belts
black belt
director shunichi nagasaki and screenwriter george iida ponder the delicate balance between fierce confrontation and moral reflection as related to the realm of defensive martial arts in this thoughtful tale of two students divided by their disparate beliefs . the decade is the 1930s and the setting is a secluded dojo on the southernmost japanese island of kyushu . as watchful sensei eiken shibahara shinya ohwada reinforces the defensive aspect of the martial arts to his three most dedicated students a military police force led by the forebodingly stern captain tanahara hakuryu arrive to forcefully eject the peaceful group . the confrontation fast turning physical principled pupil giryu akihito yagi responds to the absurd orders by successfully defending himself against the grim faced captain . aggressive fellow student taikan tatsuya naka mocks giryus passive stance and after the officer wounds third student choei yuji suzuki giryu is left to die after being forced over a cliff . but giryu isnt out of the fight just yet because as the traitorous taikan teaches captain tanaharas men how to adopt martial arts for combative purposes the more traditional student is generously nursed back to health by a kind local family . later giryu and taikan clash in the ultimate battle of corruption versus tradition . jason buchanan rovi .
dvd rating not rated runtime 95 color media blasters inc. 02 10 2009
actors hakuryu taro suwa yuji suzuki akihito yagi tatsuya naka shinya ohwada takayasu komiya yasuto kosuda kenji anan masahiro sudo arashi fukasawa narumi konno aspect ratio widescreen created by stage pcm created date 2014 08 22 21 17 08.0 director shunichi nagasaki duration 95 dvd region code 1 languages japanese modified by stage pcm modified date 2015 03 27 19 37 08.0 mpaa rating not rated record label tokyo shock release date 1234224000000 studio & production company media blasters inc.