Change Your Image
makoto64
Reviews
Nemuri Kyôshirô: Tajôken (1966)
Pay no attention to the Aho (fool) behind the last review!
This is an excellent entry in the ever excellent "Nemuri Kyoshiro" aka "Sleepy Eyes of Death" series which continues/re-imagines a theme and character from "Sword of Seduction", (SEOD #4), of the completely mad disfigured Princess Kiku, who seeks to exact her revenge upon Kyoshiro for "pretending" to have sex with her one fateful night - watch and learn. Anyway, "The Princess' Mask" is one of the very best films in a series that rivaled "Zatoichi" in popularity throughout Japan. There's this one scene with a crazy girl who walks around town humming to herself and displaying a sign that says "I was raped by Nemuri Kyoshiro". When he follows her to a creepy rundown shack to find out what her glitch is, she wants to see Kyoshiro's "katana", (if you know what I mean). Being the total "Ho" that he is, (which the last reviewer would have no idea about being the total "Aho" that he is), Kyoshiro starts making out with the nutty nymphomaniac, and while she's tasting his tonsils her foot slowly slides across the floor to monkey-grab a thin, innocent looking bamboo reed which she quickly passes up to her hands and pulls out a thin, rapier-type sword hidden inside and starts slashing with intensity at our unarmed and disarmed hero. The crazy chick turns out to be a cunning assassin, the room in the dilapidated shack turns out to be a cage, and the whole thing turns out to be an elaborate trap with the masked Princess laughing like a loon as her guards start chucking spears at the trapped Kyoshiro... And that's all just in one scene! So, don't listen to fools who know nothing. Go get this DVD, (if you can), and dig the insane eye candy-colored world created by the great Raizo Ichikawa and Kenji Misumi of the original red-haired samurai, (obvious inspiration for Anime character Rurouni Kenshin), and "Son of the Black Mass", Nemuri Kyoshiro - O.G. Jidai-geki at its peak of perfection!
Nemuri Kyôshirô burai-hikae: Mashô no hada (1967)
Raizo Rules!
If you're a fan of Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman films, (Katsu's NOT Kitano's!), and the great Lone Wolf and Cub films with Wakayama-sama then you'll love Nemuri Kyoshiro! Done in A-1 DAIEI Studio style with their ichiban, Raizo Ichikawa, this long running series rivaled Zatoichi's popularity in Japan. Now, I'd seen the first seven films and loved them, but they had English subtitles, so this was a challenge. And finally, after having bought over one hundred Japanese films for my collection/addiction I decided to try one sub-free... and it was cool! Raizo is fantastic, as always, and the swift-paced action, DAIEI's always eye-popping colors, cool sets and perfect direction made it very easy to watch even if I didn't know exactly what was being said. Following the story wasn't as hard as I'd expected. For the neophyte I suggest the subtitled versions of #1-6, "Sleepy Eyes of Death". And after you've become properly inducted/addicted to the "SON OF THE BLACK MASS" you will realize that RAIZO RULES! And soon you too will accept the daunting challenge of going totally sub-free, like me.