Radiance Films: Shinobi Vol. 2 (1964 - 1965) - Reviewed

Images courtesy of Radiance Films

Around May 2024, Radiance Films licensed and released a Kadokawa trilogy boxed set of black-and-white Daieiscope 35mm widescreen ninja films entitled Shinobi ranging from 1962 to 1963.  Starring Raizo Ichikawa in the leading role of the titular Mist Saizo, a masterfully skilled ninja who stops at nothing to take down the shogun Ieyasu Yokusawa, the trilogy of stealthy period actioners comprised of dark cloaks, star slinging and sneaky poisoning assassinations formed a startling subset of period adventure thrillers while emphasizing the loneliness of strict adherence to the ninja code.  While the first three films in the series were based on jidaigeki novels by Tomoyoshi Murayama entitled Shinobi no Mono, the success of the series created as many as six more movies going up to the year 1970. 
 
As the first set focused on the first three films staying true to them being adaptations of the text, the next three deviated from the text and instead were based on original screenplays by Hajime Takaiwa with exception to part six which was co-authored by Kinya Naoi and Kei Hattori.  With Zatoichi the Fugitive director Tokuzō Tanaka hired to do Shinobi 4: Siege while also recurring Zatoichi director Kazuo Ikehiro handled Shinobi 5: Return of Mist Saizo, the series then circles back to Shinobi 3: Resurrection director Kazuo Mori, the continuing series of films (with parts 4 and 5 made only months apart) comes to Blu-Ray disc in the UK and US for the first time in ostensibly a second volume of the Shinobi trilogy.  Unlike the first box with its bright yellow box and black spine, Radiance have switched up the layout with a black box and red spine indicative of the silent shadowy bloodshed to be spattered about.  Limited to 3,000 copies and stacked with extras including six postcards, collectible booklet and two amaray cases housing the discs in a hardbound box, Shinobi Vol. 2 while straying from the source nevertheless represents another stellar home video package from the boutique releasing label.

 
In the first film Shinobi 4: Siege, Iga ninja and local folk legend Mist Saizo (Raizo Ichikawa) works in service to warlord Yukimura Sanada (Tomisaburo Wakayama from the Lone Wolf and Cub series) on a plot to assassinate Shogun Ieyasu Tokugawa (Ganjiro Makamura) which proves to be much more difficult than initially thought with many doubles posing as the Shogun leader.  Meanwhile a full-scale war is waged on the warlord and his allies including Akana (Midori Isomura) who is a princess soon taken prisoner by the Shogun where she is forced into a life of prostitution.  Though Saizo and Yukimura fight on in a spectacularly fiery battle that seems to forecast the mammoth epic battles of Kurosawa’s Ran, it proves to be a major setback for our heroes involved.  From its gloomy score by Godzilla and Hiroshima composer Akira Ifukube, The Oiwa Phantom cinematographer Senkichiro Takeda’s scope widescreen camerawork and committed ensemble performances, Shinobi 4: Siege is something of an intermediary chapter in a continuing vengeance story not dissimilar from the cliffhangers established in The Empire Strikes Back.

 
Picking-up directly where part four left off despite switching directors, cinematographer and composer contributors, Shinobi 5: Return of Mist Saizo charges ahead in its single-minded goal to take down Ieyasu even after stepping down from the throne.  Though disparate films featuring camerawork from Shogun Assassin cinematographer Chikashi Makiura and a decidedly more upbeat and energized score by Black Test Car composer Sei Ikeno, installments four and five kind of function as two halves of one story unlike the third film in the set Shinobi 6: The Last Iga Spy which now follows the exploits of Mist Saizo’s son Saisuke (also played by Raizo Ichikawa).  Tasked by a rebellious warlord with attempting a coup d'état, the Shogun creates a battlefield which soon pits ninja against ninja including but not limited to a rainy thundering rooftop battle that has to be seen in all of its stealthy pin-drop quiet glory.

 
With the first set being a straight-laced adaptation of the text while the second set goes off in its own creative directions including ushering in a new character related to Mist Saizo, Radiance Films’ deluxe package featuring reversible sleeve art on both cases comes with the first two films housed on one disc while the second disc with the third film spaces out the extras.  With all three films scanned in 2K with uncompressed Japanese PCM mono audio tracks, interviews with Taichi Kasuga and Mance Thompson, select-scene commentary by Tom Mes and two visual essays including by Tom Mes and recurring translator Hayley Scanlon and beautifully illustrated hardbound book packaging with a slipbox, the second volume of what will hopefully include a third installment covering the final three films in the Shinobi series is a welcome addition to any cinephile’s home video library.  Though the first three films are hard to beat, some of the battles and action sequences created in these unofficial sequel films are as striking as anything (if not more) in the original trilogy.  Radiance Films have done it again and as of current are among the most exciting boutique releasing labels working today!

--Andrew Kotwicki