Hattori Hanzo is one of the most famous, if not the most famous, ninja in Japanese history. The figure of Hanzo has appeared in many different places over the years from classic chanbara films like SHINOBI NO MONO, the epic video game series SAMURAI SHODOWN, the anime series BASILISK, and even in a small cameo in Quentin Tarantino's KILL BILL VOL.1. There are even more but of the list mentioned above Hanzo's inclusion in Kill Bill is due to Tarantino's love of a Japanese television show called SHADOW WARRIORS a.k.a. KAGE NO GUNDAN starring Japanese superstar Sonny Chiba.
For those who don't know me very well, simply put, I love ninjas. I am enthralled with the concept. Starting out it was characters like Snake Eyes or the Ninja Turtles that hooked me. And as I've grown older I've found myself drawn more to the traditional Japanese ninjas. My favorites are still some of the more fantastic ninja characters but the closer to reality the portrayals get the more intrigued I become.
I recently acquired the first season of Shadow Warriors on DVD. It's an historical fiction show which is, more or less, grounded in reality about Hattori Hanzo and the Iga ninja clan. And it is awesome.
THE PLOT
The year is 1651. Tokugawa Iemitsu has just died leaving a ten year old boy, Tokugawa Ietsuna, as the new shogun of Japan. While outward appearances would suggest that the country is at peace, rebels plot from the shadows to overthrow this new young shogun. The shogun's chief advisor, Hoshino, will do whatever is necessary to keep the country at peace. The Koga ninja clan have been indentured as the government's personal ONIWABAN (spies or assassins). But if any Koga were to be caught attempting to subdue the rebels it could implicate the government's involvement.
Hoshino instead goes to Hattori Hanzo, leader of Iga ninja clan, currently scattered about Japan in hiding. The Iga ninja are unaffiliated with the government and therefore are completely expendable. Hanzo agrees to help protect the young shogun, not for the sake of the Tokugawa Shogunate, but to help keep peace in Japan. Hanzo and his elite shinobi and kunoichi are sent out on deadly missions all over the country, stopping evil plots and eliminating enemies of the government. The Koga clan, long time rivals of the Iga clan, resent the chief advisor's use of the Iga and set out to destroy the Iga ninjas once and for all.
SPECIFICATIONS
Shadow Warriors ~ Kage No Gundan Season One
Number of episodes: 27
Episode length: 45 minutes each.
Format: Individual plots for each episode with several subplots carrying over from episode to episode.
WHY THIS SHOW IS AWESOME
Realism... mostly. Shadow Warriors is a fairly realistic look at ninjas from 17th century Japan. From the research I've done about real life ninjas, the training they went through was more rigorous than any other life style. The purpose of such intense training was to hone their skills to nigh super human levels. Ninjas had to be better than any opponent they'd come across. Ninjas had to be able to perform acts that, to the naked eye, seemed like magic. And, above all, ninjas had keep their existence in the shadows. Shadow Warriors strives to play the ninjas as close to these ideals as possible, while at the same time showing them as real human beings. It's a balancing act that, for the most part, the show is very successful at.
The Ensemble. The core of the show lies with five characters, Hattori Hanzo and his four elite ninja. Throughout the 27 episodes we mostly follow these five characters and the secret missions they undertake. Hanzo is the backbone of the show and most of the episodes revolve around him. We are occasionally privy to episodes which center on one of the other four. These characters are fleshed out and fully formed by the series end and for the most part don't fall into cliche character archetypes. There's the cliche fun loving womanizer but beyond him the other three are fairly unique and well developed. Rule 1 of any series, television, comic book, novel, or otherwise, your audience must have compelling characters to follow and Shadow Warriors succeeds in this.
A War in the Shadows. One of the main antagonists to Hanzo and his Iga ninja clan throughout the show are the Koga ninja clan. These clans were, in reality, bitter rivals. Seeing their struggle against one another, a literal war, in the shadows was undeniably cool. Then there is the Romeo and Juliet scenario played out between an Iga shinobi (male ninja) and a Koga kunoichi (female ninja), a plot that is today a little overdone but this show's take on it is quite different and fresh compared to the others.
The show introduces other smaller ninja clans too, some of them far more ruthless and bloodthirsty than either Iga or Koga. The Iga and Koga were among the most prosperous and prolific ninja clans. This resulted in resentment from other smaller ninja clans, many of which were thought to have been wiped out. Revenge is a common theme running throughout the show, revenge against the Iga ninjas for having bested the other clans in the past or revenge against the government for having favored the Iga and Koga over others. Attempted government coups are abound in this show as well along with murder mysteries, kidnappings, government espionage, business espionage, and occasionally the hunt for rogue ninjas. These are the types of episode plots running throughout the 27 episode season.
Breaking the Reality Rule. Seldom does the show venture into the realm of the unreal, magical, and the fantastic. But when it does they do it well. It's only two or three episodes at most but they were some of the best episodes in the whole series. The best comparison I can draw here is that Shadow Warriors feels very much like the anime series RUROUNI KENSHIN. Or rather Rurouni Kenshin feels like Shadow Warriors given that Shadow Warriors came first. But if you're familiar with Kenshin's general plot and how the show's story is presented then you kind of have a sense of how Shadow Warriors approaches the subject matter.
Sonny Chiba. I haven't seen any of Sonny Chiba's films (including the Street Fighter series). Shadow Warriors is my first real experience watching Sonny Chiba and I must say... the man is a total badass. He is a real life martial artist with 4th degree black belts in like 5 different disciplines, one of them being Ninjitsu. It's insane how deadly this man is in real life. He was also a major producer on Shadow Warriors. He stressed realism in the martial arts sequences of the show. If the actors needed stunt doubles or were incapable of performing the action sequences, they were fired. The actors composing Hanzo's elite ninja in the show were martial arts students of his and did all their own stunts.
NITPICKS
Region 1. This show lasted for four seasons running from 1980 through 1985. As of the writing of this post only Season One of Shadow Warriors is available on a legit North American DVD release. Luckily each season is set in a different time period and focuses on a different group of characters. So each season is its own story with a beginning, middle, and end. Even though I only have season one I have the complete saga of Hattori Hanzo III, and his band of assassins. But still, some reviewers have said that seasons two and three are even better than season one. "Better" is subjective. But if there's a chance that I may enjoy these other seasons just as much if not more than season one, you better believe that I want to see them. I know where I can get bootlegs (and they're a little pricey) but if I could buy legit releases I'd rather do that instead.
I know this isn't really a nit pick of the show, but it is a problem. The only real beef I have with the show is this particular song in the show. It plays over the end credits of every episode and it often plays over the climactic battle of each episode too. The song is kind of a piano ballad and, more often than not, I felt it was completely out of place as it played over the action sequences. This is my only real gripe about the show. The action sequences themselves are totally awesome. And the song itself isn't a bad song. But I personally disliked how they would play this soft piano ballad song over top these epic and intense scenes. On occasion I thought it worked but for the most part I thought it didn't. Just my opinion.
THE VERDICT
Shadow Warriors has that classic television vibe and episodic format which date the show a bit. Where the show rises above it's peers and contemporaries is in it's action sequences and period drama. The martial arts in the show are real. The actors are actually performing the martial arts themselves too and often at a very fast pace. Also the presentation of the ninjas is, for the most part, realistic and authentically Japanese. There's definitely a romanticized view of ninjas present, interwoven with the harsh realities of such a life, but it is not to the fantastic degree of today. While I like the more romanticized and super-human ninjas populating video games and television over the last twenty to thirty years, seeing a closer to reality depiction of ninjas with real people actually performing the action sequences on screen is a marvel to behold.
Shadow Warriors Season One is 100 % Japanese and truly authentic ninja awesomeness. When it comes to the ninja classics, there are only a few movies and shows that can even be considered as such, Shadow Warriors is one of the essentials. The SHINOBI NO MONO films of the 1960's are the reason why ninjas even exist in pop culture at all. And with Shadow Warriors airing on television in the early 1980's, the show is most likely the reason why ninjas are around today or at least the genesis point for the ninja boom of the 1980's. While I've lamented the fact that only the first season of Shadow Warriors has been released in North America on DVD, I am also extremely grateful that we even have the first season at all. So here's my big "thank you!" to BCI Entertainment for releasing season one.
Ninja Action: 9 out of 10
Ninja Authenticity: 9 out of 10
Overall Ranking: 9 out of 10
One of the best ninja movies or shows I've ever seen.
This is the song that plays during the action scenes... Do you agree with me?
For more ninja love check out these posts below
(Perhaps my favorite fictional ninja of them all!)
And for chanbara goodness check out these other posts too.
