Stars: Julia Nagano, Yuichi Nakamura, Kohshu Kirano, Shun Nishime, Kanon Miyahara | Written by Junichiro Ashiki | Directed by Kôichi Sakamoto
With a title like Ninja vs Shark you might think this is another Mark Polonia film along the lines of Sharkula or Shark Encounters of the Third Kind. Or maybe one of the more bizarre Chinese kaiju films such as Land Shark. But you’d be wrong, it’s actually a Japanese film written by Junichiro Ashiki and directed by Kôichi Sakamoto.
During Japan’s Edo Period, Sayo, a pearl diver from the village of Okitsu, swims back to shore only to find the remains of one of her fellow divers washed up on the beach. This has been happening a lot since Lord Koshiro Mizuchi of the Crimson Devil Clan demanded the villagers hand over their pearls to him. When they refused he used sorcery to turn the sharks into living weapons.
With a title like Ninja vs Shark you might think this is another Mark Polonia film along the lines of Sharkula or Shark Encounters of the Third Kind. Or maybe one of the more bizarre Chinese kaiju films such as Land Shark. But you’d be wrong, it’s actually a Japanese film written by Junichiro Ashiki and directed by Kôichi Sakamoto.
During Japan’s Edo Period, Sayo, a pearl diver from the village of Okitsu, swims back to shore only to find the remains of one of her fellow divers washed up on the beach. This has been happening a lot since Lord Koshiro Mizuchi of the Crimson Devil Clan demanded the villagers hand over their pearls to him. When they refused he used sorcery to turn the sharks into living weapons.
- 1/23/2024
- by Jim Morazzini
- Nerdly
Surrounded by zombies in a desolate mountain village, Miyamoto Musashi (Ôtsuka Akio) hatches a plan to corral the creatures and blast them en masse. But the samurai needs bait, so he dangles a young girl named Sayo (Yamane Aya), the town’s sole survivor, in front of the horde. A close-up centers her trembling face and chattering teeth. “Don’t worry,” Musashi says, flashing an impish smile. “I won’t let them lay a finger on you.” Sayo steels herself, nodding with quiet confidence in her newfound companion.
The scene, which takes place midway through the second episode of Netflix’s Onimusha, is emblematic of the animated series, based on Capcom’s supernatural samurai video game series of the same name. Beneath the show’s slick, ferocious action—a hallmark of supervising director Miike Takashi—lies a surprisingly touching emotional core.
Set during the Edo period, Onimusha begins shortly after...
The scene, which takes place midway through the second episode of Netflix’s Onimusha, is emblematic of the animated series, based on Capcom’s supernatural samurai video game series of the same name. Beneath the show’s slick, ferocious action—a hallmark of supervising director Miike Takashi—lies a surprisingly touching emotional core.
Set during the Edo period, Onimusha begins shortly after...
- 11/3/2023
- by Niv M. Sultan
- Slant Magazine
There was a time, maybe fifteen years ago, when a title like “Ninja vs. Shark” would have been enough to whip up some early-viral excitement. In those days, the tongue-in-cheek grindhouse homage was still a novel idea, and upstart filmmakers were in a rush to combine b-movie tropes into self-consciously “epic” packages. Now, after more than a decade of lazy faux-exploitation productions dropped on streaming, the freshness factor has worn off. Still, not all filmmakers are created equally, and it’s important to note that “Ninja vs. Shark” is directed by stunt legend Koichi Sakamoto, who has made a career crafting dizzying fight choreography and directing live action anime and Tokusatsu features. His reputation made the idea of yet another “[B-Movie Creature] vs. [“B-Movie Creature]” title a little more exciting, and the good news is that he’s created a legitimately entertaining and refreshingly brief movie that, for better or worse, plays a little...
- 9/22/2023
- by Henry McKeand
- AsianMoviePulse
"It's ready to blow your mind!" Let! Them! Fight! A Japanese trailer is out for an epic B-movie battle called Ninja vs. Shark, made by filmmaker / stunt expert Koichi Sakamoto. If you can believe, it isn't an Asylum creation, but an actual live-action movie from Japan. Set in the Edo period, the film is about a village that hires a ninja warrior to help them fight off evil sharks that are attacking pearl divers. That's pretty much all you need to know, other than that it will likely by pretty gnarly. Kohshu Hirano of "Ultraman Z" will play Kotaro, and Shun Nishime of "Kamen Rider Ghost" will play Shinsuke, who fights with Kotaro. Yuichi Nakamura plays Sameshiro. In addition, the heroine Sayo is played by Julia Nagano, while Kikuma, a female ninja who loves Kotaro, is played by Kanon Miyahara. This trailer is a bloody, gory first look at the film,...
- 3/13/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Sayombhu Mukdeeprom (he goes by “Sayo”) has distinguished himself over the last two decades as the cherished cinematographer of directors Luca Guadagnino and Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Cannes Palme d’Or winner “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives”).
And though the works by those filmmakers are renowned for their many gorgeous evocations of nature, whether sun-dappled countryside or dense foggy jungle, Mukdeeprom faced one of the biggest challenges of his career with “Thirteen Lives,” his first collaborations with Oscar-winner Ron Howard.
Dramatizing the implausible 2018 story of 12 boys and their soccer coach who became trapped deep in a flooded cave, “Thirteen Lives” is set entirely in Mukdeeprom’s native Thailand — though the movie was actually filmed, apart from a few establishing shots, in sets created on the Gold Coast of Australia.
“Actually the whole thing was all a set that had been built for us,” Mukdeeprom told TheWrap. “Which was an amazing thing to see.
And though the works by those filmmakers are renowned for their many gorgeous evocations of nature, whether sun-dappled countryside or dense foggy jungle, Mukdeeprom faced one of the biggest challenges of his career with “Thirteen Lives,” his first collaborations with Oscar-winner Ron Howard.
Dramatizing the implausible 2018 story of 12 boys and their soccer coach who became trapped deep in a flooded cave, “Thirteen Lives” is set entirely in Mukdeeprom’s native Thailand — though the movie was actually filmed, apart from a few establishing shots, in sets created on the Gold Coast of Australia.
“Actually the whole thing was all a set that had been built for us,” Mukdeeprom told TheWrap. “Which was an amazing thing to see.
- 11/30/2022
- by Joe McGovern
- The Wrap
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