Majin Hanta Mitsurugi

[Zone Fighter]

I just watched the first two episodes of an interesting series called Majin Hanta Mitsurugi.



Like Kamen no Ninja Akakage (1967-1968), Kaiketsu Lion Maru (1972-1973), Henshin Ninja Arashi (1972-1973), Shiro Shishi Kamen [White Lion Mask] (1973) and Fuun Lion Maru (1973), Majin Hanta Mitsurugi [Demon Hunter Mitsurugi] (1973) is set in feudal Japan, the time of the ninja and samurai. Like Kamen no Ninja Akakage in features both human sized warriors and giant monsters. What is unsual about it is that it uses stop-motion animation for the giant warriors instead of men in latex costumes.

Two men and a woman, each wearing helmets, show up just in time to stop a bunch of mummies, soldiers in the Sasori Gundan (Scorpion Army), from killing an old man. Later the old man gives the two men and the woman each a short sword the hilts of which coicidently (?) match the color they have on their helmets and scarves, blue for the older of the two men, yellow for the younger of the two men and red for the young woman. With these magical weapons the three warriors transform into the giant armored warrior Mitsurugi, in order to destroy the giant demon warrior of the week. The giant monsters show up for the last minute or two, most of each episode features combat between the human wariors and the mummies. For me the appearance of the giant monsters and Mitsurugi's destroying them is the least interesting part of the show. The stop-motion animation produces characters with limited, jerky movements that are less realistic looking than men in costumes. Although Mitsurugi carries a shield and sword, it destroys the monster with exploding shells fired from its chest.

The leader of Sasori Gundan who looks like a decayed corpse dresses in red with a black scorpion over his chest. His hideous face is uncovered.

Majin Hanta Mitsurugi only ran for 12 episodes. It is not from Tsuburaya, Toho, Toei or P-Productions but from from Kokusai Films.

The first episode features the famous Ina Ninja, Hattori, Hanzo. He's not the hero of the show however, so he needs the help of the three warriors who become Mitsurugi.

Fukiareru arashi no naka wo
Doko-kara kita no darou
Ano wakamono-tachi wa
Mittsu no Inochi wo
Hitotsu ni Musun'de
Moeru moeru moeru moeru
Tadashii kokoro ga honoo to moeru
Majin hantaa Majin hantaa
Mitsurugi sanjou!
-- HASHIRE ! ARASHI NO NAKA WO
(Dash! Into The Storm)

(Photo borrowed from Japan Hero)

[Xenorama ™]

actually, it only ran 12 episodes.

i like this show a lot, Mitsurgi is cool and a nice change of pace from the men in suits. lots of action with the fighters as well.

[Zone Fighter]

Oops. I confused it with Silver Kamen, which I got in the same trade.

[Shonokin]

Very cool show! Though the stop-mo was very limited in its quality, at least they tried something different. The motorcycle outfits in medieval Japan was pretty odd, but fun.

[Xenorama ™]

i really enjoy this show, and am going to do an episode guide for it at some point. just gotta figure out HOW our heroes got back in time. of course, episode titles would help as well.

[Zone Fighter]

Are they time travelers? Or are you just making up a reason for the modern costumes and use of handgrenades?

[Xenorama ™]

yeah, i'm just guessing- it's modern clothes and weapons, but i don't know for sure. just seems like the logical thing to me.

not that i couldn't be completely 100% wrong though! it's been known to happen.

[Shonokin]

I wonder if this was a big influence on Keita Amemiya, since a running theme in his works are anachronistic time-shifted elements and stop motion monsters (until lately which has the more CGI type stuff ).

[Zone Fighter]

Kamen no Ninja Akakage and his friends could turn their gloves into mortars. Shiro Kage had a pole weapon which could fire explosive shells as well. The bad guys had war machines in some episodes. Kaiketsu Lion Maru's young friend threw bombs. The villains in Henshin Ninja Arashi had motorbikes and a tank. Fuun Lion Maru used a jet pack to henshin. Seems like having ninja with technology ahead of their time (as well as magic powers) was common in 60s and 70s.

[Xenorama ™]

it's the clothes, especially the helmets that make me think they come from the future. i wish i knew more Japanese.

[Zone Fighter]

They're also wearing handgrenades on their shoulders. They also have what seem to be magic powers. The leader multiplied his blue scarf and used the duplicates to cover the eyes of the mummies so he could kill them easily. They woman made a straw figure that seemed to come to life and fire a flaming arrow at a scorpion. The guy with the yellow scarf shrunk himself. And all three merged into trees. That was Rainbowman dash 4's thing. I like that there is lots of action before the giant hero appears.

[August]

No, the heroes are not from the future, the producers purposely decided to use these anachronisms, much like THE WILD WILD WEST did. But more blatantly. Ninjas having advanced technology has been used as a plot device before MITSURUGI, in films like WATARI THE NINJA BOY and more explicitly in series like AKAKAGE. MAJIN HUNTER MITSURUGI had all of the elements for success, but just didn't find an audience... too bad, but at least the series is available on video/DVD, much like SHIRO SHISHI KAMEN (White Lion Mask) -- glad to own all three of these shows on DVD.

[Xenorama ™]

why did they go for stop-motion for the monsters? granted, it's cool to look at, but really not very good- not even to the level of Rudolph or other Rankin-Bass shows from the 60s.

i would think that would figure in the cost as well. i really like this show though.

now, just what are the three characters names? thanks for clearing up at least the mystery of where they come from.

[August]

When you have as many Tokusatsu shows as were on the air when MITSURUGI was produced, you had to do something to distinguish your production. I think that the action and just the bizarre nature of the special effects, make this one worthy of attention. It wouldn't have been released on Laserdisc and DVD, if it didn't have something going for it, after all!

[Xenorama ™]

i agree, and the show is fun. but as far as being on DVD, look at how much other stuff is on DVD now, as cheap as it is to do (granted, that's the US crap, but since it's so cheap these days...

i gotta watch the show again.

[Zone Fighter]

I like the show. Somebody offered to give me a list of the monster names, hoping I'd add the show to my web page, but that picture I borrowed from Japan Hero is the only picture I have from it.

[Xenorama ™]

ooh! once i figure out the DVD player on this new computer, i think i can capture images- it says i can. i'll make you a few, since we need more. but it might be after Oct, when i move. i'll get the heroes and at least all the monsters.

how about this- from episode #9:



it's not perfect, but that will improve in time.

[August]

Megs,
While it is relatively "cheap" to put shows out on DVD, the rights and such are a completely different story. The first time MITSURUGI was ever released to home video was in the late 1990s on laserdisc. Much like SHIRO SHISHI KAMEN, the rights were tangled or in dispute -- which either makes things tricky, or takes paying larger sums of money to release them. It's not like on studio owns these -- MITSURUGI was produced by Kokusai Hoei, but the rights could have been owned partially by them, and partially by the network which commissioned and ran the show. The rights issues for THUNDER MASK, for example, are entirely screwed up, which has made a video release impossible. SHIRO SHISHI KAMEN was finally released when Daiei was absorbed by the publishing (and filmmaking) giant Kadokawa -- somehow they untied (or cut) the knots.

[Xenorama ™]

i understand about that- WKRP is not being released until the music rights are cleared up (while crap like What's Happening! we can't get away from)- i was just looking at a purely monetary cost for the actual making (something like Spider-man costs about $1 to make).

anyway, i'm glad to have these here tapes or discs- now that i've watched a couple minutes i really will like getting captures done!

[August]

We really can't compare US and Japanese manufacturing, because of the much smaller market in Japan, compared to the US. While Sony/TriStar Home Video might press one million DVDs of SPIDER-MAN, Toei Video may only press 10,000-20,000 of KAMEN RIDER. The market is smaller, so the costs of production are higher, therefore, more obscure titles like MAJIN HUNTER MITSURUGI may only press thousands, not tens of thousands. All of this makes costs higher, especially if you are a third-party DVD Label, as is the case with something like MITSURUGI.

I'm not arguing with you that producing the physical DVDs are inexpensive, but its the rights, associated licenses, mastering and production costs, marketing and print runs, which determine the final costs to the licensee. Notice that all of these titles are extremely expensive by US standards? That's because they have to charge more to recoup their investment, based on the limited market for these old titles. Meanwhile, there have been some labels in Japan are putting out their own titles (films that they own outright or produced), like BLISTER and OWL'S CASTLE (both with English subs) for around 2500 Yen -- which is damned cheap. Warner Japan just released a line of Budget titles, like SAKUYA: SLAYER OF DEMONS, for an astonishing 980 Yen (approx. $8.95) each!

[Zone Fighter]

Get Smart hasn't been released because there was a disagreement about who has the rights to it. Apparently its been determined that HBO which did a new series in the 90s has the rights and Get Smart may be on DVD next year.

I'll see what I can do with that picture.