When Martial Arts swept movie theaters in the early ’70s, the first wave of films came from Hong Kong studios. But in 1974, Japan finally arrived with no holds barred karate of Sonny Chiba (born Sadaho Maeda with the Japanese stage name Chiba Shinichi) in The Street Fighter. He proved extremely popular with three other Street Fighter movies coming out that same year. The Sonny Chiba collection, Volume 2 contains 7 movies that he made between 1975 – 1978 when the Street Fighter films were still playing theaters around the world. Unlike in Hollywood where a leading man can pick and choose his projects upon reaching stardom, Chiba was on contract with Toei. The studio kept him busy. This meant he wasn’t always the star of films he made, but they knew his name on the poster was going to boost the box office. In 1975, Chibi was in nine different movies for the studio. Because Chiba struck it big with a character that was a badass, he didn’t get stuck always playing the good guy. This meant he could play edgier roles without ruining a squeaking clean image the kids expect. The Sonny Chiba collection, Volume 2 shows how the actor could play characters of different attitudes and screentime during his post-Street Fighter years.
The Defensive Power of Akido (1975 – 81:48) is about the creation of a new martial arts style. Instead of being used to beat your opponents into submission, Akido flips them away. Mori Ueshiba (Kamen Rider vs. Ambassador Hell‘s Jirō Chiba) lives in the far North of Japan and studies Ju Jitsu. He is a good fighter, but one night a kid runs into his business looking for a place to hide. He’d been sold into slavery for 20 Yen. When goonish workers arrive to retrieve their “employee,” Mori ends up getting into a fight. He’s able to handle them until Shinbei Natori (Sonny Chiba) steps into the fray. Shinbei’s karate skills are too much. Besides beating Mori, Shinbei causes a serious injury to a woman in the room. The film follows Mori’s journey to learning different martial arts styles as he puts together Akido moves and philosophy. Shinbei spends most of his screen time helping his female victim get medical help for what he’s done to her. Why would Sonny Chiba take a lesser role in this film? Because Jirō Yabuki is his younger brother. Do have to wonder how rough things really got when the two siblings faced off in the opening of the film. Brothers do enjoy tussling. The duo does a fine job playing historical figures that weren’t siblings.
13 Steps of Maki: The Young Aristocrats (1975 – 78:02) reunites Sonny Chiba with his Sister Street Fighter star Etsuko Shihomi. Like their first film, Shihomi is the major star with Chiba in a supporting role. Maki (Shihomi) and her all girl gang The Wild Cats aren’t willing to back down from anyone including mobsters. You can always tell where Maki is during a giant fight since she wears shirts with giant 13s on them. At the start of the film, the girls are beating up mobsters on a strip club stage as the audience somehow thinks this is part of the show. The gang gets in serious trouble when they bury the wrong woman up to her neck at the beach. This leads to them being busted up and Maki sentenced to prison. But is she really going to just do her time? You might at first wonder, “Where’s Sonny Chiba?” He has a vital cameo appearance. You’ll be blown away by Shihomi’s moves to care if Sonny will come back before the end credits. There’s a lot going on in the film with the girl gang, martial arts fights, Yakuza action and prison angle. Yet nothing feels overly rushed in the 78 minutes. This is the only film about Maki so enjoy her wild spirit and bone snapping moves.
Karate Warriors (1976 – 88:54) has Shuhei Sakata (Chiba) wander into a port town and finds himself in the middle of a gang war over a massive drug shipment. Luckily, Sakata is a Karate master who isn’t going to let a bunch of hired thugs push him around. He befriends a boy and discovers his father is a kenjutsu master. Can these two men clean up the town so that the boy can grow up in a nice place? Or will both men be conflicted when the local mobsters attempt to enlist them in their battle? This is a great film although having a small kid with a yellow baseball cap makes me flashback to “Kenny” in the Gamera movies. Even with the child angle, this is not a kid-oriented movie. Sonny Chiba busts heads and slices up torsos with his samurai sword. This is a bit too much for a small kid should see.
The Great Okinawa Yakuza War (1976 -95:29) takes us to the time when the US government gave back control of Okinowa to Japan in the early ’70s. The sleazy places that surrounded the U.S. military bases have to deal with this handover of power. Turns out a few of the major Japanese gangs want to branch out into this returned land. Masataka Kunigami (Chiba) is a brutish figure that has no desire to work with new mobsters. A lot of blood flows on the streets for control of the underworld. The narrative mixes the dramatics with headlines explaining the power struggle that real had taken place only a few years before the film was made. Part of this resembles an entry in the Battles Without Honor or Humanity series that Toei also produced and featured Chiba in a supporting role.
Karate For Life (1977 – 90:10) is actually the final film of a trilogy starring Chiba as the legendary fighter Mas Oyama. The first two films Champion of Death and Karate Bear Fighter had him fighting a bear and a bull. This one starts with him just challenging members of dojos. Oyama is a ball of rage. He ends up running up a large restaurant tab since beating up karate students isn’t a big money raiser. However, he gets a strange offer to come down to Okinawa to be part of a wrestling show along with a legendary Judo champ. He thinks he gets to fight for real. Turns out it’s pro wrestling near the U.S. Military base. During this time, Okinawa was occupied and not a part of Japan. The troops thrill to seeing wrestlers from America come over and beat up local Japanese fighters. Oyama isn’t ready to constantly take dives since the other wrestlers play rough. His attitude doesn’t go over well with the fans who riot when the Japanese challengers win. Oyama pisses off the local mobsters who run the matches. Making things difficult is that he’s now finding himself attracted to a woman who has been forced into prostitution. He’s not a solitary fighting man. The fight scenes in this are intense and nasty. He even has a battle with a familiar face from The Street Fighter series. I’m not sure why the first two films are missing, but you don’t feel like you’re missing anything. Karate For Life exists on its own terms.
Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon (1977 – 92:34) brings Sonny Chiba to Hong Kong as a high paid assassin. Golgo 13 (Chiba) is hired by American mobsters to go into Hong Kong to take out a local mobster who is screwing up their operations. A detective Dirk Chang Smith (Man On The Brink‘s Callan Leung) is out to stop Golgo 13 since he’d struck a previous Smith assignment. He’s also been building up a case to finally bring the local mobster to justice and doesn’t want it all snuffed out by Golgo 13’s bullet. This is a bit of a super spy film adapted from a manga. Chiba is extra badass on the screen as he does things like shoot people’s eyes out. Chiba is as deadly with a high-powered rifle as with his bare hands.
The Okinawan War of Ten Years (1978 – 101:38) brings us back to the island for the third time. This film takes place in 1974 after the U.S. returns the island to Japan. The local mobsters are still trying to band together to keep the mainland gangs from Tokyo, Yokohama and other cities from setting up shop. The U.S. military base is still open, but with the war in Vietnam ending, there’s not as much G.I. cash to be earned from booze, drugs and hookers. Chiba plays a gangster with a beard and family. He’s a calmer gangster than his character in The Great Okinawa Yakuza War. That doesn’t mean he’s not ready to beatdown anyone who crosses his path such as a mainlander mobster on his turf. He does lose it when his crew is treated like dirt by a Mainland Yakuza group. The war between the mobsters elevates as money gets tougher on the island. This is a top-notch performance by Chiba especially when he’s trying to keep his family safe for the impending underworld war.
The Sonny Chiba Collection, Volume 2 gives us seven films that show how the action actor could dominate the screen no matter how much time he spent up there. His one scene in 13 Steps of Maki makes an impact. None of the seven films have English audio dubs so it seems these films weren’t imported to America to take advantage of The Street Fighter buzz. If you got into Sonny Chiba through his triple feature cameo in True Romance or his acting in Kill Bill, you need to see more of his cinematic legacy. The Sonny Chiba Collection, Volume 2 is a boxset filled with the toughness of Sonny Chiba and also a touch of his softer side.
The Video is 2.35:1 anamorphic for all the films. The transfers look great so you’ll see how much pain Sonny Chiba can deliver in a fight. The Audio is Japanese DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono for all seven films. English subtitles are provided for all the movies.
Audio Commentary of Karate For Life by Brian Bankston gives us all the background on trilogy and the background of the series. He knows his pro wrestling history and gives us background on what was going on in the squared circle. This was all based on a Manga.
Audio Commentary of Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon by Brian Bankston gets into how the manga character made it to the screen. This was the second film although the original had a different actor and was made in Iran before the overthrow of the Shah.
Audio Commentary for Karate Warriors by Chris Porggiali and Marc Walkow has them get into Sonny Chiba and his co-stars.
Trailer for The Defensive Power of Akido (3:17) introduces us to the founders of the form that will be in the film as characters. This is a battle between Karate and Akido. They slip in a musical que from The Street Fighter.
Trailer for Karate Warriors (2:45) sets up the ruthless gang action.
Trailer for The Okinawan War of Ten Years (3:17) sets up the gangs fighting each other and the Japanese cops.
Shout! Studios present The Sonny Chiba Collection, Volume 2. Starring Sonny Chiba & Etsuko Shihomi. Boxset Contents: 7 movies on 4 Blu-ray discs. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: November 14, 2023.
