Takenori Sento's Rumble Fish Inc. files for bankruptcy

by Chris MaGee

Takenori Sento just can't seem to get a break. Well, that's not actually true. It seems that Sento, the independent producer behind some of the most critically praised films to come out of Japan in the past decade, can't translate that success into a stable production company. In the early part of the decade Sento ran the now defunct Suncent CinemaWorks which brought us such films as Shinji Aoyama's "Eureka", Akira Ogata's "Boy's Choir" and Sogo Ishii's "Electric Dragon 80,000V" and "Gojoe". Now word comes from Jason Gray that Sento's second attempt at a permanent foothold in the Japanese film industry has fallen through. Rumble Fish Inc. which produced Shinji Aoyama's 2005 film "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" (above) has filed for bankruptcy. Apparently Aoyama's art house sci-fi epic as well as films by directors Kazuo Kuroki, Kunitoshi Manda and the television series based on Kaizo Hayashi’s Maiku Hama films couldn't keep the company afloat. At the time of it's bankruptcy filing on October 23rd Rumble fish was ¥2 billion ($20.5 million) in debt. Sad news for independent films in Japan and for Japanese film fans around the world.