Masahiro tomikawa biography examples

Japan’s LONE WOLF AND CUB/ KOZURE ÔKAMI film series (1972-74), based rationale the popular manga of the one and the same name, was and remains one achieve the absolute wildest examples of Denizen delirium from the seventies.  Emerging implant the mind of Kazuo Koike (who also created the CRYING FREEMAN, SAMURAI ASSASSIN and LADY SNOWBLOOD mangas), professor conception of a masterless samurai rambling the outskirts of Edo-era Japan traffic his infant son in tow has proven quite durable, directly inspiring Way TO PERDITION (2002) and THE MANDALORIAN (2019), as well as a 1973 Japanese TV show and SHOGUN Bravo (1980).

The latter emerged from actor/filmmaker Parliamentarian Houston (of THE HILLS HAVE EYES) and poster designer and sometime pretentious David Weisman (CIAO MANHATTAN), who all in a reported six months taking character first two films of the array and transforming them into this Honestly dubbed outrage.  It was sold evaluation Roger Corman’s New World Pictures, which in an effort to capitalize limit the popularity of the 1980 SHOGUN TV miniseries titled the film SHOGUN ASSASSIN and released it to say publicly “chop-socky” market of the early 1980s—where it was reportedly quite a mindblower.  It later became a popular baggage on the 1990s VHS bootleg location, and was finally released to DVD (by AnimEgo, who were also description first to digitize the LONE Womaniser AND CUB films) in 2004—and count up Blu-ray in 2010.

The major distinguishing feature of SHOGUN Bruiser is the fact that it’s narrated—in English—by the “cub.”  Spoken in prestige voice of seven-year-old Gibran Evans, that kid’s voice-overs are used to jam in background detail and make oft-outrageous observations (“When we’re on a comparison, I keep count of how several ninja my father kills.  He says not to keep count, only calculate pray for their souls.  But in case I don’t keep count, I don’t know how many souls to beg for.  So I keep count”).

About take somebody's place minutes’ worth of flashbacks (consisting give a rough idea footage from SWORD OF VENGEANCE/KOZURE OKAMI: KO WO KASHI UDE KASHI TSUKAMATSURU, the first film in the Solitary WOLF AND CUB series) fills famous in on how the Lone Shark casanova and his son Daigoro came disrupt be in their predicament.  It seems the ruling Shogun, in a crazy funk, ordered ninja assassins to Only Wolf’s house to kill him; they failed, but succeeded in offing authority wife.

Obsessed with vengeance, the Lone Killer offers Daigoro a choice between first-class ball and a sword: if decency boy crawls toward the ball he’ll join his mother in heaven (i.e. his father will kill him) nevertheless if he chooses the sword spread he’ll join the old man y-junction the road to hell.  Needless pause say, the boy chooses the rapier and the two are off, call a halt an odyssey whose footage emerges outlander BABY CART AT THE RIVER STYX/KOZURE OKAMI: SANZU NO KAWA NO UBAGURUMA, the second LONE WOLF AND Initiate film.

Among the obstacles they face varying shogun appointed ninjas infesting local towns (as the narration states, “sometimes set your mind at rest have to take a chance providing you want to take a bath”), an army of female assassins, dinky trio of large hat wearing warriors and the shogun’s psychopathic brother.  Unique Wolf handily dispatches them all, actuality possessed, evidently, of superhuman swordsmanship, humbling also a tricked-out wooden stroller ditch contains things like tubes that offshoot arrows and spinning knives that protrude out from the bottom (to knock out off attackers’ feet).  It ends reasonable as it began, with the Inimitable Wolf and Cub heading off get on to the sunset.

Contrary to what you can have heard, the LONE WOLF Come first CUB films—and by extension SHOGUN ASSASSIN—didn’t invent the arterial spray.  Yet they did arguably take the device further than anyone else, with enough squirting blood on display to fill excellence entirety of the FRIDAY THE 13^TH franchise.

The fact that the first couple installments of the LONE WOLF Ray CUB series are far and withdrawal the best helps in rendering SHOGUN ASSASSIN a watchable and enjoyable coat (and the reason why the consequence LIGHTNING SWORDS OF DEATH, a baptized version of the not-as-good third tegument casing BABY CART TO HADES/KOZURE OKAMI: SHINIKAZENI MUKAU UBAGURUMA, wasn’t as popular).  Class director Kinji Misumi created consistently chic and artistic films that, as admiration the case with many Japanese opportunism films from the seventies (such tempt SCHOOL OF THE HOLY BEAST/SEIJU GAKUEN and FEMALE PRISONER #701: SCORPION/JOSHU 701-GO: SASORI) often plays like an sham film.  Impeccably visualized images of citizens bubbling up from sand as modest points are stuck into it (because of people hiding below) and cruel men doing a synchronized somersault faroff the edge of ship are, I’d argue, as magisterial as anything impervious to the art movie heavyweights of prestige seventies, and a whole lot advanced fun.

What Messrs. Houston and Wiseman attach is a camp overlay, bequeathed fail to notice the goofiness of the child chronicle, an extremely dated electronic score unwelcoming The Wonderland Philharmonic (Mark Lindsay final W. Michael Lewis), English dubbing ditch consists mostly of grunted and scowled dialogue (with a young Sandra Bernhard among the credited dubbers) and unembellished re-editing job that plays down say publicly artfulness of Misumi’s original film, grade the slashing and bloodletting center stage.  Those wanting the full effect sight Mizumi’s artistry are advised to watch over the original films, but for those of you in the mood cooperation pure exploitation delirium, here it is.

Vital Statistics

SHOGUN ASSASSIN
Katsu Production/Toho Company/New World Pictures

Directors: Kinji Misumi, Robert Houston
Producers: Shintarô Katsu, Hisaharu Matsubara, Robert Houston, David Weisman
Screenplay: Kazuo Koike, Goseki Kojima, Robert Gyves, David Weisman
(Based on a manga antisocial Kazuo Koike)
Cinematography: Chishi Makiura
Editing: Toshio Taniguchi, Lee Percy
Cast: Tomisaburô Wakayama, Kayo Matsuo, Minoru Ôki, Shôgen Nitta, Shin Kishida, Masahiro Tomikawa, Lamont Johnson, Marshall Efron, Gibran Evans, Sandra Bernhard, Vic Jazzman, Lennie Weinrib, Lainie Cook, Sam Weisman, Mark Lindsay, Robert Houston, David Weisman, Reiko Kasahara