The best Tatsuo Endō’s action movies

The evil Hikita clan rises from the dead to fulfill a curse on the Satomi clan by restoring the face of their warlord by using the skin of Princess Shizu. In the process of trying to capture her, the clan murders her entire family, but Princess Shizu escapes their clutches. She enlists the aid of eight samurai warriors, possessors of powerful magic crystal, led by Dosetsu (Sonny Chiba!) to help rescue the remaining members of her court and revenge her family. Along the way, they must fight undead warriors, evil spirits, poisonous beauties and a giant centipede.

Basically the plot revolves around the title characters having to stop some sort of alliance from carrying out their dastardly deeds. The vixens employ some of the most bizarre ninjitsu sex magic ever commited to the screen to aid them in their quest. The production feels like some edited episodes of a TV series (I don't know if that's actually the case here), so think along the lines of Charlie's Angels meets Saiyûki (aka. Monkey) but made by perverts and you'll start to get the picture of what to expect. It also has a great soundtrack; kind of early 80's synth-pop soap opera score combined with the sort of thing you'd find in a Japanese RPG on the Super Nintendo. Filled with some great fight scenes, lots of nudity, bizarre ninja sex magic (that simply has to be seen... especially the magical-ninja-egg laying vixen), and some over-the-top violence certainly make this offbeat oddity worthy of a whole-hearted recommendation

Terry is a tough mercenary and a master of martial arts. When an important business magnate dies, leaving billions to his daughter, the Mafia and Yakuza try to hire Terry to kidnap the daughter. When they refuse to meet his exorbitant price, then try to kill him to conceal their secret plans, he promptly offers his services to protect her. Much ultra-violent martial-arts fighting action, as expected, ensues. This also includes a subplot of a family's blood-feud with Terry over a disputed debt.

In the teeming black markets of postwar Japan, Shozo Hirono and his buddies find themselves in a new war between factious and ambitious yakuza...

In the fourth film of the Lone Wolf and Cub series, Ogami Itto is hired to kill a tattooed female assassin and battles Retsudo, head of the Yagyu clan, and his son Gunbei.

Terry Sugury is hired to recover one of two tapes containing a formula for making heroin for a price of 200 dollars a pound. But he gets double crossed. So he wants the tape back.

Teruo Ishii's Bohachi Bushido: Code of the Forgotten Eight tells the story of a Ronin with a death wish who reluctantly joins the Clan of the Forgotten Eight, a nasty crew of ronin who are wrapped up in a clan war over local prostitution. Teturo Tanba is well cast as the ronin who just wants to die in battle but does a good job taking a lot of gangsters with him. Drug trips, naked geisha and plenty of sword action make up this Teruo Ishii pinky violence film.

Zatoichi comes upon the town of Tonda, overrun by gangsters. Using one of his favorite techniques, Zatoichi proceeds to win 8 ryo in a rigged gambling game. Of course, the local gangsters attempt to kill him, and the adventure begins. It turns out a blacksmith named Senzo examines Zatoichi's cane sword, and discovers it to be forged by his old mentor. Senzo discovers the sword is at the end of its usefulness and will break when it is used next.

Repeatedly beat to a pulp by gamblers, cops, and gangsters, lone wolf Shoji Yamanaka finally finds a home as a Muraoka family hitman and falls in love with boss Muraoka's niece. Meanwhile, the ambitions of mad dog Katsutoshi Otomo draws our series' hero, Shozo Hirono, and the other yakuza into a new round of bloodshed.

The Ni Family is the most well know and respected group of firefighters in the Kanto region. When their leader dies and the successor disappears, Tsuruji, a beautiful yet tough geisha, becomes the boss. But will she be able to confront a yakuza gang trying to take over the area?

The burned remains of a young woman discovered in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The police comes to the conclusion that its the work of a pyromaniacal serial murderer. The murder victim is identified as Mayumi Tamaki, a native of Ishigaki, Okinawa. As the investigation unfolded, her former boyfriend, a former rider of a motorcycle named Chōei Mikawa emerged as a suspect. But Kano did not agree Mikawa is the suspect. Kano started conducting the investigation himself to search the real criminal person.

Shozo Hirono has managed to separate from the Yamamori family and create his own small family, and extend his circle of acquaintances. These new friendships include a powerful underboss of the Muraoka family, Noboru Uchimoto.

When a local gambling house kidnaps some peasants because they failed to pay their debts, a rival gambling house pays their debts and sets them free.

Wishing to find peace, Zatoichi travels to his old village but only finds trouble when he ends up in a love triangle and finds old scores have followed him home.

As Japan gears up for the 1964 Olympic games, the cops start to crack down on the gangs, under pressure from the public and the press, adding a new dimension in the war for power among the yakuza families of Hiroshima.

In the setting of the Hokuriku region, where the snow and cold winds rage, for the first time in true-life yakuza film history, director Kinji Fukasaku shows battles among yakuza who value land over tradition. Hiroki Matsukata stars as Noboru Kawada, a Hokuriku yakuza who will use any measure for survival, disregarding parents, brothers, and tradition.

The industrual revolution comes to Japan with the introduction of the railroad system. This led to clashes between boatmen, who livihoods are threatened, and the railroad construction workers. Oryu the Red Peony returns to her home in Kumamoto to accept her position as second generation leader of the Yano Family. But the ceremony is interrupted by fighting between local boatmen and railroad works. And it seems a rival family is pulling the strings behind the clashes.

The Kanto Gypsies, a tough girl gang, hide out from the law in the middle of a disputed gang territory, where they end up getting kidnapped by sinister underworld thugs. After breaking free, the girls set their sights on one thing: revenge. Miki Sugimoto stars as girl boss Komasa, the ruthless and sadistic leader of the Kanto Gypsies who possesses more than enough brains to match her killer looks.