EPISODES 1-4
(2001/JAPAN)
REVIEWED BY-STEVE GENIER DIRECTED BY-TOMOHARU KATSUMATAVOICE CASTING-TAISEI MIYAMOTO, KIYOSHI KAWAKUBO, NACHI NOZAWA and KATSUHIA HOUKI. SOURCE-ARTSMAGIC DVD NTSC R1/RUNTIME 105 MINUTES.(2005)
Yajima Kintaro the once feared leader of a motorcycle gang, has returned to town after a long absence. Upon his arrival he starts work as a normal white collared workers at a large construction company. At first he is frowned upon due to his past, and seen a quick failure to succeed as a salaryman. This all changes as Kintaro shows just what he is made of as he incorporates his awkward leadership abilities to shut a few mouths of his doubters. Of course his ways are rough and tumble, but the message can’t be ignored as the average salarymen begin to look up to him and his tactic.
Kintaro, who is widowed with a child, takes on a huge amount of new responsibility, but never stops forging forward. Remember this is the same former motorcycle gang leader who lead tens of thousands of devoted followers in search for those who raped his then girlfriend. Upon finding them, his message was a strong one, pointing out that there is only one woman for him and that is Akemi. Many of those followers would die for Kintaro as his has taught many of them a valuable lesson, something that he brings with him to his new life as a salaryman.
This popular Japanese anime is an excellent example of how talented and resourceful Japanese anime can really be. Incorporating the pitfalls that the everyday salarymen in Japanese must overcome to succeed in this dog eat dog society and way of life. Climbing the corporate leader there is much different then it is here, it’s based on respect, honor and sheer hard work, something that one would die if broken. The first four episodes in a 20 episode season, really convey not only a realistic message, but very powerful one as well. An explosive start for an explosive character such as Kintaro. The popularity of this anime has spawned I believe two more seasons afterward maybe another.
Laced with razor sharp action, straight laced storylines and dedicated subject matter, SALARYMAN KINTARO exhibits what we in the west have missed out on. Intelligent characters who carry out precise meaning to life situations that many of us can either learn from or at least relate too. This is all coupled with above average animation, something that is really important in attracting and keeping an audience. There’s no big surprise as to why Takashi Miike was so interested in remaking this in the live forum version.
The soon to be released DVD from Artsmagic presented in anamorphic wide-screen with Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Japanese audio with English subtitles. Both visually and sound wise this disc is quite good and is a vast improvement from the advanced print they sent out for early review. As for the disc’s extras we are treated to 2 interviews, the first being with director Tomoharo Katsumata which runs roughly about 6 minutes. The second interview is with producer Toru Nakano which runs about 7 minutes. Both interviews are exclusive to the Artsmagic release. Once again the disc houses the first 4 episodes to this animated series.
STORY-3 BITCH SLAPS PICTURE-4 BITCH SLAPS AUDIO-4 BITCH SLAPS EXTRAS-2.5 BITCH SLAPS OVERALL DVD-3 BITCH SLAPS
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