Netflix has officially greenlit TYGO, a major new action title spun out of the Extraction universe — and the cast alone signals that this is positioned as a global tentpole. …
Ken Watanabe
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Film/TV
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Anime
THE END OF AN ERA: MY HERO ACADEMIA’S FINALE AND ITS LASTING LEGACY
by Ken Watanabeby Ken WatanabeAs the clock strikes midnight on December 13, 2025, the world of anime bids a poignant farewell to one of its most iconic franchises. My Hero Academia—the sprawling shonen epic …
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BTS
JIMIN AND JUNGKOOK’S ‘ARE YOU SURE?’ SEASON 2 CRASHES DISNEY+ GLOBAL TOP 10
by Ken Watanabeby Ken WatanabeJimin & Jungkook Storm Back Onto Disney+ — Are You Sure?! Season 2 Crashes Into the Global Top 10 BTS’s Jimin and Jungkook are back with a vengeance in Are …
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Film/TVReview & Analysis
‘THIRD WIFE’ REVIEW: BANNED IN VIETNAM BECAUSE OF A CONTROVERSIAL SEX SCENE
by Ken Watanabeby Ken WatanabeWhen the first thing you hear about a film is the controversy surrounding an “intimate” scene between a child and an adult actor, you brace yourself. The Third Wife was …
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AnimeFilm/TV
HIROKAZU KORE-EDA TO DIRECT LIVE-ACTION LOOK BACK: WHY THIS ADAPTATION MATTERS
by Ken Watanabeby Ken WatanabeHirokazu Kore-eda, one of Japan’s most acclaimed contemporary filmmakers, has been tapped to direct the live-action adaptation of Tatsuki Fujimoto’s Look Back—a project already generating rare anticipation inside both film …
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FestivalsFilm/TV
WHY ‘BILYARISTA’ IS THE MOST TALKED-ABOUT FILIPINO FILM OF THE FESTIVAL SEASON
by Ken Watanabeby Ken WatanabeBilyarista, a gritty cue-sports drama headlined by Venice Film Festival best actor John Arcilla, is making its world premiere at the 56th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa—carrying …
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Film/TV
10 JAPANESE DRAMA SERIES THAT EXPLORE FRIENDSHIP IN UNUSUAL WAYS
by Ken Watanabeby Ken WatanabeJapanese dramas have always excelled at romance, slice-of-life storytelling, and emotional minimalism. But tucked inside that genre history is a long list of TV series that treat friendship with the …
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Film/TVReview & Analysis
‘CLOSER TO HEAVEN’ REVIEW: SUBTLE BRILLIANCE
by Ken Watanabeby Ken WatanabeThe story unfolds in a direction most romance films avoid: grounded, unembellished, and free of cinematic delusion. Instead of packaging pain into something poetic, Closer to Heaven allows love to …
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Film/TVReview & Analysis
‘BAD GUYS’ REVIEW: IS BAD GUYS THE EQUIVALENT OF ‘BREAKING BAD’ IN KOREA?
by Ken Watanabeby Ken WatanabeA weary police officer, fed up with Seoul’s rising violent crime rate, makes a decision that would get most internal affairs departments foaming at the mouth: he recruits three criminals—the …
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AnimeFilm/TV
SONY WANTS A BIGGER SLICE OF JAPAN’S $25B ANIME ECONOMY
by Ken Watanabeby Ken WatanabeJapan’s animation industry has crossed another historic milestone. New data from the Association of Japanese Animations shows the market reached $25.3 billion (¥3.84 trillion) in 2024 — the largest in …