Battle Anthem / Nihonkai daikaisen: Umi yukaba (1983)

Battle Anthem gives Toshiro Mifune another opportunity to win the Battle of the Sea of Japan, but a lot has changed in Japanese movie-making and in the society as a whole since he first did so in 1969. Though Mifune reprises his role as Admiral Togo, the story of the battle now is told from …

Battle of the Sea of Japan / Nihonkai daikatsen (1969)

By the late sixties, a number of movies about WWII had appeared featuring heroic characters who had died early in the war – Yamamoto was an especially popular subject – and Toho Studio in particular was looking for ways to use its Godzilla trained special effects unit. After Storm Over the Pacific, they at last …

Retreat from Kiska / Taiheiyo kiseki no sakusen: Kisuka (1965)

If there are any people who know less about the WWII campaign in the Aleutian Islands than Americans themselves I haven't come across them, so any movie about the subject would be worth notice. But this is one of the most remarkable of all stories of World War II, for it deals with a Japanese …