Shogun Assassin (1980)

This review is for the recent Blu-Ray release from one of my favorite companies AnimEigo.  If you haven’t heard of this series before the movie tells the story of Ogami Itto, the former executioner for the Shogun.  When he is ordered by the corrupt Shogun to kill himself he decides instead to walk the road to Hell and hits the road to get his revenge on those that are corrupt.  If you would like more detail on the movie or what I think about it check out my review of the DVD located here. 

Since I’m not going to rehash how much I like the movie lets talk about the look of the Blu-Ray and the special features on it.  When I heard that AnimEigo was putting out Shogun Assassin on Blu-Ray I immediately wondered how good it could possibly work.  The movie was shot in the early ‘70s and whenever you are talking about a movie that old you have to wonder how good it can look in high definition.  Except for a few short grainy scenes and a film defect here and there on the original print the movie looks incredible.  I thought the DVD from the box set looked nice, but this Blu-Ray is a real upgrade in picture and sound.  If you haven’t seen Shogun Assassin this is the way to discover it, and if you are already a fan you have never seen it look this good.

Also if you are a fan of the movie (and why wouldn’t you be?) then you are going to be excited about the special features on the Blu-Ray.  The first one that I wanted to mention is a short (around 12 minutes) interview with Samuel L. Jackson.  He is a big fan of not only this movie, but the whole Samurai genre of films.  It is very cool to hear him talk about what he likes about the movie and to see the genuine love he has for it. 

There is a pair of audio commentaries included on the disc.  The first is done by the producer David Weisman and Gibran Evans (the voice actor for Daigoro).  If you are a fan of the series you will definitely want to check this one out.  A film expert named Ric Meyers and a martial arts expert named Steve Watson do the second commentary.  This one is a bit dry, but does have some interesting stuff going for it.  If you are more interested in the history and what was happening during the creation of the film then you might want to check out this commentary.  I’m such a nerd for this movie that I actually listened to both commentaries back to back!

I obviously love this movie and recommend it.  But I can also honestly say that this Blu-Ray release is a must own.  I’m really excited to see what bit of high def goodness that AnimEigo is going to bring us next. 

3 ½ out of 4 (both the movie and this new disc)

reviewed by John Shatzer

© Copyright 2010 John Shatzer