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Akainu, the name itself is enough to incite disgust among One Piece fans. His actions in the franchise have led not only pirates but also fanatics to hate him to their core. His rigid and extremist beliefs have led to several innocent deaths, and Eiichiro Oda has revealed who exactly the character is based on.

There are several hated characters in One Piece, including Kizaru, Imu, Blackbeard, and the Gorosei, but it was Akainu who played a major role in the atrocities committed during the Marineford Arc. So, of course, fans would be intrigued to know what inspired Oda to create such a despicable character.

Eiichiro Oda Reveals Akainu is Based on a Character from Battles Without Honor and Humanity Akainu covers himself in magma | One Piece | Toei

Battles Without Honor and Humanity is a cult-classic Japanese Yakuza film series that is inspired by memoirs of a real-life yakuza, Shozo Mino.

The recent chapters of One Piece have revealed that Luffy is fighting the Gorosei on Egghead and is trying to escape from the island to start the next plotline of the story. As the story is in its final saga, many theories have erupted over the internet which prompts the defeat of the World Government and Luffy becoming the Pirate King.

Gorosei Devil Fruit forms

However, there is one theory that pits the strongest Navy officials against the Five Elders, making them an even bigger problem for the World Government. These Navy officials might be Fujitora, Akainu, and possibly Kizaru. This would result in a big shift in the paradigm of power in the One Piece universe.

Not only that, it could very well serve as the plotline of the conclusion of Eiichiro Oda’s magnum opus and result in the end of the tyranny and evil that prevails in...

Films about boxing have been found in abundance in the Japanese movie industry, with local filmmakers, however, frequently dealing with the losers of the sport rather than the winners. Shuji Terayama also made a similar effort back in 1977, in an approach, though, that moves both towards the aforementioned direction and the audience favorite ‘underdog' trope, while including intense elements of family drama.

on Amazon by clicking on the image below

Starting with a black and white, documentary-like intro, in an aspect that actually appears in various parts throughout the movie, “The Boxer” then introduces us to Hayato, a former successful boxer, who, for reasons unknown, in the midst of a winning match, stopped fighting and even quit boxing afterwards, while a bit later he abandoned his wife and started living alone in a cramped lodging, with his dog. When Tenma, a young man who also happens to be a boxer,...

Sadao Nakajima passed away from pneumonia on 11th June, 2023. He was 88 years old. Active as a director until just four years before his passing, Nakajima left behind legacy of work that most directors would dream of. Alongside Kinji Fukasaku and Junya Sato, he is credited as being one of the main names to define the Yakuza genre, with some of his greatest works coming within that genre for Toei Studios, showcasing a range of styles and narrative complexities while at it. Outside of the yakuza genre as well though, Nakajima made a number of terrific features, mixing a range of genres and filmmaking styles effectively over an illustrious career that lasted a little under 60 years, starting from his debut in 1964 all the way until his swansong in 2019.

Without further ado, we list 12 essential films by Sadao Nakajima that are not in the Yakuza genre, in chronological order.

1. Female Ninja Magic...

by Nathan Stuart

On June 11 2023, Sadao Nakajima sadly passed away in Kyoto after a bout of pneumonia at the age of 88. He leaves behind a rich and deep cinematic legacy, one that has rightly been praised in his home of Japan, but one that has never received its proper recognition in the West, much in part to his work being overshadowed, ironically, by that of his friend Kinji Fukasaku. Outside of niche circles of fans who have zealously consumed as much of his work as possible via bootlegs, not much has been said or written about Nakajima, despite his 1976 Jitsuroku classic ‘Okinawa Yakuza War' already having a cult following, even without a legitimate disc release.

Born in Togane City in 1934, he lost his father at the age of 10 to the Second World War and would go on to graduate from Tokyo Metropolitan Hibiya High School in 1954, before spending a further...

By Earl Jackson

For a long time, Japanese cinema of the 1980s was a closed book to me. I just could not engage with the soft-focus, candy-pastel dreamscapes, the ubiquitous permed hair for both sexes, the relentless innocence of the idols who seemed to have learned acting from hostage ransom videos, and the ramshackle macho veneer concocted with crayons and a bullhorn. But in 2004 I attended an immense and beautifully curated 1980s retrospective sponsored by the Japan Foundation held in an upscale shopping mall in Seoul. That intense exposure was a real education which included an introduction to the almost preternatural, haunting countercharm of Yusaku Matsuda, amplified by the devoted Korean Matsuda fans I met there.

In recent years, international attention to the work of Shinji Somai and Nobuhiko Obayashi has filled in vital pieces of the 1980s, however Matsuda's cult status in Japan has yet to spread beyond domestic screens.

The beginning of the 1970s marked a critical period for the Japanese film industry, as it finally realized it had to come to terms with a changing audience that was more than willing to switch to foreign productions or the television set if their demands were not met. It was also the start of an incredibly creative period in mainstream cinema, with many directors suddenly concentrating on other genres or finally experiencing a kind of freedom they felt they had been denied before. With Kinji Fukasaku’s highly successful “Battles Without Honor and Humanity”-series becoming a new milestone within the Japanese gangster film, many wanted to have their piece of the success. Having collected experiences in many genres besides chanbara, which he still stayed somewhat faithful to in the coming decade, director Hideo Gosha turned to the yakuza genre too with features such as his 1974 effort “Violent City”, which even stars Bunta Sugawara,...

With so many great Japanese directors who made a name for themselves, it is always interesting to see some collaborate. One of the most interesting collaborative efforts was the company “Yonki-no-Kai,” which translates to the “Club of the Four Knights,” established in 1969 by filmmakers Akira Kurosawa, Keisuke Kinoshita, Masaki Kobayashi, and Kon Ichikawa. The group of friends put together this effort to support one another, as the film industry in Japan at the time was in a state of financial hardships. Yet, things did not go according to plan with Kurosawa’s film “Dodes’ka-den,” being a box-office failure, leading to many projects being shelved. The four wrote a jidaigeki feature that would go unmade for a long-time when they couldn’t raise funds to make it. Years later, following the passing of his companions, Ichikawa would eventually be able to direct this initially canceled feature while...

Best known for his successful five-part “Battle Without Honor and Humanity” or “The Yakuza Papers” film series from 1973 to 1974 directed by Kinji Fukasaku in which he played the real-life gangster Shozo Hirono, Bunta Sugawara is certainly no stranger when it comes to yakuza films. Nevertheless, inspired by Raoul Walsh’s gangster film “White Heat” (1949) starring James Cagney, Sugawara and Toei Company came up with their very own machine-gun blazing Japanese version in 1976.

During one rainy night, three gangsters wearing monster masks steal a bag of drugs worth one and a half million yen from some members of the Mutsumi Clan after gunning them down. While making their getaway, gang leader Ryuta Yabuki (Bunta Sugarwara) kills one of his masked partners because of his injury. Interestingly, the remaining member, a female driver, turns out to be his own mother, Masa (Aiko Mimasu). After hiding their loot in a sewer, the pair...

Director Kinji Fukasaku’s (“Battle Royale”) “Street Mobster” is a yakuza rise and fall story that was pivotal to both the director and its lead Bunta Sugawara, paving the way for their subsequent collaborations on the landmark “Battles Without Honour and Humanity” series that began the following year.

On release after five years in prison, a yakuza gangster comes face to face with a prostitute who he had assaulted years earlier. While the two outcasts form an unlikely bond, he joins with his previous gang members to build up their gang and shake up the two leading yakuza clans who control the city.

However, when the new outfit goes too far into the turf of the big boys, they find themselves caught in the midst of a violent reprisal before an offer of patronage appears from an unlikely source.

Few movies manage to capture the intense emotion and aggression of sport the way that boxing films do. You’d think there’s little room to manoeuvre in terms of depicting this deceptively straightforward sport, yet filmmakers all over the world have enraptured audiences time and time again with tales of battered warriors fighting the ultimate zero to hero battle. The allure of boxing films means it’s no surprise that less than six months after the wildly successful “Rocky” (1976) made its debut in Japan, Shuji Terayama’s “The Boxer” landed on the scene.

The Boxer screened at Japanese Avant-Garde and Experimental Film Festival

Having given up boxing mid-match on his road to glory, the grizzled and distant Hayato (Bunta Sugawara) is struck by tragedy when his brother is killed in an accident. The man responsible, Tenma (Kentaro Shimizu), is an aspiring boxer in training, though a damaged foot means...

“Yakuza Papers” pentalogy has reached the status of cult since many years, particularly for the combination of realism in the presentation of Yakuza and exploitation aesthetics. The second part of the series tones down the first aspect and instead invests in the second, which is heightened even more by the presence of Sonny Chiba and Meiko Kaji in the cast.

This time, Hirono’s story is pushed to the background, and the focus lies with two new characters that eventually become adversaries. The first one is Yamanaka, who, after a fight with the yakuza, ends up in prison where he befriends Hirono, before becoming a member of the Muraoka family and starting a relationship with the boss’s niece, Yasuko. The second one is Katsutoshi, a man considered paranoid even among the sociopathic yakuza, who is kicked out of his own father’s family for causing problem with Muraoka,...

In the vast plethora of exploitation films of the 60s and 70s that fostered a female vigilante as their protagonist, the “Red Peony Gambler” series was one of the most successful, resulting in eight episodes that screened from 1968 to 1972. Toei tried to build up on that success with a new series titled “Red Silk Gambler”, essentially copying the premises of the original work, since the only differences between the two characters is that the latter had a lily tattoo instead of a peony. Poor box office receipts (at a time when audiences in generally were vanishing) meant the film did not launch a new series after all, although neither the commercial failure nor the copying mean that the film is not of quality.

The story is based on a novel by Oniroku Dan, and revolves around a woman nicknamed Tiger Lily, who, as the film begins, visits a rich man’s house,...

The real-life character of Ishikuro “The Looter” Hikoichi has been a source of inspiration for many, starting with the great novelist Shiro Ozaki, who based a central character in his opus “Theatre of Life” on the notorious gambler/looter. The book has since been adapted various times in print and media. Shinji Murayama, however, does not look at Ozaki’s work for his 1974 feature “True Account of Hikashaku: A Wolf’s Honor and Humanity”. Instead, he bases his Ishikuro Hikoichi on the character from the homonymous work by writer/journalist Koichi Iiboshi, who is also responsible for the writings that inspired Kinji Fukasaku’s “Battles Without Honor and Humanity” series, a connection also reflected in the project’s title.

This retelling starts in the 1920 and journeys to the 1940s, from when Hikoichi came into the contact with the Yakuza through to his death in 1942. We see how, after striking and...

The 1970s were arguably the busiest period within the career of esteemed Japanese director Kinji Fukasaku. While continuing the “New Battles Without Honor and Humanity”-series of movies, he adapted his unique take on the yakuza movie on other projects as well, adding new aspects to the themes of his work, the portrayal of post-war Japan, the link between crime and politics, as well as the destructive male behavior. Even though he had already introduced many notable characters in his movies, perhaps his interpretation of Rikio Ishikawa, the protagonist of Fujita Goro’s work on the life of this real-life yakuza, is the most unforgettable. In “Graveyards of Honor”, Fukasaku explores the nature of self-destructive behavior, making a bold and quite bleak statement about the direction his home country was heading for in the 1970s.

After having left his parental home, Rikio Ishikawa (Tetsuya Watari) heads to...

Quite a controversial film, particularly for its too detailed depiction of how to construct an atomic bomb and a number of scenes that can only be described as beyond controversial, “The Man Who Stole the Sun” has currently achieved the status of cult, despite being both a commercial and a critical success upon its release in Japan, for a number of reasons we will deal with going forward.

The titular man is high school science teacher Makoto Kido, a rather strange individual who boasts long hair and an almost surreal behavior in campus, which includes him practicing karate, hanging from trees with ropes, and caring very little for his classes, where he either sleeps or teaches his students the procedure of making an atomic bomb. The people in the school mock him, calling him ‘Bubblegum’ not so secretly, but everything changes when Makoto, along with hard-nosed Inspector...

With the fifth and, as the title says, final episode in the “Battles Without Honor and Humanity” series, there was a major chance in the production. Whereas the former episodes had been scripted by Kazuo Kasahara based on the articles about the yakuza by writer Koichi Iboshi, Koji Takada took over the project. In an interview feature titled “Last Days of the Boss”, which can be found on the release of the film by Arrow Video, Takada reflects on how he convinced Fukasaku and the producers of his vision for the fifth film, which would not only continue the story of Shozo Hirono played by Bunta Sugawara, but which would also change the dynamics within the series, making it a legitimate sequel as well as a refreshing deviation from the formula of the series.

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After the events of the previous film, “Police Tactics”, Hirono (Sugawara) serves a...

The last film of the series written by Kasahara, who almost became mad in his effort to record all that was happening in the yakuza underworld and come up with a script based on them, “Police Tactics” was supposed to be the last episode of the series, until its phenomenal success led to one additional entry.

Continuing the story directly from where the third episode finished, “Police Tactics” continue to deal with the feud between Yamamori and Uchimoto which has escalated to one between the Akashi family and the Shinwa group, the two largest crime syndicates of west Japan, who move their feud into Hiroshima and Kure. As violence escalates, however, the yakuza has to face the wrath of society, which, having experienced unprecedented financial prosperity, will no longer tolerate the ways of the unlawful. The result is that police forces begin a major crackdown that takes...

After the continued success of the previous entries into the Battles Without Honor and Humanity-franchise, distributor Toei understandably called for more movies utilizing the distinct narrative and visual approach which director Kinji Fukasaku had introduced in his first film. Given the plethora of fact-based accounts of yakuza crimes and gang wars, screenwriter Kazuo Kasahara focused on a war between rivaling factions in Hiroshima and the surrounding area. In order to continue the idea of the wars of the yakuza mirroring social and political developments in Japan and the rest of the world, Fukasaku and Kasahara employed the concept the proxy war, a large variety of smaller conflicts symbolizing a chasm of power within yakuza hierarchy, a war of ideologies and, of course, for power and money.

At the beginning of the film, we find Hirono in the middle of a tumultuous time within the yakuza. Having...

As Japan attempted to recuperate from its surrender in 1946, the nation tried to return to some kind of normality. However, especially during the 1960s, normal was nowhere to be seen, with a daily stream of riots, demonstrations and frequent acts of violence shaking the country. Aided by the yakuza, Japan’s political right slowly but surely decimated the nation’s left wing, exposing not only the true nature of Japan’s political caste but also leaving no doubt about the immorality of the yakuza. As author Grady Hendrix writes in her essay “Radioactive Yakuza Mutants Eat Japan” included in the Arrow Video-release of “Battles Without Honor and Humanity”, those were the times a young and aspiring director named Kinji Fukasaku experienced the daily events in his country, live and on the newsreel when he went to the cinema. Naturally, as he was planning to shoot his first films, he adopted...

Take a look at new international posters supporting the limited theatrical re-release of the Oscar-winning feature "Spirited Away", written, directed by Hayao Miyazaki and animated by Studio Ghibli, starring Rumi Hiiragi, Miyu Irino, Mari Natsuki, Takeshi Naito, Yasuko Sawaguchi, Tsunehiko Kamijō, Takehiko Ono and Bunta Sugawara, opening June 21, 2019:

"...'Chihiro Ogino' (Hiiragi), a moody 10-year-old girl moves to a new neighbourhood an enters the world of 'Kami' (spirits) of 'Japanese Shinto' folklore.

"After her parents are transformed into pigs by the witch 'Yubaba' (Natsuki)...

"...Chihiro takes a job working in Yubaba's bathhouse to find a way to free herself and her parents and return to the human world..."

Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "Spirited Away"....

There are two genres that Teruo Ishii definitely knows well: Yakuza and exploitation. Evidently, combining the two into one film (even if it is an omnibus) was definitely a good idea, particularly because Toei’s backing guaranteed the quality of the production values and a rather famous cast. Let us take a look at the result, though.

The script deals with three stories revolving around Yakuza and its rules, but in essence with the punishment received by those who break them. The first one takes place during the Edo period, and tells the story of a gang whose members end up having an area under their complete control, when they win against an opposing gang. Their cruel, sadistic and completely mistrustful boss shares a number of responsibilities to his men, but soon decides that everyone is against him, and sends his younger men to kill those who...

Teruo Ishii’s action classic Yakuza Law (1969) will be available on Blu-ray May 14th From Arrow Video

Director Teruo Ishii, the Godfather of J-sploitation, presents Yakuza Law (Aka Yakuza s Law: Lynching) a gruelling anthology of torture, spanning three district periods of Japanese history and bringing to the screen some of the most brutal methods of torment ever devised.

In this deep dive into the world of the Yakuza, meet the violent men who rule the Japanese underworld and the cruel punishments inflicted on those who transgress them. The carnage begins in the Edo Period with a violent tale of samurai vengeance starring Bunta Sugawara (Battles Without Honor and Humanity), before shifting to the Meiji Period as the exiled Ogata returns to face punishment for his past transgressions… and, ultimately, to take his revenge. Finally, the action is brought right up to date with a tale of gang warfare set...

Director Teruo Ishii, the Godfather of J-sploitation, presents Yakuza Law (Aka Yakuza’s Law: Lynching) – a gruelling anthology of torture, spanning three district periods of Japanese history and bringing to the screen some of the most brutal methods of torment ever devised.

In this deep dive into the world of the Yakuza, meet the violent men who rule the Japanese underworld and the cruel punishments inflicted on those who transgress them. The carnage begins in the Edo Period with a violent tale of samurai vengeance starring Bunta Sugawara (Battles Without Honour and Humanity), before shifting to the Meiji Period as the exiled Ogata returns to face punishment for his past transgressions… and, ultimately, to take his revenge. Finally, the action is brought right up to date with a tale of gang warfare set in then-present-day 60s Japan and headlined by Teruo Yoshida (Ishii’s Orgies of Edo...

“My mum never made lunch for me.”

“Who would for scum like you?”

By 1972, Kinji Fukasaku could already look back on a long career making movies for Toei studios. Additionally, his contribution to Richard Fleischer’s “Tora! Tora! Tora!” (1970) marked the director’s first international collaboration as he was responsible for the Japanese segment of the film together with his colleague Toshio Masuda. Even though much of his body of work consisted of contract work for the studio, many of his projects also showed signs of the kind of energy and anarchy which would constitute his later work.

On the surface “Street Mobster” sounds like the kind of movies Fukasaku had done previously. As film scholar Jasper Sharp points out, the original title of the film, “Gendai yakuza: Hitokiri yota”, signifies a shift from away from the traditional approach to the gangster genre. However, it was not until Fukasaku’s final entry to the series,...

Street Mobster (1972) will be available on Blu-ray August 7th from Arrow Video

A pivotal work in the yakuza movie genre and in the career of director Kinji Fukasaku, Street Mobster presents an abrasive portrait of the rise and fall of a reckless street punk caught in the crossfire of a bloody turf war raging in the mean streets of Kawazaki.

When Okita Isamu re-emerges onto the mean streets of Kawazaki after five years in prison for a string of brutal crimes, he comes face to face with prostitute Kinuyo, who immediately pinpoints him as one of the participants in her brutal sexual assault years earlier that left her shell-shocked and consigned to the life of a sex worker. While the two outcasts form an unlikely bond, Okita returns to his criminal ways. He is approached by veteran gangster Kizaki, who encourages him to round up a group of local chinpira...

Review by Roger Carpenter

After experiencing huge critical and commercial success with the five-part film series collectively known as Battles without Honor and Humanity, the Toei Company asked director Kinji Fukasaku to continue the series. The original five films were based upon several magazine articles, themselves based upon the memoirs of an actual member of the Japanese mafia, or yakuza. The films proved to be so successful that Fukasaku essentially created a new subgenre known in Japan as Jitsuroku eiga, “actual record films,” or films based upon true tales of real-life adventures. But having run out of material with the first five films, Fukasaku would have to turn to more fictionalized stories as well as new characters if he wanted to continue the series. This three-film series became known as New Battles without Honor and Humanity and, though there have been other films in the series, these are the last directed by Fukasaku.

New Battles Without Honour and Humanity: The Complete Trilogy on Special Edition Box Set from Monday 21st August. Buy it here: http://amzn.to/2w72s08. Win a copy courtesy of Arrow Video!

A trilogy of influential yakuza classics from master director Kinji Fukasaku, starring stalwart actor Bunta Sugawara, with three searing standalone stories of ruthless Japanese gangsters, bloody gang wars and lethal assassins, in a must-have box set making its English-language home video debut.

To win this fantastic New Battles Without Honour and Humanity boxset, just answer the following question:

Which one of the following is the name of One of the characters Bunta Sugawara plays in New Battles Without Honour and Humanity? Is it:

a) Yusuke Urameshi

b) Ogami Ittō

c) Shuji Kuroda

Email your answer to NerdlyComps@gmail.com, making sure to include your name and address. You can also leave your answer on our Facebook page,...

Review by Roger Carpenter

Director Kinji Fukasaku and writer Kazuo Kasahara, both of the Battles Without Honor and Humanity series, team up with Fukasaku’s favorite yakuza star, Bunta Sugawara—also of Battles Without Honor and Humanity fame—to create the kinetic yakuza drama Cops Vs Thugs.

Two rival gangs vie for a lucrative land deal and it’s up to the cops to keep the balance. Detective Kuno (Sugawara) has forged an unlikely relationship with up-and-coming gangster Hirotani (Hiroki Masukata) of the Ohara gang, thus ensuring they have a competitive edge over their rivals, the Kawade gang. But when violence erupts between the two gangs over the land deal, it is up to Lt. Kaida (Tatsuo Umemiya) to settle the score once and for all. Unfortunately, Lt. Kaida is a by-the-book cop, which doesn’t sit well with the thugs as they are used to Detective Kuno’s more relaxed dealings with the gangs.

Battles Without Honor And Humanity from director Kinji Fukasaku will be available from Arrow Academy on August 28th

In the early 1970s, Kinji Fukasaku’s three-film Battles Without Honor and Humanity series was a massive hit in Japan, and kicked off a boom in realistic, modern yakuza films based on true stories. Although Fukasaku had intended to end the series, Toei Studio convinced him to return to the director’s chair for this unconnected, follow-up trilogy of films, each starring Battles leading man Bunta Sugawara and telling separate, but fictional stories about the yakuza in different locations in Japan. In the first film, Bunta Sugawara is Miyoshi, a low-level assassin of the Yamamori gang who is sent to jail after a bungled hit. While in stir, family member Aoki (Lone Wolf and Cub‘s Tomisaburo Wakayama) attempts to seize power from the boss, and Miyoshi finds himself stuck between the...

This August, Arrow Video enters the deranged mind of Herbert West with their limited edition 4K restoration of Stuart Gordon's Re-Animator (which was initially slated for a July 25th release), and we now have the full list of special features for the anticipated release, along with two other horror Blu-rays coming out this month from Arrow: The Slayer and a limited edition steelbook of Society.

Press Release: The summer really hots up in August, as Arrow Video releases a special edition of an 80s classic, a white-knuckle thriller, a splatter horror masterpiece, a box set of crime classics, a rare Italian sword-and-sandal epic, and an amazing new limited edition steelbook.

First up, one of the most wildly popular horror movies of all-time, Stuart Gordon's enduring splatter-comedy classic Re-Animator returns to Blu-ray in a stunning restoration packed with special features. According to the distributor (Mvd), this awesome package is officially sold out already,...

Considered by many to be director Kinji Fukasaku’s greatest single-film achievement in the yakuza genre, Cops Vs Thugs was made at the height of popularity of Toei Studios’ jitsuroku boom: realistic, modern crime movies based on true stories taken from contemporary headlines. Returning to the screen after completing their Battles Without Honor and Humanity series together, Fukasaku joined forced once again with screenwriter Kazuo Kasahara, composer Toshiaki Tsushima and star Bunta Sugawara to create one of the crowning achievements of his career, and a hard-boiled classic which is still ranked as one of the best Japanese films of the 1970’s.

It’s 1963 in the southern Japanese city of Kurashima, and tough-as-nails detective Kuno (Sugawara) oversees a detente between the warring Kawade and Ohara gangs. Best friends with Ohara lieutenant Hirotani (Hiroki Matsukata), he understands that there are no clear lines in the underworld, and that everything is colored a different shade of gray.

Bloody havoc reigns! Kinji Fukasaku's no-holds-barred vision of ugly violence and uglier politics on the streets of Hiroshima is a five-film Yakuza epic that spans generations. The film amounts to an alternate history of postwar Japan, that puts an end to the glorification of the Yakuza code. The enormous cast includes Bunta Sugawara, Tetsuro Tanba, Sonny Chiba and Jo Shishido. Battles without Honor and Humanity Blu-ray + DVD Arrow Video 1973-74 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 760 min. / Limited Edition Boxed Set Street Date December 8, 2015 / 149.95 Starring Bunta Sugawara, Hiroki Matsukata, Tetsuro Tanba, Kunie Tanaka, Eiko Nakamura, Sonny Chiba, Meiko Kaji, Akira Kobayashi, Tsunehiko Watase, Reiko Ike, Jo Shishido Cinematography Sadaji Yoshida Production Designer Takatoshi Suzuki Original Music Toshiaki Tsushima Written by Koichi Iiboshi, Kazuo Kasahara Directed by Kinji Fukasaku

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

In the 1990s the American Cinematheque was headquartered in various places, but settled for a few years in a large...

The 14th New York Asian Film Festival will launch on June 26 with the North American premiere of Philip Yung’s crime thriller.

Festival top brass announced that the Centerpiece Presentation is the North American Premiere of Sabu’s Chasuke’s Journey.

Other notable films include the world premiere of Fire Lee’s Robbery, the International Premiere of Anh Sang-hoon’s Empire Of Lust and the North American premieres of Chen Jiabin’s directorial debut A Fool and Lau Ho-leung’s Two Thumbs Up.

As reported previously, the 2015 Screen International Rising Star Award will go to Japanese actor Shota Sometani (pictured) and the 2015 Star Asia Award will be presented to Hong Kong’s Aaron Kwok.

North American film premieres include Nobuhiro Yamashita’s La La La At Rock Bottom, Yim Soon-rye’s The Whistleblower and the international premiere of Namewee’s Banglasia.

Sidebars include a spotlight on Myung Films and Korean women filmmakers.

Japanese film legends...

The 14th New York Asian Film Festival will present Hong Kong director Ringo Lam with the 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award.

Lam rose to fame with a string of crime dramas in the 1980s and 1990s and his credits include City On Fire, Prison On Fire and Wild City.

As reported previously, the 2015 Screen International Rising Star Award will go to Japanese actor Shota Sometani and the 2015 Star Asia Award will be presented to Hong Kong’s Aaron Kwok.

North American film premieres include Nobuhiro Yamashita’s La La La At Rock Bottom, Yim Soon-rye’s The Whistleblower and the international premiere of Namewee’s Banglasia, which was banned in Malaysia.

Sidebars include a spotlight on Myung Films and Korean women filmmakers.

Japanese film legends Ken Takakura and Bunta Sugawara, who both died last November, will be the subject of the first joint tribute outside of Japan, which will feature the brand new digital remaster of the classic Battles...

The 14th New York Asian Film Festival in partnership with Screen International will honour the Japanese youngster with the International Rising Star Award on July 4.

Sometani will attend the event and the New York premiere of Kabukicho Love Hotel with director director Ryuichi Hiroki.

The 22-year-old actor Sometani has made a name for himself in his home country with lead roles in the likes of Himizu, for which he shared the Marcello Mastroianni Award for best new young actor in Venice with Fumi Nikaido.

The latter was the subject of the International Rising Star Award in 2014.

The festival, set to run from June 26-July 11, will showcase more than 50 films, most of which will receive their Us and North American premieres.

Port Of Call, will receive its North American premiere and Hong Kong actor Aaron Kwok will receive the Star Asia Award.

Kwok earned back-to-back Golden Horse best actor awards in 2005 and 2006 for Divergence and After This Our Exile.

Other...

Japanese studio Toei has launched a major digital restoration programme of its extensive library, starting with Kinji Fukasaku’s Battles Without Honor And Humanity, which is screening in Cannes Classics next month.

Cannes is holding the international premiere of the digitally remastered edition of the 1973 Toei production, starring the late Bunta Sugawara.

“Bunta Sugawara does not just belong to Toei, but is a treasure of filmdom and movie lovers everywhere,” said Toei’s managing director, international sales and acquisitions, Satoshi Shinohara.

“It is our greatest honour to have an opportunity to show Kinji Fukasaku’s masterpiece, Battles Without Honor And Humanity, to people across the world in the Cannes Classics programme. Unfortunately, Mr. Sugawara passed away last year, but we couldn’t be happier to share his glory with others.”

Toei is also restoring the 1999 Ken Takakura film Poppoya and selecting further titles from its library, which will be packaged for sales and circulated to international film festivals...

Japanese studio Toei has launched a major digital restoration programme of its extensive library, starting with Kinji Fukasaku’s Battles Without Honor And Humanity, which is screening in Cannes Classics next month.

Cannes is holding the international premiere of the digitally remastered edition of the 1973 Toei production, starring the late Bunta Sugawara.

“Bunta Sugawara does not just belong to Toei, but is a treasure of filmdom and movie lovers everywhere,” said Toei’s managing director, international sales and acquisitions, Satoshi Shinohara.

“It is our greatest honour to have an opportunity to show Kinji Fukasaku’s masterpiece, Battles Without Honor And Humanity, to people across the world in the Cannes Classics programme. Unfortunately, Mr. Sugawara passed away last year, but we couldn’t be happier to share his glory with others.”

Toei is also restoring the 1999 Ken Takakura film Poppoya and selecting further titles from its library, which will be packaged for sales and circulated to international film festivals...

Exclusive: The New York Asian Film Festival (Nyaff) has announced a special focus on two Japanese film legends, Ken Takakura (Black Rain) and Bunta Sugawara (Battles Without Honor), who both passed away last November.

“Both made a career of playing tough yakuza characters, and have been referred to as Japanese equivalents to Clint Eastwood. This will be the first retrospective/tribute outside Japan since they passed away,” Nyaff co-director Samuel Jamier told ScreenDaily.

“With this programme, the festival wants to salute the end of an era, when two superstar actors could be successful both within and outside the studio system.”

The fest will also have a focus on Japanese director Daihachi Yoshida (The Kirishima Thing), as “one of the most vivid, original storytellers from Asia”.

Yoshida will be in New York for the North American premiere of his crime drama Pale Moon, which was in Competition at the Tokyo film festival last October.

In Korean...

By Dean Brierly

Japanese actor Ken Takakura, iconic leading man in countless yakuza and action films, died at 83 of lymphoma on November 10 in Tokyo. He had long since achieved legendary status in Japan with his portrayals of brooding samurai, gangsters and hit men. The characters he portrayed were usually on the wrong side of the law but adhered to a chivalric code of honor that, while not reflective of reality, nevertheless struck a deep chord among Japanese filmgoers of the 1960s. Takakura was most familiar to American audiences for his roles in The Yakuza (1975), directed by Sydney Pollack and co-starring Robert Mitchum; Black Rain (1989), with Michael Douglas; and Mr. Baseball (1992), with Tom Selleck. In each of these he more than held his own against his high-powered American co-stars.

Born Goichi Oda in Nakama, Fukuoka, Takakura was witness to real-life yakuza street clashes during his formative years, which may have informed...

"Photographer Phil Stern, who was responsible for some of the most intimate portraits of Hollywood stars, including Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, John Wayne, Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart, died Saturday," reports Shelli Weinstein for Variety. "He was 95." We also note the passing of Japanese actor Bunta Sugawara, star of Kinji Fukasaku's Battles Without Honor and Humanity; novelist, journalist, playwright and screenwriter Vicente Leñero; actresses Joanna Dunham and Mary Ann Mobley; and actors Deven Verma and Ken Weatherwax. » - David Hudson...

"Photographer Phil Stern, who was responsible for some of the most intimate portraits of Hollywood stars, including Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, John Wayne, Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart, died Saturday," reports Shelli Weinstein for Variety. "He was 95." We also note the passing of Japanese actor Bunta Sugawara, star of Kinji Fukasaku's Battles Without Honor and Humanity; novelist, journalist, playwright and screenwriter Vicente Leñero; actresses Joanna Dunham and Mary Ann Mobley; and actors Deven Verma and Ken Weatherwax. » - David Hudson...

In November 2014 Japanese Cinema lost two of its greatest: Ken Takakura and Bunta Sugawara. Since both legendary actors have had a great impact on the world of Japanese film and have starred in countless classic productions, I felt the need to write a short article about the matter and salute these two great actors.

On the 10th of November 2014, Ken Takakura passed away at the age of 83. He was known as the “Japanese Clint Eastwood”. Starting his career in 1955, Takakura became mostly known for his portrayal of tough but disciplined gangsters in the 1960s and 1970s. Most famous of these films is his performance as gangster Shinichi Tachibana in the Abashiri Prison series (1965-1972). This lead to him eventually working together with Sydney Pollack for the film The Yakuza (1974), his first international production.

But it wasn’t until 1989 before Takakura became internationally known by playing alongside Michael Douglas and Andy Garcia...

Present at the festival with her fun, flashy and energetic film The Pinkie, was Japanese director Lisa Takeba. After making some short films, The Pinkie is her first feature film. Next to filmmaking, Takeba wrote the scenario of a Nintendo DS videogame and also writes novels for mobile phones. I met up with Takeba-san in the press room of the festival to ask her some questions about her new film and what the process of making a motion picture is like to her.

How is the festival up to now?

It is fun! This year, last year as well, it is a lot of fun.

If you compare it to your last visit here, is it a different experience?

Last year I was here with a short film (Wandering Alien Detective Robin, which you can view here). Also different from last year is that my film has more screenings this time,...

Tales From Earthsea (Studio Ghibli)

Stars: (Japanese) Bunta Sugawara, Junichi Okada, Aoi Teshima, Jun Fubuki, Kaoru Kobayashi, Yui Natsukawa, Y?ko Tanaka, Teruyuki Kagawa. (English) Timothy Dalton, Matt Levin, Blaire Restaneo, Mariska Hargitay, Susanne Blakeslee, Willem Dafoe, Cheech Marin | Written by Ursula K Le Guin, Gor? Miyazaki, Keiko Niwa & Hayao Miyazaki | Directed by Goro Miyazaki

“Goro Miyazaki’s debut feature as a director, Tales From Earthsea is an epic adventure, adapted from the much-loved series of novels by Ursula K Le Guin. It tells the story of Ged (voiced in English by Timothy Dalton), the most powerful wizard in Earthsea, and his attempts to protect Prince Arren (Matt Levin) from the evil machinations of rival wizard Cob (Willem Dafoe). Together with Therru, a young girl he rescued from slave takers, Arren must unite with Ged to defeat Cob and return balance to their world. Beautifully animated, Tales From Earthsea will...

Director Yoji Yamada originally planned to begin principal photography of Tokyo Kazoku, an homage to Yasujiro Ozu’s Tokyo Story, on the first of this month. However, the devastating Tohoku earthquake and tsunami which occurred on March 11 caused Shochiku to halt the production and has forced Yamada to seriously consider altering the script to reflect post-3/11 Japan.

After planning the project for over a year and assembling a cast which includes Bunta Sugawara, Etsuko Ichihara, Masahiko Nishimura, Shigeru Muroi, Satoshi Tsumabuki, Yui Natsukawa, Shozo Hayashiya, and Yu Aoi, Yamada made the admittedly agonizing choice to push production back further after consulting with Shochiku.

The director suggested going ahead with the current script might be “feigning ignorance”, considering the possibility that the hearts and minds of the Japanese people may be changed by the events of 3/11. For that reason, the current plan is to monitor the state of the nation through the end of this year,...

Back in December, it was announced that director Yoji Yamada was working on a contemporary take on Yasujiro Ozu’s 1953 film “Tokyo Story” called Tokyo Kazoku. Earlier today, the cast was revealed by Shochiku.

Bunta Sugawara (77) will star as Shukichi Hirayama and Etsuko Ichihara (75) will play his wife Tomiko. Sugawara has not appeared in a film since “Battery” in 2007 and his last starring role was in 2003’s “Watashi no Grandpa”.

Masahiko Nishimura (50) will play their eldest son Koichi, who works as the administrator of a hospital. Yui Natsukawa (42) will play his wife Fumiko.

Shigeru Muroi (52) will play their eldest daughter Shigeko, who manages a beauty parlor, and Shozo Hayashiya (48) will play her husband Kurazo.

Finally, Satoshi Tsumabuki (30) will play the younger son, with Yu Aoi (25) playing his girlfriend.

Filming wil take place from April 1 to late June, with a theatrical release planned for winter 2011.

Sources: Tokyograph, Eiga.com...