Kenji Sonoda
Also Known As: 園田健二
Biography: Biography not available
Department: Acting
Place of Birth: Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Birthday: March 16, 1927
Adult: No
Gender: Male
Popularity:
Known For:
Watch Out, Crimson Bat!
Overview: A young female samurai comes upon a dying messenger and agrees to deliver the scroll he was carrying to its destination. However, unbeknownst to her, the scroll is actually a formula for a new kind of gunpowder. An evil clan that is planning to overthrow the Emperor is also after the scroll, and they try to take it from her.
Genres: Drama Action Adventure
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1969-10-01
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Crimson Bat - Oichi: Wanted, Dead or Alive
Overview: Oichi the Blind helps a woman escape the clutches of a high government official to go off with the man she loves. The official puts a reward on her head of fifty gold pieces and soon a menagerie of bounty hunters are after her skin. Three of them band together to accomplish this, one an expert swordsman, another a huge judo master and the third is deadly with a chain. To escape, she heads for the fishing town of Itso but soon comes face to face with Sankuro, the swordsman...
Genres: Action Adventure Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1970-04-08
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The X from Outer Space
Overview: The spaceship AAB-Gamma is dispatched from FAFC headquarters in Japan to make a landing on the planet Mars and investigate reports of UFOs in the area. As they near the red planet, they encounter a mysterious UFO that coats the ship's hull with unusual spores. Taking one of the specimens back to earth, it soon develops and grows into a giant chicken-lizard-alien monster that tramples Japan.
Genres: Science Fiction Horror
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1967-03-25
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The Performers
Overview: Seijuro Fujihana, head master of the Fujihana dance school, is a proud and lonely artist. And because of his character, his group lacks the prosperity of others. He wishes his daughter Kasumi, gifted like himself, to take over and develop the Fujihana, but she wishes to marry Hiroshi, head of a jazz band which her father opposes. Kisaburo, Seijuro's No.1 disciple, wants to marry Kasumi and take over the Fujihana with the backing of the chairman of the supporters' association.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1970-01-15
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Black Lizard
Overview: A detective tries to outwit a jewel thief who has kidnapped the daughter of a jeweler to get to an exquisite diamond.
Genres: Crime
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1968-08-14
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The Last Samurai
Overview: The film follows the story of Sugi Toranosuke, a ronin, who returns to his home town of Edo many years after his attempted suicide as a sickly child. Rescued and adopted by a master swordsman, he has grown into a master swordsman and a very kind gentleman. The time is around 1868 the year that the nails were finally put into the coffin containing the feudal system that nurtured and sustained the samurai. Sugi is confused and unsure about what is happening but his teacher wants him out of the chaos of the multiple power struggles between the various clans.
Genres: Drama Action
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1974-09-20
Popularity:
The Beauty in the Bathroom
Overview: Original work: The second installment of Edogawa Rampage's Inference Masterpiece series, which began airing on Asahi TV in the second half of the 1970s and gained popularity. Famous actor Tian Zhimao plays detective wise Kogoro. A magician who targets the Yucun family, who obtain huge wealth through gemstones. Even the wise Kogoro was fooled by his meticulous criminal plan
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1978-01-07
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It's a Psychic, Gather Everyone!
Overview:
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1974-08-03
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Kyūjin ryokō
Overview: 1962 Japanese movie
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-08-12
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Gamblers' Luck
Overview: A group of ne'er-do-wells live happily in the slums of what is now Tokyo and have a number of adventures: they get drunk and go whoring, revenge themselves on cruel landlords, animate the corpse of a money-lender in order to frighten people. Then they assist at the marriage of a lovely girl and almost kill themselves gambling to provide her with a dowry.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1966-03-19
Popularity:
Namida no hanamichi
Overview: Nakamura Yukinojō, Edo's most popular actor, discovered that his parent's enemy, Ohara Genba, had changed his name to Isshiki Kurōnosuke and become a hatamoto, a direct retainer of the shogun. Yukinojō's younger brother, Shingorō, traveling to Edo from their hometown, helped the town boy Kiyohē and his daughter Michi from troublemakers led by Kumosuke. This act led to a reunion with Yukinojō through the assistance of their associate, Daisaburō.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1956-02-19
Popularity:
Confronting Fear
Overview: Former boxer Goro Kawasaki was attacked by the organizer of the fights for knocking out his opponent because he could not stand the fight. He is being released from prison, where he was imprisoned on charges of causing bodily harm. He meets his younger brother Fumio, who is going to become a boxer and dreams of owning his own car repair shop. Goro tries to help Fumio, but is refused. At this time, the boss of the underworld, whom Goro met in prison, is released, and this escalates into a confrontation involving Goro and Fumio.
Genres: Crime Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1958-07-20
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悪魔の顔
Overview:
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1957-07-09
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Miyamoto Musashi
Overview: In Part I we see the young would-be swordsman setting out to achieve greatness in war, achieving nothing because fighting on the losing side, & then beginning his long period of wandering & training, with the goal always in mind of his duel with Kojiro. Part II builds toward that great duel on Ganryu Island, with considerable focus on Musashi's planning & forethought as to how to gain an advantage.
Genres: Drama Action
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1973-07-13
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Samurai Spy
Overview: Years of warfare end in a Japan unified under the Tokugawa shogunate, and samurai spy Sasuke Sarutobi, tired of conflict, longs for peace. When a high-ranking spy named Tatewaki Koriyama defects from the shogun to a rival clan, however, the world of swordsmen is thrown into turmoil. After Sasuke is unwittingly drawn into the conflict, he tracks Tatewaki, while a mysterious, white-hooded figure seems to hunt them both. By tale’s end, no one is who they seemed to be, and the truth is far more personal than anyone suspected. Director Masahiro Shinoda’s Samurai Spy, filled with clan intrigue, ninja spies, and multiple double crosses, marks a bold stylistic departure from swordplay film convention.
Genres: Action Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1965-07-10
Popularity:
Journey Into Solitude
Overview: Bored with her school life, a 16-year-old student leaves home to take a trip along the Pacific Ocean. After meeting with a theatre group she falls sick and is rescued by a fisherman with who she shares her life with.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1972-10-28
Popularity:
Blackmail Is My Life
Overview: Though he has come from a rough background on the streets, Muraki quickly rises through the ranks by means of his well-honed blackmailing instincts. Desperate to keep rolling with his freewheeling lifestyle, Muraki sees his luck begin to crumble when he sets his sights on the business partners of a powerful gang boss.
Genres: Thriller Crime Drama Action
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1968-02-28
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Human Target
Overview: At midnight, Yamabe, a killer, escapes from prison. Two years before, bribed by a narcotic smuggler, Yamabe killed a real estate broker. As he was being arrested by detective Negoro, the detective's bullet struck Sakuko, Yamabe's girl friend who attempted to protect him, and crippled her. When Yamabe was sent to prison, Negoro cared for her and they fell in love. Sakuko asked him to marry her, but Negoro was reluctant to take the killer's sweetheart from him. Learning of the relationship of his girl friend and the detective, Yamabe had pledged revenge.
Genres: Crime
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1971-09-15
Popularity:
Tora-san's Grand Scheme
Overview: After winning big at the races, Torajiro Kuruma wants to take his aunt and uncle on a trip to Hawaii to partly pay the great filial debt he feels he owes them, but the plan hits a snag. Also, a pretty kindergarten teacher rents a room at Toraya.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1970-02-26
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By a Man's Face Shall You Know Him
Overview: Immigrant gangs terrorize a Japanese town with their threats, loud jazz, and tasteless fashion sense, and only the tough but suave Dr. Amamiya (Ando) can stop them, as long as he gets rid of his silly peace-loving ideals.
Genres: Crime
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1966-03-23
Popularity:
Rebellion of Japan
Overview: Suzuko, a woman in her twenties who has a brother with political problems (due to communist reprisals), lives for over five years in a love affair with Tate who's a young lieutenant in the Army, ultimately becoming a right-wing fundamentalist revolutionary. She marries another man, one totally dedicated to the rigorous practices of Noh theatre, in an arranged marriage, but the bond that connects her with Tate is too strong.
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1967-01-14
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Outlaw Cop
Overview: A bad cop is engaged in a violent chase to catch a yakuza boss. In his absence his wife runs away with another man, who turns out to be the very same man that her husband is hunting. Once he discovers this, he loses his nerve and turns in his badge. But the chase turns into a personal vendetta where the ex-cop plans to wipe out the entire gang.
Genres: Action
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1976-02-04
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Rainbow Over Paris
Overview: A young composer falls in love with the beautiful daughter of a wealthy company president and flies to Paris when he learns she is studying music there. But, when he finally wins her after many difficulties, he somehow feels empty, because his spirit has always been aroused against barriers before him.
Genres: Drama Music
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1970-03-18
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Beyond the Rainbow
Overview: One day an innocent-looking girl in white clothes appears on board of a ramshackle boat The owner of the boat, Okin, decides to let Mari stay with him without asking her any questions. Turmoil ensues with the reaction of the crew when the runaway girl starts working alongside with them.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1972-09-29
Popularity:
The Adventures of Chuji
Overview: Chuji Kunisada runs into strange adventures which tests his skill as a samurai as he untangles intrigue and murder against the backdrop of the majestic Mount Akagi.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1957-07-01
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