Screening on Saturday 9^th January 2021

Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu!

Hajimemashite!

We welcome you to the first screening of 2021.
We hope you enjoyed the festive season, and break from JAFWA. Our program this week consists of a couple of regular series carried on from last year, a retro series requested from the anniversary screening, and several new regular series chosen from the survey. And for comparison purposes, we even have a Chinese version, Communist party approved, live action adaption of a Japanese anime.

We continue taking precautions to limit the possible second wave of CoVid-19, and we ask that you co-operate and even help where possible with our efforts to keep you safe – some social distancing, extra cleaning with antiseptic, library under limited access, etc. Also, we must ask that anyone unfortunate enough to be infected to not attend JAFWA until they are contagion free.
Help would be welcome during set-up and pack-up due to the extra duties imposed by COVID-19. Please arrive early to confirm personal details due to COVID 19 regulations. There will be Contract Tracing, either by the SafeWA app on your keitai (mobile phones), or by signing in at the contact tracing sheet at the front desk. And we need to wipe the chairs down with disinfectant before they are stacked away.

Below is the tentative program for the evening of Saturday January 9^th, 2021.

All items in the original Japanese language with English subtitles. With assistance from a grant from and

5:15pm	Fruits Basket	Ep 18/25
5:40pm	Arte	Ep 1/12
6:05pm	Appare Ranman!	Ep 1/13
6:30pm	dinner break
7:15pm	door prize drawing, and announcements
7:30pm	Revolutionary Girl Utena	Ep 1/39	(retro)
7:55pm	Ascendance of a Bookworm	Ep 1/26
8:20pm	Hikaru no Go (Chinese)(live action)	Ep 1	(preview)
9:15pm	Late Break
9:25pm	In/Spectre	Ep 1/12	(v)
9:50pm	Mahjong Legend Akagi	Ep 18/26	(v)
10:15pm	Vinland Saga	Ep 16/26	(v)

Doors Open before Screening:~5:00 PM

Program Finishes:~10:45 PM

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Dates of Interest

Barring a resurgence of COVID-19 pestilence, these events are scheduled to happen:

• Saturday January 9^th 2021 — JAFWA returns in 2021!
• Saturday January 16^th 2021 9AM-12PM — Nexus Toy Fair at Victoria Park Leisure Centres – Aqualife and Leisurelife. Only $2 entry!
• Weekend January 16/17^th 2021 — GenghisCon at UWA. Also see here.

Synopsis

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Fruits Basket (2020) season 2

After a family tragedy turns her life upside down, plucky high schooler Tohru Honda takes matters into her own hands and moves out into a tent. Unfortunately for her, she pitches her new home on private land belonging to the mysterious Sohma clan, and it isn’t long before the owners discover her secret. But, as Tohru quickly finds out when the family offers to take her in, the Sohmas have a secret of their own–when stressed or grasped by the opposite sex, they turn into the animals of the Chinese Zodiac.

This evening’s Episode: “Wanna Kiss?”

At the Sohma complex, Hiro (the Sheep) and Kisa (the Tiger) have a perplexing encounter with Isuzu/Rin (the Horse). The Zodiac curse weighs heavily, driving Rin to despair and sickness. Is she even good enough for Hatsuhara (the Ox)? Can she escape the clutches of the family head?

Arte

16th century Firenze, Italy. The birthplace of the Renaissance Era, where art is thriving. In one small corner of this vast city, one sheltered girl’s journey begins. Arte dreams of becoming an artist, an impossible career for a girl born into a noble family. In those days, art was an exclusively male profession, with women facing strong discrimination. In spite of these challenges, Arte perseveres with hard work and a positive attitude
.

This evening’s Episode: “I Want to Be an Apprentice ”

Arte, a daughter of a noble but poor family, is obsessed with drawing. After her father’s death, her mother destroys her artwork, believing her obsession would repulse potential husbands. Rejecting marriage, Arte decides to become an artisan and support herself. She visits local workshops, hoping to gain an apprenticeship, but is rejected due to being a woman. Then an unsocial artist named Leo gives her an impossible task…

Appare Ranman! (aka “Appare in Full Bloom!”)

After a certain mishap, the brilliant but socially inept engineer Appare Sorano and the shrewd but cowardly samurai Kosame Isshiki find themselves drifting on a boat from Japan to America. Broke, the two decide to compete in the Trans-America Wild Race to win the prize and return to Japan. The two battle crazy rivals, outlaws, and the great outdoors itself as they race through the wild West from the starting line in Los Angeles to the finish line in New York — in the steam-powered car they built.

This evening’s Episode: “Sunny (Appare), with Occasional Showers (Kosame)”

A colourful cast of racers sets off on the Trans-America Wild Race, a competition to be the first to drive their car from Los Angeles to New York to win a large cash prize. The show flashes back to one year earlier, where a samurai named Kosame Isshiki is tasked by Lord Kuroda to oversee Appare Sorano, an eccentric inventor whose latest contraption damaged the Lord’s garden. In anger, Kuroda threw Appare in a jail cell with violent criminals, but Appare breaks out and quietly heads back to his room on his family’s land.

retro – Shoujo Kakuemi Utena (Revolutionary Girl Utena)

Utena Tenjou, a teenage girl who expresses her desire to be a prince through her strong-willed personality and tomboyish manner of dress. She finds herself drawn into a series of sword duels at Ohyori Academy, to win the hand of Anthy Himemiya, a mysterious girl known as the “Rose Bride” who possesses the “power to revolutionize the world”.

Tonight’s Episode: “The Rose Bride”

8-year-old, orphaned Utena is rescued from her sadness by a mysterious prince who gives her a Rose Signet ring. He promises that the Ring will lead her to him again someday if she never loses her inherent nobility. Utena is so inspired by the unnamed prince that she decides to become a prince herself. 6 years later, 14-year-old Utena attends Ohtori Academy and is in 8th grade, where her noble aspirations lead her to accidentally enter the Dueling Game.

Ascendance of a Bookworm (Honzuki no Gekokujou: Shisho ni Naru Tame niwa Shudan o Erandeiraremasen)

The story follows Motosu Urano, a book-loving post-secondary student and soon-to-be librarian who ends up crushed to death beneath a pile of books during an earthquake. With her dying breath, she wishes to be reincarnated in a world where she can read books forever. Urano awakens in the body of a weak, five-year-old girl named Myne in a world where books are scarce and only available to elites. Myne, retaining her memories from her previous life, decides to create and print her own books so that she can read again.

Tonight’s Episode: “A World Without Books ”

The High Priest of the temple puts a young girl named Myne into a deep sleep and probes her mind regarding her past and her abnormal love for books. He sees that Myne used to be known as Motosu Urano from another land and time. She loved every kind of literature in existence, but she was suddenly crushed to death under a pile of books. As she died, she wished that she would be able to read all kinds of books in her next life. But can an impoverished, sickly child in the poor part of a medieval fantasy city ever lay her hands on beloved books?

live action – Hikaru no Go

Hikaru Shindo is just a normal 12 year old boy, but one day he’s rumaging through his Grandfather’s things to see if he can find something to sell and pulls out an old Go board. A ghostly apparation appears out of the board and tells Hikaru his sad story. His name is Sai Fujiwara, a man who was a Go instructor to the emperor of Japan a thousand years ago. However, because of bad sportsmanship of his opponent during a game, Sai was accused of cheating and banished from the city. With no livelihood or any other reason to live, Sai commited suicide by drowning himself. Now, he haunts a Go board, and wants to accomplish the perfect Go game, called the “Hand of God” which he hopes to do through Hikaru. If Hikaru will be able to do it or not (or even wants to) will have to be seen.

Tonight’s Episode: “Eternal Rivals ”

Hikaru Shindo goes to the shed of his grandfather, Heihachi Shindo, in hopes of finding antiques to sell. He stumbles upon a go board which is possessed by the ancient spirit of Fujiwara-no-Sai a Go Master from an earlier time. Sai ends up accompanying Hikaru and traveling with him, however disappointed when Hikaru refuses to play Go. Eventually, Hikaru agrees to play Go, and his first opponent is Akira Toya, the son of the national champion. With Sai’s instructions, Hikaru manages to win the match, much to the surprise of Akira.

In/Spectre

When she was still just a girl, Kotoko was kidnapped by yokai. These spirits made her into a powerful intermediary between the spirit and human worlds, but this power came at a price: an eye and a leg. Now, years later, she watches out for dangerous yokai while developing feelings for a young man named Kuro, who is also special: an incident with a yokai has given him healing powers. He’s surprised when Kotoko asks him to team up to handle renegade yokai, preserving the thin line between reality and the supernatural.

Tonight’s Episode: “One Eye, One Leg ”

The 11 year old Kotoko Iwanaga is kidnapped by Youkai and asked to become Goddess of Wisdom. 6 years later she visits Kuro Sakuragawa, a man whose life she previously saved and fell in love with, despite his having a girlfriend, Saki Mihara. She kept track of him for two years until the present day when Saki breaks off their engagement. Kotoko immediately asks to date him. Kotoko reveals most yokai are terrified of Kuro. Explanations are interrupted when a Bull Ayakashi rampages in the local library.

Retro – Touhai Densetsu Akagi (Mahjong Legend Akagi)

After a death-defying game of chicken one evening in 1958, Akagi nonchalantly enters a yakuza mahjong parlor to shake the police’s trail. Although he is unfamiliar with the rules of mahjong, his gambling intuition saves a small-time gambler, Nangou, and grants him a seat at the gambling table. Thus begins Akagi’s legend among the Yakuaza as the best player and gambler of Mahjong.

Tonight’s Episode: “The Cursed Tiles”

The death match continues, with Akagi just managing to avoid defeat. The match enters the south round. Washizu is in a favorable position, with a single wait for a sanshoku hand and 1 dora. But when playing Akagi, is it ever safe to relax when you feel confident?

Vinland Saga

set in Dane-controlled England at the start of the 11th century, and features the Danish invaders of England commonly known as Vikings. The story combines a dramatisation of King Cnut the Great’s historical rise to power with a revenge plot centered on the historical explorer Thorfinn, the son of a murdered ex-warrior.

Tonight’s Episode: “History of Beasts”

Prince Canute is confronted by the death of faithful Ragnar. Askeladd tells Thorfinn to guard Canute and tortures a captured English captain, seeking information. He is interrupted to be told that Thorkell is approaching. Fearing Askeladd’s luck has run out, some of his men decide to desert.