A struggling manga artist, unrequited love, Yakuza (Japanese mafia) loan sharks, a high-speed car chase and getting swallowed by an enormous whale are just some of the scenes that will be playing at the Tate Theater tonight.

“Mind Game,” an animated Japanese film, will be shown tonight at 6 as part of the ongoing Japanese Film Festival.

This evening’s film and other Japanese movies will be playing every Wednesday through March 16 as part of the festival, which is sponsored by the Center for Asian Studies and the Japan Foundation.

“I hope that [University students] will gain an appreciation for Japanese film, which has always been one of the greatest and most distinctive of all national cinemas,” said Christopher Sieving, assistant professor in the department of theater and film studies.

“And if they see all of the festival’s selections, they’ll appreciate how diverse Japanese cinema is. It’s not just anime; it’s not just ghost stories.”

There is a wide array of movie genres being shown during the next few weeks.

Tonight’s movie, “Mind Game,” is highly anticipated by Hijiri Hattori, Japanese Outreach Initiative coordinator at the Center for Asian Studies.

“The director of this movie is one of the animators who worked on the TV anime of ‘Crayon Shin-chan,’ a famous one in Japan, and the casts of voice are from Japanese comedians,” Hattori said. “Also, the technique of 3-D is attracting.”

The next movie playing is a psycho comedy called “Age of Assassins” that follows the miraculous escapes of Kikyo Shinji, a near-sighted, clumsy criminal psychologist. Shinji is constantly evading the grasp of Dr. Mizorogi’s secret organization that was created in league with former Nazis.

Finishing the series is “When a Woman Ascends the Stairs,” a classic Japanese movie from the 1960s. The film follows a bar hostess in Ginza who struggles with maintaining her independence in a male-dominated society.

“I think it is a wonderful opportunity to have such high quality Japanese movies, in 35mm, brought to campus,” said Dr. Richard Neupert, film professor and head of film studies at the University. “UGA has a lively film culture now, and we welcome access to these important recent Japanese films.”

Farley Richmond, the director of the Center for Asian Studies, likes how stylistically different Japanese films can be from American films.

“The kinds of films the Japanese make are more representative of culture and life, especially by young filmmakers,” Richmond said. “Young people [in Japan] are struggling with new ideas. The films are not as narrative-driven as American films and are more impressionistic.”

Hattori ultimately hopes University students can become more familiar with Japan and Japanese people through this event.

“I hope them to know Japan has different type of movies than horror movies. We speak differently, and our way of life is different from those of the USA, but we share the same or similar thing, too,” she said.