BATTLES WITHOUT HONOR AND HUMANITY - Arrow

[Oscar Rothman]

Battles Without Honour and Humanity Blu-ray PRE-ORDER



NEW UK/US TITLE ANNOUNCEMENT: BATTLES WITHOUT HONOR AND HUMANITY DUAL FORMAT BD & DVD [Limited Edition]

Battles Without Honor & Humanity - this seminal series of epic gangsterism told with gritty realism plays like a head-spinning fusion of Martin Scorsese and Paul Greengrass! This Limited Edition collections features Kinji Fukasaku’s (BATTLE ROYALE) original five films in the series with brand new extras, the never-before-seen in the west ‘Complete Saga’ and a 150-page hardback book! Limited to just 2000 copies (UK) and 3000 copies (USA). Individual editions of each of the five films (the Saga and book remain exclusive to this collection) will become available in 2016!

Pre-order your UK copy here: http://www.arrowfilms.co.uk/shop/ind...product_id=605

North American pre-orders links should be live soon!

UK Release Date: 16th November 2015
US Release Date: 17th November 2015
Region: A+B/1+2

Kinji Fukasaku (Battle Royale) gave the world Japan’s answer to The Godfather with this violent yakuza saga, influencing filmmakers from Quentin Tarantino (Kill Bill, Reservoir Dogs) to Takashi Miike (Graveyard of Honor, Audition). Made within just two years, the five-film series brought a new kind of realism and ferocity to the crime genre in Japan, revitalizing the industry and leading to unprecedented commercial and critical success.

Literally exploding onscreen with a mushroom cloud, and ending with Hiroshima’s A-bomb Dome, the epic story of Battles Without Honor and Humanity follows over 100 characters through twenty years of gang wars, alliances, betrayals, and assassinations, in an exciting exploration of criminal power and politics in Japan. In the opening episode, ex-soldier Shozo Hirono escapes from the post-war black markets to become a key member of the Yamamori gang, but soon finds himself disillusioned by the selfish duplicity of his bosses. Hiroshima Death Match focuses on a demobilized kamikaze pilot drifting through the early 1950’s, whose suicidal impulses find good use as a mob assassin. Proxy War and Police Tactics form a labyrinthine, two-part story of ambition and betrayal set against Japan’s rapid economic growth of the 1960’s, with Shozo caught between warring factions. Final Episode concludes the series in the 1970’s as the former Yamamori gang transforms itself into an economic conglomerate called the Tensei Group, in a bid for mainstream respectability.

Fukasaku and his team broke with the longstanding studio tradition of casting marquee idols as honorable, kimono-clad heroes, defending their gang bosses against unscrupulous villains, and instead adapted true accounts torn from the headlines, shot in a documentary-like style, and with few clear-cut heroes or villains. The vibrancy and dynamism of the filmmaking, plus its shocking violence, Shakespearean plotlines, and wide tapestry of characters, launched a revolutionary new genre, establishing the series as one of the great masterpieces of world crime cinema.

LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
•Limited Edition Blu-ray Collection
•High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation of all five original films
•Original Mono audio (uncompressed PCM on the Blu-rays)
•Optional English subtitles for all five films
•Remembering Kinji – a new featurette about director Kinji Fukasaku and his work, featuring interviews with Kenta Fukasaku and film critic and Fukasaku biographer Sadao Yamane
•Secrets of the Piranha Army – a new documentary about the troupe of supporting actors who appeared throughout the series, featuring new interviews with original Piranha members Masaru Shiga and Takashi Noguchi, plus second-generation Piranha, Takashi Nishina and Akira Murota
•All the Bad Guys – a new, comprehensive video guide to the actors in the films
•Fukasaku Family – a new interview with Proxy War and Police Tactics assistant director Toru Dobashi
•Man of Action – a new interview with series fight choreographer Ryuzo Ueno
•Tales of a Bit Player – a new interview with supporting actor and stuntman Seizo Fukumoto
•Last Days of the Boss – a new interview with Final Episode screenwriter Koji Takada
•Yakuza Graveyard – a new interview with Takashi Miike about Kinji Fukasaku and the yakuza film genre
•Original trailers for the series
•Original poster gallery for the series
•Limited Edition packaging and reversible sleeves for all five films including original and newly commissioned artwork by Reinhard Kleist

THE COMPLETE SAGA [LIMITED EDITION EXCLUSIVE]
•English-subtitled premiere of the 224-minute compilation edition of the first four films, previously screened only as part of a limited Japanese theatrical release in 1980 and on the Toei cable channel
• Introduction by Complete Saga editorial supervisor Toru Dobashi

THE YAKUZA PAPERS [LIMITED EDITION EXCLUSIVE]
•150-page hardback book featuring writing on the history of the yakuza film genre, the background and continuing importance of the Battles series, and additional essays on the men who made them, including a newly-reprinted and fully annotated edition of Paul Schrader's classic 1974 Film Comment essay Yakuza-Eiga: A Primer, a new, exclusive English translation of screenwriter Kazuo Kasahara’s 1974 Scenario magazine essay on his writing process for the first four films, as well as new essays and interviews from critics and authors Chris D., Grady Hendrix, Patrick Macias, Tom Mes, Mark Schilling, and Jasper Sharp.

UK LIMITED TO 2000 COPIES
US LIMITED TO 3000 COPIES

link

[grahams76]

Will these be released separately like the Corman/Poe films were?

[Yami]

Originally Posted by grahams76

Will these be released separately like the Corman/Poe films were?

Yeah, they're going to be released separately in 2016. 'The Complete Saga' and the book are exclusive to the box.

[logboy]

don't want to be too down on the set - it's got an excellent set of people behind it - but i'm torn because it's a familiar series of films when i prefer things i've not seen; 'abashiri prison' series would have been nice. and i've never been one for extras. also seems a little geared towards collectors of the arrow label or speculators cashing in on the limited run. would hope individual releases would be there at the same time, because the whole "single releases will come down the line" thing is annoying and unreliable.

[Fabs]

Originally Posted by Yami

Yeah, they're going to be released separately in 2016. 'The Complete Saga' and the book are exclusive to the box.

Cool. Definitely will have to buy the first film then.

[Huseyin]

Ordered this and I can;t wait for these beauties!!!

[Ray_Rogers]

I'm gonna wait for individual releases or a boxset where the main 5 films have Blu-ray only. No sense in myself having PAL DVDs I can't sell here in the US of A where I live.
Course I already posted in the USA side of the forum but as with all of ARROWs releases, I'll be buying the source Blu-ray from the native country.
UK all the way!

EDIT: I used to own the HVe NTSC Boxset way back before Blu-ray was reality but I sold it long ago. Glad The Yakuza Papers are being released by ARROW UK.

[Yami]

Originally Posted by Ray_Rogers

I'm gonna wait for individual releases or a boxset where the main 5 films have Blu-ray only. No sense in myself having PAL DVDs I can't sell here in the US of A where I live.
Course I already posted in the USA side of the forum but as with all of ARROWs releases, I'll be buying the source Blu-ray from the native country.
UK all the way!

EDIT: I used to own the HVe NTSC Boxset way back before Blu-ray was reality but I sold it long ago. Glad The Yakuza Papers are being released by ARROW UK.

Arrow DVDs are NTSC by the way.

[NLScavenger]

I've never seen these films, but I'll get the individual releases next year. I hope Arrow will release Fukkatsu no Hi (Virus) in the future.

[Bad Sandwich]

Well yes, *naturally* this is announced shortly after I finally get around to splurging on the long-OOP U.S. DVD set!

[Eibon]

I have the metalslip HVe set too but it does have exclusive extras so it's worth keeping anyhow.

[Huseyin]

I think Arrow are doing such a good job with their Yakuza movie releases! Absolutely killing it! Hoping they release a Zatoichi set one day!

[CrockettandTubbs]

Originally Posted by Huseyin

I think Arrow are doing such a good job with their Yakuza movie releases! Absolutely killing it! Hoping they release a Zatoichi set one day!

The ultimate

[Show spoiler]blind buy! (sorry)

I think the Criterion Zatoichi collection boxset would be hard to top:

[Moj]

Originally Posted by CrockettandTubbs

The ultimate

[Show spoiler]blind buy! (sorry)

I think the Criterion Zatoichi collection boxset would be hard to top:

Well, that boxset is missing nearly a 100 hours worth of Zatoichi content. The last episodes of the television series were even directed by Hiroshi Teshigahara. So, I'd argue it's pretty incomplete.

[Huseyin]

Originally Posted by Moj

Well, that boxset is missing nearly a 100 hours worth of Zatoichi content. The last episodes of the television series were even directed by Hiroshi Teshigahara. So, I'd argue it's pretty incomplete.

As much as i'm tempted by it, I prefer to buy from UK publishers. I try to support them as much as possible.

[Blu2u]

Originally Posted by Moj

Well, that boxset is missing nearly a 100 hours worth of Zatoichi content. The last episodes of the television series were even directed by Hiroshi Teshigahara. So, I'd argue it's pretty incomplete.

Arrow already released the final film on DVD. The only film the Criterion set is missing...but yes, the TV series would be excellent.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by Moj

Well, that boxset is missing nearly a 100 hours worth of Zatoichi content. The last episodes of the television series were even directed by Hiroshi Teshigahara. So, I'd argue it's pretty incomplete.

Pretty ridiculous to expect it to have the television series included. The only reasonable omission one could find fault with is the 1989 Zatoichi film. That would be the entirety of the classic Zatoichi film series.

[Moj]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Pretty ridiculous to expect it to have the television series included. The only reasonable omission one could find fault with is the 1989 Zatoichi film. That would be the entirety of the classic Zatoichi film series.

The film series flows into the television series, which was a more viable medium because of the dire state of the Japanese film industry at the time. It's not like the Lone Wolf and Cub film series and the television show, which are completely different. The difference between film and television series might be the most arbitrary distinction here. Katsu still stars, and the production values are pretty much identical, despite the aspect ratio change. They're as absolutely essential as any of the later film entries.

It's unreasonable from a monetary perspective, but hardly ridiculous. Including the television series makes more sense than the 80s reboot. Hell, at least include the two episodes by Hiroshi Teshigahara that cap-stoned the entire Zatoichi series.

[MichaelB]

Originally Posted by Yami

Arrow DVDs are NTSC by the way.

If they're UK-only releases, they're PAL.

If they're simultaneous US releases, they're NTSC - so this will obviously be the case with Battles Without Honour and Humanity.

There are a handful of titles released in the US some time after the UK editions, so with those the UK edition is PAL and the US one is NTSC - off the top of my head, we're talking Pit Stop, Spider Baby, Stray Cat Rock, Immoral Tales, The Beast and Blind Woman's Curse. Mark of the Devil also had a staggered release, but that one is NTSC on both sides of the Atlantic because Arrow had already decided to extend to the US when it was released.

[ravenus]

If NTSC works fine for dual-territory releases, why not also use it for UK-only? That way, people can import it without having to wonder if all content will play on their systems? Is this a legal requirement or technically preferable to produce stuff in PAL?