie trailer (downloadable 8 MB MOV file)
Sakigake!! Cromartie High School - The Movie official website
ScreenAnarchy: Review of Sakigake!! Cromartie High School - The Movie
Executive Koala trailer (streaming Windows Media)

Executive Koala official website