Ninja could be found via myriad big-name properties in the 80′s, but it is the generic, no-brand ninja merch I love most from that era. This 15″ plastic kids’ bank is a personal fave.
Intrigued by the TM placed beside the NINJA logo. Were they trying to protect that typography? Might be from a whole line of generic merch. Manufacturer seems to be “Child’s Play,” with a 1986 release date, and a model “No. 25″ designation.
No one kept cheap crap like this, no one geekily followed their manufacture, distribution patterns or variants. So while supposedly “rare” action figures turn up perfectly preserved on unopened cards all the time on eBay, it is these at one time ubiquitous but now all but forgotten pieces that are truly the hardest to find stuff out there.
Posted 2 days ago at 7:18 am. Add a comment
New “Dead Ringo” images up on the FWAK! Blog! (See earlier posts here and here.)
Posted 3 days, 11 hours ago at 8:34 pm. Add a comment
If you’re like me and can’t wait for Matt Alt and Hiroko Yoda‘s Ninja Attack!, there are some excepts up on the English-language Japanese e-magazine Metropolis.
Illustrations by Yutaka Kondo.
Kodansha International’s Ninja Attack! True Tales of Assassins, Samurai, and Outlaws is due in stores in November. NOVEMBER! Those bastards in Japan have it now…
Posted 5 days ago at 7:42 am. Add a comment
If you were one of the folks his past weekend trying to win either of these original press kit photos from the ninth entry in the Shinobi-no-Mono series, Mission Iron Castle, my apologies for being the source of your disappointment. I swung a heavy wallet at these cuties: Michiyo Yasuda and Yoko Namikawa sporting the finest in night gear coture.
Particularly fond of these as they are the source imagery for the superb collage poster, a two-sheet version of which hangs on the wall at VN HQ.
And if you haven’t seen this masterpiece of grim, noirish shinobi espionage, do so, it is truly one of the best ninja movies ever made.
Posted 1 week, 1 day ago at 9:39 pm. Add a comment
In a nice bit of coinkidink, this past weekend Roy Ware of the awesome Black Sun posted some great imagery of an entirely different Sasuke, an animated film known in English-speaking markets as “Magic Boy.”
Occurs to me, with a domestic release in 1961, this would be the first ninja movie ever seen in the United States, well before the dubbed Magic Serpent. I don’t recall ever seeing this Disney-esque epic on VHS during the craze, but it had to have come out somewhere. Unless by the 80′s distributors were too sensitive about kids throwing knives around…
Another neat fact, two different retro-media blogs ran features on incarnations of Sasuke without mentioning fucking Naruto. Ah shit, I just did.
Dammit.
Posted 1 week, 4 days ago at 7:55 am. Add a comment
Discovering Sarutobi Sasuke Senjogadake no Himatsuri has been an eye-opener. The below caps will attest to how well-rounded the film is, hitting genre beats from both the super hero sorcerer spectacle-50s and the grim and grittier shinobi-spy 60s at the same time.
The costumers used all sorts of hood and mask styles to differentiate various shinobi.
Sasuke’s relationship with the femme fatale goes from dodging shuriken to dodging affection. This poor gal, caught between an uber-noble hero and a viciously manipulative villain, ultimately pays for being on the wrong road to start with then making some bad decisions along the way.
This ceiling-crawl special effects sequence is both innovative and effective as hell, as good or better a bit as anything in the 60s craze. The ceiling is actually a floor with the actor crawling across it, flipped upside down when optically composited with the right-side-up room footage. Wonder why we didn’t see this compositing technique more often after this flick?
The ninja-vs.-ninja action goes from darkened hallways and crawlspaces to rooftops at night. However, while there are plenty of scenes more in tune with the espionage-based shinobi-cinema of a decade later, the fighting is still rather swash-buckler-y (yep, just made that term up) and very much of the 50′s. The whole jump up/jump cut disappearance thing is way WAAAY overdone, too. One of the best things about the 60s craze was the elimination of these cheesy camera tricks in favor of realistic movements coached by genuine ninjutsu practitioners serving as on-set advisors.
But damn, this has got to be one of, if not the, best pre-craze movies for credible hood and mask capers.
Said hoods are ultimately shed for the final duel, fought atop a mountain (and an indoor mountain-top set, never matching well when intercut alas). Weapons are parried and elemental ninja magics are exchanged, and, surprise, a redemptive act of self-sacrifice by a certain emotionally scarred female saves the day.
I just LOVE this film, but a word of warning before you go and buy. The print shown on Japan’s jidai-geki channel is alarmingly flawed – tons of flutter and frame jogs, especially on edits where special effects occur. It is hazy in places and inky in others, and the sound pops a lot. If this is the only print in circulation, I can see why there’s been no rush to put it on DVD, the thing is a mess.
That being said, beggars can’t be choosers. Maybe there’s a Criterion-level Blu-Ray on the horizon from Japan. Maybe pigs will fly.
OR… maybe **somebody** out there will sub this thing and make it available here first. I’ve got a DVD box cover pic just waiting…
Sarutobi Sasuke Senjogadake no Himatsuri is not even available in Japan, however you can buy it from Kurotokagi‘s non-subbed DVD-R lists here.
Posted 1 week, 5 days ago at 7:03 am. Add a comment
Four months ago or so I ran some vintage publicity stills from movies I couldn’t identify. Well, thanks to VN commenter Robert “ShinobiShaw” Kibodeaux we got some IDs soon after, and I’m finally getting around to putting up these caps from the very film this mystery image came from:
Sarutobi Sasuke Senjogadake no Himatsuri was a 1950* Daiei production that for its time is surprisingly well rounded in its genre credentials. There’s plenty of hooded commando action, shuriken flying in the trees, some elemental magic summoning, and a stunning kunocihi to boot. I have embarrassingly little hard data on this flick, and have only seen a non-subtitled inky-as-hell print, but here goes:
Fujita Susumu, a prolific actor whose career spanned essential jidai-geki, kaiju and WWII films alike, stars as a Sasuke more in the Samurai Spy vein than in the often seen trouble-making kid or outright sorcerer variety. Over the course of the film, he struggles with black-clad ninja rivals (the main baddie played by vet Tsukigata Ryunosuke I believe) and negotiates a love triangle with a his noble village sweetheart and a kunoichi who although pledged to do Sasuke in inevitably falls for him.
Our hero is in grey once again. There's some pretty cool infiltration, spying and rope fighting stuff here.
Director ADACHI NOBUO makes great use of rooftop sets...
...impressive set-bound "exteriors" and...
...just as impressive real exteriors.
Gathering what I can from my front row seat behind the language barrier, seems Sasuke is pursued by ninja who assume he’s guilty of killing their elder on the battlefield and stealing his secret scroll. Truth of it is, the old man saw Sasuke as an honorable warrior, and before dying of natural causes, actually entrusted him with the treasure as his last act.
What's sexier than a vengeful beauty in armor?
A vengeful beauty in ninja gear!
I am completely SMITTEN with the conflicted kunoichi sworn to kill the man she’s slowly falling in love with. (The credits list two actresses: Chieko Soma and Minagawa Reiko, I just don’t know who’s who.**)
But par for the rules of genre, vengeful ninja women NEVER get the guy and live happily ever after. There’s always the ‘princess’ figure, in this case a local gal Sasuke’s hooked on, whose loyalty, chaste and general tolerance for damsel-in-distressdom is ultimately rewarded.
I'm a sucker for hard features on Japanese women, big schnozes and ninja girls. What's not to love here? SWOOON!
Some wacky wildlife in this film, too. The credits use a cockfight to symbolize the duel about to transpire. Various ninja slip lizards and snakes into bedrooms to herald their appearances. Sasuke uses a couple dozen toads as his calling card. Alas, they’re just regular plain old toads. No laser horns or flame breath or growin’ humongous… Handsome fellas though.
Hey, swing on back to VN tomorrow for a HUGE batch of caps from this way-too-rare film. TONS of hooded combat and some damn clever shinobi-cinematography, too!
Sarutobi Sasuke Senjogadake no Himatsuri is not even available in Japan, however you can buy it from Kurotokagi‘s non-subbed DVD-R lists here.
_________________________________________________________
*I can’t confirm this date, and wouldn’t be surprised if it was a bit latter in the decade.
** Any kanji reader willing to take a look at caps of the credits, you’d really be helping a brother out. Send an email to unknownpubs (at) Yahoo (dot) com.
Posted 1 week, 6 days ago at 11:56 pm. Add a comment
From eBay to dirt malls, swap meets and yard sales coast to coast, you see these 5-8″ ceramic vessels sold as both “Tiki mugs” (from joints like Benihana) and “bamboo planters” quite a bit.
Not sure which description is accurate? The holes on the fronts sure do seem straw-friendly. But the gaping holes in back seem too low to hold an appreciable amount of liquor. Yeah, the hole is big enough to pour crushed ice into, but I mean, you couldn’t tip it at all without spilling rum on your hipster bowling shirt. Certainly suitable for some stalks of bamboo though…
Truth of it is, they definitely started life as novelty mugs for gimmicky steakhouse chains and Asian-themed bars. Benihana had an official line that bore their logo, and plenty of similar knock-offs were available elsewhere.
BUT… I’ve scored as many of these that have dirt-stained interiors as I have ones that still smell vaguely of fruity drinks, so somebody was multi-purposing the damn things.
I’ve seen probably 4-6 different ninja in both white and green, likely 80′s, but plenty of other designs came before and after, from kendo students to geisha to buddhas. Read all about the dizzying array of “tiki mugs” at this superb blog!
**AND THIS JUST IN!** Scored the below on eBay just now while looking for supplemental images for this post!
This is an official Benihana model. Missing the small ceramic sword that went in the otherwise straw hole, alas.
Why do I collect all these ceramic ninja while living in quakey California?
Posted 2 weeks, 3 days ago at 11:02 pm. Add a comment
There may not be a more beautifully shot ninja film than the 1964 artistic gem Kaze no Bushi (aka “Warrior of the Wind”). The set-bound cinematography is great, the use of natural light in the lush exteriors approaches astounding, there are fights that look like nothing else in the genre, even the blood is gorgeous.
Two years after holding his own against genre heavyweights in Akai Kageboshi, Hashizo Okawa returns to the ninja fold as one of the most human protagonists to ever dawn the hood. It is difficult to describe his journey from complacent layabout to reluctant hero and beyond without giving away too many spoilers, so I’ll try not to ruin anyone’s pleasure at discovering this film. Suffice to say his portrayal of bored womanizer Shinzo goes places emotionally you won’t expect.
The under-achieving Shinzo is constantly beset by women with different agendas, from a shifty kunoichi to a noble princess with a secret. Women are the primary catalysts in his development as a hero, and get him into all sorts of trouble.
And a brutal ninja spy as a rival doesn't help matter either.
Shinzo is a shadow-skilled agent himself, but the tactical mindset and task-driven disciplines of a ninja fail when it comes to matters of the heart.
Kaze no Bushi was directed by Tai Kato, known for his Toei yakuza films. He certainly didn’t approach this ninja film with the typical genre slant. The conventions of shinobi cinema are present, but not leaned on or hidden behind. There’s some experimenting here (most of which works, although when it doesn’t it really doesn’t), and for every typical creep down a hallway there’s a scene you won’t see in any other ninja movie.
Kato didn’t seem especially interested in night scenes, which would be a problem in any other ninja movie. These superbly shot exteriors and multi-depth set pieces are so well executed, you just don’t miss the typical ninja environs.
The high-point of Kaze no Bushi is this unforgettable (although brief) fight and flight scene amidst a maze of rocks on a beach at dusk. Subdued orange light, wide open spaces contrasting with a scurrying, tight pursuit amid jagged terrain, it’s absolutely beautiful. I can’t think of another ninja action scene this damn pretty.
I love this style of head wrap. Its as common as the 'stingray' style hood and other oft-seen mask styles, but in this grey tone, you can really see the technique.
As unique and masterful as Kato was here, his best accomplishment in Kaze is what he does with his lead man. Shinzo is perhaps the most human and emotionally credible hero of a ninja film I’ve ever seen. He has flaws, feels rage, shame, hurts from losses. He’s in a situation way over his head and way beyond his years of experience, and knows it. Multiple times he can take an easier path, but doesn’t. He’s a different guy by film’s end, and that’s what a good movie needs to do to it’s main. The human factor here is great.
Kaze no Bushi is on an artistic level above the genre in many ways, as unique as Samurai Spy and every bit as visually striking. It’s not an action powerhouse like Mission Iron Castle or a fun exploitive flick from the Chiba era. Kaze is more of a lush painting.
This is an adaptation of an original novel by Ryotaro Shiba, also responsible for Castle of Owls (another half-decent ninja film, if I recall). Curious to know if the superb ninja films live up to his written words, or if there was a generation of Japanese reader who rolled their eyes at these movies like we often do here.
Posted 2 weeks, 6 days ago at 1:10 am. 2 comments
Part of the ongoing “TokyoScope” series, this killer panel on Japanese superheroes (including Masked Ninja Akakage) Friday at the VIZ Cinema in Japantown is a don’t-miss! Expect footage of a lot of never-see-in-the-US shows and tons of insights from the heavy hitter host line-up.
Otaku USA‘s release:
“Ultraman! Kamen Rider! The Power Rangers! These and many other colorful crusaders of justice are now recognized the world over as essential icons of Japanese pop culture. But where did they come from? Who created them? And what is it really like battling rubber monsters and the forces of evil on a regular basis?
Join hosts Patrick Macias (editor, Otaku USA magazine), August Ragone (author, Eiji Tsuburaya: Master of Monsters), and Tomohiro Machiyama (founding editor, Movie Treasures magazine) as they explore the fascinating history and origins of Japanese superheroes using rare film clips and images from numerous tokusatsu, sentai, and henshin hero productions including Ultra Seven, Kikaida, Space Sheriff Gavan, and many others.”
Posted 3 weeks, 2 days ago at 10:38 pm. Add a comment
