Shadow Warriors - Complete First Season (Hattori Hanzo - Kage no Gundan)

I love Quentin Tarantino!
Not (only) because of his own movies but because he opened the floodgates for so many delightful trashy and not so trashy films from the past. Without his enthusiasm for all things exploitation, asian and gleeful gory, there would be much less awareness of the great eras of blaxploitation and japanese violent cinema of the 70s. KILL BILL is not my favorite Tarantino-movie, but it triggered a wave of re-releases of asain cult classics, that have kept me happy for quite some time. The latest offering that can be contributed to that movie is the 7-disc set of SHADOW WARRIORS, a tv-series from 1980, starring the one and only Shinichi "Sonny" Chiba, perhaps the biggest japanese action star of the 70s and 80s.
The Setting is about 1650 in Edo, one of the central metropols of Japan. Some twenty or thirty years ago, the Tokugawa Shogunate was established and a long period of small and bigger wars has ended. Some years ago, the ninja clan Iga was falsely accused of treason and destroyed. The few survivors and their offspring live in hiding or under false names all over the country. Clan leader Hattori Hanzo (the third with this name) poses as owner of a bathhouse in Edo, the central metropole of japan. By day, he is a gambling, playful and slightly bumbling guy, but in the night, he and his small group of loyal helpers change into very cool black ninja-uniforms and punish all evil doers.
This is an absolute amazing series and one of my instant favorites. The production standards are very high - the ancient japan, the costumes: everything looks great. The action is provided by Chiba and his own stunt team, the Japan Action Club, and these guys really know what they are doing. Best of all, of course is Chiba, when he goes in "fighting-mode", by joining his two swords and becoming a killing machine - awesome!
But there is not only action in this series. The episodes also contain a very fine blend of drama, comedy and political intrigue. Occasionally, the episodes get very gritty indeed: whole villages massacred, vile deeds by incredible villains - and don't expect all our heroes to survive until the last episode. But then again you'll find fun episodes with a lot of comedy and of course, since Hanzo owns a bathhouse, there is quite a lot of eye candy for male viewers (there are of course also some quite naked man, but I can't say, if these will be considered hunks by the femals audience).
The love-hate relationship between Hattori Hanzo and Okou, a female ninja from the rival Koga clan, is allowed to change and develope over the course of the series quite a bit, and there are some other story-threads that are continued, in the background over many episodes.
To describe all the other central cast members would be too long, so just let me mention Okiri, the homely hairdresser who is determined to gain Hanzos love, and who provides a lot of comedy relief for the series. She is played by Kiki Kirin and I recently saw her in KAMIKAZE GIRLS as grandmother of the lolita-girl. Nice to see her still going strong.
Ah, yes one last small detail: Guest star in one of the episodes is Shihomi Etsuko - "Sister Streetfighter" herself.
SHADOW WARRIORS has my highest recommendation as one of the best, and most entertaining adventure series I have seen in a long time.