"Actor: Mari ATSUMI"

• BODYGUARD KIBA 1 + 2 (Eureka Classics) Special Edition 2-Disc Blu-ray | Blu Ray | (25/03/2024) from £27.97   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Two riotously entertaining tales of betrayal and bloodshed starring action superstar Sonny Chiba! A double bill of Japanese martial arts mayhem starring action superstar Sonny Chiba! Based upon the manga by celebrated writer Ikki Kajiwara, Bodyguard Kiba follows the eponymous karate master and professional bodyguard (Chiba) as he is hired to protect the mysterious Reiko (Mari Atsumi), a woman embroiled in the world of organised crime. Kiba's involvement with Reiko brings him into conflict with the yakuza, leading to a final bloody showdown. Then, in Bodyguard Kiba: Deadly Triangle Jump, Kiba is released from prison after taking revenge on the rival martial artists who blinded his sister Maki (Etsuko Shihomi). Back on the streets, he takes a job working for shady nightclub owner Akamatsu (Shoki Fukae), once again forcing him to take on Japan's criminal underworld. Two riotously entertaining tales of betrayal and bloodshed from director Ryuichi Takamori, Bodyguard Kiba and Bodyguard Kiba: Deadly Triangle Jump were released just a year before Sonny Chiba would find international success with his breakout hit The Street Fighter. Eureka Classics is proud to present both films for the first time ever in the UK on Blu-ray from new restorations. Product Features SPECIAL EDITION TWO DISC BLU-RAY FEATURES* Limited edition O-card slipcase featuring new artwork by Chris Malbon 1080p presentations of both films across two Blu-ray discs, from new restorations of the original film elements by Toei Original Japanese mono audio Optional English Subtitles Brand new feature length audio commentaries on both films The Bodyguard - alternate US version of Bodyguard Kiba Viva Chiba! - Brand new documentary featurette looking at Sonny Chiba's Bodyguard Kiba films Original theatrical trailers PLUS: A limited edition collector's booklet featuring new writing by Jasper Sharp * All extras subject to change

• Hanzo The Razor (3 DVD Special Edition Box Set) (UNCUT) | DVD | (06/04/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Love samurai films? Wish they were... dirtier? Welcome to Hanzo the Razor'sderanged world of crazy swordplay and sexploitation set to a 1970s funk soundtrack. Uncut for the first time ever in the UK this cult 1970s Japanese pinku trilogy was seemingly influenced by Dirty Harry and Shaft but there's no doubt who has the 'longer arm of the law'! Shintaro Katsu (best known as the blind swordsman in the original Zatoichi) stars as Hanzo - a rebellious yet obsessively moral samurai police officer who slashes his way through the backbone of crime uncovers corruption at higher levels and tortures relentlessly using his own unique techniques. Shocking audiences even today the hardest man in Edo regularly unleashes his special weapon in the form of his oversized penis which he uses to 'interrogate' female suspects into pleasured compliance. Despite the knuckle-biting graphic violence there is an underlying social commentary testifying to the noble honour of the samurai and emphasising Hanzo's status as the people's champion. In Sword of Justice Hanzo overturns his own gutless superiors; in The Snare he breaks into a temple used by local magistrates for the sadistic torture of young girls. In Who's Got the Gold? the shogunate treasury is being looted by its own officials. From the creator of the Lone Wolf and Cub series (used as the basis for Shogun Assassin and a direct influence on Tarantino's Kill Bill) the Hanzo the Razor trilogy is presented here for the first time in the UK complete and uncut.

• Play it Cool Limited Edition Blu-ray | Blu Ray | (03/03/2025) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Play it Cool is a chic and erotically charged drama starring popular Japanese singer of the day Mari Atsumi as a college girl negotiating her way through the male-dominated hierarchies of Tokyo's seductive but treacherous nightclub culture. Yumi (Mari Atsumi) is a pretty fashion student who shares a cramped home with her mother Tomi (Akemi Negishi, The Saga of Anatahan) and good-for-nothing stepfather Ryoichi. Tomi works at a local hostess bar and hopes for a better fate for Yumi. When Ryoichi violently forces himself upon her blossoming daughter, Tomi is not afraid to take action to protect her, an act which lands her in jail. Left to fend for herself, Yumi is taken in by her mother's former place of employment, where she finds herself fighting off the unwanted attentions of the men who swarm around her. Then one day, a rescue by handsome former lawyer Nozawa (Yusuke Kawazu, Cruel Story of Youth) from a vicious gangster seems to offer an escape into an altogether glitzier world, albeit one that turns out fraught with similar dangers. Arrow Films is proud to release this little-seen gem by one of Japan's most highly regarded directors of the 1960s, Yasuzō Masumura (Giants and Toys, Irezumi), a filmmaker known for his social satires and powerful portrayals of women, as Play it Cool is released for the very first time for the home video market outside of Japan in a brand new high-definition transfer. LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS ¢ High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation ¢ Original uncompressed mono audio ¢ Optional English subtitles ¢ Brand new audio commentary with critic and Japanese cinema specialist Jasper Sharp and professor and Japanese literature specialist Anne McKnight ¢ Too Cool for School, brand new video essay on Play it Cool and the career of writer-director Yasuzō Masumura by Japanese film scholar Mark Roberts ¢ Original theatrical trailer ¢ Image gallery ¢ Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tony Stella ¢ Illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by Earl Jackson