And I’m back with a new installment of this uninformative, yet space filling series!

Jidaigeki trading cards? Sounds like a great idea!

Kisaragi musô ken / きさらぎ無双剣 / Kisaragi Sword (1962)
Director: Sasaki Yasushi
Cast: Ichikawa Utaemon, Kotaro Satomi, Matsukata Hiroki, Wakayama Tomisaburo, Konoe Jushiro, Azuma Chiyonosuke, Yamagata Isao, Arima Koji, Hori Masao

Summary:
Rindo Tsukinosuke is a secret agent of mysterious origin. Sakon Takada is a booze loving Hatamoto. Itsuzume-kozo is a sneaky yakuza-ninja-hybrid who has just gotten out of jail. Hayatomasa Tachibana is a nice-guy samurai fencing master. These four dudes work together to crack a plot to overthrow the shogun.

The Good Stuff:
- An eventful story, unique enough not to be redundant

The Best Stuff:
- Holy crap that’s one crazy lineup!
- Mister Utaemon being all Ichikawa Utaemon on everyone
- A great controlled final fight scene with the top 5 stars in it

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Wakayama Tomisaburo, the chubby mustachiod sword swinging wonder

Shokin kasegi / 賞金稼ぎ / Killer’s Mission (1969)
Director: Ozawa Shigehiro
Cast: Wakayama Tomisaburo, Kataoka Chiezo, Tsuruta Koji, Amatsu Bin

Summary:
Ichiro (Wakayama) is a Tokugawa spy sent to Satsuma to foil the clan’s plot to start a war and overthrow the Shogunate. The Satsuma are trying to smuggle in new guns that would give them an advantage in battle, but Ichiro, probably the James Bond of his day, is up to the task.

The Good Stuff:
- Wakayama parodies Zatoichi (played by his brother, Katsu Shintaro) in a couple of scenes
- A little bit of history in this one, although.. uhh.. not much unless you feel like researching

The Best Stuff:
- Wakayama in his chubby days with a noticeable and distinctive mustache!
- Lots of people getting chopped to bits

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He's not gonna get away running like that

Adauchi / 仇討 / Revenge (1964)
Director: Imai Tadashi
Cast: Nakamura Kinnosuke, Tamba Tetsurô, Mishima Masao, Shindô Eitarô

Summary:
Ezaki Shinpei is a lowly samurai retainer involved in the maintenance of the clan’s gear. One day, Magodayu, a government inspector, insults the cleanliness of the clan’s spears, and Ezaki rebukes him, earning his ire. Magodayu challenges him to a duel, and Ezaki duly dispatches of the inspector. Unfortunately, Ezaki’s low status betrays him.

The Good Stuff:
- Lots of leftist criticism about the government and tradition if you’re into that sort of thing
- Nakamura tries to be all Nakadai-ish

The Best Stuff:
- The focus on brotherhood and inheritance is a unique angle
- Great wiiiiiide picture

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Eventually you'll start to feel like Tamba Tetsuro is behind every chambara plot, EVER

Tengu-to / 天狗党 / Blood End (1969)
Director: Yamamoto Satsuo
Cast: Nakadai Tatsuya, Wakao Ayako, Kato Go, Nakamura Kanemon,

Summary:
Small-time farmer Sentaro learns how to use a sword and joins the Mito tengu group. It doesn’t take long, however, for Sentaro to become disillusioned with the Mito tengu and their increasingly political nature. Politics sucks, and the ideologies that back them are even worse, he soon discovers.

The Good Stuff:
- Imperialist/revolutionary ideological dichotomy explored more than in other films

The Best Stuff:
- Probably one of the most politically focused jidaigeki I’ve seen
- Political soliloquys?! Yeah really. And a lot of them. Only great if you like that stuff, I guess!

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In this film: samurai. Not in this film: demons, priests, nor demon priests. Good job with the title boys

Obozu tengu / お坊主天狗 / Demon Priest (1962)
Director: Yasushi Sasaki
Cast: Kataoka Chiezo, Okawa Hashizo, Otomo Ryutaro, Misora Hibari, Yamagata Isao, Mishima Masao, Shindô Eitarô

Summary:
Okay, honestly I don’t remember what happened in this movie. All I remember is Kichisaburo (Kataoka) wants revenge against Honda (Mishima), Kosome (Misora) wants revenge on Tokaiya (Shindô), and Shinzaburo (Okawa) is an eccentric sword expert. The title honestly doesn’t make sense, too.

The Good Stuff:
- Misora Hibari as a girl for a change
- Lots of revengings to go around

The Best Stuff:
- Okawa Hashizo as an eccentric sword expert is hilarious for some reason
- Kataoka Chiezo is always, always a character you cheer for

Hoy traigo algo curioso y en cierto modo excéntrico, que pretendo que sea de lo más didáctico posible. Quien mora por el blog habitualmente ya sabrá que adoro el cine de los setenta y de los ochenta, el cine de “exploitation” de cualquier tipo, ya sea “sexploitation”, “blaxploitation”… Bien, no solo adoro las cintas de la época y del movimiento cinematográfico, que en cualquier caso es lo principal, sino todo su significado cultural, su iconografía, su música, el marketing e incluso, aunque suene extraño, la comida y sus respectivos anuncios con los que acompañabas la sesión de cine… En este artículo intentaré enseñaros un poco como era ese movimiento, no os enseñaré cintas de la época, ni haré críticas de las mismas, sino más bien intentaré explicar toda la iconografía, intentaré hondar en el movimiento cultural, que al fin y al cabo es lo que es. Tengo que decir que no he vivido ese movimiento cultural, que por otra parte tendría que haberlo vivido en estados unidos, aunque en España vinieron las migajas…

El cine de explotación, o “exploitation”, es un cine que se basa en explotar al espectador, no me refiero a que el señor se siente y su cabeza reviente cual “Scanners”, pero es algo similar. El cine de explotación trata de llamar la atención del espectador con sus comportamientos o pensamientos más primarios, es decir, el sexo, la violencia… podemos resumirlo en que el cine “grindy”, como a mí me gusta llamarlo, es lo que normalmente no podrías ver en una pantalla de cine normal y corriente, ¿quieres ver violencia desmesurada? Ve a ver una película de “exploitation”, ¿quieres ver sexo? Adelante compra una entrada… ¿Se entiende? Hay muchos tipos de películas que se engloban en el “exploitation”, a continuación haré un repaso, cuasi conceptual, sobre el tipo de películas, aunque primero explicaré que significa el termino “grindhouse”.

El “Grindhouse”, muchos conocieron este termino por la cinta dirigida por Tarantino y Rodriguez, llamada de esa manera por pretender evocar el espíritu de las sesiones “Grindhouse”. Estas sesiones de cine se basan, principalmente en dos películas de “exploitation” por una, es decir tu pagabas el precio de una entrada por ver una sesión “Grindhouse” (excepto en España, que la cinta de esos dos genios no superó la tiranía de las distribuidoras cinematográficas y las separaron en dos películas) Lo que sucede es que son películas dirigidas a un cierto tipo de público. En los setenta las “personas de bien” estaban ocupadas pensando en el caso “Watergate” o en los 58.000 soldados fenecidos que el Vietcong dejaba atrás, y los trabajadores de esta clase de películas, sin una calidad artística destacable, tenían que ganarse el pan, la mejor manera era en sesiones dobles, triples e incluso cuádruples, eso son las “Grindhouse”. Normalmente las salas de cine donde se reproducían esta clase de películas eran sucias, pobres, ubicadas en zonas marginales y casi siempre albergaban a vagabundos, prostitutas, insomnes, o simples personas solitarias que usaban la sala cine para pensar o refugiarse de la fría y peligrosa ciudad, es decir, pagaban el bajo precio de la entrada y durante las dos o tres horas que duraba la sesión descansaban, dormían o seguían emborrachándose sin necesidad de congelarse el culo.

La cinta de Quentin y Robert ha generado la vuelta de este movimiento a las pantallas, casi creando un subgenero.

Las cintas de explotación no pretendían convertirse en iconos de la época en ningún caso, posteriormente si que se han convertido, (me consta que no solo yo soy un amante de estas películas y esta contracultura, por lo menos hay uno más, ademas mi amigo), por lo tanto las cintas se hacían como churros repitiendo casi siempre los mismos patrones y formulas, dando bastante coherencia al termino explotación. Pasaban algunas cosas muy curiosas: ¿nunca os habéis peguntado porque las películas de los setenta, en muchos casos, se ven tan mal? Con bastante grano, con “pelos” repentinos que se cruzan en pantalla, con un color pastel desgastado pero estéticamente efectivo… Eso es porque la distribución de las películas era tan humilde que quizás solo se creaban un par de copias que viajaban por todos los cines del país, eso hacía que la película se desgastase y al verla tuviese esa imagen tan sucia, ese encanto tan iracundo… Lo mismo pasaba con los pósters, por eso las marcas de dobleces en los carteles tienen una especie de hueco estético dentro de la cultura.

Fijaos en la estructura del cartel, en lo que dice... ¡es genial!

Bien, ahora hago un repaso a los subgéneros de la explotación

Podemos empezar unos treinta años antes de la década de los setenta con los anuncios y películas de captación. Esos anuncios sensacionalistas (que tantísimo adoro) que pretenden, en muchos casos, hacer ver al espectador que su vida es plena y no necesita dejar que la sociedad le haga evolucionar (más o menos lo que hace la quinta cadena de nuestro país con toda su programación), anunciando casi “a golpe de martillo”, valores humanos que el señor de turno piensa que son los correctos, y manifestando en cada palabra que si no se realizan serás un despojo social que servirá de leña para los hornos gubernamentales. De verdad adoro estos anuncios, lo que significa me parece algo a tener en cuenta para ser un ser humano un poco menos despreciable.

Este es de mis favoritos, una película dirigida por uno de los reyes de esta clase de cintas, Dwain Esper.

El trailer de la cinta.

Pasamos a la “exploitation” algo más reciente, y nos vamos a la “Biker exploitation”. Un montón ingente de películas de moteros se hicieron con las salas a finales de los sesenta y mediados de los setenta. America estaba siendo invadida por el pensamiento pesimista, debido a la guerra y el alzamiento de Gerald Ford a la presidencia, por lo tanto el público estaba ansioso se ver a tipos rudos pateando traseros, cabalgando un icono americano. Películas como:

Cartel de una de las primeras pelis de Jack Nicholson.

Os dejo el trailer de “Hell´s Belles”:

Vamos a la “Blaxploitation”. Los afroamericanos también quisieron subirse al carro de la “exploitation”, y no solo eso, sino que daban patadas a la raza blanca continuamente emulando cintas ya existentes pobladas de blancos y las explotaban con su tono “funky”, películas como “Blackula”, bastante conocida. Es uno de mis subgéneros favoritos. Aquí la mujer cobraba un papel bastante relevante, la famosa Pam Grier era una de las actrices principales para este género, trabajando en obras absolutamente geniales como “Foxy Brown” o “Coffy”. Las cintas de este subgénero exploraban los bajos fondos y estaban repletas de mujeres, violencia, crímenes y venganza.

El trailer de la genial “Foxy Brown”.

Leed el cartel...es demasiado bueno.

“Boss Nigger”, es un ejemplo perfecto de “Blaxploitation”, un “Spaghetti Western” protagonizado por Fred Williamson, un icono de este cine,  Frost en “Abierto hasta el amanecer”.

Hablaré ahora del “exploitation” de terror, con sus diferenciaciones dentro del subgénero. Nos encontramos con las películas de caníbales, muy célebres a finales de los setenta y principios de los ochenta, cintas como: la famosa y precursora del subgénero mondo, “Holocausto Caníbal”, “Cannibal Ferox” o “Apocalipsis Caníbal” entre otras.

La sonada cinta de Ruggero Deodato.

Trailer de “Apocalipsis Caníbal”

“Cannibal Ferox” me gusta bastante.

Sin salir del subgénero de terror nos vamos a lo que se  llama “Eco-Terror”. Estas obras están protagonizadas por monstruos que si no son animales, son mutaciones de los mismos. Una de mis películas favoritas de este género es “Humanoides del Abismo”, de Barbara Peters (no subo ni trailer ni póster porque haré la crítica próximamente), “Piraña” del genial Joe Dante sería un ejemplo, incluso la que es una de mis pelis favoritas de la historia del cine, “Tiburón”.

Seguimos en el terror, con el “Giallo”. Cine que ya he hablado aquí de él en alguna ocasión. Se basa en el cine italiano de asesinatos con una calidad estética y artística bastante cuidada. Referentes geniales como Dario Argento, Mario Bava o uno de mis mas preciados directores, Lucio Fulci.

“Rojo Profundo” de Argento es una obra espectacular.

El “mondo”, el falso y sensacionalista documental, seré breve, “Holocausto Caníbal” sería la obra más relevante del género y de su autor, precursor del mismo. Como ya la he nombrado os dejo con “Mundo Perro”, la que podemos considerar primera cinta “mondo”.

El “Slasher” es sin duda el subgénero de terror más conocido. Quizás su auge venga a mediados y finales de los ochenta. La saga de “Elm Street”, “Halloween”, “La matanza de Texas”  o “Viernes 13″ serían ejemplos de este subgénero.

Adoro esta cinta.

Para casi acabar esta revisión del terror de explotación, vamos con el “Splatter”, comúnmente llamado “cine gore”. Creado por Herschell Gordon Lewis con la genial obra “Blood Feast” a principios de los sesenta. Obras destacables del “Splatter” serían: “Dos mil Maniacos” o “The Wizard of Gore”, ambas de Gordon Lewis.

Grandiosa.

El trailer de “Blood Feast” refleja muy bien el “exploitation”.

Por último en el género de terror, el subgénero de “Zombis”. Pues no hay mucho que decir, todas las películas de zombis de la década las podríamos englobar aquí. Entre mis favoritas, quizás la que más, “Nueva York bajo el terror de los Zombis” de Lucio Fulci.

Dejemos el terror de lado y hablemos de la “Carsploitation”. Es la “exploitation” que se basa en coches, ya sean: carreras de coches, coches asesinos, persecuciones continúas por desérticas carreteras… “Death Proof” es un homenaje a este subgénero. Una de mis películas favoritas está dentro de este subgénero, es “Punto Limite 0”.

Uno de los subgéneros más divertidos es el “Sexploitation”. Russ Meyer, es el rey sin ligar a dudas de este subgénero que explota el sexo mezclado con violencia. Fantásticas cintas como la famosa y verdaderamente espectacular “Fastrer Pussycat Kill!! Kill!!”,  la sueca “Thriller”,  la genial saga de Ilsa, “La mujer lobo de las SS”, “Ilsa, la tigresa de Siberia” e “Ilsa, la hiena del harem” una muy recomendable es “Women in Cages” con Pam Grier.

Brutal pelicula, me gusta más su secuela, pero esta muy bien.

Para ir acabando, con los subgéneros vamos a hablar de “Chambara”, un subgénero del cual Tarantino se nutrió para “Kill Bill”. Gran obra de “Chambara” es “Asesino Shogun”.

Podemos dar un paso al “Whusi-a” (disculpad si no se escribe así, la verdad es que tengo vanos recuerdos de su escritura) que es el cine de espadas chino. Otro cine del que Tarantino se nutre bastante para “Kill Bill” llegando a elogiar a la productora más importante de la época, los “Shaw Brothers”. Incluso el famosos Pai-Mei, es invención de estos señores y no de Tarantino. Os dejo el trailer de “Las 36 cámaras de Shaolin”, el calvito que sale es Chia Hui Lui, que es Pai-Mei en “Kill Bill”y en las cintas de los “Shaw Bros.” y el jefe de los 88 maniacos.

Me voy a saltar varios géneros para mostraros por último el “Spaghetti Western”. También bastante conocido. Es la denominación del cine “Western” hecho en Europa, casi todo en España, por su mayoría directores italianos. Os dejo con mi “Spaghetti Western” favorito, “Django”.

Para acabar, se que ha sido demasiado largo, pero me da igual y es necesario está longitud… Os dejaré con anuncios de la época, anuncios que ponían en el cine y se esperaban por los aficionados casi a modo ritualístico donde se detecta bien el “tono” del movimiento.

Espero que resulte didáctico.

Every week I’ll share a new Awesome Poster to a movie that I think is Awesome.  To start things off, I’ll go with an all-time favorite of mine, the super stylish, super violent…

Kozure Ôkami: Shinikazeni mukau ubaguruma

aka Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades

aka Lightning Swords of Death

Another installment of this feature. 5 movies that aren’t that popular or well known, but still very enjoyable. Have fun?

I refuse to call him Soshi, which sounds like a cross between a slushy and sushi.

Okita Sôji (1974)
Director: Deme Masanobu
Cast: Kusaraki Masao, Takahashi Yukihiro, Komatsu Hosei, Takahashi Koji, Oki Masanobu, etc

Summary:
Who doesn’t know Okita Soji? This story basically follows Soji from his humble beginnings as a country samurai all the way up to the Shinsengumi’s rise and fall. In only 90 minutes. So it’s sort of a visual history review for Okita Soji 101.

The Good Stuff:
- One of the funnier and more laid back version of the Shinsengumi story
- A decent summary of Okita Soji’s life, if you’re interested

The Best Stuff:
- For some reason, Kusakari looks like the most authentic Okita Soji I’ve seen.

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Nakadai's patented sleazy look, which he maybe should have used more often

Tange Sazen and the Pot Worth a Million Ryo / Ken fu! Hyakumanryo no tsubo (1982)
Director: Gosha Hideo
Cast: Nakadai Tatsuya, Natsuyagi Isao, Nishimura Ko, Matsuo Kayo, Masako Natsume, Sakurai Minoru, Ikkaku Kazano, Watabe Tsutomu

Summary:
Sazen is a retainer for the Yagyu clan. One day, his boss tells him he must get rid of a known spy, who turns out to be his best friend and rival for a girl’s love. He accepts the mission, but he hesitates though, and duly gets his arm chopped off. After dispatching of the traitor, the Yagyu appear to get rid of the only witness, Sazen himself. He is able to escape, losing an eye in the process, and disappears. Years later, the Yagyu are ordered by court officials hoping to seize their land to do repairs for a large temple which would effectively bankrupt them. Luckily, they have the Million Ryo pot. They set out to retrieve it, only to be discovered by rival ninjas. This leads to a battle in the forest where, lo and behold, they bump into a one armed, one eyed samurai living in the middle of the forest in a tent named Tange Sazen. He is able to get hold of the Pot, and, well, lots of fights, intrigue, and theft ensue.

The Good Stuff:
- Nakadai’s make up is hilarious
- Lots of fights!
- One of the darker portrayals of Tange Sazen, and Nakadai is soooo sleazy it’s hilarious

The Best Stuff:
- Nakadai’s stance, movement and sword style (it’s interesting to see how his sword styles always adapt to his character)
- Nakadai vs Natsuyagi (a favorite chambara regular of mine)

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The people in the back are carrying sticks and pitchforks. Not a spoiler (if you know your history): they obviously lose.

Amakusa shiro tokisada / The Rebel (1962)
Director: Oshima Nagisa
Cast: Okawa Hashizo, Otomo Ryutaro, Oka Satomu, Mikuni Rentaro, Chiaki Minoru, , Sato Kei, etc.

Summary:
1637, the Tokugawa bans Christianity and other outside religions as part of their “fuck off foreigners” policy. To ensure that no one dares accept this foreign influence, the shogunate and its underlings go all out to force Japanese Christians to give up their faith (or die, which seems to always be the solution). Shiro Tokisada (from Amakusa, duh) is a Christian leader in the Shimabara area, where a local lord is taxing farmers and peasants heavily, and openly persecutes the Christians. Some of the peasants are fed up with the local government, and look to Shiro for leadership. Conflicts of conscience, political maneuvering, infighting and espionage make the whole deal complicated, until finally, revolution.

The Good Stuff:
- A nice history lesson (I guess) about the Shimabara rebellion
- Not many sword fights, but there is a big battle
- An intelligent and down to earth portrayal of the man some considered a god
- It’s pretty arty, you know, coz it’s Oshima

The Best Stuff:
- The complicated conclusion
- Very well paced and with a plot that does justice to the real story

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Not shown: The large dog, aka Hanpei's dad???

Ken ki / Sword Devil (1965)
Director: Misumi Kenji
Cast: Ichikawa Raizo, Sugata Michiko, Sato Kei, Date Saburo, etc.

Summary:
Raizo stars as Hanpei, the child of one of the clans’ mistresses, and whose father is suspected to be a large dog. Seriously. Because of his mysterious and less than ideal origin, he is treated as an outcast and freak by everyone around him, except Osaki who finds his sincerity and humility refreshing. If there’s one thing Hanpei is good at though, it’s flowers (seriously, planting flowers), and he’s hired by the clan to make the castle look pretty, especially with the internal strife caused by their lord’s growing insanity. One day, he meets an expert Iaido swordsman, who teaches him his craft, and is soon hired by Kanbei to weed out traitors and assassins plotting against their clan.

The Good Stuff:
- Decent one-vs-many fight
- Raizo in his most uncool, loser-y and strange role
- A hilarious premise for the character?

The Best Stuff:
- Raizo really does look and act like a “dog child”
- Flash (DC Comics), but with a sword??

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Either this is his Flying Attack or he's mad at the ceiling

Moeyo ken / Blazing Sword (1966)
Director: Ichimura Hirokazu
Cast: Kurizuka Asahi, Wazaki Shunya, Uchida Ryohei

Summary:
Another Shinsengumi movie. This time, we follow Hijikata. If you’re already at the level of watching these less known jidaigeki and chambara, I’m sure you’re already pretty aware of Hijikata’s life? No? Ok I suggest you do some research because I’m too lazy to give a history lesson. This is supposed to be one of the most accurate movies about the Shinsengumi. History lessons galore in this installment it seems.

The Good Stuff:
- One of the more human version of Hijikata, though not a goofball like Kitano’s in Gohatto
- For some reason, I really love Uchida Ryohei (one of my absolute favorite chambara regulars)

The Best Stuff:
- The brutality, which obviously is more realistic than other, shinier, more dramatic Shinsengumi movies.
- Hijikata likes slashing at legs, for some reason

Poster for Dororo roadshow, © Toho/TBS

Seeing Anna Tsuchiya’s debut in Kamikaze Girls triggered a vague memory. It took a while to recall where I’d seen her before. It turned out to be after – three years after Kamikaze Girls, in 2007, she played a demon in the live-action theatrical version of Osamu Tezuka’s Dororo. I saw it on the big screen at the Barbican Cinema in January 2009, part of a season celebrating the legacy of the original creator, who died on 9 February 1989.

Akihiko Shiota’s movie is an interesting case study in how a director with no previous affiliations to Tezuka, manga or anime handles his material. Shiota is a veteran of intense relationship movies like Moonlight Whispers (Gekko no Sasayaki), Harmful Insect (Gaichu), and Canary (Kanaria). Like Tezuka, he’s concerned with the lives and minds of children and teenagers, and his visual and emotional vocabulary overlaps beautifully with that of the manga.

He drops many of its climactic scenes, but keeps the core of Tezuka’s story intact. His filmic influences are used to good effect. Hero Hyakkimaru’s mad scientist foster-father inhabits a modern fantasy of a feudal Japanese cottage, but Shiota lights and shoots it as if it were Frankenstein’s castle in James Whale’s 1931 movie. He delights in throwing in steampunk elements, while the monsters and demons, redesigned from Tezuka’s originals, pay homage to the yokai movies of Daimajin sfx ace turned director Yoshiyuki Kuroda. True, the CGI is uneven and the monsters are sometimes reminsicent of the much loved ‘men-in-rubber-suits’ school of SFX, but these occasional hiccups don’t detract from the beauty and visual inventiveness of the film.

The colour design and lighting is simply superb, creating an atmospheric backdrop for stunning central performances from Satoshi Tsumabuki as Hyakkimaru and Kou Shibasaki, of Battle Royale,  as irrepressible urchin Dororo. Her casting destroys the twist that Tezuka spent most of the manga setting up, but it’s a small price to pay for her performance. In any case, the script provides a more than acceptable, if sentimental, rationale to replace Tezuka’s twist. Tony Siu-Tung Ching, who worked on Curse of the Golden Flower, Shaolin Soccer and House of Flying Daggers, contributes some fine action setpieces.

Dororo was financed by Toho and shot on location in New Zealand, which stands in beautifully for early Japan, a liminal place between myth and  history.  It was a sound investment: Dororo was the eighth highest grosser at the Japanese box office in its release year of 2007, taking $32 million dollars/3.45 billion yen, or almost twice what it cost to produce. It won a clutch of awards, mostly for technical excellence, and was aired on TV in January 2009 with a respectable 12.1% audience share –ahead of every anime aired the same week except Sazae-san at 16.9, but behind the second live-action Death Note movie The Last Name which topped the anime/manga based ratings at 18.7. That in itself indicates that Tezuka still occupies an important place in Japan’s popular culture.

Tezuka looms over the postwar history of Japanese comics and animation like the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey (a film he was invited to work on by Stanley Kubrick.) His work has been in and out of fashion, rejected and even reviled, and he’s been dead for twenty years,  yet his most passionate opponents still can’t ignore him.  Hayao Miyazaki read Tezuka as a child, and later spoke of him as an older brother whose influence his younger self had to consciously throw off. The Dororo manga, available in English in three volumes from Vertical Inc., shows what Miyazaki saw in Tezuka. It presents many of the themes and ideas modern critics think of as ‘Miyazaki-esque’, especially its refusal to make villains simply guys in black hats and its insistence on three-dimensional characters with lives and agendas beyond the panel borders. Dororo is a book full of anger, rejection and rage at the injustice of life, but also full of the unexpected joy of survival.

The ups and downs of Tezuka’s professional life allowed plenty of room for all those emotions. He was a seminal influence on Japanese comics and animation, the pathfinder for the postwar manga revival. He made his debut  as a teenager in 1946, and created comics with long, involving stories that developed out of complex characters responding to challenging situations. Yet when he wrote Dororo in 1967-8, it was partly in response to the movement away from his classic ’story manga’ towards gekiga, or drama pictures – darker, more fractured comics that often abandoned conventional art and story principles in an effort to reflect the reality of Japan’s street life.

The gekiga/manga split is often presented as the Japanese version of the comics/graphic novels division, but it could also be likened to the rupture of punk from glam rock: young fans grew up, wanted something different, and started to make it in their own way. Tezuka turned forty in 1968. He had been a comics professional for more than twenty years. From being the teenage superstar his readers dreamed of emulating, he’d become a father figure – a really cool dad, but dad nonetheless. Someone like Shigeru Mizuki – a one-armed combat vet who drew darkly spooky satires on postwar corruption alongside true tales of combat terror –was infinitely more alluring to the new young wannabes rushing down the trail Tezuka had blazed.

Mizuki’s classic Hakaba no Kitaro – Graveyard Kitaro, or GeGeGe no Kitaro as its pre-watershed animated version was renamed – undoubtedly influenced Dororo. So did the chambara movies that filled post-Occupation screens with images of Japanese heroes doing what a man’s gotta do to survive. But Dororo also revisits many of the themes Tezuka had been exploring throughout his career: lost fathers, abandoned children, mad scientists, fighting females, conflicted genders, artificial bodies, the inevitability of death, a profound belief that what goes around comes around, and a passionate condemnation of war.

A 26-episode anime version of Dororo was made by Mushi Productions, Tezuka’s first anime company, for broadcast on Fuji TV in 1969. Storyboarded by Yoshiyuki Gundam Tomino and directed by Gisaburo Street Fighter II Sugii, the series was shot in black and white to save money. Although colour TV broadcasts started on five commercial stations in Japan in 1960, making it the third nation in the world to have colour TV, after the USA and Cuba, colour didn’t replace black-and-white as the dominant means of reception until 1972, so the series did reasonably well in Japan, but the rapid spread of colour TV kept it in the domestic market. With the manga untranslated into French until 2006 and English until 2008, Tezuka’s story was little known outside Japan at the time Shiota’s film hit the screens. It deserves a wider audience.

Jidaigeki is a huge genre. It’s the Japanese genre film, and from the beginning of their cinema all the way up to the 70s, made up a significant portion of movie releases in the country. Everyone knows about Shichinin no samurai and Seppuku, and a lot of people already know about Goyokin and Inagaki Hiroshi’s epics. But there are still tons of treasures to be found, and well, I consider it my personal mission to try and see every jidaigeki and chambara still extant and available. Crazy, yes. Fun, definitely.

Here are five for your enjoyment:

Possibly the worst samurai movie poster I have ever seen

Sengoku gunto-den / Saga of the Vagabonds (1959)
Director: Sugie Toshio
Cast: Mifune Toshiro, Tsuruta Koji, Tsukasa Yoko, Uehara Misa, Chiaki Minoru, Hirata Akihiko, Shimura Takashi

Summary:
Mifune plays Rokuro, a famous thief/outlaw out to make a buck. He meets Jibu (Chiaki), a local bandit leader and his men when they hear about a shipment of gold being escorted by Lord Taro to an influential warlord. They join forces to make with the gold, but Rokuro outwits Jibu and steals the gold himself. Taro, disgraced by the loss of his cargo, sets out to recover it, but his scheming brother (and his adviser) blackmails him and casts him as the perpetrator. Serendipitously, Rokuro and Taro meet in a bar one day, and Rokuro, inspired by Taro’s good and honorable nature, vows to help him return the gold that he had stolen and right the wrongs caused by his theft.

The Good Stuff:
- Chiaki Minoru as a horny and always outwitted bandit leader
- Robin-Hood-esque hero in Taro and Rokuro
- Kurosawa Akira co-wrote the script
- Mifune being very Mifune

The Best Stuff:
- Somewhat long for a jidaigeki at two hours, but with a long and eventful plot, lots of important characters and a pretty good conflict, is always exciting and fun.

—

A Tokugawa era high school yearbook?

O-Edo shichininshu / Seven from Edo (1958)
Director: Sadatsugu Matsuda
Cast: Ichikawa Utaemon, Azuma Chiyonosuke, Okawa Hashizo, Fushimi Sentaro, Otomo Ryutaro, Satomi Kotaro, cameo by Shimura Takashi

Summary:
Utaemon stars as Katsukawa, a low ranking samurai famous for his righteousness and penchant for butting into other people’s business. When he discovers that one of his superiors, Lord Tatewaki, is trying to unscrupulously gain more territory, he calls on his loyal comrades to to help him reveal the plot and stop it.

The Good Stuff:
- Every website with a summary uses the exact same summary for some reason. Actually this is kinda irrelevant?
- The eponymous seven are all unique and distinguishable characters

The Best Stuff:
- Utaemon being all hero-y as usual!

—

Actually, Rodney Dangerfield sounds like a pretty badass name (see comment below)

Yoi-dore musoken / Drunken Sword (1962)
Director: Sawashima Tadashi
Cast: Ichikawa Utaemon, Satomi Kotaro, Konoe Jushiro, Azuma Chiyonosuke, Sakuramachi Hiroko, Okochi Denjiro

Summary:
Tetsunosuke (Ichikawa) is a doctor-samurai who also owns a fencing school (weird?). Actually, he’s also somewhat of a crackpot doctor, who charges almost nothing for consultations and home remedies. This starts to piss off the other local doctors, who conspire with rotten yakuza who have also had run-ins with Tetsunosuke in hopes of getting rid of him. Obviously, this being an Ichikawa Utaemon film, he’s just too smart and too good to be beat.

The Good Stuff:
- There’s actually a lesson in here too, which we learn along with his assistant
- Doctors plotting with yakuza against another doctor. I don’t think this has ever happened before?

The Best Stuff:
- Utaemon in latter years, especially in comedic roles, reminds me of a samurai version of Rodney Dangerfield. This makes absolutely no sense at all.
- Lots of action, and with no one to help him, Utaemon usually has to take on multiple enemies

—

Dear Cover Model,
Looking creepy =/= good spy technique

Kaii Utsunomiya tsuritenjo / The Ceiling at Utsunomiya (1956)
Director: Nakagawa Nobuo
Cast: Ogasawara Hiroshi, Tamba Tetsuro, Tsukushi Akemi, Egawa Ureo, Mishima Masao, Numata Yoichi, Sugiyama Hirotaro

Summary:
Tokugawa Iemitsu is in power, but certain daimyo on the side of Tadanaga want him dead so that his younger brother can ascend to Shogun. Iemitsu is currently on his way to Toshogu Shrine in Nikko (a beautiful place that everyone should go to), and of course, a foul plot is afoot. In order to reach Nikko, Iemitsu must pass through utsunomiya, and Chamberlain Kawamura and his daimyo are plotting to assassinate the shogun. Here they are constructing a lavish castle, and conscript local artisans and carpenters to do the job. It looks like everything’s going according to plan, but Ryutaro, a shogunate spy sent to check on affairs in Utsunomiya, gets wind of the plot (after getting tangled up in his own affairs). Now he must figure out what the plan really is, how the Utsunomiya will do it, and how he can stop it.

The Good Stuff:
- Lots of interesting an unconventional (for chambara anyway) plot twists
- The first time Nakagawa introduces something ghostly, I think?
- A hilarious palanquin chase
- Interesting history lesson

The Best Stuff:
- Amazing! messy final battle inside the castle

—

Based on this cover, the girl should be at most 4'2. She's not; did the postermaker think having a tiny love interest is more exciting?

Hakuoki / Samurai Vendetta (1959)
Director: Mori Kazuo
Cast: Ichikawa Raizo, Katsu Shintaro, Maki Chitose, Kagawa Ryosuke, etc.

Summary:
Yasubei (Katsu) bumps into an official of the Asano clan while stumbling on his way to a fight between his fencing school and its rival. Tange (Ichikawa) witnesses the fight (it turns out some of his clansmen are involved), but decides not to intervene, impressed with Yasubei’s skill and character. In order to settle the matter, the two schools decide to each expell their best student, Yasubei because of his involvement, and Tange because of his passivity. They continue to meet in strange circumstances–for a young woman, during an avenging, etc.–and become friends, but eventually, they join the opposing factions involved in the 47 Ronin tale, Yasubei with Asano and Tange with Kira. Love triangles, rumors, avengings, and swordfights ensue.

The Good Stuff:
- Script was written by Ito Daisuke
- Katsushin and Raizo together again
- Semi-accurate historical account of Nakayama Yasubei, member of the famous 47 Ronin

The Best Stuff:
- Raizo with one arm and a bum leg takes on a bunch of avenging samurai
- Great story and character interaction between Katsu and Raizo

Five Legendary Chambara Actors and Their Respective Fighting Styles

If you think you can kick this poor guy's ass, you're dead wrong

1. Onoe Matsunosuke – Kicking Ass Kabuki-Style
Distinctive Feature: A fighting style similar to Kabuki, with slow, simple movements that are meant to make the hero look cool, and everyone look incompetent
Why It’s Cool: This style emphasizes proud and powerful stances, with minimal strikes to dispatch enemies.
Seen In: Gôketsu Jiraiya / Jiraiya, the Ninja (1921)
Possible Special Attack: The Honorific Strike – Onoe goes on a Kabuki monologue full of honorifics and complicated archaic Japanese words, which can confuse even well-versed Japanese Kabuki fans, and suddenly unleashes an unexpected strike to his opponent’s abdomen.

His frown looks a lot more deadly than that fake looking prop

2. Ichikawa Utaemon – Dancer of Death
Distinctive Feature: A fighting style somewhere in between Kabuki and dance, but much quicker
Why It’s Cool: Probably the most beautiful style to look at, until Ichikawa removes your eyeballs with the tip of his sword.
Seen In: Dokuro / The Skull (1927)
Possible Special Attack: The Ballet Disemboweler – Ichikawa performs successive Fouetté en tournants with two blades and his arms extended, dispatching multiple enemies at once and creating a giant mess for his servants to clean up later.

3. Arashi Kanjuro – Slippery Samba Swordfighter
Distinctive Feature: A fighting style with complicated footwork and movement that makes him very elusive
Why It’s Cool: Arashi looks like he could be better than Cristiano Ronaldo with a football. Hopefully, he’s allowed to bring his sword on the pitch and chop him up good.
Seen In: Kurama Tengu (1928) and Kurama Tengu: Kyôfu jidai / The Frightful Era of Kurama Tengu (1928)
Possible Special Attack: The Seven Slash Shuffle – Move like a butterfly, sting like a rabid wolverine. Arashi quickly steps around his opponent repeatedly, burying seven slashes to his enemy’s two legs, two arms, liver, neck, and head.

According to GameFAQs it's R1 + Square + 360, followed by L2 + L3 + Triangle and finish off by throwing your controller at your brother

4. Bando Tsumasaburo – The Manic Panic Frantic Fantastic
Distinctive Feature: A realistic fighting style where Bantsuma stumbles, slips and makes mistakes, yet somehow still kicks everyone’s ass.
Why It’s Cool: He looks like he doesn’t know what the heck he’s doing sometimes, yet somehow prevails if only because he’s a badass. If only life were that simple.
Seen In: Orochi / The Serpent (1925) and Gyakuryu / Backward Flow (1924)
Possible Special Attack: The Panic Attack – Bantsuma goes apeshit crazy and f-in kills everyone near him randomly and with no real plan. This move also allows him to deflect all roof tiles and large sticks thrown at him while making funny faces.

I seriously need to find a picture with those flying roof tiles

5. Ôkôchi Denjirô – Slapstick Samurai
Distinctive Feature: A style that employs jumps, awkward semi-acrobatics, and weird postures and movements, either to throw the enemy off or to make him die laughing
Why It’s Cool: Chicks love guys with humor, so I’m assuming Ôkôchi gets a lot of action.
Seen In: Oatsurae Jirokichi goshi / Jirokichi the Rat (1931) and Tange Sazen yowa: Hyakuman ryo no tsubo / Tange Sazen and the Pot Worth a Million Ryo (1935) [No acrobatics, 'cause he's only got one arm, but that's one funny looking stance if you ask me]
Possible Special Attack: Banana-peel Bash – Ôkôchi throws a banana peel at his opponent’s feet, and then stabs him after he slips and weeps in embarrassment.

Am I too late to audition for Scar in The Lion King?

~~~~~

Though all five chambara superstars are more or less contemporaries, there is an obvious evolution in the way these films portray swordfights. Stemming from the tradition of Kabuki, where most early actors were trained, most early films retained not only its acting style, but also the way action was depicted: beautiful, strictly choreographed, but rather slow and predictable. Eventually, pioneers of new fighting styles emerged, some as a reaction to Kabuki tradition and their desire to break away from it (see the extras of Digital Meme’s Talking Silents series for more information). By the time the golden age of chambara came along (50s – early 70s), all films used more realistic sequences and styles, with films such as Bakumatsu zankoku monogatari highlighting the brutality (and not the supposed beauty) and harshness of fights-to-the-death. Still, its always interesting to look back at where things came from, and we should all be glad some of these films are still with us today.

For more information about some of the above mentioned movies, see: this feature.

5 Must-See Silent Chambara

Not seen: Roof tiles being thrown at him

Jidaigeki and chambara (click for more info about jidageki and chambara) hold a special place in Japanese cinema–in fact, in all Japanese art from painting to Kabuki and Noh–dating back to the silent period. It can be considered THE Japanese genre film, because of its historical, cultural, and thematic uniqueness from other representative cinema. During the silent period, many of the films produced in Japan were of this sort, although very few of them survive today. Here are 5 (okay, 7) examples:

1. Futagawa Buntaro – Orochi / The Serpent (1925) and Gyakuryu / Backward Flow (1924)
Starring chambara superstar Bando Tsumasaburo, both films follow similar plots: a good man wronged by those with power, and now must now find a way to survive. Both films were considered to have “rebellious” or “dangerous” ideas, using an outlaw fighting the system as the hero of the films.

Gyakuryu is the more emotional of the two, but Orochi is superior as a chambara. Bantsuma goes on to fight against a horde of hatamoto/policemen, who even throw tiles (those are real tiles being thrown, not silly props. Obviously, Bantsuma was a badass in real life as well) and whack him with sticks. Both movies discuss the ironies and hypocrisies inherent in the samurai way, which would eventually become chambara genre conventions. Orochi is also considered one of the first films to feature a realistic fighting style.

2. Ito Daisuke – Oatsurae Jirokichi goshi / Jirokichi the Rat (1931)
Starring Ôkôchi Denjirô as Jirokichi, a Robin Hood-type folk hero of Japan. After stealing from several palaces and landing on The Shogunate’s Most Wanted List, Jirokichi is on the run from the cops. On a boat ride somewhere, he meets Osen, a girl with a manipulative criminal brother trying to extort money from her. Jirokichi, being a nice guy, decides to do something about it.

Ito Daisuke is considered one of the founding fathers of chambara. It’s not hard to see why, with a film with such innovation as this. Some of the highlights include: the riverboat fight, the police chase with lanterns, and the showdown between Jirokichi and Osen’s brother. Ito employs dozens of extras, filling frames with police and common folk. Cinematographer Karasawa Hiromitsu, in order to capture sequences in the middle of the action, tied his camera to his body (cameras back then were HUGE btw) and ran through the action. He probably came out with tons of bruises and pains, but for his effort he was able to get some of the best action sequences in silent movie history.

(Policeman + lantern) x 100 = Brilliant idea

3. Shirai Sentaro – Dokuro / The Skull (1927)
Ichikawa Utaemon stars as Christian warlord trying to preserve his people’s way of life. Sadly, assassins are on the way, and he has to defend himself (and his pimped out wardrobe) and save his people.

Though poorly preserved and short at 42 minutes, Dokuro contains one of the best fight scenes in chambara, possible ever. Ichikawa Utaemon takes on an onslaught of assassins inside a temple, in what can be considered more of a dance than an outright battle. The entire scene is amazingly choreographed; strikes are precise, movements are untentative, and movements are fluid. Unlike many B-grade chambara where the bad guys are stumbling idiots who couldn’t hit the ground and swing their swords like toddlers carrying rattles, the men in Dokuro know what they’re doing. And despite the “dance-like” nature of the choreography, the scenes are surprisingly realistic. The dark rooms contrasting Ichikawa’s white garb inside an ornately decorated temple create a beautiful atmosphere. Certainly a fight to remember.

This is not an episode of The Simpsons

4. Makino Shozo – Gôketsu Jiraiya / Jiraiya, the Ninja (1921)
Onoe Matsunosuke is Jiraiya, a ninja with magical (I think?) powers, who turns into a giant frog. Yup. You heard me right: a giant frickin’ frog. Who eats people and spits them out terrified. If that’s not enough of a reason to see this, well, you must not like chambara. Or frogs.

This is perhaps the oldest chambara–and one of, if not the oldest in Japanese film–still extant. Though the acting is somewhat lacking, and the action still following the kabuki tradition, this is still an interesting movie to see if only for its age and the giant frogs. Amusing cutting creates the illusion of Onoe disappearing and reappearing like a magical ninja, and the way he makes fools out of everyone is quite amusing. Onoe is also considered the first Japanese film star, and this is, I think, his oldest existing film. In fact, I’ve yet to find anything else.

In 1921 the Japanese knew how to make movies cool: giant samurai ninja frogs

5. Yamaguchi Teppei – Kurama Tengu (1928) and Kurama Tengu: Kyôfu jidai / The Frightful Era of Kurama Tengu (1928)
Starring Arashi Kanjuro as Kurama Tengu, a samurai who dislikes assholes and is loved by kids everywhere. Kurama Tengu is actually a very popular legend, and has been the subject of many films, and even a 2008 NHK series. In the first film, Tengu is embroiled in a conflict between the Shinsengumi, The Emperor’s Lions, and the Mimawarigumi. They are all after Tengu, and set a trap to finally capture him. In the second film, an impostor is trying to tarnish Tengu’s good name with the people, and he must find out who the impersonator is, and deal with him accordingly.

Folk tales and folk heroes are always interesting subjects for movies, and very few folk heroes have received as much attention from film makers such as Tengu (though I’ve only seen three, including these two). What makes him unique from other heroes, though, is the fact that children seem to love him, which actually appears as an important part of the two movies. Between Tengu getting captured, a jailbreak, impostors, a whodunnit, and of course, swordfights, there is a lot that happens, and over-all the movie is quite enjoyable. Although Arashi Kanjuro wasn’t quite as famous as the other actors mentioned above, he had, arguably, a longer and more interesting tenure in film, appearing in roles in films by Kudo Eiichi (Jyusan-nin no shikaku / Thirteen Assassins), Nakagawa Nobuo (Jigoku / Hell), Masahiro Makino (Junko intai kinen eiga: Kanto hizakura ikka / The Red Cherry Blossom Family) and Imamura Shohei (Kamigami no Fukaki Yokubo / Profound Desire of the Gods). Arashi also dons the “samurai hoodie”, which samurai actually never wore, but is now commonly associated with spies, ninja and some samurai.

When a kid in a g-string successfully breaks into, and someone out of, your jail, you've pretty much got no other option than seppuku

~~~~~

1, 2, 3, and 5 are available through Digital Meme.

Here’s a related feature: 5 famous chambara stars and their fighting styles.

The ultimate story of revenge, Lady Snowblood (Shurayukihime) laid the groundwork for Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill films and proved to be the inspiration for several others. It is a blood-spattered and beautiful picture, directed by Toshiya Fujita with all sorts of fierce, blood-spurting glee. While many would argue and perhaps complain that this gem of a samurai exploitation flick is only getting attention because of Tarantino’s homage/rip-off, any awareness of Fujita’s little blood-fest is good news in my book.

Thematically, Lady Snowblood fits comfortably in the exploitation genre. It is a film about social change and victimhood as the characters react to incoming Western philosophies and new forms of rule. Like many exploitation films, Lady Snowblood uses violence and graphic content to draw notice to its central theme. Unavoidably, the graphic violence overshadows the theme and the blood-and-guts take over in full force.

The story is told through flashbacks and cutaways, adding a disjointed sense of reality to the plot. Meiko Kaji is the attractive Yuki Kashima, whose entire life is dedicated to retribution after the vicious murder of her father and sadistic rape of her mother. Yuki is born in a woman’s prison to her mother, Sayo (Miyoko Akaza). Sayo dies from childbirth but is able to tell her cellmates that Yuki is to be raised for the purpose of retaliation. Six years later, one of Sayo’s cellmates takes young Yuki to a priest, Dōkai (Kō Nishimura), for training.

After her training, Yuki hits the path of revenge to track down those who wronged her parents. We are shown, graphic novel-style, who Yuki is looking for: Takemura Banzō (Noboru Nakaya), Kitahama Okono (Sanae Nakahara), Shokei Tokuichi (Takeo Chii), and Tsukamoto Gishirō (Eiji Okada). Stripped of emotion, sadness, and anger, Yuki’s quest for vengeance takes hold of her entire life. It is all she is able to do, it is her birthright, it is her divine purpose. As a “child of the netherworld,” she tracks her prey and dispatches of them in magnificent, gruesome fashion as only she can.

Some critics misguidedly dismiss Kaji’s Yuki as a crude walking samurai sword. On the contrary, Meiko Kaji brings depth and multiple dimensions to her role. She remains a stoic, certainly, and is rightly passive in her expressions, but we must remember the culture and time period in which Lady Snowblood takes place. We also must remember the role of women in such a society. Yuki knows what is expected of her as a young woman of her time, but she also knows what her ultimate quest for justice requires of her. Her only expression comes at the conclusion of the picture when she finally allows herself to cry.

While there is indeed texture and substance to the character of Yuki Kashima, the core of Lady Snowblood is the bloodshed. And there is plenty of it. Much of the film features color dynamics of severe, vivid scarlet splashed on untainted white. There is almost always snow on the ground or flakes falling from the sky, which provokes an odd feeling of wholesomeness as counterpoint to Yuki’s violent adventure. Yuki’s wardrobe, too, is pure white and the blood splatters it like war paint.

The blood is a character in and of itself here. It gushes, spurts, pours, and bursts out of wounds. Arms are chopped off, bodies are sliced in half, and torsos are gutted liberally. The blood takes its time in greeting the air, almost always splashing out seconds after the sword breaks the skin. As though through a fire hose, the blood sprays everyone in range until there is nothing left. These extraordinarily ridiculous crimson displays are common in samurai exploitation (chambara), but perhaps no other film demonstrates such artistry with the dazzling red stuff.

Lady Snowblood is the decisive revenge movie. Centered on a character with nothing to live for but fierce, violent retribution, this is an exploitation picture with often-overlooked profundity and great action sequences. For a bloodthirsty good time, find a copy of this tonight.

8.6/10

Trailer:

Shoretsu shinsengumi – bakumatsu no doran

Pas exactement le film le plus speed que j’ai vu cette année, mais pas atrocement rythmé quand même, soyons positif.

Juste un chambara bien classique, presque intégralement (très bien) filmé en intérieurs, très bien exploités, soit dit en passant: le choix des décors est très sympa, et vraiment bien fidèle historiquement. D’ailleurs, ondirait presque plus un documentaire qu’autre chose.

“Quel est le malandrin qui a encore osé pêter ?”

Le plot est ardu a résumer (voir plus bas) , et on s’en fout un peu : on veut voir des combats au sabre, des coups de tatanes en paille dans des portes en balsa et des tronches pas possibles.

“Tu est bien audacieux, jeune homme…

Pique encore une fois mon Rimmel© et tu subiras les tourments de sodome.

Moi et mes fidèles compagnons revenons de mer, et…”

Le combat final élargit un étage de baraque à la taille d’une grange de manière superbe, jetant un corps pas ci, balançant un pied ici, un sabre coupant en deux la dernière…beau jeu avec la camera, l’éclairage. Le réalisateur

Pas désagréable du tout , sauf pour ceux qui n’aiment pas les décès par mort violente : 95% des protagonistes y passent, mais le titre ne prend personne en traître.

3/5, ça fait du bien de voir des bonnes grosses têtes épaisses et bien masculines dans ces jours de palichons efféminés.