Professor Shima is genuinely one of the best professors UCLA has to offer. Every single one of the classes I've taken with him has been thoughtful, engaging, and delightful. You can tell that Japanese Cinema is something he has a passion for. Shima crafts his courses to show the history and development of Japanese Cinema from the beginning of the post-war era and takes the time to teach the surrounding cultural contexts. Some of the films he shows are a little odd, I will say that, but he makes it a point to show films you're not likely to find on your own. His classes are structured as so: one weekly response, one midterm essay, and one final essay. You are expected to watch the films and do the readings before class, as class time generally involves an in-depth class discussion of the film. That being said, you can totally pick just one film to focus on for the week and do fine. One thing I really enjoyed about his courses was the weekly Small Peer Group Workshops where you got to talk about anything related to Japanese Cinema that you had an interest in and get to know your classmates a little. Additionally, Shima is very accommodating in regard to COVID, etc. When I took his classes, he would simulcast for those who couldn't make it over zoom. That's not to say you weren't expected to be in class. Your learning would be impeded otherwise as the SPGWs are best done in person. Further, when the TA strike happened, Shima was very responsive and quick to move us online so we could continue classes.

Professor Shima is the best lecturer I've met in UCLA. Interesting content, clear lecture, no crazy heavy workload, just write your weekly journal 300 words and one midterm and final paper. He also teaches stuff about Japanese manga, which is naturally more interesting than Japanese movies.

TAKE IT.