[cmruloah]

Hello all !!

since i've been a kendo-holic for some time now i've been wondering what
movie title's are a "must-see" for you hard-core kendoka's !

i heard there are allso some anime-series that have kendo in them,
let me know !!

as a movie buff obviously i've seen some like:

-Last samurai
-Zatoichi
-Hero
-House of the flying daggers

[enurihent]

Midori No Hibi has a kendo moment : )....

[Stainditnew]

Okami (cinema), Kozure Okami (tv series), Tarantino: Kill Bill 1+2
Akira Kurosawa: Kagemusha, Ran
etc.

[Appenianags]

Korean movie, "Volcano High" has a kendo team in it, that fights it out against the teachers, rugby, judo, hockey team :P It's a comedy well worth watching.

Anime series Bleach (bleach7.com) is very sword orientated.

[singleGirl]

oh thanks !! cool tips !

bleach i'm gonna watch (seen some episodes all ready)

http://mangaland.hautetfort.com/imag..._bleach283.jpg

[ElisasAUG]

Okami (cinema), Kozure Okami (tv series), Tarantino: Kill Bill 1+2
Akira Kurosawa: Kagemusha, Ran
etc.

hahaha, I wouldn't put Kill Bill along with Kurosawa...

Kill Bill was a spoof only, and the sword stuff was awful to watch, but I couldn't stop laughing at how things were done as well. I think it was meant to be that way.

Kurosawa is a totally different thing. His stuff is pure art and quite realistic as opposed to Kill Bill.

Zatoichi is fantasy though I love the series.

For realistic and decent sword stuff, I'd put on my list:

1. Anything of Kurosawa's.
2. 47 Ronin
3. 7 Samurai
4. Usagi Yojimbo(I think that's what it was called. Sorry.)
5. And several others I've seen that I've forgotten the names of. And, I am not sure if Kurosawa created the above films or not. I never caught who wrote what.
6. Shogun-the mini-series that came out in the early 80's now on DVD.

For anime,

Shura no Ken is excellent.
Samurai X(The OVA only)
Otogi Zoshi seems good too. I've only watched the 1st DVD thiough so far.

Those are the only three that come to mind for me as close to realistic that I can think of right now.

Oh. In Shura no Ken, they showed the Chiba dojo. It was quite interesting. I never realised just how old that dojo was until I watched that anime. Since that anime is a historical anime, I'd love to know how accurate it was in regard to the Ryu they presented in each arc. It seems like it paid quite a bit of attention to detail in regard to each Ryu.

I don't know of anything with actual real-life Kendo in it though. Sorry. I never have seen any. I know others will know though.

Kaoru

[f6HLLFcw]

hahaha, I wouldn't put Kill Bill along with Kurosawa...

Snob ;wink; . Kurosawa's samurai movies are basically japanese western, that we find it so arty is an aside. However his other movies are IMHO much better.

Musashi no Ken (based on the manga) is about Kendo, Ranma has Kendo cameos too, as well as Love Hina and Azumanga Daioh.

[invest7manager]

Not Kendo but:

Old movies:

Samurai Rebellion (on many top twenty movies ever made lists)

Harakiri


New Movies:

Samuai Fiction

[palantownia]

Samurai X(The OVA only)

Yes whatever yeh will do DO NOT watch kenshin TV...terrifying to watch...

From anime yeh should watch Samurai Champloo - best anime of that kind I have ever seen...

For great "kendo" scene I reccomend Transporter 2

[unioneserry]

"Yes whatever yeh will do DO NOT watch kenshin TV...terrifying to watch..."

But the OVA was AWESOME!

And whoever suggested Midori no Hibi... such an odd show concept.

As for good kendo moments in movies... everyone else has pretty much nailed it. Although I really liked the Shinsengumi J drama that was on TV a few years back. You can download it from the internet in various places. It succeeds at being a samurai period drama without the overdramatic cheesy factor that most Japanese TV dramas tend to over do. Ok, sometimes it is dramatic, but not too much.

[enteltcheft]

OVA (Kenshin) was amazing. If you like movies like that try ghost in the shell 1 and 2. They are more philosophical but they really make you think...

Like mystic_kendoka said, Volcano High is great. Really funny.

Samurai Fiction is good too.

[Sniliabiz]

I'd like to add "Black Rain."
Yet it has a brief kendo geiko scene in the movie, it shows Japanese mood very clearly with the fabulous direction of Ridley Scott and the music of Hans Zimmer.
Plus Michael Douglas, Andy Garcia, Takakura Ken and Matsuda Yusaku.
I believe most of you guys have already seen it but it's worth watching a couple of more times, don't you think so?

[isopsmypovA]

I just got the first of the "Samurai Trilogy" today, it's an older one. Circa 1954 I think. I have 2 other movies I get to watch, I can't wait! I would highly recomend netflix, lots of anime and old samurai movies, I love it.

d33m4n, did you spell your name partially in 1337 on purpose?

[RlUbQU3R]

When the last sword is drawn (Mibu Gishi Den) is in my oppinion one of the best "new" samurai movies. It's hard to buy but can be "found" on the internet.

[RedImmik]

"You only live twice". There is some kendotraining going on in the "secret ninja training facility", and one can get glimpses of some old bogu and people doing kirikaeshi.

"Moonraker" also includes bad guy in bogu with shinai, but it's not really kendo...

[BlackBird]

hahaha, I wouldn't put Kill Bill along with Kurosawa...

Kill Bill was a spoof only, and the sword stuff was awful to watch, but I couldn't stop laughing at how things were done as well. I think it was meant to be that way.

Kurosawa is a totally different thing. His stuff is pure art and quite realistic as opposed to Kill Bill.

That's exactly why I put a smiley after it

It's if you compare fast food with a high class dinner. Nontheless, I like Tarantino 'cause of his style ... in almost all of his films, I can laugh ang laugh and ...

[GutleNus]

Kurosawa's samurai movies are basically japanese western, that we find it so arty is an aside. However his other movies are IMHO much better.

Actually Kurosawa laid the template for the 'Western' movie. Shichnin No Samurai combined many elements of action cinematography together to create the first real action movie. This was later copied by Hollywood

This aside, the setting is accurately researched and extremely well put out. Yojimbo, Sanjuro, 7 Samurai, etc may be in essence faily simple plot lines, but the depth of the setting is so rich, that its hard to not think of them as art. Sanjuro, for example acts partially as a spoof of jidai geki movies that preceeded it by playing out a number of expected scenarios.

Ran, Throne of Blood, Kagemusha, Red Beard, etc, etc are all Jidai Geki movies, but they certainly aren't "Westerns".

[johnlohanmclee]

d33m4n, did you spell your name partially in 1337 on purpose?

jup softcore l33t, thank's for noticing !

my real name is dennis, friends call me dee, sometimes dee-man, hence my name.

[Andrew1978]

Yoji Yamada's Tasogare Seibei. It's freakin' awesome, not only that, but it has a bit of Kendo in it and the duels in the movie are very good. Seibei, who is played by Hiroyuki Sanada, does Haya Suburi at one point.

[NarhozNic]

Actually Kurosawa laid the template for the 'Western' movie. Shichnin No Samurai combined many elements of action cinematography together to create the first real action movie. This was later copied by Hollywood

I think you are somewhat mistaken. Kurosawa, in his own words, was a major fan of John Ford, in fact, may have idolized him as a director. John Ford was the master of the american western. In making "Seven Samurai" Kurosawa wanted to make a "Japanese" movie but he was certainly heavily influenced by Ford's work, not only as a story teller but as a director.

Of course Hollywood then copied the Seven Samurai and made it into the Magnificent Seven completing the cycle. Kurosawa has been copied several times by Hollywood with varying success. "Yojimbo" was re-made as a particularly horrible Bruce Wills movie called "Last Man Standing" and "The Hidden Fortress" became "Star Wars"