Great FUJIMARU stuff…
…over at Shonen King’s superb Black Sun blog! We did a series of posts on a Fujimaru book-n-record set back in July of 09, and now SK has a pile great stills from the B&W anime. I absolutely adore the … Continued
Shogun’s Sanada
I’m not the hugest fan of the 1980 Japan Action Club vehicle Shogun’s Ninja (Ninja bugeicho momochi sandayu), but you have to admire the insane stuntwork, and it’s another movie with Henry Sanada fighting with twin short swords – which I … Continued
Nice big pub images from SHOGUN ASSASSIN
Once again I point thee towards the excellent Wrong Side of the Art, today for nice big scans of the poster and some publicity stills from Shogun Assassin. Now, a lot of hardcore Kozure Okami fans HATE this 1980 composite … Continued
SAMURAI SPY – Quick Close-Ups
Wrapping up our 4-part look at the visual qualities of Masahiro Shinoda’s Ibun Sarutobi Sasuke Evidenced by the previous entries in this series, director Masahiro Shinoda and cinematographer Masao Kosugi were out to baffle the viewer visually as much as … Continued
SAMURAI SPY – Theatrical Combat Posing
The 3rd of a 4-part look at the visual qualities of Masahiro Shinoda’s Ibun Sarutobi Sasuke Without knowing even the decade they’re from, you can date ninja films from the way the actors and stuntmen move and pose. In the … Continued
SAMURAI SPY – Use of Shadow (and Light) to Obscure Characters
The 2nd of a 4-part look at the visual qualities of Masahiro Shinoda’s Ibun Sarutobi Sasuke Last time we established the agenda of director Masahiro Shinoda and cinematographer Masao Kosugi to mirror the confusion and conflict of Sasuke with an equal … Continued
SAMURAI SPY – Geometry and Lines in Composition
The 1st of a 4-part look at the visual qualities of Masahiro Shinoda’s Ibun Sarutobi Sasuke It doesn’t take long to realize that director Masahiro Shinoda and cinematographer Masao Kosugi were up to something different in Samurai Spy. Different for … Continued
A visual breakdown of SAMURAI SPY (intro)
It was the Summer of 1984, the height and heat of the American craze. Revenge of the Ninja was running on HBO, Ninja III: The Domination was about to hit theaters, Spanish-dubbed episodes of Lone Wolf and Cub ran on … Continued
Color campaigns for B&W classics
When discussing 60’s B&W ninja flicks, the Shinobi-no-Mono series is THE genre-defining series. The movie posters, however, relied on strong reds, greens and blues to catch the consumers’ eye, and are some of the only color reference for the props … Continued