ariel alba

The Japanese director Daisuke Yamanouchi, one of the fundamental presences of audiovisual creation on his continent for three decades for his work in mainstream film, pink film, straight-to-video V-cinema and adult videos (AV), was deserving of the Jury Prize in the Off Theater Competition, at the Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival, in 1994 with her debut feature, the short film 'Blood Red Girls'.
He would then continue his artistic career as assistant director with Keita Amemiya on the 1995 fantasy film 'Moon Over Tao: Makaraga', the direct-to-video V-cinema productions, which usually involve extreme gore and horror, such as 'Red Room, Girl Hell', 1999 and 'Dead a Go! Go!'.
In 2002, Yamanouchi made his directorial debut in a pink film, with Maria Yumeno: 'Chō-inran onna no shiseikatsu', starring AV Idol Maria Yumeno.
At the 2006 Pink Grand Prix ceremony, she won the Best Picture Award, by virtue of her pink film 'Beautiful Lesbian Sisters: On the Day of Mourning'.
At this same Festival, five years later, he won a second award with his film 'Irokoi sata Sadako no bôken: Watashi no ai Shita shôgu-tachi yo'.
Yamanouchi also ventured a bit into the Japanese adult video (AV) field with studio Global Media Entertainment in 2005, directing four videos in their 'Boshisōkan yūgi' series, featuring older women and incest themes.
In addition to his work in pink cinema, Yamanouchi continued to write and direct dozens of V-cinema films, many of them in the horror and science fiction genres. In 2014, he was the editor of Yutaka Ikejima's film about a minor actor in the Japanese adult video (AV) industry, 'Oyaji Actor Z' (おやじ男優Z, Oyaji danyū Z).
Many still remember his 2019 film 'The Shortest Distance is Roundabout', which has two versions; "blanc", aimed at a youth audience, and "noir", for those over 18 years of age.
The release in July 2024 of his latest film, 'Heavens x Candy', is a good reason to suggest that MDL readers also get closer to the filmography of the Japanese author.
Family, human relationships, sex, affections, absences and otakus and their (mainly) online obsessions with love, games, anime and/or pornography, are the six pillars on which this film is based, supervised by Kasai Ami.
'Heavens x Candy' tells a story of pure love between two men who have never known love: a shy boy and an audiovisual actor who get to know each other through "oshikatsu" (fan activities).
On his way back from an event for fans of the popular anime series "Heavens x Candy", Hibiki Takato (played by newcomer Taisei), a 2D otaku with a reserved personality at twenty, visits a cafe that is a sacred place for fans but he forgets his wallet and leaves there without paying.
Amemiya Towa (Mukai Riku), who shares similar otaku tendencies and a love for "Heaven's x Candy", and who is at the cafeteria for the same purpose, accompanied by her stylist Satochi (Matsumoto Takuya, 'Fujoshi, Ukkari Gei ni Kokuru ', 2019), pays the bill for him.
The next day, they both meet at the cafeteria when Takato returns with the money and Towa to drink the banana smoothie that the establishment sells and which is also praised in the audiovisual preferred by the two young people. Once agreed, they go to the lighthouse that appears in the anime to continue the pilgrimage.
Towa, known for playing Haruto in 'The Shortest Distance Is Round', strongly suggests that the two go to another sacred place, a love hotel. There, as they express their love for each other, Towa reveals that he is a popular straight porn actor. Meanwhile, Takato recognizes the reason why he locked himself up like a hermit in his house.
I also liked the side story of Yusuke (Takemoto Taishi), Takato's father, and his partner Shinya (Yuki Shun).
Takato represents a widespread phenomenon in Japan, particularly among young men who cannot access university studies, and are seen by their embarrassed parents as disabled people or useless failures who should be "hidden in the back room".
I am struck by how in the film we see the opposite, with a tolerant father who encourages his own hermit son, who has not left the house for four years after his mother's death, and how he is happy when he leaves out of the shell after falling in love with another boy.
I liked the 'otaku' character concept of the character played by Taisei, a shy and lonely twenty-something, uncommunicative and unemployed ('Otaku can mean 'home', as in 'homebound', an insult).
Although the film could use a little more depth in the story, I liked how the two main characters manage to change thanks to love, serving as a motivation for personal growth, as a source of inspiration to improve behaviors and attitudes. Takato, for example, was able to develop self-esteem, which led to greater happiness and satisfaction in life. He was able to leave his hermit life and look for a job to become independent from his father.
Towa, for his part, quit a job that did not satisfy him, because despite having a lot of sex thanks to his work as a porn actor, he had never experienced love.
Likewise, the love that arises between Towa and Takato allowed them a change in perspective, allowing both to see the world in a different way, adopting a more positive and empathetic perspective, just as they were able to overcome fears and insecurities and bring them to a better place. greater self-confidence.