Customer Reviews

Sanshiro Judoist 1-3 [VHS]

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This is an entry in the 1986 TV series, "Animated Classics of Japanese Literature," which offered half-hour adaptations of famous Japanese novels and short stories. Told in three episodes (all included on one tape), "Sanshiro the Judoist" is an adaptation of Tsuneo Tomita's "Sanshiro Sugata," the novel which also formed the basis for Akira Kurosawa's debut feature SANSHIRO SUGATA (aka JUDO SAGA, 1943). It tells the story of the title character, a disciple of judo master Yano in 1880s Japan, who becomes the country's top judo expert, handily beating all competitors from the rival art of jujitsu. Along the way he meets Otomi Murai, the pretty daughter of jujitsu Master Murai, whose top student, Higaki, is eager to beat Sanshiro and also marry Otomi, who's now attracted to Sanshiro. The story charts the seemingly short rise of Sanshiro from eager naïve student to disciplined judo master and tells it simply, directly and gracefully. It actually follows very closely the narrative structure of Kurosawa's live-action film, although the animated version does include scenes not in Kurosawa's film (which was cut down by Japanese censors during the war). The animated version clocks in at 72 minutes, seven minutes short of Kurosawa's version, which has longer versions of some scenes.

The character design is simpler and the character animation stiffer than they ought to be. However, there are plenty of judo sequences and are all very well done. Like Kurosawa's film, this is a true martial arts drama. The background design depicting a Meiji-era district is extremely well executed and establishes an evocative sense of time and place. As with "Harp of Burma," another entry in this series, I would recommend seeing the live-action film versions before the animated versions, although the animated versions are certainly valuable to fans of anime and are suitable for young audiences as a tool to get them curious about Japanese literature and film.

A while back when I was in High School my Japanese language teacher showed this to our class. To this day, I remembered the music from the movie and the story itself. In my eyes it's timeless and it is based on a Japanese classic story. I was fortunate to find this shop was selling it and it was delivered in a speedy manner. Thank you!