Blu-ray Film Reviews | Radiance

‘Shinobi Vol.2’ (1964–65) • Limited Edition Blu-rays [Radiance] — ninja action classics sometimes confuse but always intrigue

Three more spectacular tales of ninja action in this continuation of the hugely influential series.

Those who enjoyed last year’s excellent triple movie box set, Shinobi (1962–63), will eagerly anticipate this follow-up from Radiance. Making their global Blu-ray debut with these new digital transfers, parts four, five, and six continue the epic nine-film Jidaigeki period saga that can be divided into a trilogy of trilogies. The first three chapters featured the real, but highly mythologised, Ishikawa Goemon (Raizô Ichikawa), a bandit who became associated with the Iga ninja clan and was active in the last decades of the 16th-century as the Sengoku period transitioned into the Edo. Initially envisaged as a duology based on the popular novels by Tomoyoshi Murayama (村山 知義), the first two movies, with Satsuo Yamamoto directing, proved so successful that Ishikawa Goemon was resurrected for a third outing helmed by Kazuo Mori who…