Tokio Emoto Archives – CULTURE MIX

December 9, 2025

by Carla Hay

Scarlet (voiced by Mana Ashida) in “Scarlet” (Image courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics)

“Scarlet” (2025)

Directed by Mamoru Hosoda

Japanese with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place at the end of the 16th century in Denmark, the animated film “Scarlet” (inspired by William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”) features characters who live in a kingdom and who exist in an Otherworld afterlife.

Culture Clash: After her king father is murdered by his evil brother, a princess vows to avenge and finds herself in a mysterious Otherworld afterlife, where she meets a guy from the 21st century who shows her a different way of thinking.

Culture Audience: “Scarlet” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of filmmaker Mamoru Hosoda and time-traveling fantasy anime films that blend action adventure with existential life philosophies.

Hijiri (voiced by Masaki Okada) and Scarlet (voiced by Mana Ashida) in “Scarlet” (Image courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics)

Inspired by William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” the visually dazzling anime film “Scarlet” has some predictable action in this adventure story about a princess avenging her father’s murder. The movie has a few surprises that save the narrative. “Scarlet” is a fairly simple story that has some deeper philosophical messages about revenge versus forgiveness.

Written and directed by Mamoru Hosoda, “Scarlet” had its world premiere at the 2025 Venice International Film Festival and its North American premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. “Scarlet” is not an exact replica of “Hamlet.” It borrows elements from “Hamlet,” but is a completely different story.

In the beginning of “Scarlet” (which takes place at the end of the 16th century in Denmark), a princess named Scarlet (voiced by Mana Ashida) has an idyllic life. Her kind and gentle father Amlet (voiced by Masachika Ichimura), who is the king of Denmark, adores her and spends quality time with her. Scarlet, who is an only child, wants to make her father proud. “I’ll be the princess you want to be,” she tells Amlet. Scarlet is definitely a “daddy’s girl” because she barely interacts with her mother Gertrude (voiced by Yuki Saito), who will further alienate herself from Scarlet later in the story.

The character of Scarlet is based on the character of Hamlet. Just like in “Hamlet,” Denmark and Norway are feuding with each other. Amlet has an evil brother named Claudius (voiced by Koji Yakusho), who wants to be king. Claudius has Amlet branded as an unpatriotic traitor to Denmark, which leads to Amlet being executed in public. Scarlet witnesses this horrific murder.

With Amlet dead, Claudius becomes king and marries Gertrude. In this movie, Gertrude is shown having a secret affair with Claudius before Amlet died. Scarlet wants to avenge her father’s death and begins training to become a warrior. Claudius wants to get rid of any possible threat to his power as king, so he poisons Scarlet.

Scarlet ends up in an Otherworld afterlife (which looks like a desert with mountains), inhabited by beings who could be dead or alive in the real world. While in this afterlife, she meets a young man from the 21st century named Hijiri (voiced by Masaki Okada), who is friendly and optimistic, in contrast to Scarlet, who is consumed with anger and rage. Over time, Hijiri and Scarlet develop an attraction to each other, but they come from two different worlds. In the production notes for “Scarlet,” Hosoda says that the character of Hijiri is inspired by the character of Ophelia in “Hamlet.”

Most of “Scarlet” consists of Scarlet and Hijiri battling various opponents in this Otherworld afterlife, while Scarlet is determined to find Claudius so she can kill him. Characters from “Hamlet” are also characters in “Scarlet.” Polonius (voiced by Kazuhiro Yamaji) is Claudius’ trusted adviser. Laertes (voiced by Tokio Emoto) is Polonius’ son. Rosencrantz (voiced by Munetaka Aoki) and Guildenstern (voiced by Shota Sometani) are two courtiers who are sent by Claudius to find and kill Scarlet in this afterlife.

The ghost of Amlet makes multiple appearances. And there’s a graveyard scene in “Scarlet” that is a very different version of the graveyard scene in “Hamlet.” In one part of the movie, Scarlet gets a glimpse of what her life would be like if she lived in the 21st century with Hijiri. The movie ends with a revelation that’s meant to pack an emotional punch.

“Scarlet” has some harrowing scenes involving the supernatural and deadly beasts, such as a dragon. The movie’s voice performances are perfectly adequate but don’t particularly elevate the movie. If there’s any criticism for some of the fight scenes, there are a few too many times that the movie has a “damsel in distress” scenario where Hijiri has to come to the rescue. Even with all the action sequences, the movie is at its best with its emotional dilemmas, when Scarlet has to confront her revenge motives, decide how far she’s willing to go, and wonder if it was all worth it in the end.

Sony Pictures Classics will release “Scarlet” in select U.S. cinemas on December 12, 2025. The movie will be re-released in select U.S. cinemas on February 6, 2025, with an expansion to more U.S. cinemas on February 13, 2025.

February 15, 2024

by Carla Hay

Kôji Yakusho and Arisa Nakano in “Perfect Days” (Photo courtesy of Neon)

“Perfect Days” (2023)

Directed by Wim Wenders

Japanese with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in Tokyo, the dramatic film “Perfect Days” features a predominantly Asian cast of characters (with a few white people and black people) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: An elderly sanitation worker, who is a quiet loner, spends his days and nights trying to live a harmonious existence when he’s with other people, but he sometimes battles loneliness and being misunderstood.

Culture Audience: “Perfect Days” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in a “slice of life” movie that focuses on a specific individual.

Arisa Nakano and Kôji Yakusho in “Perfect Days” (Photo courtesy of Neon)

“Perfect Days” is a “slice of life” movie about an elderly sanitation worker who is a quiet loner. Viewer appreciation will rest entirely on whether or not this person is worth watching. For most people, the answer is “yes.” However, because “Perfect Days” is a slow-paced movie, it won’t have much appeal to viewers with short attention spans or those who have no interest in seeing this insularly focused movie about this type of person.

Directed by Wim Wenders (who co-wrote the “Perfect Days” screenplay with Takuma Takasaki), “Perfect Days” had its world premiere at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, where star Kôji Yakusho won the prize for Best Actor. The movie then made the rounds at numerous film festivals in 2023, including the Telluride Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival and the New York Film Festival. “Perfect Days” was nominated for Best International Feature Film for the 2024 Academy Awards.

Yakusho, who stars as “Perfect Days” protagonist Hirayama, gives the type of performance where he has to do a lot of acting with his facial expressions and body language, since Hirayama doesn’t talk at all for a great deal of the film. When he does talk, he does so sparingly, without saying his inner feelings out loud. It’s the type of performance that will make viewers want to know more about Hirayama—not in a way where the movie feels incomplete, but in a way that indicates there’s a lot more to Hirayama than he shows to the people he sees on a regular basis.

“Perfect Days” shows what amounts to about two weeks of Hirayama’s life. He works for a company called The Tokyo Toilet, and his job is to clean outdoor public toilets in Tokyo, where he lives. He is very responsible, prompt and thorough in his work. It doesn’t take long for viewers to see that Hirayama likes to keep his life uncomplicated and is happy with finding comfort in life’s simple pleasures.

Very little is known about Hirayama before this story takes place. What were his hopes and dreams when he was younger? Has he been married? Does he have children? What types of jobs did he have before his current job? Don’t expect answers to these questions, although because Hirayama lives alone and doesn’t mention having any children, it can be assumed that he’s a bachelor with no children.

A few things become apparent about Hirayama from his interactions with people. He’s kind, he’s generous, and he likes his daily routines. He has a pattern that he sticks to of going to his job, a local park for lunch, his favorite cafe and bar when he’s not working, and then going home. He likes listening to classic rock, reading, and taking outdoor photos. He keeps his photos neatly filed in boxes labeled according to the months that the photos were taken.

Hirayama shows his generosity by lending a co-worker in his 20s named Takashi (played by Tokio Emoto) some money so that Takashi can court a girlfriend named Aya (played by Aoi Yamada), whom Takashi wants desperately to impress. Takashi gets the money by whining to Hirayama that the Tokyo Toilet job doesn’t pay Takashi enough money to take Aya out on the dates that he thinks Aya deserves. At first, Takashi tried to persuade Hirayama to sell off a large part of Hirayama’s music collection (he has mostly cassettes and vinyl albums) to get the money, but Hirayama decides to just give Takashi the wanted cash instead. Takashi shows up late for work sometimes. When Hirayama has to pick up the slack for Takashi’s flakiness, Hirayama does so without complaining.

Music is a big part of “Perfect Days,” since Hirayama listens to classic rock from the 1960s and 1970s for enjoyment, and it becomes a way that he bonds with certain people in the movie. Patti Smith’s breakthrough 1975 album “Horses” is prominently featured in the story. Other music heard in the movie’s soundtrack (which is the soundtrack to Hirayama’s life) are songs such as Lou Reed’s plaintive 1972 ballad “Perfect Day,” Van Morrison’s classic 1967 love song “Brown Eyed Girl” and the Kinks’ 1966 jaunty hit “Sunny Afternoon.” There’s a scene in the movie where Aya asks Hirayama if she can find “Horses” on Spotify. He’s never heard of Spotify before and think it’s a physical retail store, because he doesn’t fully understand the concept of a digital streaming service.

A turning point in the story comes with the unexpected visit of Hirayama’s teenage niece Niko (played by Arisa Nakano), who shows up at Hirayama’s home because she’s having problems with her mother, who is Hirayama’s younger sister. This visit is a catalyst for Hirayama to look at his life from Niko’s perspective, and it opens up some old emotional wounds and certain feelings in Hirayama. “Perfect Days” is not a perfect movie, but it’s a wonderful example of a contemplative movie about someone who usually isn’t the main character of a movie and is the type of person who is often overlooked or forgotten in real life.

Neon released “Perfect Days” in New York City on November 10, 2023, with a wider expansion to more U.S. cinemas on February 9, 2024. The movie was released in Japan and other countries in 2023.

Tag: Tokio Emoto

Review: ‘Scarlet’ (2025), starring the voices of Mana Ashida, Masaki Okada and Koji Yakusho

Review: ‘Perfect Days’ (2023), starring Kôji Yakusho