In traditional Japanese folklore a kappa—also known as kawatarō, komahiki, with a boss called kawatora or suiko—is a reptiloid kami with similarities to yōkai. Kappa can become harmful when not respected as gods. Accounts typically depict them as green, human-like beings with webbed hands and feet and turtle-like carapaces on their backs. A depression on the head, called a "dish", retains water, and if this is damaged or its liquid is lost, a kappa becomes severely weakened.
Devon Edwenna Aoki is an American model and retired actress. Aoki's film roles include 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003), Sin City (2005), DOA: Dead or Alive (2006) and Mutant Chronicles (2008).
Asuka Langley Soryu is a fictional character from the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise created by Gainax. She first appears in the original anime series, and also appears in the franchise's animated feature films and related media, including video games, the Rebuild of Evangelion films, and the manga adaptation by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. In Japanese, Yūko Miyamura voices Asuka in all her animated appearances and merchandise. In English, Tiffany Grant voices her in the ADV Films dub and Stephanie McKeon voices her in the Netflix dub.
Hiroshima mon amour is a 1959 romantic drama film directed by French director Alain Resnais and written by French author Marguerite Duras.
The Elephant Vanishes is a collection of 17 short stories by Japanese author Haruki Murakami. The stories were written between 1980 and 1991, and published in Japan in various magazines, then collections. The contents of this compilation were selected by Gary Fisketjon and first published in an English translation in 1993. Several of the stories had already appeared in the magazines The New Yorker, Playboy, and The Magazine before this compilation was published.
Wicked City is a 1987 Japanese adult animated dark fantasy action horror film produced by Video Art and Madhouse for Japan Home Video. Based on Black Guard, the first novel of the Wicked City series by Hideyuki Kikuchi, the film is the solo directorial debut of Yoshiaki Kawajiri, who also served as the character designer, storyboard artist, animation director, and a key animator.
Silent Möbius is a twelve-volume manga series created by manga artist Kia Asamiya. It is heavily influenced by the film Blade Runner and is centered on the lives of an all-female group of police officers dedicated to protecting Tokyo from an invasion of extra-dimensional creatures called Lucifer Hawks.
Tsuru Aoki was a Japanese stage and screen actress whose career was most prolific in the United States during the silent film era of the 1910s through the 1920s. Aoki may have been the first Asian actress to garner top billing in American motion pictures.
"Asuka Strikes!" is the eighth episode of the Japanese anime television series Neon Genesis Evangelion, which was created by Gainax. The episode, written by Hideaki Anno and Yoji Enokido and directed by Kazuya Tsurumaki, was first broadcast on TV Tokyo on November 22, 1995. The series is set fifteen years after a worldwide cataclysm and is mostly set in the futuristic, fortified city Tokyo-3. The series' protagonist is Shinji Ikari, a teenage boy who is recruited by his father Gendo to the organization Nerv to pilot a gigantic, bio-mechanical mecha named Evangelion into combat with beings called Angels. During the episode, Asuka Langley Soryu, a girl who is designated as the pilot of Evangelion Unit-02, is introduced; after the attack of Gaghiel, the sixth Angel, Asuka cooperates with Shinji aboard the Eva-02 to defeat the enemy.
Lupin the 3rd Part III is a Japanese anime television series produced by Tokyo Movie Shinsha. Part of the Lupin III franchise, it is the third anime television adaptation of the Lupin III manga series created by Monkey Punch. The series aired on Yomiuri TV, Nippon Television and other NNS stations between March 3, 1984 and November 6, 1985.
Mermaids, like many other creatures of mythology and folklore, are regularly depicted in literature, film, music, and popular culture. In the folklore of some modern cultures, the concept of the siren has been assimilated to that of the mermaid. For example, the French word for mermaid is sirène, Italian sirena, and similarly in certain other European languages. This usage existed by the Middle Ages.
Pink, subtitled The Rain Jack Story, is a Japanese one-shot manga written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama. It was published in the December 1982 issue of Shueisha's Fresh Jump magazine on October 23, 1982. Pink was released in North America by Viz Media on December 7, 2021 as part of Akira Toriyama's Manga Theater. Toei Animation adapted the manga into an anime film in 1990 titled Pink: Water Bandit, Rain Bandit.
Summer Days with Coo is a 2007 Japanese animated film about a kappa and its impact on an ordinary suburban family, written for the screen and directed by Keiichi Hara based on two novels by Masao Kogure.
The Water Magician is a 1933 Japanese silent drama film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi. It is based on the story of the same name by Kyōka Izumi.
Maria Takagi is a Japanese TV and film actress and a former adult video (AV) star. Early in her career as a model, she also used the names Yukiko Hara and Rika Inoue.
Rage is a Japanese suspense mystery drama film directed by Lee Sang-il, based on Shuichi Yoshida's mystery novel of the same name. It was released in Japan on September 17, 2016.
Your Name is a 2016 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Makoto Shinkai, produced by CoMix Wave Films, and distributed by Toho. It depicts the story of high school students Taki Tachibana and Mitsuha Miyamizu, who suddenly begin to swap bodies despite having never met, unleashing chaos on each other's lives. The film was inspired by the frequency of natural disasters in Japan.
Terra Formars is a 2016 Japanese science fiction film directed by Takashi Miike and based on the manga series of the same name by Yū Sasuga & Kenichi Tachibana. It was released in Japan on Friday, April 29, 2016.
The Tale of Shim Chong (Korean: 심청전) is a 1985 North Korean musical film directed by Shin Sang-ok.
