Lone Wolf and Cub is a Japanese manga series created by writer Kazuo Koike and artist Goseki Kojima. It was serialized in Futabasha's Seinen manga magazine Weekly Manga Action from September 1970 to April 1976, with its chapters collected in 28 tankōbon volumes. The story was adapted into six films starring Tomisaburo Wakayama, four plays, and a television series starring Kinnosuke Yorozuya, and is widely recognized as an important and influential work.
Blood: The Last Vampire is a 2000 Japanese animated action horror film directed by Hiroyuki Kitakubo, written by Kenji Kamiyama and produced by Production I.G. The film premiered in theaters in Japan on November 18, 2000.
Zatoichi is a fictional character created by Japanese novelist Kan Shimozawa. He is an itinerant blind masseur and swordsman of Japan's late Edo period. He first appeared in the 1948 essay Zatoichi Monogatari (座頭市物語), part of Shimozawa's Futokoro Techō series that was serialized in the magazine Shōsetsu to Yomimono.
Katana is a superheroine appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. First appearing in 1983, Katana is a samurai warrior whose skill with a sword allows her to fight for justice as a superheroine. Her tragic backstory includes the death of her husband, Maseo, whose soul becomes trapped in her blade, the Soultaker.
Kam Fong Chun was an American police officer and actor, best known for his role as Chin Ho Kelly, a police detective on the CBS television network series Hawaii Five-O.
Six-String Samurai is a 1998 American post-apocalyptic action comedy film directed by Lance Mungia and starring Jeffrey Falcon and Justin McGuire. Brian Tyler composed the score for this film along with Red Elvises, the latter providing the majority of the soundtrack.
Jake Shimabukuro is a ukulele virtuoso and composer from Hawaii known for his fast and complex finger work. His music combines elements of jazz, blues, funk, rock, bluegrass, classical, folk, and flamenco. Shimabukuro has written numerous original compositions, including the entire soundtracks to two Japanese films, Hula Girls (2007) and Sideways (2009), the Japanese remake of the same name.
The Twilight Samurai(たそがれ清兵衛, literally "Twilight Seibei") is a 2002 Japanese historical drama film co-written and directed by Yoji Yamada and starring Hiroyuki Sanada and Rie Miyazawa. Set in mid-19th century Japan, a few years before the Meiji Restoration, it follows the life of Seibei Iguchi, a low-ranking samurai employed as a bureaucrat. Poor, but not destitute, he still manages to lead a content and happy life with his daughters and his mother, who has dementia. Through an unfortunate turn of events, the turbulent times conspire against him.
Goemon Ishikawa XIII is a fictional character created by Monkey Punch for his manga series Lupin III, which debuted in Weekly Manga Action on August 10, 1967. Goemon is a thirteenth generation descendant of the renegade samurai Ishikawa Goemon. He is famous for a reticent personality coupled by apparent unlimited skill in martial arts and swordsmanship with his sword Ryusei (流星), known in the anime as Zantetsuken (斬鉄剣). A partner with Arsène Lupin III and Daisuke Jigen, he tends to join their exploits only on a when-interested basis.
Amakuni Yasutsuna is the legendary swordsmith who supposedly created the first single-edged longsword (tachi) with curvature along the edge in the Yamato Province around 700 AD. He was the head of a group of swordsmiths employed by the Emperor of Japan to make weapons for his warriors. His son, Amakura, was the successor to his work. Although there are almost no modern examples of signed works by Amakuni, legend has it that the double-edged katana, Kogarasu Maru, was forged by this man. The true author of this work is not known, though the work bears similarities to works of the various Yamato schools so it is thought to be an early example of work from this province.
Hellboy: Sword of Storms is a 2006 animated superhero film based on Mike Mignola's comic book series Hellboy and its 2004 live-action film adaptation. The film was animated by Madhouse, produced by Starz Media, Revolution Studios and Film Roman and co-produced, co-written, and directed by Tad Stones. The plot is partly based on the Right Hand of Doom storyline from the original comics.
Shunsuke Ikeda was a Japanese actor and model.
Legend of the Millennium Dragon is a 2011 Japanese anime film.
A Brokedown Melody is a 2004 documentary surf film from Woodshed Films directed by singer/songwriter Jack Johnson and his film school friend Chris Malloy. Presented as a special screening to benefit the Kōkua Hawai'i Foundation at the Hawaii Theatre in Honolulu on August 11, 2004, the film had premieres during the fall of 2004 at the Malibu International Film Festival (MIFF) on September 16, 2004, at the Laguna Beach Festival of Arts during the 2nd annual Moonshine Festival on October 9, 2004, at the Arlington Theater in Santa Barbara in October, 2004, and at the Hawai'i International Film Festival (HIFF) in Honolulu in October, 2004. It is the fourth of The Moonshine Conspiracy films.
Yoroi Samurai Zombie is a 2008 Japanese comic horror film directed by Tak Sakaguchi and written by Ryuhei Kitamura, who had previously collaborated on Versus. A family taken hostage and their kidnappers become prey to an undead samurai in a haunted cemetery.
Izo Hashimoto is a Japanese screenwriter and film director.
Deadland is a 2009 American science fiction film directed by Damon O'Steen, written by Gary Weeks, and starring Weeks, Brian Tee, and William Katt as survivors in a post-apocalyptic society five years after the United States is destroyed in a nuclear holocaust.
G-Men from Hell is a 2000 American comedy film directed by Christopher Coppola and written by Robert Cooper, Richard L. Albert, and Nicholas Johnson. It is based on Michael Allred's comic book series Grafik Muzik published by Caliber Press. It stars William Forsythe and Tate Donovan as two violent FBI agents who die, go to hell, and escape back to Earth, where they become embroiled in a mystery.
Samurai Cop is a 1991 American direct-to-video action film written, coproduced and directed by Amir Shervan and starring Robert Z'Dar, Matt Hannon and Mark Frazer. It has attained a cult following.
Bloodbeat is a 1983 supernatural slasher film written and directed by Fabrice-Ange Zaphiratos and starring Helen Benton, Terry Brown, Claudia Peyton, James Fitzgibbons, and Dana Day. The plot focuses on a young couple attending a family gathering for Christmas in a rural home when a spirit wearing samurai armor begins killing members of the family—two of whom have psychic abilities—and their neighbors.
