While portions of the world resistant to torrenting still wait to see Sakaguchi Tak‘s Re:Born and the long-awaited Crazy Musashi, the clear and present fact remains that Sakaguchi’s retirement is all but nil. His latest appearance in a few facets for director Ishihara Takahiro’s new ninja action thriller, Red Blade, is proof of that which sees both actor and director reuniting since Ishihara’s 2013 film, Snake Of Violence.

Enter gravure idol, actress Ogura Yuka for her own debut feature role, birthed originally by celebrated auteur Sono Sion. From what I’ve gathered, this one centers on Ogura in the role of Mako, a school girl whose parents were once taken away by Yakuza. A victim of bullying by her peers, her escape into ninja-centric graphic novels manifests into reality as she finds herself in the throes of a ninja clan where she’s recruited to eventually face off with the villainous Harada, played by actor Iwanaga Joey.

Much of the DNA of the film’s cast and crew is comprised of Sakaguchi, a star in his own right since becoming a staple in cult cinema with credits such as Battlefield Baseball, Versus, Dead Ball and Why Don’t You Play In Hell?. He co-stars as the master under whom our heroine trains, in addition to serving as general director alongside Ishihara who won the Grand Prize at the 2012 Yubari Film Festival for Osaka Violence); Sakaguchi cohort and Re:Born helmer Shimomura Yuji reportedly had a hand in the film’s intro action scenes.

The official trailer that’s been online as of Thursday also introduces a raft of other actresses, although worth pointing out is the appearance of actor Sakaki Hideo whose pivotal craft applied in several shared film credits with Sakaguchi, helped surface Japanese cinema to its cult acclaim in the early two-thousandsies – and with it, director Kitamura Ryuhei of recent Downrange fame.

Red Blade opens in Japan cinemas on December 15, and so for this, you can probably chalk this up as another hopeful crossover that won’t take long to showcase to us thirsty Westerners. (Hat tip to Garage Hero for some of the research).

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Lee B. Golden III filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com | Website Native New Yorker. Lover of all things pizza, chocolate, pets, and good friends. Karaoke hero. Left of center. Survivor. Fond supporter of cult, obscure and independent cinema - especially fond of Asian movies and global action cinema. Author of the bi-weekly Hit List. Founder and editor of Film Combat Syndicate. Still, very much, only human.