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6 Apr 2013

Navarro Ninja

by Keith Rainville | posted in: 5 - Art and Advertising | 4

So I was having dinner with my pal, the uber-talented Rafael Navarro, and we were musing on what a ninja would look like if drawn by the legendary Jack Kirby. He whipped this off on a napkin, and seeing as … Continued

31 Mar 2013

AMERICAN NINJA rack toys

by Keith Rainville | posted in: 3 - Toys and Merch | 4

Little known fact – American Ninja is the only 80s boom film to have properly licensed mass-produced merchandise. These grocery store / pharmacy register tchotchkes were obviously for kids, despite being branded with the an R-rated film’s imagery. A “two-penny-toy” … Continued

AMERICAN NINJA, generic merch, Generic toys, Michael Dudikoff
24 Mar 2013

VN REVISITED – Happy Birthday Meiko Kaji!

by Keith Rainville | posted in: 1 - Film and TV | 0

(originally published June 2010)   Meiko Kaiji in ninja gear? Swoon! Found these caps years ago in a sadly defunct blog (German if memory serves?), but they also floated around various newsboards for a while. The Female Convict Scorpion and … Continued

Meiko Kaji
15 Mar 2013

VN REVISITED: Beauty and Humanity in KAZE NO BUSHI

by Keith Rainville | posted in: 1 - Film and TV | 1

(originally published July 2010) 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 … Continued

Hashizo Okawa, KAZE NO BUSHI
9 Mar 2013

Oh, so you want more ENTER?

by Keith Rainville | posted in: 1 - Film and TV | 0

 Not a problem. Last post was specific to the Kosugi doubling images, but here’s the remainder of the French lobby pics from Enter the Ninja. Don’t know about you cats, but I was totally in love with Susan ‘Dirty Mary’ … Continued

Enter the Ninja, Franco Nero, Sho Kosugi, Susan George, Zachi Noy
25 Feb 2013

Enter the Kosugi!

by Keith Rainville | posted in: 1 - Film and TV | 0

These French-language market lobby photos for the 1981 release of Enter the Ninja are a bit different than the American marketing and press photos, mainly in that they reveal close-ups of Sho Kosugi doubling for one of the red ninja … Continued

Enter the Ninja, Sho Kosugi
17 Feb 2013

Shirato Sanpei… NOT lazy.

by Keith Rainville | posted in: 2 - Books and Manga, 5 - Art and Advertising | 0

Shirato Sanpei‘s manga epic Ninja Bugeicho had dozens of characters, and hundreds more victims of these characters, too. Being a ninja comic, he could have gone the easy route and just hooded-up most of these people, lessening the burdens of … Continued

Shirato Sanpei
11 Feb 2013

Chap Mei’s original NINJA WARRIOR

by Keith Rainville | posted in: 3 - Toys and Merch | 4

For the past 15 years or more, Chinese toy company Chap Mei have been the absolute masters at cashing-in on current hot trends — from soldiers to pirates to dinosaurs, depending on what’s been in theaters. More than merely knock-offs, … Continued

Chap Mei
26 Jan 2013

Torment of the “Top 10”

by Keith Rainville | posted in: 1 - Film and TV, 7 - Ninja Miscelany | 9

I was asked by the film review site SoReelFlix last month to contribute a Top 10 ninja films list. After a month of notes I had about 30 bare essential films and realized an outright Top 10 wasn’t going to … Continued

23 Jan 2013

Shame on you, kung-fu kangaroos!

by Keith Rainville | posted in: 1 - Film and TV, 5 - Art and Advertising | 0

Remember during the home video explosion how many low-end kung-fu movies got cheap new package art and “ninja”-centric re-titles? I got burned so many times at the video store by this, fuming when the 70’s ‘chop-sockey’ playing on my VHS … Continued

Warriors of Virtue 2

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Welcome to VINTAGE NINJA — dedicated to old ninja media from Japan’s 60s boom to the 80s American exploitation craze, and beyond — with a ton of ninja movies, vintage toys, comics, and sharp pointy stuff thrown in for good measure.

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