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Shochiku has released a memorial box set dedicated to one of its most woefully neglected modern directors -- Jun Ichikawa -- who died much too young a little more than a year ago.

The set contains 4 older films Bu-su, Kaisha Monogatari: Memories of You, Tsugumi and Tokyo Lullaby. It also has his last two films (both shot on HD video) -- Buy a Suit (a short feature) and Tokyo Rendering Kashu (vignettes of Tokyo, sort of out-takes from buy A Suit). These will all be released individually, but the set also had a special disc containing 45 minutes of Jun Ichikawa's advertising work (some of it utterly inspired) and a documentary on the director.

The good news -- the DVDs look quite good (Tsugumi and Tokyo Lullaby being huge improvements over the Panorama releases). the bad news -- no subs on anything but Buy A Suit.

Shochiku also released Tokiwa-so no seishun (Manga Apartment) on DVD along with the box set. I've yet to watch this DVD (the film is an interesting quasi-documentary on one of the most esteemed creators of Japanese manga -- yet never financially very successful).

Guess we'll have to take what we can get. I'm still looking forward to this release, I need to see more from this Ichikawa. Tokyo Lullaby looks particularly great.

My favorite "new" JI film in the box was Bu-su, which I found treasurable on every level. The Panorama DVDs of Tsugumi were wonderful placeholders (despite not being the best of transfers) and do offer adequate subtitles.

Some JI films still remain unavailable on DVD -- including some of his very best ones -- such as Dying in the Hospital, Tokyo Siblings, and Osaka Story (featuring Chizuru Ikewaki in her first starring role). And there are some other very interesting-seeming films (as yet unseen by me) that remain "missing" (except for out-of-print, very expensive VHS tapes).

If I get a chance to do a few screen captures, I'll post links to them..

I've just ordered this set, looking forward to seeing Buy a Suit, and also the older films (including a better transfer of the wonderful Tokyo Lullaby).

I've read that it's possible to play subtitle images (e.g. .srt files) simultaneously with DVD movies on software-based video players; perhaps there are English subtitles available to download? Unfortunately, 'fansubs' seem to be common for TV dramas, anime & mainstreams films from Japan, but not so much for the sort of cinema characteristic of Ichikawa. Ripping the subtitles from the Panorama releases of Tokyo Lullaby and Tsugumi might be possible (although I can't remember whether or not they were burnt-in), but for the remaining two features in the box-set, perhaps I'll be left to enjoying all the non-verbal qualities of the films!

I haven't looked for subtitling scripts -- and have not yet learned how to rip subs from one doc to be used with another.

I think BU-Su is pretty easy to follow, but it sure would be nice to have subs for Kaisha monogatari -- and the stand-alone Tokiwaso no seishun (Manga Apartment) DVD.

BTW -- the climax of BU-SU involves a replication of a famous bunraku piece -- which we were lucky enough to see performed live.