Kung Fu Thursday Afternoon

March 26, 2009 12:17 PM

Lone Wolf and Cub -- White Heaven in Hell :: Baby Cart to Hades :: In the Land of Demons :: At the River Styx :: [alternate soundtrack]
posted by vronsky (31 comments total)

I had the Lone Wolf and Cub comics as a kid. Well, I had them until my mom or someone realized they were full of sex and violence, and then they were given to my cousin. I wish you could get them all now. I've never seen the films. I should get on that.
posted by chunking express at 12:39 PM on March 26, 2009

Your technique is magnificent. When cut across the neck, a sound like wailing winter winds is heard, they say. I'd always hoped to cut someone like that someday, to hear that sound. But to have it happen to my own neck is ridiculous.
posted by Artw at 12:39 PM on March 26, 2009 [3 favorites]

This is me giving this post a mean but approving stare, at one with the emptiness..
posted by ghost of a past number at 12:39 PM on March 26, 2009

I wish you could get them all now.
posted by SPrintF at 12:45 PM on March 26, 2009

More background: Kazuo Koike, with artist Goseki Kojima, made the manga Kozure Okami (Lone Wolf and Cub), and Koike also contributed to the scripts for the 1970s film adaptations of the series, which starred famous Japanese actor Tomisaburo Wakayama. Koike and Kojima became known as the "Golden Duo" because of the success of Lone Wolf and Cub. In addition to his more violent, action-oriented manga, Koike, an avid golfer, has also written golf manga.

I have yet to see any of the movies, but I've read through a bunch of the Dark Horse translations of the gekiga or manga, and they're really good. I actually got into the Sci-Fi future version, Lone Wolf 2100 and really liked that too, though it lacks the historical interest of the original. I recommend both, but definitely start with the original gekiga. It's a LOT more than "kung fu action".

(To be picky, kung fu is a Chinese style, and Lone Wolf and Cub is based in Japan, and actually depicts various sword-based martial artist ryū. Just a little FYI. )
posted by filthy light thief at 12:49 PM on March 26, 2009

i had no idea there was a tv show based on the manga. this is awesome.
posted by shmegegge at 1:05 PM on March 26, 2009

Holy crap. Baby Cart to Hades!! I haven't seen that in years.
posted by elizardbits at 1:06 PM on March 26, 2009

More on the comics...
posted by Artw at 1:10 PM on March 26, 2009 [1 favorite]

Well to fair filthy light thief, I am pronouncing it Gung Fu, as in they do in the Japanese dialect.
posted by vronsky at 1:13 PM on March 26, 2009

I saw these movies before I read the manga; when I picked up a few of those collections that SPrintF linked to I was blown away. Many of the scenes in the movies match up shot for shot with frames from the comics. That early sword fight in the waterfall in Styx is simply the one of the best swordfights ever filmed IMHO. add that kind of elegantly brutal choreography with the historical detail and the character depth of the full story you get with reading the manga, and, well, it's the perfect film series for any samurai junky.

I'd watch them in order. White Heaven and Hell, the last one, is kind of an outlier; it gets a bit silly with the ski ninjas and funk soundtrack.

oh, and don't watch Shogun Assassin. it's just bits of the first two cut together, badly dubbed and making little sense. and I found the TV show just disappointing. though the movies did set the bar quite high.

**CHILD AND EXPERTISE FOR RENT**
posted by ScotchRox at 1:19 PM on March 26, 2009

I offered my child a ball or a laptop to play with, and she reached for the laptop. Phew.

Laptop is missing a few keys these days though.
posted by Artw at 1:23 PM on March 26, 2009

I read the manga in the Dark Horse release, now struggling to do the same in the original Japanese. Movies are fun and pretty good.

Also: Ogami Itto has the record for most on-screen kills of any character in a single film. His suioh ryu is strong indeed.
posted by Muttoneer at 1:27 PM on March 26, 2009

Well to fair filthy light thief, I am pronouncing it Gung Fu, as in they do in the Japanese dialect.

For full disclosure, it wasn't until I checked on Wikipedia that I found out that kung fu was Chinese. I didn't think the series had much in the way of what I would have considered kung fu, but had to search for definitions.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:30 PM on March 26, 2009

SPrintF, the versions that were sold in the early 90s were nicer than those paper backs, which i've seen. Sadly, they apparently didn't actually print the entire series in the larger format.
posted by chunking express at 1:34 PM on March 26, 2009

Ninjitsu!
posted by Artw at 1:35 PM on March 26, 2009

I've seen all of the films and really enjoyed them and after reading THE ROAD I cannot help but wonder if Cormac McCarthy is a fan of the the Baby Cart series...
posted by cinemafiend at 1:40 PM on March 26, 2009

There are some great Wu-Tang dialogue samples in those Lone Wolf & Cub movies.
posted by box at 1:41 PM on March 26, 2009

Well to fair filthy light thief, I am pronouncing it Gung Fu, as in they do in the Japanese dialect.
In Chinese (well, Mandarin, at least), Kung Fu is actually pronounced "Goong Fu" (Pinyin: Gong1 Fu). But then Chinese traditionally don't use Gongfu to refer to martial arts anyway.
posted by kmz at 1:46 PM on March 26, 2009

Does anybody remember the girl on Degrassi Junior High that had the Daigoro haircut?
posted by cinemafiend at 1:46 PM on March 26, 2009

"In Chinese (well, Mandarin, at least), Kung Fu is actually pronounced "Goong Fu" (Pinyin: Gong1 Fu). But then Chinese traditionally don't use Gongfu to refer to martial arts anyway."



Well, that's where my claim falls to the ground.
posted by vronsky at 1:56 PM on March 26, 2009

Ah, man. My old AIM name was One Sword Wolf. I gotta dig my 28-volume set out and read it again. They really sparked a serious interest in feudal Japan. Anyone know if Path of the Assassin is any good?
posted by adamdschneider at 2:02 PM on March 26, 2009

Also, Ogami & Son on Samurai Jack.
posted by adamdschneider at 2:03 PM on March 26, 2009 [1 favorite]

I love the sly wink at Potemkin ;)
posted by vronsky at 2:34 PM on March 26, 2009

(reaches for "[+]" button; misses, fires hidden speargun into nearby creeping ninja)
posted by RogerB at 3:37 PM on March 26, 2009 [1 favorite]

Nice find on the comics link Artw. Way to go big boy, yeah?


子連れ狼 Kozure Ōkami
posted by vronsky at 4:12 PM on March 26, 2009

The manga have such a different vibe than the movies to me. The manga come off as cool, classy though brutal, trying to communicate a terrible beauty. The movies just seem like cheap sweaty trash. Maybe that's just the 60s/70s visual effect on everything.
posted by fleacircus at 5:05 PM on March 26, 2009

oh god! now I gotta watch me some samurai jack again!
posted by Severian at 5:07 PM on March 26, 2009

So, when when everyone else visits the supermarket and is solemnly strolling the aisles with a trolley, do you all imagine yourself as Ogami Itto too?

Nobody? Just me?

Okay then.
posted by Ritchie at 7:17 PM on March 26, 2009 [3 favorites]

There was a screenplay written for Darren Aronofsky in 2005. It was an adaptation of the story as a western. The thinking was many early westerns were taken from classic samurai stories -- The Magnificent Seven/Seven Samurai, etc.

It's set in just after the civil war. OPens on the assassination of Lincoln. Itto has a dragoon wrist breaker. The Yagyu clan are robber barons.
posted by MOS EISLEY at 2:29 PM on March 27, 2009

I always wondered what happened to that Aronofsky adaptation. I knew it wasn't going to be a straight port, but I never heard the details you give. Where'd you come upon that info? I would totally have watched that movie.
posted by adamdschneider at 3:01 PM on March 27, 2009

Wrote it.
posted by MOS EISLEY at 5:02 PM on March 27, 2009 [1 favorite]