Shadow Warriors: The Complete First Season
Zone Fighter
with English subtitles)
The box is designed to look like wood. The front cover shows the image
of a man holding a sword. The back describes the series. Inside the
box are four clear plastic cases. The first three cases each hold two,
double-sided discs. The fourth case holds one double-sided disc. The
first six discs each hold four episodes, two on each side. The seventh
disc holds three episodes and an interview with Sonny Chiba, which is
the only bonus material, unless you buy the set from Best Buy. If you
purchase the set from Best Buy you will get a fifth clear plasic case
containg two single-sided discs. One disc features the movie Shogun's
Ninja, on the other is Shogun's Shadow.
Each of the series discs has the two episode titles and a Set Up
option. From the Set Up screen you can toggle the English subtitles
off, they default to on. The Best Buy bonus discs include trailers for
seven Sonny Chiba films.
The DVD image and audio is excellent. There are some minor glitches in
the English subtitles. I've noticed typing errors. And sometimes they
leave words untranslated ("kunoichi", "oniwaban"). While both the
opening and ending credits are subtitled, the ending theme lyrics are
not.
The episodes are uncensored, there is some partial female nudity in
scenes of the bathhouse and men and women killed by the sword bleed.
Included with the DVDs is an 8 page booklet written by Patrick Macias.
There is an error in the booklet. He quotes Quentin Tarantino's whos
memory of the other Shadow Warriors series is faulty. Tarantino claims
Sonny Chiba always plays Hattori Hanzo (III, IV, etc), which is not
correct. Sonny Chiba plays Hattori Hanzo the third in the first
series. Then in the second he's Tsuge Shinpachi. And in the third
Tarao Hanzo. In the fourth he's Hattori Hanzo again. They may all be
Inga ninja but they don't all have the same name.
After the death of the Shogun a five year old boy becomes the new
leader of Japan. As members of the government scheme to gain more
power, the new Shogun's guardian asks Hotari Honzo (Sonny Chiba),
leader of the Iga ninja, to help maintaine the peace.
Trivia:
Sonny Chiba's first television role was in 1959 as the lead in Nana
Iro Kamen. In 1973 he guest starred in the first episode of Robotto
Keiji as the older brother of Detective Go Shinjô (played by his real
life younger brother Jiro Chiba).
Junichi Haruta who plays Kiheiji would go on to be the in suit actor
for Vul Eagle 1 & Inazuma Ginga in the super sentai series Taiyo
Sentai Sanbarukan (Solar Task Force Sun Vulcan). Vul Eagles one of the
heroes, Inazuma Ginga is a villain. Junichi Haruta also played Kanpei
Kuroda who becomes Goggle Black and Ryu Hoshikawa who becomes Dyna
Black.
I like this series and I hope BCI comes out with Shadow Warriors II
(Kage no Gundan II), Shadow Warriors III (Kage no Gundan III) and
Shadow Warriors IV (Kage no Gundan: Bakumatsu hen).
Xenorama
Zone Fighter
bathhouse owner)
Yamamura Satoshi - Hoshina Masayuki (Ietsuna's guardian)
Kenji Takaoka - Hyo Roku (Iga ninja, Hattori Hanzo's right hand man,
works at bathhouse)
Shohei Hino - Dai Hachi (Iga ninja, "Frog Oil" salesman)
Junichi Haruta - Kiheiji (Iga ninja, construction worker)
Naomi Hase - Okiri (Iga Kunoichi [female ninja], hairdresser)
Kantaro Suga - Minaguchi Kisabuto (Kouga ninja leader)
Kyoko Mitsubayashi - Oko (Kouga Kunoichi/spy)
Kirin Kiki - Orin (bathhouse matrin)
Teruhiko Saigo - Dr. Kyonosuke Tsutsumi
Asao Koike - Narrator
Episode 1: "Tigers Sharpen Their Claws in a Storm"
Shogun Tokugawa, Ieyasu has died. His position is inherited by 5 year
old Ietsuna. All the former Shogun's ministers publicly swear loyalty
to the new Shogun. Some of them lied. The Iga ninja a once powerful
and wealthy clan lost its position and was scattered throughout the
country when its leader Hattori Hanzo II angered the Shogun and lost
his head. His son, Hattori Hanzo III, runs the Kijiyuu bathhouse,
pretending to be a not very bright gambler. Two government officials
are attacked by ninja. One is killed. Ietsuna's loyal guardian Hoshina
survives. The Iga are blamed. To clear their name Hattori Hanzo must
find the real killers. Hoshina who accepts Hattori Hanzo's word that
the Iga are innocent asks Hanzo to help maintaine the peace and
stabalize the Shogunate. Hanzo wont be "a goverment pet" but will help
Hoshina if it suits him. If it doesn't he won't.
Episode 2: "A Female Leopard, Hiding in the Dark"
The leader of the Kouga ninja believes that the Iga ninja will try to
undermind the government (costing the Kouga their poisition of power)
so he plants a female spy in Hattori Hanzo III's bathhouse. Hattori
Hanzo II killed the woman's father so she's expected to eventually
take revenge by killing Hattori Hanzo III. Someone starts killing
Kouga ninja. Their leader assumes its Iga led by Hattori Hanzo. Hanzo
learns its a childhood friend who thinks the Iga should regain power
by force. Hanzo believes such actions will bring down the wrath of the
government and the deaths of all the Iga.
Zone Fighter
This is a story of dirty politics and betrayal. The Iga ninja leader
Hattori, Hanzo is once again disappointed with politicians, including
the one he's forced to work with.
Peasants revolt. The government blames the Yashu Karasuyama samurai
clan and orders the disolving of the clan and the vacating of
Karasuyama castle. A smaller and distant clan, the Matasushiro Sanada,
is ordered to take the castle within 20 days. The Sanada leader passes
the job onto a branch clan the Hirakobo. Sure that the larger
Karasuyama won't leave their castle without a fight, the Hirakobo
leader's guardian (the actual head of the clan being only 11 years
old) tries to hire extra samurai. The Kouga spy Okou tells Hattori
Hanso that she was raised in a samurai family of Hirakobo and begs his
help. Was she telling the truth or was this just a plot to get Hattari
Hanzo killed by sending him to fight a lossing battle? Hanzo asks
Hoshina why a large, closer clan, such as Hoshina's own, wasn't
assigned to take the castle, but doesn't get a satisfactory answer,
Hoshina is after all a politician. So while setting out for the castle
with his other ninja, Hanzo leaves his right hand man in Edo to find
out what political machinations are behind this seemingly irrational
act of the government. Okou has a chance to hurt Hanzo by letting his
right hand die from a wound received when stealing a secret document,
but doesn't take it, instead she helps him. He gives the secret
document to her to pass on, but to whom does she pass it, the Iga or
the Kouga? The highway is a devil because a group of ninja ambush the
samurai and the Iga who travel with them. I'd name the ninja clan but
that would too much of a spoiler. Naturally Hattori Hanzo defeats the
other ninja leader. Of course the government official behind the evil
scheme to whipe out two innocent clans goes unpunished, much to
idealist Hattori Hanzo's disgust.
The head of the Kouga ninja accuses Okou of not killing Hanzo because
she's in love with him. She denies it.
The head of the woman's part of the bathhouse is infatuated with bath
house owner "Mr Han" (Hattori, Hanzo) but also has a bad habit of
spying on male customers while they undress. She has a rival in a
younger member of the staff. Mr Han doesn't encourage either of them.
We'll find out later that there is also unrequited love among the Iga.
Xenorama
to rent them and see how i like the first couple DVDs. too bad the
sales have been "lukewarm" according to Cliff at BCI.
Zone Fighter
That's not good news. I was hoping for the second season to be
released.