Not in Textbooks 4

Cruel Bondage Picture Legend

August 1976 •Japanese

It was a tumultuous time. In the early Meiji period, there was the first photographer in Japan who lived a heroic life. What fascinated him with photography was a photograph of a naked woman.

Beverly Hills Ninja

January 1997 •English

Haru, an orphaned American who washes ashore in Japan and is mistaken for the great White Ninja of legend. Raised among the finest Ninjas, Haru grows strong and big - very big. With the grace of all Three Stooges rolled into one body, Haru is an embarrassment to his clan. But when a beautiful blonde pleads for his help, Haru is given one dangerous, disastrously funny chance to prove himself.

Laughing Under the Clouds

March 2018 •Japanese

In the dawn of the Meiji period, the Gokumonjou, an inescapable prison, has been established in the middle of an enormous lake to counter the soaring crime rates the new era has brought. Serving as the ferrymen are the famous Kumou brothers: the eccentric family head, Tenka; the reckless but noble second son, Soramaru; and the guileless youngest, Chuutarou. In spite of their grim work, the three lead relatively peaceful lives in the ever-cloudy town of Oumi, together with their housekeeper, Shirasu Kinjou. But buried in the long history of Oumi is the legend of the terrifying "Orochi," a serpentine beast that awakens every three hundred years in a human vessel. Unbeknownst to Soramaru and Chuutarou, the actual job of the Kumou family is to seal the Orochi away before it fully revives—or the world will be plunged into destruction. Amid the monster's next resurrection, the Kumou family must find the resolve to keep laughing under the clouds.

Peach Girl

May 2017 •Japanese

While everyone thinks that Momo is a wild party girl, the reality is that she is shy and lonely. Can Momo confess her love to her classmate, Toji, or will her best friend Sae steal him away? It's a bittersweet drama of growing up and fitting in.

Strange Circus

December 2005 •Japanese

The erotic novelist Taeko is writing a morbid story of a family destroyed by incest, murder and abuse. Her assistant, Yuji, sets on a mission to uncover the reality of this story, but the reality might be too much to bear.

Samurai Fiction

October 1998 •Japanese

A warrior-in-training and his bumbling friends go in pursuit of a stolen sword.

Be-Bop High School 2

August 2005 •Japanese

Oldboy

November 2003 •Korean

With no clue how he came to be imprisoned, drugged and tortured for 15 years, a desperate man seeks revenge on his captors.

Rashomon

August 1950 •Japanese

Brimming with action while incisively examining the nature of truth, "Rashomon" is perhaps the finest film ever to investigate the philosophy of justice. Through an ingenious use of camera and flashbacks, Kurosawa reveals the complexities of human nature as four people recount different versions of the story of a man's murder and the rape of his wife.

The Last Samurai

December 2003 •English

Nathan Algren is an American hired to instruct the Japanese army in the ways of modern warfare, which finds him learning to respect the samurai and the honorable principles that rule them. Pressed to destroy the samurai's way of life in the name of modernization and open trade, Algren decides to become an ultimate warrior himself and to fight for their right to exist.

Plastic Little: The Adventures of Captain Tita

March 1994 •Japanese

Narrowly escaping the clutches of Lord Guizei and his band of professional killers, Elysse Mordish is on the run and in possession of a vital computer code needed by the military to reactivate a high-powered secret weapon. Enter Tita, intergalactic pet shop hunter and captain of the Cha Cha Maru. Through shear dumb luck she finds herself rescuing Elysse from military hunters thus putting the lives of both herself and her crew in mortal peril! It's a dangerous game of cat and mouse on a planet-wide scale with one crucial difference... mice don't shoot back, but Tita does!

Initial D

May 2005 •

After winning his first competition, Takumi focuses his attention on drift racing, a sport he has unknowingly perfected while delivering tofu in his father's Toyota AE86.

Kachou no Koi

March 2010 •Japanese

The story centers on a manager named Odakara Kazuhiko who has spent all 33 years of his life without a girlfriend. An encounter with a new employee named Harada makes Odakara realize that he is gay.

My Neighbors the Yamadas

July 1999 •Japanese

The Yamadas are a typical middle class Japanese family in urban Tokyo and this film shows us a variety of episodes of their lives. With tales that range from the humorous to the heartbreaking, we see this family cope with life's little conflicts, problems, and joys in their own way.

Otakus in Love

October 2004 •Japanese

Live-action adaptation of a madcap manga about art, opposites, love and a whole lot of cosplay.

As You Like It

September 2006 •English

Witty, playful and utterly magical, the story is a compelling romantic adventure in which Rosalind and Orlando's celebrated courtship is played out against a backdrop of political rivalry, banishment and exile in the Forest of Arden - set in 19th-century Japan.

Love Me, Love Me Not

September 2020 •Japanese

Yuna and Akari are two high school girls with very different views on love: Yuna dreams about romance through rose-coloured glasses, while Akari is down-to-earth and practical. Meanwhile, high school boys Kazuomi and Rio also have different views on love: Kazuomi is an airhead who can't grasp the concept of love, while Rio grabs onto any confession as an opportunity—so long as the girl looks cute. Will these four classmates end up leading a youthful romance that meets their expectations?

Takumi-kun Series: And the Spring Breeze Whispers

December 2007 •Japanese

A 2nd year student is assigned a handsome new roommate at the start of the school year.

Sakuran

December 2006 •Japanese

Anna Tsuchiya blasts back in time playing an oiran, a top-notched geisha of the Edo period’s Yoshiwara District, navigating brothel politics while trying to cling to the man she loves.

Love and Honor

December 2006 •Japanese

A look at the relationship between a young blind samurai and his wife, who will make a sacrifice in order to defend her husband's honor.