The Budo Zodiac
As today is my birthday… Found this print ad ran in a 1981 issue of Black Belt magazine, a neato blend of Chinese zodiac and Japanese martial arts. The artist did his or her homework, too! 1969 — that makes … Continued
One that got away…
This 15×20″ Nakazuri size original Japanese market release poster for Kairyu Diakessen – beloved to us as Magic Serpent – just went for about a bill on eBay. Having overspent this holiday season, I tapped out of the bidding early. … Continued
More from DEAD RINGO
Many thanks to Eddie Mort for giving us some monster-ific shots from his in-development animated series Dead Ringo. This stuff is drawn from inspiration like The Samurai, Dororo and a huge stack of old ninja movies borrowed from yours truly, … Continued
SUPER NINJAS (aka Five Element Ninjas) poster
Via the ever superb Wrong Side of the Art: I find this English language market distro poster for Five Element Ninjas perplexing. The art makes this look like a team-up film, like a shinobified version of Force Five or something. … Continued
Now in the hands of… an American?
As a footnote to our American Ninja celebratory gripe-fest, here’s a mystifying trade ad from what has to be the early part of 1985, wherein Cannon heralded an upcoming project: Right studio, right producers, right creative team, right title, right … Continued
KAGEMARU board game
I have no idea what this game was (some sort of sliding-type deal from a kids’ magazine, with punch-out tokens) but man is the character art laced throughout the board amazing or what?
Yet somehow it works…
So how many different schools of character design can you have in one anime? The early 60’s TV version of Shirato Sanpei‘s re-imagining of Sarutobi Sasuke sure did probe that question:
Argentine Clamshell Heaven!
Raro VHS is a great new blog dedicated to VHS package art from Argentina. LOTS of ninja stuff, with art permutations I’ve never seen.
Ishihara Gojin’s weird Lion Maru
Pink Tentacle has a terrific series of images from profound illustrator Ishihara Gōjin, including these pages from a Kaiketsu Lion Maru ‘sonosheet’ book: Otherwise known as ‘Gekko Hayashi,’ Gojin’s paintings and illustrations range from kids superhero and sci-fi books to … Continued
More Ringo!
New “Dead Ringo” images up on the FWAK! Blog! (See earlier posts here and here.)