Swordgirls of SHINOBI THE WIDE
These beautiful character design illos are from the 2003 video game artbook Shinobi THE WIDE. This sleeve-slinging swordgirl is ‘Ageha.’ I’m digging the flapper sensibilities of her hair and make-up. You can see the rest of this long-out-of-print book here. … Continued
The Good, the Bad and the Kosugi…
Been thinking about this. Spaghetti Westerns – films made by Italian directors, shot in Spain, released by studios in Rome and imported into the US. In the 60s they turned the tried and true American Western on its ass. Gone were … Continued
RINGO a GO!!!
After a well-received debut at this year’s Tribecca, Eddie Mort’s Dead Ringo will see the light of day for what is currently planned as 13 three-minute webisodes TV interstitials. Details on who, where and when to follow, but in the meantime … Continued
The award for Best 80s Ninja Figure Made in 2011 goes to…
…German collectible figurine experts Schleich! Their newly released 3.5″ “Mysterious Ninja” from their Heroes line is a major throwback to the 80s, looking like the bastard love child of Sho Kosugi in Revenge of the Ninja and Tadashi Yamashita in … Continued
Happy Birthday GERALD OKAMURA!
He’s been an icon of martial arts magazine covers for decades, is one of the most recognizable Asian character actors of our age and he pioneered his own signature version of the Chinese hook sword! He’s Gerald Okamura of course … Continued
The teensiest ninja toy ever
Milton Bradley’s early 80s board game Axis and Allies was a big hit for them, so sequels followed, including the feudal-Japan-set Shogun in 1986. Shogun (later renamed Samurai Swords in ’95 and Ikusa just this year) was like playing Risk against … Continued
80s punching puppet
During the 80s craze, there were tons of generic ninja toys positively INFESTING grocery stores, souvenir shacks, flea markets, blanket vendors outside subway stations, etc. You had to rake the stuff off your lawn in the Fall it was so … Continued
NINJA WARRIORS Yugoslavian stills
I’m going to lose my favored nation status over at Golden Ninja Warrior Chronicles by admitting this, but I have never seen the Hong Kong [see UPDATE below] ninja-sploitation flick the Yugoslavians called Ninja Ratnici. Mmm… more nasty quality press stills from … Continued
Vintage ARASHI vinyl
A reader sent me these pics – an assortment of vintage Henshin Ninja Arashi vinyls. Have no clue where they originated, but I’d love to give credit where credit is due, so if they’re yours, lemme know… Damn this thing … Continued