Director Yoshitaka Yamaguchi’s sixteen-year career can be attributed aptly to having progressed under the auspices of celebrated auteur Takashi Miike.
Such credits include assisting on titles like Blade Of The Immortal, Yakuza Apocalypse, Shield Of Straw and 2009’s Yatterman – all noteworthy additions for Yamaguchi best known for helming Samurai Cat, and 2017 beat ’em up thriller, Demekin.
Fast forward to 2019 and with Yamaguchi now applying his craft to a heavy-hitting two-part dose of ninja action and spectacle, firstly with Last Ninja: Red Shadow, starring Kanchiro Kan (The Chrysanthemum and the Guillotine) and Yusei Yuuki (Lupinranger VS Patranger VS Kyuranger).
At the end of Edo era in Japan, when the reign of Samurai was also coming to an end, so-called Ninja was way behind the times. “Ryu”, who is a descendant of “Ge-Nin”, the lowermost of the Ninja society, was commanded to secretly take a princess out of the house of Edo’s leading Samurai, and to send her back home to Satsuma. As he desired to get away from his oppressed life, Ryu desperately wanted the reward more than anything else. But the recaptured princess “Shizuka” was strong‐minded, stubborn, and hard to deal with. She had a strong hate against her parents’ house since they have forced her to marry the Samurai so that she could be taken as hostage.
Last Ninja: Red Shadow also stars Mayu Yamaguchi (Aibou: The Movie IV, Snow Woman) from a script by Ichiro Ryu. It’s also a delightful footnote that fan favorite Tak Sakaguchi supervised the action here following his adventures with Kingdom, Re:Born, upcoming Mad Musashi, the HiGH&Low franchise, upcoming Rise Of The Machine Girls, and Takahiro Ishihara’s Red Blade which Ryu penned with Sion Sono.
Lots of substance behind the lens here… Lots of reasons to wanna see this one. So, let’s hope this one gets here soon. The locals, however, can expect Last Ninja: Red Shadow, to arrive on October 4. The second part, Last Ninja: Blue Shadow, opens in November.
