N80_Ninja_Kitsch's Xanga

Creepy and REALLY INTENSE comical ninja...

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 05:15:37 GMT

Check out these upcoming vinyl figures of Japan's beloved kid's property Ninja Hattori-Kun! For a goofy kid's character, he sure is depicted here as grave, severe even. That's a true assassin's thousand-yard stare.

I really love this black variant, which I guess is more in tune with the manga than the blue anime version. The smaller black pupils on this version make him look more scared. It's like he's witnessing a murder or taking a tour of the sluice floor of a slaughterhouse.

This character goes back decades, and was made into a quirky llive action flick in 2004. Pretty fun, and worth seeing, although it's way too long and takes a grim, serious tone towards the end that killed any chance it had for US distribution.

Go see KAGE!

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 01:52:09 GMT

I was not disappointed by the short flick KAGE, which in it's fat-free 23-minute running time delivered nothing but the goods - cool costumes, hot ninja chicks and stiff-as-hell fight scenes. "KAGE" wears influences from a few different eras of shinobi-cinema proudly on it's sleeve, too.

Producer/Director and star Takeshi Maya is aping Henry Sanada circa Ninja in the Dragon's Den, right down to the twin short swords, trampoline spots and high spin kicks. There are a lot worse influences to have...

Now, check out the genre pedigree with the casting:

Villain "Retsu" is played by none other than Shane Kosugi, and Sho Kosugi's production company is thanked in the credits. Shane's got his dad's side jump kick for sure!

Kenji Ooba and Junichi Haruta or Sony Chiba's Japan Action Club have small roles as shinobi elders, and there's definitely nods to "Kage no Gundan" throughout the short.

And the ladies...

That's smoking hot Airi Yoshihama in the middle of the pack of ninja villains. Man is that some sauce! She'll be familiar to fans of Japanese obstacle course game show "Sasuke" (aka Ninja Warrior on G4), as she's the "G-Rockets" dancer/acrobat regular on the women's shows. She does a great spinning cartwheel bit in a respectable fight scene with female lead Chisa Yokoyama, who is otherwise a major anime voice over actress. Their brief fight is a bit 'under-cranked' for speed, but that's forgivable. They're both cute-as-hell in great costumes with short-swords-a-slashin', just what the doctor ordered!

All-in-all "KAGE" a fun short. Lesser efforts dragged out to heavily padded full-length movies are all-too common. How often have we all fast-forwarded through endless scenes of costumed warriors talking around campfires, posing like runway models instead of fighting, walking around the woods, etc. etc. etc. It's an ACTION genre people! If you have to pad your action movie out with non-action scenes, you're doing it wrong! This "KAGE" cuts to the chase, tells a really simple story in flashbacks during fight scenes, and pays-off with all the things you want in a ninja flick - cool costumes and tons of fights.

Now, I'm not a fan of high kicks and jumping attacks in ninja movies, and this was way too karate/tae kwon do-like for my personal tastes, but such fights are the flavor of the day and I can't fault Maya for going in that direction. The press materials brag about the action, the lack of digital assists and wires, etc. and they weren't lying.

So for making what little budget he had (and it was probably next-to-nothing, with every penny spent on costumes and post) turn into a maximum of fights and ninja action, I salute Takeshi Maya. There are a lot of other Japanese filmmakers that could take a cue from this and produce more direct-to-the-point shorts. When we finally arrive at a state of downloading movies the way we now do music, shorts will have a real home they don't with the DVD market.

I hope "KAGE" is ahead of it's time...

New ninja short film tours U.S.

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 03:29:49 GMT

"KAGE" is a new action-packed short film that looks akin to "Samurai Fiction" but delivered with severity - no wires, no digitial, stiff impacts! I'm intrigued - the visuals are great, the costumes are a cool mix of traditional and anime/video game fantasy, and YES there are cute ninja girls with short swords!

Any city hosting the Japan Film Festival 2008 will have this gem as part of a night of various shorts. Some good looking stuff in a wide mix of subjects...

Meanwhile, there's a generous trailer and a 'making-of' short and nifty downloads at the official Kage website, which is bi-lingual, too.

I'll be at the LA screening on the afternoon of Tuesday, April 15th at the ImaginAsian Center downtown.

My dislike of the Ignite bootie feet explained...

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 03:40:21 GMT

Had a few folks asking that if I'm so down on the felt-bottomed footie-pajama tabi on Ignite's figure, what out there was a superior alternative.

Here's a sampling of the competition, some better, some worse:

These are the rubbery sandals (known as Waraji) from the Alfrex figure of Sonny Chiba's Hattori Hanzo (Kage no Gundan). Well, they really tried here, crafting a soft plastic 'sole' of sorts tied onto the figure's foot with string. Interesting notion, but the result is a HUGE platform, way wider than the foot, looking more like nordic snow shoes.

Alfrex's feet have a wide gap between the big toe and the rest of the foot, and that's a great innovation for keeping these on, but not enough to save this disaster. I put these one level below the Ignite's.

These are from the TRIAD female ninja outfit (actually more expensive than the entire Ignite figure by the way), and in my opinion the absolute WORST of the ninja footwear out there. I'm critical of the entire TRIAD line, and I like my figures authentic to at least the Japanese movie and TV costume ideals, if not historical illustrations, so this crap just does not fly with me.

The cloth boot sleeves are are okay, but the velcro closures in back make the lower leg bulk up and the female figs in particular look like they have kunoichi kankles! The 'soles' are a weird layer of black foam that platforms them up like Creepers, and the bottom has a baffling woodgrain-printed decal surface. WHA??? Nothing like a smooth wooden surface to ensure traction and silent running on stone parapets and hardwood flooring...

To top it all off, the notch cut in front to indicate the toe separation is pretty much in the center of the foot! OUCH! I call complete bullshit on the TRIAD, bottom of the barrel.

These, from Dragon's Onimusha Kaede figure are a significant step up in female ninja footware, although by no means ideal. I love the molded sandal, especially the 'tread' on the bottom. Would have been nice if the strapping went behind the ankle so they stayed more secure to the foot, though.

These figures, with the jointless bendy body, kinda suck though, so one wants to transfer the footwear onto another figure. Alas, the proprietary Kaede feet are TINY, and the sandals fall short of fitting most any other body's dogs. A major step better is her male counterparts's...

I really like these feet on the Dragon Onimusha. I don't necessarily need a separate piece molded to be worn on a foot like a shoe. Waraji are thin twine, not bulky rope, so I can forgive a purposefully molded foot like this. I bought a pile of this figure loose nude just for these feet.

The only drawback is the bare feet. They don't really work for an armored figure or a black-clad commando per se. I'd love a similar foot sculpt with black or white tabi socks in place. That's the only drawback here, so they take a strong second place.

These, however, are the clear cut winner...

These are from the "bear armor" variant of SEA International's Ieyasu Tokugawa samurai figure, and are the perfect execution of what poor Alfrex was trying to do. The waraji are molded plastic. The ropes are nice and thin (you need to handle with care), but hold the sandal secure to the foot, which has a toe gap and is covered by cloth tabi socks.

Just perfect. If these figures weren't so pricey, I'd have bought a bunch for the footwear.

Absent from this list are the Dragon in Dreams high-end samurai figures, and the greatly-imporved latter Alfrex stuff. I have a pair of the DiD waraji, which are pretty much an exact sandal replica made of thin string! This is certainly a major step forward, IF you can figure out how to tie the damn things. I tried lacing a real pair onto the feet of a model once, and it was humiliating. I can't image being able to do it in 1:6... The latter Alfrex stuff looks identical to the SEA International deal, but I haven't been able to get an up close look.

The Ignite ninja is here.

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 23:43:48 GMT

Just a quick review with some hastily taken photos - my lightbox is dismantled right now and time is at a premium dear ninja friends. Results are mostly positive...

From the protoype pics released last year, this looked to a basic ninja design, not over-thought or embellished, in general an ideal canvass for customizers. That is pretty much the case with the final product. The suit is inspired by the "credible" ninja wear seen in 60's Japanese cinema and TV. I've always felt those suits were too baggy in the pants for utilitarian commando gear, and such is also the case here, but if you want to fashion an authentic Raizo Ishikawa or Tonbei the Mist this really is the Japanese studio off-the-rack look.

Although the base material is a bit too "rayon-y" and shiny, some dry-brush weathering will solve that. A nice touch is the metallic chain-mail shirt underneath the top - the same piece included with some of the Ignite vikings I believe.

The hood is the best commercial mass-produced hood yet - miles above the disasters from Triad or the spandex balaclava compromises so common in other lines, Alfrex included. It's two pieces, with the breath muffle easily lowered.

The hood ships with the breath muffle all the way up over the nose, which is less of an authentic usage than it is a movie or TV studio method of hiding a stunt double's face during shooting. I myself like the muffle piece pulled under the nose, and the face sculpt looks great with the mask in this position.

The full face reveal leaves MUCH to be desired...

And the milky plastic hands with closures way too big to hold any of the included accessories are total bullshit. Major points off here. They are only slightly better than Alfrex, which are easily the WORST hands on an expensive figure ever produced.

The tabi and/or waraji sandals are often another stumbling block in 1:6 ninja, and alas, the Ignite piece is no exception. The pull-over boot-style tabi are based on modern wear, and clash with the otherwise period-authentic suit. No attempt is made for the rope sandals, and the flocked bottom soles are more akin to kids footie pajamas than commando footwear.

The notion of including a ton of small exotic weapons is a good one, but these again fall a bit short of the target.

The "shuko" hand claws are right out of ninja museum collections. The history and actual practice of these is debatable, but the coolness factor is undeniable. I wish they were a bit longer and straighter. They do fit nicely on the hands, and you can still put another weapon in the figure's hand while they are being worn.

The "ninja-to" sword... in a word... YAAAAWWWNNNNN. I suppose it's authentic to what is modern souvenir sword catalog gospel, but to me it's a lost opportunity to do something actually credible. The blade is metal, quality akin to the Mononofu swords. The handle is too narrow to be grasped tightly by either of the Ignite hands.

A short 'tanto' dagger is a nice piece, but with no sheath.

The "kyoketsu-shoge" - hooded blade with chain - is a movie fave, and this is a very nice piece, with metal blade and chain. Again, too slender to be held well by the big soft Ignite hands.

"Testubishi" caltrops are a great touch, the first ever produced at this size. A pouch for them would have been nice.

A whole pile of metal shuriken are also included, but these are again totally modern - right out of a martial arts supply catalog. I'd have loved to see 'senban' style moon and half-moon stars, 'bo-shuriken' throwing spikes, etc. instead. And they're way too small and slender to be held by this figure.

A lot of 1:6 accessories have to be bigger than scale would actually dictate to be held and displayed, and much of the Ignite weaponry suffers from being too scale, too small.

BUT, all in all, thumbs up, and GREAT raw material for kitbashers and customizers. Ignite's piece may not be up to Hunter Pig standards, but it's WAY ahead of the TRIAD pieces that somehow have everyone all excited. For my money (which for this piece is a modest $45 from most dealers!!!), a new standard has been set.

It's not just us...

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 04:15:29 GMT

...Japan's film industry is just as likely to remake a classic into a needless, uninspired flavor-of-the-moment phone-in flick that ultimately under-performs as our's is in the U.S. (Wicker Man anyone?)

Take a look at this ill-advised remake of the landmark Kurosawa masterpiece Hidden Fortress. I'm sure cheap digital effects and TV actors laden with an abundance of hair products will make this timeless story much more palatable to the alleged 'modern audience' than the original. I'm sure George Lucas would agree, too...

Kakushi-toride Japanese site

Hmmm, thing is, there looks to be some damns SWEET costuming here, and it sure does have a Kadokawa/Legend of the 8 Samurai vibe, doesn't it?

And check out the phenomenal marketing poster by Vagabond artist Takehiko Inoue!

Alright, I might have to check this out, but for only the WRONG reasons and the perverse delight I get out of cinematic disasters and bad decisions that cripple studios.

New Karuma Tengu on Japanese TV

Sat, 19 Jan 2008 03:12:14 GMT

"Karuma Tengu" is sort of a distant cousin to the cinema ninja - essentially in looks, and thus in coolness. Check out that sweet hood! Can't figure out how to make or tie that type of mask, and I'm tormented...

KT is a masked swordsman embroiled in political and social intrigue, akin to other hooded warrior characters like "The Purple Hood" and "Kaiketsu Kurozukin." These guys are akin to Republic serial heroes, the masked gunslingers in programmer westerns and whatnot. They've all had multiple incarnations on the big and small screen, and now we have a new series on Japan's NHK.

Here's the Japanese-language website for those interested in plunking around.

More on the IGNITE ninja!

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 01:56:50 GMT

These 1:6 scale ninja figures from Ignite Toys are looking better and better. The black figure is in pre-order now, and is now slated to include die-cast metal ninja-to (the stereotypical straight blade... yawn), shuko claws, caltrops, shuriken and a shoge and chain.

Now, two new figure prototype pics have surfaced - a brown variant and a white variant. Each seems to have an arsenal of their own, too.

Retail seems to be $45-$50.

Can't wait!

Sword Girls Vol. 2 - SAORI

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 00:50:14 GMT

Judy Ongg's Kagero might be a hard act to follow, but when it comes to swordfighting skills, good looks, great legs and plain old action TV elbow grease, it might be impossible to follow the total package that was Akiko Kujo as SAORI on the adored 'henshin' ninja series Kaiketsu Lion Maru.

This 1972 (as if you couldn't tell from that suede folk/hippy get-up) series followed the adventures of an orphan ninja wandering the land, battling the monster of the week. He possessed a mystical sword that in times of extreme danger transformed him into a lion-headed pegasus-riding super ninja. The requisite ensemble cast was filled-out by standard formula fare — the hot chick and the precocious little brat.

Saori wasn't the glamorous type — her looks were more down to earth and organic, with little if any make-up or hair style. And for good reason too, as Kujo — a capable acrobat, possibly a trained stunt woman — guaranteed once per episode was rolling around in the dirt with a short sword fighting off hordes of skeletal ninja "shockers." She was the apex of the cute tomboy warrior, way more physical than any of her competition on other shows.

Saori regularly engaged the enemy with reverse-gripped wakizashi in full force. These are pretty much first-class fights, too, with little or no of the camera dodging and hiding other shows do to mask actresses' lack of real martial arts skills. Typical were chain-choreographed sequences where she'd barrel through a squad of goons with two or three acrobatic rolls then reverse slash stomachs in between parrying the weapons of others. CREDIBLE is the word, especially for a TV actress performing under the lower TV budgets with limited retakes. This sort of action TV was a demanding artform and Kujo was a real trooper more than up tot he task.

When not cutting some poor slob right across his lunch, Saori's second favorite weapon was the weighted capture line.

Frustratingly, I just cannot find a thing on Akiko Kujo. I'm guessing she was either a dancer, martial artist or stunt woman. She's built for physical activity, and I've never seen her doubled. Here she is doing her own trampoline work.

The Saori costume was a modestly designed "hanten" working garment, hemmed WAY short. Great for you leg men! I'm somewhat smitten with those killer quads myself. Take a gander:

I'm thinking a generation of Japanese kids were profoundly affected by Kujo's well-defined legs.

And yes, as previously stated, that 'historically accurate' costume is hemmed way past any level of modesty, especially for a female warrior with a penchant for jumping and tumbling. Kujo wore an array of pink, yellow and white leotards under the gear. I guess because it wasn't technically "underwear", they could get away with all sorts of completely gratuitous up-skirt and panty shots on a regular basis. THE SHAME!

Yeah, there must have been a lot of dads and older brothers watching Lion Maru over the shoulders of the kids...

This was a GOOD day on set, especially for those stunt "kids" during long sequences of cliff climbing. SHAMELESS!

And another good day to be a TV action star. Sigh...

As fierce as Saori could be in lethal combat with mystically-powered enemies...

...at any given time she also did double duty as the standard vulnerable female, the nursemaid to the wounded, and other damsel-in-distress stock-in-trade.

Often after racking up a healthy body count for herself, Saori had to punch-in for a second shift as the inevitable rope-bound-sidekick-awaiting-rescue.

Check this out, that's Akiko Kujo herself, not a double, bound and suspended a good 20 feet off the ground from a rocky cliff! And like all helpless girls, she's afraid of spiders.

I really don't go for that female-sidekick-in-peril bullshit - you can't have a hot and cold running ass kicker. If she's going to have these cool fight scenes, take things all the way - make her the ace of the squad, whose skills are technically beyond even the hero lead when he's not hopped up on catnip.

This woman could have easily carried a show of her own, or been more of a lead in an ensemble series. But no, every time they let her start to kick some tail, she has to slow down, get captured or put in some type of peril, and wait for the hero to power-up and drop the hammer on the sponge-suit menace of the week. With that formula so ingrained in the Japanese TV industry, will we ever see the all-girl ninja minx fighting team series or undercover geisha detective squad show we so desperately need???

Kujo's Saori character is probably the height of the sword girl idiom as far as formulaic action TV series go — a balanced combination of looks and credible screen fighting physicality, peppered with some "good girl" style panty shots for the pervs. What's not to love?

Read all about Kaiketsu Lion Maru at the Henshin Hall of Fame here. The series got a superb DVD reissue in Japan a few years back, so it's readily available. The series was dubbed and aired in Italy in the 70's, and the pilot was dubbed into English and released on VHS here in 1984 as "Magic of the Ninja" by Remco. It never saw video shelves on it's own, but was rather included in a playset from the "Secret of the Ninja" action figure line.

Last year, the series saw new life in a visually impressive but under-performing adult comedy show called Lion Maru G, the "G" for 'giggolo.' It's set in the near future, centered around gang violence and prostitution, with racy comedy and black humor largely taking the place of epic battles. Although the namesake character costumes are probably the best anthropomorphic creations ever put on screen, the new show just didn't gel right. You can catch fan subs all over YouTube.

The new take on Saori was a non-warrior role played by the gorgeous Emi Kobayashi.

That's her on the left, and I believe that's actually Kujo on the right in a cameo role. The rest of the original cast pop up in quirky little roles, too. I'm told she and Maru himself Tetsuya Ushio actually married as a result of their time together on Kaiketsu Lion Maru. That's just adorable shinobi love at it's finest...

Sword Girls Vol. 1 - KAGERO

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 17:34:18 GMT

Happy New Year dweebs! Here's the first of what should be several entries/articles on an absolutely delightful character type that I'm finding more and more often in 70's and 80's Japanese TV - THE SWORD GIRL SIDEKICK!

They thrived in structured episodic TV - often single male character driven shows with plot-of-the-week stories as opposed to longer narratives - staples of American TV from the 50's to the 90's, everything from Lone Ranger to Mannix to Magnum PI etc. and so forth. Japan's equivalent period-set sword-weilding detective or hooded crime fighter shows often filled out the supporting cast with female warriors based on the following model:

1.) She's either super hot or super cute.

2.) She's an intel-gathering spy with shinobi skills

3.) She's more than capable in a fight, but not above capture and distress

4.) She wields a short sword and fights reverse-grip ninja style

and regetably

5.) She never gets enough screen time...

Never romantically involved, never really exploited for skin content, these are those sort of tease characters from a more innocent time of broadcast TV. But they were certainly the basis for today's alluring warrior women that so frequently populate video games and manga. A generation of creative types grew up frustrated watching fleeting glances of these under-utilized sidekick girls, and when their time came to develop their own properties they did things right.

OK - so here goes, subject #1 is the astounding JUDY ONGG - a Taiwanese-born singer/actress raised in Japan with a brief career in TV. Wu-xia fans may recognize her from Xu Warriors or the Storm Riders TV series. I just don't get why her screen career was so minor though, as from what I've seen from the mid-70's television series Shokin Kasegi (THE BOUNTY HUNTER), she was pretty damn amazing.

Ongg plays KAGERO, sort of a kunoichi Tonto to the series' title character played by Lone Wolf himself Tomisaburo Wakayama. He runs a kid's school/orphanage by day, and hunts down bounties by night to fund it. Three movies preceded the TV show, loaded with spaghetti western-inspired guns and gadgets. A weird property for sure...

Kagero is the Bounty Hunter's intelligence gatherer, explosives expert and general runner - she's always doing recon from rooftops or climbing trees.

And she does it all with the most gorgeous bee-stung lips you could ask for in a sword-wielding sidekick!

Ongg's acting skirts the fence between cute/pixy and sly/deadly. Sure, she has a battle face, but is always one step away from smiling during fight scenes. It's not in some sort of blood-lust maniacal way or anything, I think Kagero just enjoys being a ninja tomboy getting her exercise.

Being the 70's, and a Katsu production, the times corrupted the period fealty in all sorts of twisted ways. Lots of bell-bottoms and frontier Western-style suede, including Kagero's fighting gear. It's as Sioux as it is shinobi.

On the right, she's about to fire the world's luckiest blowgun. Note the really cool leather wrist bands loaded with slender throwing knives.

Ongg was doubled for certain acrobatic scenes (there are lots of somersaults off of walls), but for the most part did her own fighting and horse riding. She was very physical and convincing. A real scrapper who held her own on-screen alongside the single best swordsman of the industry.

Oh, then there's this...

Yeah.

So let's see - gorgeous jawline, DSL's, short stacked and bootly-licious... could she be more perfect? No. Could she be on screen less??? That's the real torment. She's never on screen enough, and more often than not is covered in kimonos and never dons the fighting gear. It's really frustrating. This should have been the Kagero show!

Alas, the sidekicks - no matter how fine a posterior they possess - never get the credit or screen time.