"Actor: Ai Kobayashi"

• Yojimbo & Sanjuro (4K UHD) | Blu Ray | (17/03/2025) from £34.97   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Yojimbo Like Seven Samurai (1954), Yojimbo was Kurosawa's tribute to the widescreen action Westerns of John Ford and was itself remade as a Western by Sergio Leone as A Fistful of Dollars (1964). Played by the great Toshiro Mifune, the film's enigmatic samurai is a scruffy and itinerant warrior who wanders into a strange town and right into the middle of a war between two clans. Showing his skills with the sword within minutes of his arrival, he soon has the town's rival factions competing for his services. Kurosawa's genius for storytelling combines with thrilling swordplay, a healthy dose of black humour, a soundtrack every bit as atmospheric and amusing as Ennio Morricone's, and a towering performance from Mifune, to make Yojimbo an irresistible widescreen action adventure.Sanjuro In response to the huge critical and commercial success of Yojimbo, Kurosawa and Mifune re-teamed a year later to make Sanjuro, a hilarious comedy of manners altogether more light-hearted than its predecessor. The story has Sanjuro (Mifune) running lazy rings around nine naïve and clean-cut samurai and two genteel ladies, whilst also cleaning up a spot of corruption in local government. Whilst Kurosawa plays most of it for laughs, expertly parodying the conventions of Japanese period action films, he stages a startling switch of mood with an intense finale which may well be the briefest, and most breathtaking duel in all cinema.Extras¢ Limited edition 2-disc set, 2 x 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-rays presented in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)¢ Newly recorded interview with Jasper Sharp (2024)¢ Audio commentary on Yojimbo by film critic Philip Kemp¢ Introduction to Sanjuro by filmmaker Alex Cox (2003, 5 mins)¢ Interview with filmmaker Alex Cox (2003, 9 mins)¢ Original trailers for both films¢ **FIRST PRESSING ONLY** Illustrated booklet featuring new and archival essays on both films, original reviews and full film credits¢ Other extras TBC

• Tales From Earthsea | DVD | (28/01/2008) from £13.59   |  Saving you £6.40 (47.09%)   |  RRP £19.99

  From Studio Ghibli, the folks behind "Spirited Away", comes a new fantasy animation as a wizard and a young prince embark on an epic adventure.

• Mishima: A Life In Four Chapters | Blu Ray | (11/06/2018) from £32.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Paul Schrader's dazzlingly unconventional biopic, with a celebrated score by Philip Glass. In this visually stunning, collagelike portrait of the acclaimed Japanese author and playwright Yukio Mishima (played by Vengeance Is Mine's KEN OGATA), PAUL SCHRADER (American Gigolo) investigates the inner turmoil and contradictions of a man who attempted the impossible task of finding harmony among self, art, and society. Taking place on Mishima's last day, when he famously committed public seppuku, the film is punctuated by extended flashbacks to the writer's life as well as by gloriously stylized evocations of his fictional works. With its rich cinematography by JOHN BAILEY, exquisite sets and costumes by EIKO ISHIOKA, and unforgettable, highly influential score by PHILIP GLASS, Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters is a tribute to its subject and a bold, investigative work of art in its own right. Features: DIRECTORAPPROVED BLURAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES New, restored 4K digital transfer of the director's cut, supervised and approved by director Paul Schrader and cinematographer John Bailey, with 2.0 surround DTSHD Master Audio soundtrack Two optional English narrations, including one by actor Roy Scheider Audio commentary from 2008 featuring Schrader and producer Alan Poul Interviews from 2007 and 2008 with Bailey, producers Tom Luddy and Mata Yamamoto, composer Philip Glass, and production designer Eiko Ishioka Interviews from 2008 with Mishima biographer John Nathan and friend Donald Richie Audio interview from 2008 with coscreenwriter Chieko Schrader Interview excerpt from 1966 featuring Mishima talking about writing The Strange Case of Yukio Mishima, a 55minute documentary from 1985 about the author Trailer PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Kevin Jackson, a piece on the film's censorship in Japan, and photographs of Ishioka's sets

• Lupin The 3rd: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine | DVD | (16/09/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Many people are falling prey to a suspicious new religion. Lupin III infiltrates this group, hoping to steal the treasure their leader keeps hidden. There he lays eyes on the beautiful, bewitching woman who has the leader enthralled. This is the story of how fashionable female thief Fujiko Mine first met Lupin III, the greatest thief of his generation.

• Akira Kurosawa - The Samurai Collection | DVD | (07/06/2010) from £34.43   |  Saving you £5.56 (16.15%)   |  RRP £39.99

  Akira Kurosawa: The Samurai Collection (5 Discs)

• Lupin The 3rd: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine | Blu Ray | (17/04/2019) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £34.99

  Many people are falling prey to a suspicious new religion. Lupin III infiltrates this group hoping to steal the treasure their leader keeps hidden. There he lays eyes on the beautiful bewitching woman who has the leader enthralled. This is the story of how fashionable female thief Fujiko Mine first met Lupin III the greatest thief of his generation.

• Yojimbo & Sanjuro (2 Blu-ray Set) | Blu Ray | (17/03/2025) from £24.97   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  YojimboLike Seven Samurai (1954), Yojimbo was Kurosawa's tribute to the widescreen action Westerns of John Ford and was itself remade as a Western by Sergio Leone as A Fistful of Dollars (1964). Played by the great Toshiro Mifune, the film's enigmatic samurai is a scruffy and itinerant warrior who wanders into a strange town and right into the middle of a war between two clans. Showing his skills with the sword within minutes of his arrival, he soon has the town's rival factions competing for his services.Kurosawa's genius for storytelling combines with thrilling swordplay, a healthy dose of black humour, a soundtrack every bit as atmospheric and amusing as Ennio Morricone's, and a towering performance from Mifune, to make Yojimbo an irresistible widescreen action adventure.SanjuroIn response to the huge critical and commercial success of Yojimbo, Kurosawa and Mifune re-teamed a year later to make Sanjuro, a hilarious comedy of manners altogether more light-hearted than its predecessor.The story has Sanjuro (Mifune) running lazy rings around nine naïve and clean-cut samurai and two genteel ladies, whilst also cleaning up a spot of corruption in local government. Whilst Kurosawa plays most of it for laughs, expertly parodying the conventions of Japanese period action films, he stages a startling switch of mood with an intense finale which may well be the briefest, and most breathtaking duel in all cinema.Extras¢ Newly restored in 4K and presented in High Definition¢ Newly recorded interview with Jasper Sharp (2024)¢ Audio commentary on Yojimbo by film critic Philip Kemp¢ Introduction to Sanjuro by filmmaker Alex Cox (2003, 5 mins)¢ Interview with filmmaker Alex Cox (2003, 9 mins)¢ Original trailers for both films¢ **FIRST PRESSING ONLY** Illustrated booklet featuring new and archival essays on both films, original reviews and full film credits¢ Other extras TBC

• Steins;Gate: The Movie - Load Region of Déjà Vu | Blu Ray | (30/11/2020) from £5.09   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Experience the enthralling conclusion to the mind-bending hit series, Steins;Gate, as the original creators intended. A year has passed since Okabe reached the Steins Gate world-line where Mayuri is alive, Kurisu hasn't been killed, and time only moves forward. Visiting Japan, Kurisu stops by the Future Gadget Lab where everyone is up to their usual shenanigans. But something's not quite right-memories of other timelines continue to haunt Okabe... or are they visions? Out of nowhere, a message is left for Kurisu: cell phone, microwave, SERN. Strong emotions blur the world-lines and trigger déjà vu. Before she knows it, Okabe disappears. Unable to let go of the one who never existed, Kurisu makes a daring return to the past. Hoping to save the mad scientist who tried countless times to save her, she must make a decision-risk everything, or live in a world without Okabe.

• Appleseed | DVD | (01/01/2005) from £9.02   |  Saving you £13.96 (231.51%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Visionary Japanese director Shinji Aramaki and internationally acclaimed producer John Woo ("Face/Off") combine forces to bring you the animated epic "Appleseed: Ex Machina".

• Sanjuro | DVD | (06/10/2003) from £10.78   |  Saving you £9.21 (85.44%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Sequel to Kurosawa's own 'Yojimbo' in which the crafty samurai helps a young man and his fellow clansmen save his uncle who has been framed and imprisoned by a corrupt superintendent...

• Yakuza Graveyard | DVD | (19/08/2002) from £8.47   |  Saving you £7.52 (88.78%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Yakuza Graveyard was one of the stylish, morally ambivalent movies with which director Kinji Fukasaki revolutionised the Japanese gangster genre in the 1970s. These days more famous for his brilliant teen exploitation film Battle Royale, Fukasaki has a proven flair for unsettlingly violent scenes in which the camera dips and twirls as his characters throw each other down stairs and across rooms. An honest cop (Tetsuya Watari) is stationed in Osaka and finds himself caught up in a nightmare world where his superiors launder money and carry out hits for several rival gangs. His sense of honour--already supporting the drunken, promiscuous widow of a man he killed--ties him ever closer to the principal heavy of the gang his superiors are gradually destroying and to the man's half-sister, with whom he falls passionately in love. A torrid interlude as waves beat on the shore--waves that somehow manage to be something other than a cliché--is just a break in the gloomy spiral of degradation and death. This is in some ways as corny as anything, in other ways a minor classic. On the DVD: Yakuza Graveyard is presented in 16:9 widescreen and comes with a short text essay explaining the importance of the film in the development of Fukasaki's career and the yakuza genre. --Roz Kaveney

• Ex Machina | DVD | (02/06/2008) from £12.93   |  Saving you £7.06 (35.30%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Visionary Japanese director Shinji Aramaki and internationally acclaimed producer John Woo ("Face/Off") combine forces to bring you the animated epic "Appleseed: Ex Machina".

• Appleseed - Ex Machina | Blu Ray | (02/06/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Visionary Japanese director Shinji Aramaki and internationally acclaimed producer John Woo ("Face/Off") combine forces to bring you the animated epic "Appleseed: Ex Machina".

• The Suicide Manual Intermediate Level | DVD | (27/11/2006) from £21.58   |  Saving you £-5.59 (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Chilling horror based on Watari Tsurumi's non-fiction book ""Kanzen Jisatsu Manyual"" (The Complete Manual Of Suicide). There has been a surge in the number of people killing themselves; a mysterious DVD is found on the bodies of the victims. Nozomi falls under the spell of a deadly cult. Yousuke the policeman she is seeing soon realizes that the cult has something to do with the DVD. Then one day all trace of the group disappear - along with Nozomi.

• Yohane the Parhelion - SUNSHINE in the MIRROR (Standard Edition) | Blu Ray | (25/11/2024) from £19.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Appleseed | DVD | (22/07/2002) from £11.01   |  Saving you £8.98 (81.56%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Violence, nudity, terrorism and swearing are not the usual cartoon fare, but with Appleseed we find ourselves firmly in the cyberpunk territory of Manga cinema. Based on the comic series by Masamune Shirow, the film's story takes place in a post-World War III future, in particular within the mega city of Olympus. With the city administered by the Biodroids (a race of perfect half-human, half-robot hybrids), there begins a human resistance to a society that offers little in the way of real freedoms. As with most of the Manga genre, the deceptively simple animation (reminiscent of Pokemon) conceal more than a few complex issues. Appleseed proves to be a thought provoking, if a little confusing, examination of the "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter" argument, particularly as it somewhat blurs the moral borders by instilling both sides in the conflict with a degree of sympathy. Definitely one for Manga fans, but also recommended for SF buffs and those curious to try something a little different. On the DVD: Appleseed on disc has various language options, with the possibility of watching the film in either the original Japanese or dubbed English. The picture is bright and clear, as is the soundtrack. Highly recommended is the audio commentary from voice actress Larissa Murray and Manga expert Jonathon Clements, which not only fills in many of the gaps left by Shirow's original film but also provides an invaluable and often humorous insight into the genre as a whole. --Phil Udell

• Appleseed : Steelbook Edition (2 Disc) | DVD | (19/09/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Visionary Japanese director Shinji Aramaki and internationally acclaimed producer John Woo ("Face/Off") combine forces to bring you the animated epic "Appleseed: Ex Machina".

• .hack//Roots - Anime Legends | DVD | (28/06/2010) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Having barely finished logging in for his first time into the game known as The World R: 2 then Haseo is attacked by a PK (Player Killer) a type of player who kills other in-game players for fun or profit. After coming to his aid - the mysterious leader of the Twilight Brigade Ovan reveals Haseo has a particular gift. Intrigued Haseo decides to join Ovan's Guild and accompany Shino Tabby and Sakisaka in their quest for a legendary object: The Key of the Twilight. This object is also coveted by another Guild the powerful and respected TaN lead by Naobi - who is monitoring the every move of Ovan. But does this legendary item really exist? And more importantly - what is it? Contains all 26 episodes in one boxed set.

• Takeshi Kitano Collection: Violent Cop, Boilingpoint, A Scene At The Sea, Sonatine, Getting Any?, Kids Return | DVD | (06/10/2008) from £68.83   |  Saving you £-18.84 (N/A%)   |  RRP £49.99

  Violent Cop: Japanese superstar Beat Takeshi Kitano makes his directorial debut in this critically acclaimed action film in which he also stars as Azuma an urban cop at the end of his rope. Not above using violent tactics in order to punish the lawless Azuma's daily routine involves a new partner and a mentally challenged sister. When his violent ways cause the death of a friend his short fuse comes dangerously close to reaching its' end... Boiling Point: When Masaki a gas station attendant and local baseball player incurs the wrath of the local yakuza the notorious Japanese criminal organization he heads to Okinawa to buy a gun so he can stand up for himself. While there he is joined in his quest for revenge by a former gangster (Kitano) who seemingly has his own reasons for revenge. Violence escalates until the mild-mannered Masaki takes an oil truck from his gas station and drives it straight into yakuza headquaters... A Scene At The Sea: Kitano relates a touching story about a deaf-mute garbage collector who takes a passion in surfing. His mute girlfriend accompanies him and even though he is hindered at every point he never lets this dampen his passion. The couple does not exchange a single word throughout the entire film Kitano embracing the power of silence and love that transcends words. Sonatine: Takeshi is Murakawa an established and ruthless Yakuza sent outside his usual turf to intervene in a gang war on the tropical island of Okinawa. Things go badly wrong and he and his gang get caught in the crossfire. Forced to retreat to a seaside hideaway they kill time and fool around on the beach but then their enemies start picking them off one by one. Murakawa decides to go on the offensive for a final and breathtaking showdown... Getting Any?: Middle-aged Asao's sole goal in life is to have sex but in order to achieve his dream he is thrown from one wacky situation to the next. From robbing banks to becoming invisible to transforming into a super-sized fly monster Asao will do anything to get any! Kids Return: Two old friends revisit their old schoolyard to remember the times they shared together at school before they left and found their own ways in life one as a boxer and one as part of a local gang. They have done well but revisiting their memories reminds them of their undisciplined ways.

• Appleseed | UMD | (31/10/2005) from £9.43   |  Saving you £10.56 (52.80%)   |  RRP £19.99