Ashura

October 21, 2009 — Zack Davisson

Ashura

4.0 out of 5 stars A world of demons and fire and love

Kabuki has always been the secret heart of Japanese film. When the first motion picture cameras arrived in Japan, they immediately started filming Kabuki performances for posterity, and have never really stopped since. Kabuki’s visual and storytelling style flavors all most all Japanese films, from big productions like Cutie Honey to kabuki-trained actress Inou Rie and her particular movements as Sadako in Ring.

It is rare, however, for modern Kabuki plays to be adapted directly into film. Nakashima Kazuki’s “Ashurajo no Hitomi (1987)” (“The Eye of Castle Ashura”) was a big enough hit that in 2005 director Takita Yojiro (Onmyoji) used it as the basis for his martial-arts fantasy film of the same name. As the lead he even cast Ichikawa Somegoro, who had made the role famous in the Kabuki theater. It was a bold and ambitious experiment.

The story is huge in scope. In a magical time of old Japan, a time when demons walk the earth, Wakuraba Izumo (Ichikawa) is a powerful Demon Warden, who is charged with seeking out and killing demons where he can find them. His faith in himself is shaken one day when he accidentally kills a young girl. Abandoning his host, he loses himself as an actor in the kabuki theater, a place where you past makes no difference. Into this world comes Bizan (Higuchi Kanako from Ronin Gai), a queen of demons who wants to awaken the reincarnated Ashura and bring Hell to Earth. Bizan is aided by Jaku, a demon warder gone rogue, and thousands of green-blooded demons. Izumo finds a companion and love interest in the beautiful thief Tsubaki (Miyazawa Rie from The Twilight Samurai), who might just be the person Bizan is searching for.

“Ashura” is a fantastic film, but not 100% successful. Japan has never really got a handle on the martial arts fantasy film, although there have been improvements over the years. There are some great strides here in special effects, and getting Ichikawa for the role was a true coup. Only someone with kabuki experience could have pulled off the role, especially the scenes of Izumo as a kabuki actor. The story is epic, with flaming skies and demon armies and a scale that has never been attempted in Japanese film before. It is an awesome spectacle.

That is its problem at the same time, however. One of the thrills of kabuki is the special effects, those moments of stage-craft that blow you mind when they are performed live in front of you. Something that produces wonderment in real life, like the burning city of Tokyo and a floating castle, just doesn’t have the same impact when summoned up by computer skills.

As an adapted kabuki play, the action and story are pure melodrama, which is something I love. Anyone expecting a “straight” film needs to do some research on kabuki before they check this out, to give them a better idea of what to expect. Animeigo has helped you out by producing a beautiful DVD to go along with the ground-breaking film, including and extra disk with features on the original play and its adaptation. As always, Animeigo continues to create the best subtitles in the business that include pop-up cultural notes along with the regular dialog, creating a whole package that can be used to study this bit of Japanese culture while watching a great flick.

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Zatoichi 20 – Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo

October 21, 2009 — Zack Davisson

zatoichi

5.0 out of 5 stars Clash of the Titans

The fact that this movie exists, and that it is actually good, is a rare surprise. When two characters are as popular and famous as Katsu Shintaro’s Zatoichi and Mifune Toshiro’s Yojimbo, the temptation to throw them together into a single film is often too great to resist for movie studios, but the results are usually a disaster. They are gimmick films at their hearts.

Fortunately, this one was done right. The 20th installment in the 26 film Zatoichi series, “Zatoichi meets Yojimbo” (original title “Zatoichi to Yojimbo”, meaning “Zatoichi and Yojimbo”, the “meets” was thrown in there for Western audiences), teams up two of the titans of the samurai genre, three if you count director Okamoto Kihachi (The Sword of Doom). There is an easy comradeship between them, and Mifune’s star power does not overshadow Katsu’s lead.

The story is pretty typical of the series. Zatoichi is weary; he has broken his famous cane sword, and seeks refuge in a village he passed through some years ago. In a nod to the original Yojimbo film, the once-peaceful village finds itself in the middle of a gang war where two rivals fight for control of the town. Zatoichi’s appearance makes him a wildcard, as both sides bid for his service. But then into town comes a rough and ready character and apparent drunkard willing to also sell his sword to service. The two play off of each other, circling around for the inevitable battle. Of course, there is more to the story: The beautiful prostitute Umeno (Wakao Ayaka Red Angel, Manji) is capturing both rival’s hearts, a secret stockpile of gold is to be found and fought for, and a third rival comes to town in the form of Kishida Shin (Kill! ) as gunslinger Kuzuryu, the nine-headed dragon.

Admittedly, the plot isn’t going to win any major awards, but one doesn’t really watch the Zatoichi series for the plot. They watch it for Katsu’s easy charm, and the fun familiarity that only comes with a long-running series. Mifune’s drunken swaggering is a great counterbalance to the Zatoichi character. This isn’t exactly the same character from Kurosawa’s classic films, but close enough. There is one nice in-joke, where he is referred to as Shijuro (forty-year-old), setting the character ten years after Sanjuro (meaning thirty-year-old). The showdown between the two isn’t quite as dynamic as I was hoping for, but the ending was very satisfying.

Mifune and Katsu would meet again just a few months later after the release of “Zatoichi meets Yojimbo”, in the Inagaki Hiroshi flick Incident at Blood Pass. Mifune would again reprise the Yojimbo character for this film, although Katsu was a mountain-bandit Gentetsu. Mifune clearly was not opposed to a good team-up, as he would meet The Magnificent Seven actor Charles Bronson a year later in the Western Red Sun.

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Battle of Okinawa

October 2, 2009 — Zack Davisson

battle

5.0 out of 5 stars Typhoon of Steel

Although best known in the West for his samurai flicks such as The Sword of Doom And Kill!, almost 1/3rd of director Okamoto Kihachi’s work was war films. A soldier himself during the Second World War, he knew first hand the trauma and cost of total war. It is never simply a battle between soldiers, and non-combatant citizens often pay the heaviest toll of all.

“Battle of Okinawa” (“Gekido no showashi: Okinawa kessen”) is Okamoto’s attempt to tell the story of one of the bloodiest battles of the US/Japan war. Unlike such films as Tora! Tora! Tora! and Letters from Iwo Jima, this movie is told entirely from the Japanese point of view, or more particularly the Okinawan point of view. These are the people…general, barber, soldier, nurse, farmer, student, prostitute…who lived and died under the “typhoon of steel” lasting 82 days and ending with 1/4th of the civilian population of the island dead along with roughly 66,000 dead Japanese soldiers and 12,000 American.

A movie without main characters, an ensemble cast of familiar faces play the various walks of life bound up in the conflict. Kobayashi Keiju (Chushingura) plays the old Gen. Ushijima, a man trying his best to fight a hopeless battle with dignity and honor. His two aids, Tamba Tetsuro (Three Outlaw Samurai) and Nakadai Tatsuya (Harakiri) are the classic Hawk and Dove, with Tamba pushing for a glorious all-out attack and Nakadai wanting to go defensive and save lives. Tanaka Kunie (The Wolves) plays a hapless barber who joins the military staff in order to provide for his family, who has been sent to the mountains to hide. Ozora Mayumi (Samurai Banners) is a cheerful prostitute-turned-nurse who tries to keep spirits up while everything turns bleaker. There are many, many other characters that appear and disappear, live and die, in an eye blink, but add to the overall tapestry.

Politically speaking, as all war films are political, the general message is “war is bad for everyone, but especially the losers”. Although told from a Japanese perspective, there are heroes and villains enough to satisfy, and this definitely isn’t a “poor Japan”-type of flick. The soldiers try to believe they are dying for a good cause, but that belief becomes harder and harder to maintain. The civilians want to support their country, but they end up being slaughtered by ally and enemy alike, and sometimes it is easier just to kill themselves and get the job done early. The massive suicides of the Okinawan people are covered in this film, although the controversy surrounding it remains neutral in tone.

Almost a documentary more than a movie, the different character threads are intercut with actual war footage and voice over. This affects the pace of the film, which is slow and sometimes undynamic. Okamoto makes sure that the history is correct, and doesn’t sacrifice reality for drama. Not that it is by any means boring, but there is something quite studious about it. Animeigo clearly recognizes this, as some of the bonus features are intended to be used in a classroom setting for those studying WWII. I could imagine this film to be quite the effective learning tool for high schoolers, putting a face on the enemy and understanding the true cost of war.

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The Ballad of Narayama

September 30, 2009 — Zack Davisson

ballad

5.0 out of 5 stars Life and Death

There are some classic images in Japanese film, scenes that stick with you long after the film is over. Takakura Ken, tattooed and brandishing his sword, about to take vengeance for his master. A hill with five mounds, each with a sword sticking from the top. This scene of Ogata Ken carrying his mother on his back, climbing up the mountain where he will leave her to die, has got to be among them. It is a powerful and moving image.

“The Ballad of Narayama” (“Narayama Bushiko”) is a re-make of the 1958 film of the same name, which is in turn an adaptation of two books by Fukuzawa Shichiro, “The Ballad of Narayama” and “The Men of Tohoku”, which were in turn based on an old folk legend called “The Mountain where Old People were Abandoned” from the 11th Century book Konjaku Monogatari. This is not true history, and there is no evidence that such a tradition ever existed outside of folktales. Life in the mountains was undeniably harsh, but not to the extent that human beings were abandoned like so much garbage.

A film does not have to be historically accurate, however, to have impact. Under the skilled hand of director Imamura Shohei, the story becomes an allegory for the physicality of human life, for the ephemeral nature of being alive. Characters reduced to their most primal aspects of survival do little more than gather food, have sex when they can, making new people to repeat the cycle, then grow old and become a burden with the younger generation silently hoping they would die off and clear some room. I was struck by how little human society has changed over the years, and by how much of my life I spend doing those very same things, just following my instincts and obeying my biological imperative.

“The Ballad of Narayama” is all about the biological imperative, and the conflict involved when animals are allowed to think and feel. Ogata Ken (Vengeance Is Mine) plays Tatsuhei, a strong and gruff man who is the leader of his family. He is a violent and primal character, but even this is mostly bluster. Inside, he is torn up over the ritual of carrying his beloved mother up the mountain to her death. But she will not be shamed, and demands that her son complete his task with dignity. All of the needs of survival and the pressures of survival drive him towards this, but he lacks the strength of will to stand against it.

While a brilliant film, it is not without its faults. Imamura intercuts the film with images of animals procreating, birthing and dieing, but sometimes the metaphor is too heavy handed. We get it, OK? Tone it down a little. Also, during the most dramatic part of the film, the climb up the mountain, the music is a synthesized bass line that does not suit the mood at all. For such a powerful and primal scene, electronic music was not the best choice.

These are minor faults though, and completely overshadowed by the rest of the film. An amazing movie by an amazing director.

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Mikogami Trilogy

September 29, 2009 — Zack Davisson

miko

4.0 out of 5 stars Bloody vengeance

Samurai flicks, like all long-running genres, have their eras. The Golden Age of the 1950s and 60s had directors like Kurosawa and Kobayashi telling stately stories of honor and politics, with classical samurai themes and tropes. In the 70s, however, it was all about the crowd-pleasing spectacle of blood and vengeance.

The “Mikogami Trilogy” is a perfect example of the 70s samurai. This is Shaft compared to The Godfather, with Harada Yoshio’s (Lady Snowblood – Love Song of Vengeance) character Jokichi slaughtering and swaggering to funky baselines rather than austere koto music. This is all style and fun, without the social themes and bottomless depth of the Golden Age films. And there is nothing wrong with that.

Obviously, there are three films in the trilogy, but it seems likely that more were intended. Director Ikehiro Kazuo was a veteran of “series” flicks, having filmed a few Zatoichi entries, like Zatoichi’s Flashing Sword and Zatoichi and the Chest of Gold, as well as several “Sleepy Eyes of Death” flicks. It is possible that Mikogami was supposed to be the start of a new series that never really took off, or maybe they just wanted to leave the trilogy open-ended. The series is based on a serialized novel by Sasazawa Saho, and was originally marketed in the US as the “Trail of Blood” series when released on VHS, although the official title “Mushukunin mikogami no Jokichi” translates as “The Drifter Jokichi of Mikogami”. For this DVD release, Animeigo has re-titled the series “The Mikogami Trilogy”.

The first film “Trail of Blood” (original title “Kiba wa hikiretsuita” or “The Fang has been torn loose”), sets the stage with Jokichi as a bad man reformed by the love of a bad woman. A prostitute loves a killer, and together they vow to leave behind their world of bodies and blood to start a new life in peace. Jokichi’s former enemies don’t want to let him off so easy, however, and things don’t go well for his new wife and child (or for Jokichi, for that matter, who tries to pay his debt the old-fashioned yakuza way). With everything he loved take from him, the path of vengeance is the only road he can walk.

The next film, “Fearless Avenger” (“Kawakaze ni kako wa nagareta” or “The past has flowed away with the breeze from a river”), gives Jokichi a detour from his vengeance. He is commanded to protect the daughter of a powerful ganglord, who will in return help Jokichi find the men responsible for killing his wife and daughter. This almost feels like a Zatoichi set-up, but Jokichi’s world is not as kind as the blind swordsman’s, and things quickly go from bad to worse.

The final film, “Slaughter in the Snow” (“Tasogare ni senko ga tonda” or “Sparks fly in twilight”) finishes off the trilogy, but not in the way expected. Make no mistake, there are buckets of blood splattered across the white snow, and Jokichi gets to do some fine slaughtering, but he has also matured in his quest, and no longer seems to have the drive to revenge. He hooks up with a partner named “Whirlwind” Kobunji and they set off on a different quest. I don’t want to give away too many plot points, but this is definitely not the ending I had foreseen.

The “Mikogami Trilogy” is far from the greatest Japanese film series ever made, but it is still a good time and worth checking out. There are some fantastic visuals, my favorite of which is Jokichi’s basket-like hat slowly falling apart as the series progresses, showing more and more of his face. The sword fighting is also excellent; Jokichi loses some of his fingers in the first film, and has to adopt a creative style in order to keep cutting his enemies, as well as using his remaining fingers as a lethal claw. As always, Animeigo has put together a nice package, with top-quality subtitles, production notes and some other bonus features.

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Yawara!: A Fashionable Judo Girl

September 2, 2009 — Zack Davisson

yawara

 

 
5.0 out of 5 stars Highly addictive martial-arts romance
 
There was a Golden Age of anime in the late 1980′s. Takahashi Rumiko had scored a mega-hit with her series Urusei Yatsura, and the studios were looking for the next big thing. Two animated projects were developed side-by-side, both with a martial arts/love story theme and both adapted from popular comics in the Shonen Sunday magazine. One was another Takahashi comic, with a more fantastical feel, called Ranma 1/2. The sister series had a more realistic take on martial arts, in this case judo, but was no less popular in Japan. “Yawara: The Fashionable Judo Girl” was in fact more popular in Japan, and consistently scores higher on “Top 10″ lists than its more American-famous companion. Yawara was so popular that when judo athlete Tamura Ryoko took the silver medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, she was instantly given the nickname “Yawara”, which she still is referred to by to this day.

“Yawara” is a long-running series, with over 100 episodes, so it is impossible to encapsulate the entire story here. The basic set-up has Inokuma Yawara as a judo prodigy, a young high school girl who has been trained from birth by her grandfather, 7th dan judo master Inokuma Jigorou, with one goal in mind. She is to win the gold medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, and later receive the National Medal of Honor as a result of her prowess. Yawara, however, doesn’t want to be a judo star, and just wants to act like all the other girls her age; dressing in pretty clothes, having cute boyfriends and frivolously gossiping over cake in fashionable cafes. Jigorou has his work cut out for him, as he pushes and prods, connives and schemes, all to get Yawara on the path of judo. He creates a rival for her, in the form of Honami Sayaka, a spoiled rich girl who has succeeded in every sport she has ever tried, and isn’t about to let a plain girl like Yawara get the better of her. Between Yawara and Sayaka is the smooth-talking playboy and judo coach Kazamatsuri Shinnosuke, who captures the hearts of both tough ladies. Needless to say, hijinks ensue.

Staying on the realistic side, “Yawara” never goes for the slapstick physical comedy of Ranma ½, but reminds me a lot more of Takahashi’s other series Maison Ikkoku. The characters are so well-developed that you find yourself quickly sucked in and gasping for a new episode. Serious subplots develop, new characters enter the playing field, but never with the “joke a week” sense that they are temporary throwaways. One character, Jody Rockwell, is particularly heartwarming as a giant Canadian judo champion who comes to Japan in order to test herself against Yawara. The plot isn’t a dead giveaway either. I honestly don’t know who Yawara will end up with, if she will go to the Olympics, what will happen to other characters…all of which keeps me coming back for a new episode. Yawara also does a daily countdown towards the Olympics, something that I remember fondly from the first Japanese animation I ever saw, Space Battleship Yamato.

As usual, Animeigo has set a new level of excellence with their boxset release of this series. You never just get the movies from Animeigo, you get an entire cultural package, which is really helpful. Shows like “Yawara” don’t exist in a vacuum, and much of the cultural references wouldn’t be caught without Animeigo’s handy pop-up information. I have also found their subtitles great for studying Japanese, as they take the time to explain certain words rather than just translate them.

This boxset contains the first 40 episodes of the 124 episode series. I am looking forward to the release of the remained of the series, and hopefully (fingers crossed!) the 1989 live-action “Yawara” feature film as well. After seeing this boxset, I am a confirmed Yawara fan! Ippon!
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