Shinji Suzuki
On November 25th 1970, a man committed ritual suicide inside the Tokyo headquarters of the Japanese Ministry of Defence, leaving behind a legacy of masterpieces and a controversy that echoes to this day. The man was Yukio Mishima, one of Japan's greatest and most celebrated novelists. With four members of his own private army - the Tatenokai - Mishima had taken the commandant hostage and called upon the assembled military outside the Ministry to overthrow their society and restore the powers of the Emperor. When the soldiers mocked and jeered Mishima, he cut short his speech and withdrew to the commandant's office where he committed seppuku - the samurai warrior's death - tearing open his belly with a ceremonial knife before being beheaded by one of his colleagues. What was Mishima truly trying to express through his actions? And what did he witness during his final moments?
Martial arts purists -- not to mention fans of miniskirt-clad, high-kicking karate girls -- will welcome the tightly choreographed fight scenes and slow-motion scuffles in this film about a teenage karate phenom eager to take down her older peers. High schooler Kei Tsuchiya joins The Destroyers when she decides that her longtime karate master is holding her back. She realizes her mistake but it's too late.
High school student, Kamishiro Yu doesn't fit in and is constantly bullied; fed up with the abuse Yu secretly trains in boxing and takes revenge on those who once bullied him. Eventually Yu's defeats call the attention of the local thugs, and Yu soon finds himself forced to keep fighting in order to keep his place, his holyland.
Nathan Algren is an American hired to instruct the Japanese army in the ways of modern warfare, which finds him learning to respect the samurai and the honorable principles that rule them. Pressed to destroy the samurai's way of life in the name of modernization and open trade, Algren decides to become an ultimate warrior himself and to fight for their right to exist.
