ShadowHuntersIIEchoofDestiny

Shadow Hunters II: Echo of Destiny (1972)

Okay for those of you new to the series I’ll give a brief overview. Japan is controlled by Daimyos that themselves are pledged to the Shogunate who controls the country. But the Shogunate’s power isn’t absolute and even they must follow the rules. But this costs money that the Shogunate doesn’t have. In order to fund the government they need to seize the lands and wealth of the Daimyos, but first need to have a reason. This is where the ninja come in. They either collect the information the Shogunate needs or manufacture it. The Shadow Hunters are three Ronin Samurai whose Daimyos and lives were destroyed by the ninjas. Instead of committing seppuku they hunt down and destroy the ninja. This of course makes them very unpopular with the government.

This time around the Shadow Hunters, Jubei, Sunlight, and Moonlight are hired by a remote mountain Daimyo to help them escort a cannon to their stronghold. Years earlier the Daimyo had been entrusted by the Shogunate with a cannon from a famous battle. Since firearms of any sort, especially cannons are so powerful it is illegal to manufacture them. So being given custody of the cannon was of course a great honor. But when the Daimyo came upon hard times they secretly melted it down for the iron! Now representatives from the Shougunate, who has been tipped off to the cannon’s fate by the ninja, are coming to inspect the cannon and the clan has had to take the desperation move of making another. If melting down the cannon wasn’t bad enough, now they have broken the law and made a replacement. The government ninja are supposed to stop the cannon from arriving and expose the Daimyo’s orders to make it. Either of which will bring down the Daimyo.

Echo of Destiny is almost as good as the original Shadow Hunters, which I loved. Again the story is fairly straightforward and gets to the action fast. As with the first film the plot only exists as a bridge between one killer action sequence to the next. I did find the supporting characters in this movie to be somewhat weaker than they were in the first. But the interaction between the three Shadow Hunters is just as good as the first film. Sunlight is still making his jokes and trying to unsheathe his “sword” with every lady that he meets! The Moonlight and Jubei characters are far less interesting, but more traditional samurai characters, and fun in their own way. The ending to Echo of Destiny is also far less vague then the ending to the first film where you never see if they finish their mission. Here you get a definite completion to the story with an interesting twist that I don’t want to ruin.

The technical bits of the movie are great. The fight choreography is very well done with plenty of swordplay and limbs flying all over the place. There are a couple of very interesting fights involving female ninjas, including a sequence with the Jubei character and some lovely ladies in a hot spring that is cool. The final battle with the ninjas on the shoreline is another that I really enjoyed. Other things I want to mention would be the great camera work and music. The camera follows the action of the fights without making the audience motion sick. I really wish that the directors of today’s action movies would learn that lesson. Also the music is very groovy in a late 60s early 70s kind of way. Right at the beginning of the movie the music is the first thing that sets the tone for the rest of the movie.

A movie like Echo of Destiny doesn’t try to be anything other a fun way to spend ninety or so minutes. I had a blast with it, as I did with the first film in the series. I recommend this one as well as the first. Both are available from the fine folks over at AnimEigo. Check them out at http://www.animeigo.com/

3 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer