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Lake of Dracula [VHS]

Lake of Dracula [VHS]

Rated: Unrated
Staring: Midori Fujita , Osahide Takahashi , Sanae Emi , Shin Kishida , Tadao Fumi
Director: Michio Yamamoto

List Price: $9.95 Our Price: $11.99
Heaven & Earth [VHS]

Heaven & Earth [VHS]

Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Staring: Takaaki Enoki , Masahiko Tsugawa , Atsuko Asano , Naomi Zaizen , Hironobu Nomura
Director: Haruki Kadokawa

List Price: $79.98
Kagemusha [VHS]

Kagemusha [VHS]

Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Staring: Tatsuya Nakadai , Tsutomu Yamazaki , Kenichi Hagiwara , Jinpachi Nezu , Hideji Ôtaki
Director: Akira Kurosawa
The 1970s were difficult years for the great Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. Following the box-office failure of his 1970 film Dodes'ka-den and an unsuccessful suicide attempt, Kurosawa was unable to find financial backing in Japan, and he made his acclaimed 1975 film Dersu Uzala in Siberia with Russian financing. With only partial Japanese backing for his epic project Kagemusha, the 70-year-old master then found American support from George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola, who served as coexecutive producers (through 20th Century Fox) for this magnificent 1980 production--to that date the most expensive film in Japanese history. Set in the late 16th century, Kagemusha centers on the Takeda clan, one of three warlord clans battling for control of Japan at the end of the feudal period. When Lord Shingen (Tatsuya Nakadai), head of the Takeda clan, is mortally wounded in battle and near death, he orders that his death be kept secret and that his "kagemusha"--or "shadow warrior"--take his place for a period of three years to prevent clan disruption and enemy takeover. The identical double is a petty thief (also played by Nakadai) spared from execution due to his u...
List Price: $19.98 Our Price: $7.90
The Go Masters (Mikan No Taikyoku)

The Go Masters (Mikan No Taikyoku)

Staring: Rentaro Mikuni , Misako Konno , Nobuko Otowa , Hideji Otaki , Yoshiko Mita
Director: Ji-shun Duan
Ten years before the outbreak of the Second World War in Asia, a Japanese Go master and his Chinese rival meet in China to play a game of Go (loosely described as an Asian version of chess). It soon becomes evident that the Chinese master's son is the most talented player that the Japanese master has ever encountered, and he convinces the boy's father to let him bring the child back to Japan to train him as a professional Go player. Years pass, and as the young Chinese master grows to maturity in Japan, the Japanese invasion of China forces him to choose between his triumphant career and his loyalty to his native country. His decision is complicated by his marriage to the daughter of the Japanese master, with whom he has produced a child. His choice will profoundly alter the lives of two families. Their saga serves as a reflection of the tragic relations between their two great countries, and the possibility of reconciliation and healing. This is the first co-production between Japan and the People's Republic of China.
Our Price: $150.00
Tampopo [VHS]

Tampopo [VHS]

Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Staring: Tsutomu Yamazaki , Nobuko Miyamoto , Ken Watanabe , Kôji Yakusho , Rikiya Yasuoka
Like seeds of a dandelion blowing in the wind, the plot of Tampopo wanders in several directions, following the lives of a quirky collection of characters. At the heart of this film is a young widow named Tampopo (Nobuko Miyamoto), who is struggling to make ends meet by running a noodle restaurant. Goro (Tsutomu Yamazaki), a truck driver, saves Tampopo's young son from being beaten by a group of school girls and is rewarded with a bowl of very bad ramen (noodles). Goro tells Tampopo the awful truth about her cooking and she asks for his help. Together they search for the perfect ramen recipe.

Intersecting this part of the plot are several smaller and less well-realized stories. Koji Yakusho, who stars in Shall We Dance, appears as a sensuous gangster who would rather play with his food than eat it. Then there's the mysterious Noodle Master who lives with a group of street vagabonds and a young executive who knows how to order food from a French menu, but not how to preserve the dignity of his superiors.

While the film as a whole feels somewhat disjointed, writer-director Juzo Itami manages to infuse Tampopo (which means "dandelion") with a sense of Japa...
List Price: $19.98 Our Price: $14.95

Macarthur's Children [VHS]

Macarthur's Children [VHS]

Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Staring: Takaya Yamauchi , Yoshiyuki Omori , Shiori Sakura , Masako Natsume , Hideji Otaki
Director: Masahiro Shinoda

List Price: $29.99
Doomed Megalopolis - Fall of Tokyo (Vol. 2) [VHS]

Doomed Megalopolis - Fall of Tokyo (Vol. 2) [VHS]

Rated: R (Restricted)
Staring: Shintarô Katsu , Kyûsaku Shimada , Mieko Harada , Junichi Ishida , Tamasaburo Bando
Director: Akio Jissoji
The four-part OAV Doomed Megalopolis (1991) is more notable for its misogynistic violence than for its coherent storytelling or skillful animation. In 1908 the ghost-demon-sorcerer Kato tries to resurrect Masakado, a historical figure who has become the unofficial guardian deity of Tokyo, by offering Yukari as a human sacrifice. Masakado rejects Kato's offering, but the evil sorcerer keeps trying, tormenting Yukari and her daughter, Yukiko (whose father is Yukari's brother Tatsumi). Kato causes the devastating 1923 Tokyo earthquake at the end of episode 2, after which the plot simply collapses. Violent imagery--collapsing buildings, the repeated rape and torture of Yukari--alternate with stretches of leaden dialogue, long Morris-the-Explainer scenes, and pretentious narration. The animation is crude at best: the characters change appearance from scene to scene, and the artists try unsuccessfully to draw the human figure from weird angles. The most striking feature of this jejune gorefest is designer Masayuki's flamboyantly bizarre use of color. (Rated 17 and older, but unsuitable for viewers under 18: graphic violence, violence against women, rape, incest, nud...
List Price: $19.98 Our Price: $12.50
Tampopo [VHS]

Tampopo [VHS]

Rated: Unrated
Staring: Tsutomu Yamazaki , Nobuko Miyamoto , Ken Watanabe , Kôji Yakusho , Rikiya Yasuoka
Like seeds of a dandelion blowing in the wind, the plot of Tampopo wanders in several directions, following the lives of a quirky collection of characters. At the heart of this film is a young widow named Tampopo (Nobuko Miyamoto), who is struggling to make ends meet by running a noodle restaurant. Goro (Tsutomu Yamazaki), a truck driver, saves Tampopo's young son from being beaten by a group of school girls and is rewarded with a bowl of very bad ramen (noodles). Goro tells Tampopo the awful truth about her cooking and she asks for his help. Together they search for the perfect ramen recipe.

Intersecting this part of the plot are several smaller and less well-realized stories. Koji Yakusho, who stars in Shall We Dance, appears as a sensuous gangster who would rather play with his food than eat it. Then there's the mysterious Noodle Master who lives with a group of street vagabonds and a young executive who knows how to order food from a French menu, but not how to preserve the dignity of his superiors.

While the film as a whole feels somewhat disjointed, writer-director Juzo Itami manages to infuse Tampopo (which means "dandelion") with a sense of Japa...
List Price: $14.98 Our Price: $75.00

Lone Wolf and Cub - Baby Cart in the Land of Demons [VHS]

Lone Wolf and Cub - Baby Cart in the Land of Demons [VHS]

Rated: Unrated
Staring: Tomisaburo Wakayama , Michiyo Ookusu , Akihiro Tomikawa , Shingo Yamashiro , Tomomi Sato

List Price: $29.98 Our Price: $13.98
Gonza the Spearman [VHS]

Gonza the Spearman [VHS]

Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Staring: Haruko Kato , Hideji Ôtaki , Kuniko Miyake , Choichiro Kawarazaki , Naoto Takenaka
Director: Masahiro Shinoda

List Price: $24.95 Our Price: $95.59