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In my review of the first “Diamond Guys” collection Arrow put out, I noted how, for all the ways those films tried to shake up the Nikkatsu formula, it was still a fairly representative look at what the studio was all about – widescreen, black-and-white, stoic men drawn into violent situations, corruptible women, and jazzy scores. Only the final film in that set – Rambling Guitarist – really managed to strike out and maintain a distinctive tone, but the narrative remained the same. With this second collection, the trajectory is quite the opposite. Rather than gradually move away from the formula, Volume 2 begins with a loose riff in the manner of Rambling Guitarist and gets more cartoonish, absurd, and unpredictable from there. Not that this precisely means the films are any more successful overall. The ratio remains the same – one solid bit of fun, one slog, and one that’s pretty near great.

A studio's logo can sometimes be just as iconic as the beloved films produced and distributed under such an emblem. Think of the glitz and glamor of the MGM logo as the lions roars; The mighty peak of Paramount; the spinning globe of Universal -- all Hollywood staples. And as we move to the east, to Japan, the kaleidoscopic heavens of Toho, the great crashing wave of Toei, and... a wood panel with the carving of an encircled K (or is that a subtle blending of an N and a K?). Though Nikkatsu Corp. has had their fair share of more epic looking logos, this minimalist carving seems to be synonymous with some of their most famous offerings: Kô Nakahira's Crazed Fruit (Japan's own Rebel...