Is there a reason why Shogun Assassin is not available on DVD in R1? Why do some people think that it will never be released?

Honestly, why wouldn't it be released?

As featured in Kill Bill 2 of course!

There's an uncut pretty good Region 0 disc available in the UK. Dirt cheap from www.amazon.co.uk (-tax)

UK buyers can get it from www.play.com for £3.99.

I wonder if Quentin owns the UK disc?

I don't know but I recently found out that SA is a compilation of two movies of a 6 part TV series that aired in 1972. I've started buying them. I ordered the first two from Animeigo to get the box but will order the rest from DDD.

I'd think Tarantino would more likely actually own a print of the film

dvdsoon has the best prices BY FAR for lone wolf and cub: the films are 19.99-23.99 Canadian each with free shipping worldwide.

DDD sells them for about $1.50 less than dvdsoon, but DDD only has 4 out of the 6.

Well they were the best prices at 19.99 canadian, but all the films have been increased to a price of 22.99 within the last 2 or 3 weeks.
Seeing as I am an international, dvdsoon is best for me because its free shipping worldwide whereas ddd is only free for US addresses.

I got the entire Lone Wolf & Cub series on dvd at ddd as they came, they go in and out of stock there, but maybe you could email them and request the first two.

For fans of the series, you can order a "free" box to hold the series from the publisher at www.animeigo.com. Just $4.95 shipping and handling if you get it by itself, you don't need to purchase the dvds from them to get it. They ship it to you flat and you have to fold it together yourself. They look quite nice in the box.

I think the Shogun Assassin cut is kind of a waste, but a lot of people got their first exposure to the series from it, so hopefully it'll get a release some day. However I personally don't really see the point of a film that is actually two 90 minute movies edited into a single 90 minute movie, dubbed, and rescored with disco music.

As for why it wouldn't be released, probably a rights problem. Unless Animeigo owns all the rights and just doesn't want to.

Just go buy the first 2 Lone Wolf and Cub movies...their so much better in the original form anyway...

But, is this what appeared in Kill Bill 2? Is the little American boy's commentary part of the original films?

So I"m confused. I've wanted tos ee this movie for a long time, ever since I heard that opening line on a Wu Tang CD (the same one Kill Bill used).

Which one do I buy?

If you want the real Shogun Assassin...watch the Lone Wolf and Cub movies...

Yeah, get these 6 Lone Wolf & Cub movies and you'll get all of Shogun Assasin (actually everthing in SA is in LW&C 1&2). So you get a whole lot more and you won't have to put up with SA's bad dub:

I'll post a short recap of the history of this movie(s) to try and clear it up...There was a japanese comic series called Lone Wolf & Cub. It was adapted into a series of six feature films.

For US distribution at the time, someone decided to cut the first two films in the series together into one film, Shogun Assassin. So basically half the footage of each was cut out. The film was dubbed and rescored with more contemporary music(being the late 70s-early 80s). This is almost certainly the version Tarantino saw first. And it's the version you hear the Bride watching in Kill Bill vol 2.

If you buy the Animeigo dvds of the six film Lone Wolf & Cub series you will NOT get the version she watches in Kill Bill. There is no dub track, and it's basically what you would have seen had you seen them in Japan upon initial release.

The original versions are terrific and feel a bit like spaghetti westerns. There's nudity and over the top blood and violence. I highly recommend if you're really interested in these films, that you get the Animeigo dvds. They have fantastic subtitles which make it exceedingly easy to follow, like for example it assigns colors of text to different characters if more than one person is talking in a scene(like person 1 is yellow, person 2 is green). So you're never confused as to who said what. There's also the occasional explanation of an untranslatable japanese term at the top of the screen. The picture quality is also excellent on all six releases.

I second what bluesparrow said. I have to admit that I have not yet seen the whole series. I am halfway there. I am waiting until I get a little extra money to order the last three in the series, but I have really enjoyed the first three movies. And the Animeigo discs are great.

Wow, I had no idea Shogun Assassin = Lone Wolf and Cub. LW&C has been a cult classic here in Hawaii.

I get my first two disks on Wed! Can't wait.

I've always been interested in checking LW&C out. I thought Shogun Assassin was a spin-off or part of it or something.. thanks much for putting it so clearly bluesparrow.

one of the LONE WOLF films was released in 1974 here in the uS by columbia pictures as LIGHTNING SWORD OF DEATH. Dubbing was OK, they didnt edit or make any changed like SHOGUN ASSASSIN did.

However, IMHO SHOGUN ASSASSIN stands on its own, as a non stop bloodfest, with the pulsating disco soundtrack with the bizarre narration by the young boy. I believe Animeigo controls the uS rights to SHOGUN ASSASSIN as well and is going to release it eventually.

There was also a 3rd US release under the title of Fugitive Assassin. I also agree with Salamander2 . I have all the LW&C movies on LD and DVD,Shogun Assasin on tape and DVD and Lightning Sword of Death and Fugitive Assasin on tape. The kids narration and the way they cut it make it an excellent film.SA that is.

there was also another movie spliced from the LW&C films (like "shogun assasin") and it was called "lupine howl" if i remember correctly.

There was also another movie taken from LW&C, spliced into a pulsing 80's new-wave/neo-disc beat and featuring handsome English men in dayglo suits, entitled "Hungry Like The Wolf". Actually, the more I think of it, the more I realize what a horrible re-edit that was. Short, too.

I own all of AnimEigo's LW&C discs and I would still love to get Shogun Assassin as well. I adore the synth music, the über-cool dub ("he was the Shogun decapitator..."), the non-stop action and sheer B-fun of this particular Americanization. It can't come soon enough!

Yeah, Shogun Assassin is all kinds of cool. My parents took me to see it at the Drive-In when I was about 7. I still remember it vividly.

I saw Shogun Assassin way back when at a drive-in also.

This thread has been very educational. I never knew the connection to the Lone Wolf & Cub flicks. This is a classic example as to why this place can be so cool