Japanese pop culture is full of monsters, robots and aliens but there aren't very many human superheroes or supervillains, especially in the arena of film. Into that gap in the market swings K-20: The Legend of the Black Mask.
Today sees the movie brought to DVD and Blu-ray by Manga Entertainment, following its release in cinemas in December 2008. A trailer and full synopsis are included below.
Written and directed by Shimako Sato, and based on the novel by So Kitamura, the release is described by DVD Talk as "a Japanese steampunk superhero origin tale presented with all the bombast of a glossy Hollywood blockbuster."
Riffing on period crimefighter movies such as The Shadow, The Rocketeer and The Phantom while giving more than a passing nod to contemporary comic book movies such as V for Vendetta, Batman Begins and Spider-Man, the effects-laden action flick centres on an unlikely hero forced to...
Today sees the movie brought to DVD and Blu-ray by Manga Entertainment, following its release in cinemas in December 2008. A trailer and full synopsis are included below.
Written and directed by Shimako Sato, and based on the novel by So Kitamura, the release is described by DVD Talk as "a Japanese steampunk superhero origin tale presented with all the bombast of a glossy Hollywood blockbuster."
Riffing on period crimefighter movies such as The Shadow, The Rocketeer and The Phantom while giving more than a passing nod to contemporary comic book movies such as V for Vendetta, Batman Begins and Spider-Man, the effects-laden action flick centres on an unlikely hero forced to...
- 1/10/2011
- by David Bentley
- The Geek Files
Christmas is over, the sales are slowing down, and the studios have rolled out all their big new releases this week. So while you’re out trying to spend the last of our vochurs, why not check out this weeks new DVD and Blu-ray releases:
The Girl Who Played With Fire: Hot on the heels of the ‘Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ comes the sequel, ‘The Girl who played with Fire’. The new film sees Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) and crusading journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) once again caught up in a brutal murder investigation. Having served his prison sentence, Blomkvist returns to Millennium intent on exposing a billion dollar sex trafficking ring. When two of his researchers are murdered, Salander is framed for the murders and emerges as the police’s chief suspect. Unconvinced, Blomkvist attempts to track her down and find out the truth, but secretive hacker...
The Girl Who Played With Fire: Hot on the heels of the ‘Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ comes the sequel, ‘The Girl who played with Fire’. The new film sees Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) and crusading journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) once again caught up in a brutal murder investigation. Having served his prison sentence, Blomkvist returns to Millennium intent on exposing a billion dollar sex trafficking ring. When two of his researchers are murdered, Salander is framed for the murders and emerges as the police’s chief suspect. Unconvinced, Blomkvist attempts to track her down and find out the truth, but secretive hacker...
- 1/10/2011
- by Kat
- Nerdly
Truthfully, I hadn’t heard of Shimako Sato’s 2008 caped crusader epic “K-20: The Fiend with Twenty Faces” until today. A friend inquired about the film’s upcoming release, of which I knew next to absolutely nothing about. From what I understand, distributor Viz Media will bring the picture to Region 1 DVD on April 20th, which is good news for those who have been patiently awaiting its arrival. Considering I’m a sucker for high-concept action flicks, this sounds like something I’d probably enjoy. Imagine that. Here’s a detailed synopsis, courtesy of Nippon Cinema: K-20 takes place in an alternate version of 1949 Japan in which World War II never happened and the Japanese capital of Teito has become home to a dichotomy consisting of the ultra rich upper class and the dirt poor masses. The city is thrown into a state of panic when a phantom thief called...
- 4/9/2010
- by Todd
- Beyond Hollywood
Us distributor Viz Pictures will finally be releasing Shimako Sato's K-20: The Fiend With Twenty Faces (K-20: Kaijin Niju Menso Den, 2008) on DVD on April 20th. The company picked up rights to the film last summer and it has since been screened at several major film festivals as well as Viz's own theater in San Francisco's Japantown. To celebrate the DVD's release, they'll be holding a special theatrical screening at Viz Cinema on April 20th at 7:00pm. For full details, see this link.
K-20 takes place in an alternate version of 1949 Japan in which World War II never happened and the Japanese capital of Teito has become home to a dichotomy consisting of the ultra rich upper class and the dirt poor masses. The city is thrown into a state of panic when a phantom thief called "The Fiend (Kaijin) with 20 Faces" begins to use his mysterious...
K-20 takes place in an alternate version of 1949 Japan in which World War II never happened and the Japanese capital of Teito has become home to a dichotomy consisting of the ultra rich upper class and the dirt poor masses. The city is thrown into a state of panic when a phantom thief called "The Fiend (Kaijin) with 20 Faces" begins to use his mysterious...
- 4/8/2010
- Nippon Cinema
Many thanks to regular reader Raku for spotting this one and loading it into the Twitch Player ...
We’ve been greatly anticipating the arrival of Shimako Sato’s K-20 since first catching wind of it a good while back and the full theatrical trailer has just arrived. The verdict? Looking great. The film is set in an alternate future and revolves around a somewhat modified take on classic Edogawa Rampo character, the Fiend With Twenty Faces. Takeshi Kaneshiro stars as a gymnast police believe is the notorious Fiend who must catch the real fiend to prove his own innocence. Always director Takashi Yamazaki provides all the special effects in this one and the footage in the trailer looks every bit as impressive as you’d expect from Yamazaki.
Set in an alternate world where ninety percent of Japan’s wealth is controlled by a small sliver of the aristocracy, the...
We’ve been greatly anticipating the arrival of Shimako Sato’s K-20 since first catching wind of it a good while back and the full theatrical trailer has just arrived. The verdict? Looking great. The film is set in an alternate future and revolves around a somewhat modified take on classic Edogawa Rampo character, the Fiend With Twenty Faces. Takeshi Kaneshiro stars as a gymnast police believe is the notorious Fiend who must catch the real fiend to prove his own innocence. Always director Takashi Yamazaki provides all the special effects in this one and the footage in the trailer looks every bit as impressive as you’d expect from Yamazaki.
Set in an alternate world where ninety percent of Japan’s wealth is controlled by a small sliver of the aristocracy, the...
- 8/29/2008
- by Todd Brown
- Screen Anarchy
I've been watching this site for a while and luckily a trailer just dropped. It looks utterly fantastic as it's set in an alternate 1949 and it looks somewhat noirish with some fantastic production design. "The story is set in 1949 in the fictional capital city of Teito, where aristocrats monopolize most of the wealth. K-20, a mysterious man with the ability to change his appearance frequently targets the rich for his theft. One day he manages to trick police into thinking a circus acrobat named Heikichi Endo (Takeshi Kaneshiro) is the real criminal, leaving it up to Endo to escape jail and prove his innocence. Meanwhile K-20 targets his next victim, Yoko Hashiba (Takako Matsu)—an heiress whose fiancé is Kogoro Akechi (Toru Nakamura), the famous detective who arrested Endo. But Endo still has a score to settle, and picks a fight with K-20." It'll be dropping in Japan on December 20th.
- 8/28/2008
- QuietEarth.us
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