You haven’t seen a Ninja film until you’ve seen the Shinobi film series. The Platinum standard of this oft-made genre has been given a wonderful Blu-ray box set by Radiance Films.
The Film(s)
My first interaction with anything Ninja was the Cannon-produced ridiculousness American Ninja series. There a guy named Joe (played by THE Micheal Dudikoff) would take down armies of ninjas whose sole purpose was world domination. Of course, through the years Western Audiences have had other Ninja series (Enter the Ninja, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Naruto) all either Children-focused or Mindless Action of the 1980s. It wasn’t until my twenties that I realized or saw a Japanese-produced Ninja film.
What a glorious difference going across the Pacific makes.
If the Western Ninja films were a McDonald’s Happy Meal … Japan’s Ninja films were Kobe Beef made with the utmost care and refinement by a Michelin Star (usually a 3-star) Chef. Case in point is the Shinobi series based on the novels by Tomoyoshi Murayama and directed by Satsuo Yamamto (Shinobi: Band of Assassins, Shinobi: Revenge) and Kazuo Mori (Shinobi: Resurrection). Each one of the films in this trilogy is everything you want a Ninja film to be.
Shinobi: Band of Assassins set the stage. It is the 16th Century and Japan is in Turmoil. Rival Samurai Clans and Ninja Clan vey for the title of Shogun. Goemon (Raizo Ichikawa) is an idealistic young Ninja who will be indoctrinated by hellfire into the brutal ways of feudal Japan at war with itself. That brutality comes in the form of Oda Nobunaga (Tomisaburo Wakayama) a warlord bent on making himself Shogun. Nobunaga exterminates Goemon’s clan leaving the young ninja with nothing but vengeance.
What director Tomoyoshi Murayama in the span of his two films and picked up by director Kazuo Mori in the third is a wonderfully adroit tale of political intrigue, triple-crossing, the hardest of life lessons learned, and pain unimaginable pain of circular violence. None are as brutal as Shinobi: Revenge (the second in the series) – where Goemon’s child is murdered before his eyes, and ours, in the most brutal of fashions. Though that and none of the other acts of violence are exploitative, brutality is always present.
The films will surprise many with their intricate plots and political machinations are more in the forefront than the action and revenge. The way that the films unfold with the sort of smart palace intrigue and political maneuvering that is tied to not only its main character’s ties for vengeance but his maturity into the ultimate Ninja – an army of one that can take on an entire palace’s garrison as he/she is able to topple a tyrant’s reign. In this tryptic form, director Yamamoto shows us the elegance, brutality, intelligence, and supernatural abilities of the mind and body of the Ninja. Shinobi is Ninja Cinema at its finest, a high water mark not just for the subgenre but for martial arts films in general.
The Transfer
The High-Definition digital transfer of each film presented on two discs, made available on Blu-ray for the first time outside of Japan are wonderful black and white widescreen films. The image on all three are verbose saturated images with a beautiful patina of film grain. The transfers are sharp nearly free of specks, dirt, or scratches. Each film’s transfer is beautiful and will delight fans of the film series.
The Extras
Contents in the Box Set include: Six postcards of promotional material from the films, Reversible sleeves featuring artwork based on original promotional materials, a Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by Jonathan Clements on the Shinobi no mono series and Diane Wei Lewis on writer Tomoyoshi Murayama, Limited Edition of 3000 copies, presented in a rigid box with full-height Scanavo cases and removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings
They include the following;
Interview with Shozo Ichiyama on director Satsuo Yamamoto
A Brief History of Japanese Ninja Films
Interview with Toshiaki Sato on star Raizo Ichikawa
Trailers
Interview with Shozo Ichiyama (14:05) – this all-new interview with the artistic director of the Tokyo International Film Festival, focuses on Satsuo Yamamoto the director of the Shinobi series. Beginning with his time post-War at Toho and how his Left-leaning political views rose to him unionizing at the studio and eventually striking this interview is more of a visual essay on the views and career of the director. Ichiyama does a great job of discussing how Yamamoto eventually was hired by Daiei to make “commercial films” that would eventually lead to making the first two Shinobi films, how they worked with his political views, and much more. Japanese with English Subtitles.
A Brief History of Japanese Ninja Films (18:11) – is an all-new Visual essay on the ninja in Japanese cinema by film scholar Mance Thompson. Beginning with the first Ninja movie in 1921 and its rise to 200 films by the end of WW2 to 400 Ninja films currently this essay charts Japan’s fascination with the shadow warrior. Thompson discusses the historical account of what the Ninja was; the various genres that the Ninja showed up in; the early Ninja films from the silent era (all gone but a few scenes and shorts); how the rise of the Ninja film resulted in positive results in the film genre – though how the rise of WW2 all but killed the genre; the rise in the late 1950s of the Ninja films – and the Shinobi film series lead to its resurgence; the making of the Shinobi series; how the similar political leanings of Shinobi’s novelist and its filmmaker Yamamoto helped the making of the film; the 8th sequels that would be produced; the rise of the Ninja in Western cinema – including the first appearance in You Only Live Twice; and much more.
Interview with film critic Toshiaki Sato on star Raizo Ichikawa (14:18) – this all-new interview begins with the appeal of star Raizo Ichikawa in Japan with a specific demographic as with all Japanese stars (to which Sato gives some great examples). Sato discusses Ichikawa’s tumulous childhood; the rise in kabuki theater, his friendship with fellow star Shinato Katsu (who would eventually star in the Shinobi series); early roles that Ichikawa was cast in – rising through the ranks of Daiei; the making of the Shinobi films – including some truly interesting fact about the production and the actor at the time; Ichikawa’s cancer diagnosis – the actor’s response to finding this out; and much more.
Trailers – all trailers are Japanese with English subtitles
Shinobi: Band of Assassins (2:19)
Shinobi 2: Revenge (2:19)
Shinobi 3: Resurrection (2:31)
The Final Thought
Radiance has done it again, giving us a wonderful box set, this time, focusing on a truly wonderful series of action political thrillers from Japan. Highest recommendations!
You haven’t seen a Ninja film until you’ve seen the Shinobi film series. The Platinum standard of this oft-made genre has been given a wonderful Blu-ray box set by Radiance Films.
The Film(s)
My first interaction with anything Ninja was the Cannon-produced ridiculousness American Ninja series. There a guy named Joe (played by THE Micheal Dudikoff) would take down armies of ninjas whose sole purpose was world domination. Of course, through the years Western Audiences have had other Ninja series (Enter the Ninja, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Naruto) all either Children-focused or Mindless Action of the 1980s. It wasn’t until my twenties that I realized or saw a Japanese-produced Ninja film.
What a glorious difference going across the Pacific makes.
If the Western Ninja films were a McDonald’s Happy Meal … Japan’s Ninja films were Kobe Beef made with the utmost care and refinement by a Michelin Star (usually a 3-star) Chef. Case in point is the Shinobi series based on the novels by Tomoyoshi Murayama and directed by Satsuo Yamamto (Shinobi: Band of Assassins, Shinobi: Revenge) and Kazuo Mori (Shinobi: Resurrection). Each one of the films in this trilogy is everything you want a Ninja film to be.
Shinobi: Band of Assassins set the stage. It is the 16th Century and Japan is in Turmoil. Rival Samurai Clans and Ninja Clan vey for the title of Shogun. Goemon (Raizo Ichikawa) is an idealistic young Ninja who will be indoctrinated by hellfire into the brutal ways of feudal Japan at war with itself. That brutality comes in the form of Oda Nobunaga (Tomisaburo Wakayama) a warlord bent on making himself Shogun. Nobunaga exterminates Goemon’s clan leaving the young ninja with nothing but vengeance.
What director Tomoyoshi Murayama in the span of his two films and picked up by director Kazuo Mori in the third is a wonderfully adroit tale of political intrigue, triple-crossing, the hardest of life lessons learned, and pain unimaginable pain of circular violence. None are as brutal as Shinobi: Revenge (the second in the series) – where Goemon’s child is murdered before his eyes, and ours, in the most brutal of fashions. Though that and none of the other acts of violence are exploitative, brutality is always present.
The films will surprise many with their intricate plots and political machinations are more in the forefront than the action and revenge. The way that the films unfold with the sort of smart palace intrigue and political maneuvering that is tied to not only its main character’s ties for vengeance but his maturity into the ultimate Ninja – an army of one that can take on an entire palace’s garrison as he/she is able to topple a tyrant’s reign. In this tryptic form, director Yamamoto shows us the elegance, brutality, intelligence, and supernatural abilities of the mind and body of the Ninja. Shinobi is Ninja Cinema at its finest, a high water mark not just for the subgenre but for martial arts films in general.
The Transfer
The High-Definition digital transfer of each film presented on two discs, made available on Blu-ray for the first time outside of Japan are wonderful black and white widescreen films. The image on all three are verbose saturated images with a beautiful patina of film grain. The transfers are sharp nearly free of specks, dirt, or scratches. Each film’s transfer is beautiful and will delight fans of the film series.
The Extras
They include the following;
Interview with Shozo Ichiyama (14:05) – this all-new interview with the artistic director of the Tokyo International Film Festival, focuses on Satsuo Yamamoto the director of the Shinobi series. Beginning with his time post-War at Toho and how his Left-leaning political views rose to him unionizing at the studio and eventually striking this interview is more of a visual essay on the views and career of the director. Ichiyama does a great job of discussing how Yamamoto eventually was hired by Daiei to make “commercial films” that would eventually lead to making the first two Shinobi films, how they worked with his political views, and much more. Japanese with English Subtitles.
A Brief History of Japanese Ninja Films (18:11) – is an all-new Visual essay on the ninja in Japanese cinema by film scholar Mance Thompson. Beginning with the first Ninja movie in 1921 and its rise to 200 films by the end of WW2 to 400 Ninja films currently this essay charts Japan’s fascination with the shadow warrior. Thompson discusses the historical account of what the Ninja was; the various genres that the Ninja showed up in; the early Ninja films from the silent era (all gone but a few scenes and shorts); how the rise of the Ninja film resulted in positive results in the film genre – though how the rise of WW2 all but killed the genre; the rise in the late 1950s of the Ninja films – and the Shinobi film series lead to its resurgence; the making of the Shinobi series; how the similar political leanings of Shinobi’s novelist and its filmmaker Yamamoto helped the making of the film; the 8th sequels that would be produced; the rise of the Ninja in Western cinema – including the first appearance in You Only Live Twice; and much more.
Interview with film critic Toshiaki Sato on star Raizo Ichikawa (14:18) – this all-new interview begins with the appeal of star Raizo Ichikawa in Japan with a specific demographic as with all Japanese stars (to which Sato gives some great examples). Sato discusses Ichikawa’s tumulous childhood; the rise in kabuki theater, his friendship with fellow star Shinato Katsu (who would eventually star in the Shinobi series); early roles that Ichikawa was cast in – rising through the ranks of Daiei; the making of the Shinobi films – including some truly interesting fact about the production and the actor at the time; Ichikawa’s cancer diagnosis – the actor’s response to finding this out; and much more.
Trailers – all trailers are Japanese with English subtitles
The Final Thought
Radiance has done it again, giving us a wonderful box set, this time, focusing on a truly wonderful series of action political thrillers from Japan. Highest recommendations!
Radiance Films’ Blu-Ray edition of Shinobi is out May 28th
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