Jingi naki tatakai: Sôshûhen

Compiling the first four Battles Without Honor and Humanity into a single film was certainly a bold move on Toei's behalf, cutting the compilation together with rapid new montages to cover lots of material in a short time and mildly distracting new narration to keep you somewhat in the loop, you certainly lose a lot of the intricate character motivations when trimming these films down. From its explosive opening to its melancholic end, it all hinges on how the material was edited together, it could have lived or died from the extreme cuts but thankfully is handled with a degree of care to make sure its audience isn't lost in the proceedings. Still, the film remains a showcase for the real power behind Kinji Fukasaku's fiery and brutish directing interwoven with Toshiaki Tsushima's decisive score and exceptional writing of Kazuo Kasahara that made these films so grippingly engaging, this certainly isn't the best way to experience the series but The Complete Saga makes for a mighty fine curio in its own right, it works because Battles Without Honor and Humanity worked and this greatest hits style approach to the series can't do the individual films the justice they fully deserve.