CORRECTIONS: - @slow.poetry in the comments pointed out that Europe has had a show called Games Without Borders that predates Takeshi’s Castle as a human obstacle course thing by like two decades. This is kind of a glaringly huge error on my part that I’m pretty embarrassed by. And it also makes the introduction to this video far worse. - Also multiple people have pointed out that those flowers at the end are NOT tulips and are in fact peace lilies. I have no idea how I fucked that up considering I was literally looking at them for ages editing this, but I found a way. So yeah, I am an idiot. I apologise.
Dude, I watched games without boarders when I was young and I totally forgot its existence until I read your comment, so don't worry about it :D great vid :)
What really struck me about Hana-bi is that on the one side, Takeshi dwells in a world of ruthless violence as a cop who deals with hardened criminals and can be merciless at it. On the other he shares a sweet and tender love with his dying wife and sets out on a final journey with her. My personal favorite Kitano film is Kikujiro. A heart-warming story of two outcasts, a boy and an (ex?) yakuza, who spend a summer together, bond and turn out to be much more alike than one would think at first glance.
Can't believe we got the flip side of the Gordon Ramsey video where someone confusingly using their skills and charm to create art, elevate others, and be hot.
One of the things that I enjoy most about Kitano's works are the range of emotions that they can bring up in you. Both Sonatine and Hana-Bi are simultaneously the some of the most heartwarming and sad movies I've ever seen, capable of making me smile from pure joy and cry within the same runtime.
My first introduction to Takeshi's Castle was the American version called MOST EXTREME ELIMINATION CHALLENGE where it was literally just that show with American voiceovers making fun of everyone
Goddamn I love Kitano. I love the movies you mentioned, I also love how he commentated on video games and how we play them and the state of them through Takeshi’s Challenge. In terms of how he approaches art and stays busy is one of my biggest inspirations.
Kitano being one of the most unique and talented film directors of all time and most people not even knowing him because of that is frustrating but also really funny
Also, there is a legend, that Kurosawa's dying wish was leaving Japanese cinema to Kitano. He understood that time of monumental, epic, historical movies like his has passed, so the art needed someone more avant-garde. What a guy.
Hana-bi is Joe Hisaishi's best soundtrack hands down. I love how it features the beautiful orchestral arrangements and melodies you associate with him, but then he unifies it with shit you would never hear in a Ghibli movie like an acoustic guitar and a drum machine. The sensation of listening to it all is always a unique and invigorating experience. Wonderful video, I've loved discovering your channel in the past few months. Video essays of this detail and with a commitment to expressing unique scholarly discussion is a dying breed imho. It's great to see new ones such as yours. Hana-bi is my favourite Kitano film, but I was really enlightened by the inference of the police car as being an expression of art and an almost existential interrogation of Kitano's character. That scene really flew over my head, but now I see it in a new light and I want to watch it again.
Opens video that has nothing to do with SMT, hears SMT IV's OST playing in the background, instant like and 10/10 respect from me my guy. Immaculate taste. Also I just love your essays in general
I'm so glad to see someone talk about Kitano this way, and even more floored that they remembered Hisaishi's work with him. "Painters" from Hana-Bi nearly reduced me to tears the first time I heard it. "Piercing" is a perfect word to describe his music and Kitano's work, both
THANK YOU!!! We needed this video. Takeshi does not get the recognition he deserves!! I knew you had it in you after the two and a half men video. Keep up the good work. You’re a legend.
Glad you mentioned the comedy in all the seriousness of his movies. The understanding of timing to pull that off is unmatched. Kikujiro for me is a masterclass of that.
Great video. Love your analysis on art being a hard thing but its so great because your creating something that hasn’t been created. Hit me differently
The Takeshi's Castle was really huge in India. Every child in India from 2000s is a huge fan of this show. I really am glad that this man made my childhood fun. 😊
Takeshi's Castle got unbelievably popular in INDIA, thanks to genius casting of Actor/Comedian Javed Jaffery. It was off-the-cuff humor, creative improvisations very rarely seen on major TV. Best parts were when a contestant would get brutally defeated in the challenge and Javed just cracks up in laughter at the sheer ridiculousness.
I don’t know how I never put two and two together that the Takeshi of Takeshi’s Castle was the same Takeshi of Takeshi’s Challenge for NES. I’ll always love the Dunkey video on that game, it’s truly one of the first anti-games made by probably the best person for such a job.
oh man what a video, said everything I could have wanted to hear from a 30 minute dive into kitano's body of work. Kikujiro is my favourite film of all time and it's soundtrack is my favourite so im really glad hisaishi got a mention. great vid
Using the ending of Hana-bi for the end of your Kitano video essay is cold af. Sidenote, I feel like when you watch his film in clips, like here in this video, it gives off the sense that the films are somewhat boring. That said, I think this video is a perfect intro to Takeshi, but I think when you see everything in order it never drags liked you'd imagine it would. Each frame during his 90s era is like a painting. These films are butter and I can't wait to watch more of them.
awesome work as per usual!! 😎that quote from kitano about humor and violence really hits the nail on the head on why his movies are so bonkers compelling to watch. the unpredictable nature of both in his work feels real and raw and human. can't wait to watch more of his stuff...
What a great analysis. I need to watch his work as I'd literally never heard of him before this. There is something about people who push hard with their art in multiple directions that has always spoken to me. Where there's smoke, there's fire.
I remember watching his film Brother when it came out in in cinemas and being blown away by it. Became an instant fan. Kikujiro is my personal favorite. His adaptation of Zatoichi, the blind swordsman, is also great.
Takeshi has such a weird history: from comedy to acting to tv showrunner to terrible video game designer to yakuza genre moviemaker to video gamr antagonist. I want to win at life like him.
It's always fun to watch videos like this that gives you appreciation for something you didn't even know existed or was barely aware of before clicking the video. I should watch some of his movies in full.
The exact moment of the violence is precisely the philosophy of Takeshi Kitano with his movies, and I guess you can say this to his more conventional Outrage trilogy as well. I see that you've inserted the Hana-Bi BTS here, so I guess you may have heard him about likening scenes like that to fireworks, something like that. Unexpected, sudden, with no real build-up. In Hana-Bi, just as Kitano's character lights a cigarette inside the hospital room (Odd, but okay), it goes straight to a jump cut of Osugi's character being shot during a stakeout. It was so violent when I first saw it, I had to do a double take and pause for a while. Only a bit later that Terajima's character goes to the room to bring the news and both run quick. Which leads to a very gentle seaside scene of Horibe (Osugi) lamenting about his life after the failed stakeout, complete with the music of Joe Hisaishi. The tenderness usually associated with Studio Ghibli music is subverted into something that helps reveal the vulnerable side of the "tough right hand man" characters that Osugi usually played, and this continues to the wonderfully poignant "Painters" scene. This is also seen around the end, where as Nishi (Kitano) shoots one of the Yakuza chasing after him, it jumps into something NOT violent: Horibe splashing a container of red paint on an otherwise dark, winter painting. It was equally just as jolting as the gunshot, and we see Horibe just... looking on as he completed the process of creation. I need to watch this video again because HANABI is one of the reasons I began to make art and illustrations starting on December 2019, and used stippling similar to Kitano's paintings (I didn't even know it was called that until I sent it to a streamer's art showcase in early 2021).
Forgotten alongside creators of similar works. Incredibly accomplished in a myriad of creative fields. Most importantly, misunderstood. This is what it means to be "peerless."
Kitano doesn't need to act kitano is just kitano . Takeshis is a underrated kitano movie about his image about his movies and his thinking. I absolutely love Kitano and admire him much
have not finished it yet because I realized I somehow haven’t seen sonatine but huge W video kikujiro is one of my all time favorites, and every single one of his other films I’ve seen definitely have this distinct kitano feel to it that I love hisaishi’s scores are also all spectacular-if only the world knew he’s so much more than the ghibli music man 😔✊
Idk if this has already been said but the flower is a peace lily, a harbinger of peace and rebirth. Makes everything you said and what he’s trying to convey just that much more poignant to me 💛
Neat essay. I appreciate the use of SMTIV, Shadow Hearts II, The Silver Case, Another Code and Hotel Dusk BGM. Great taste. My favourite Kitano films are 'A Scene at the Sea', 'Kikujiro's Summer' and '3-4x10'.
Takeshi Kitano, otherwise known as Beat Takeshi. Japanese film director, comedian, singer, actor author screenwriter poet painter okay what wasn't this guy? And one time, video game designer.
Gonna recommend Yojiro Takita's No More Comics! where Kitano re-enacts a real incident in which yakuzas broke into a reporter's apartment and killed him in front of TV cameras.
I agree so much about Joe hisaishi and how important it it to the movies. That’s how I even found Takashis movies, I remember listening so some of the songs from Hana bi and though man these are so good I wonder how the movie is. To me it was like one long music video, something to watch while I listen to the music. Then I felt in love with his story telling and cinematography. Hisaishi X Kitano🐐❤️
I have a very weird sort of connection to Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence. I was really into an English band called Japan and they used to work with a famous Japanese musician who was the man who composed the score for this film. His name is Ryuishi Sakamoto and he was in another band I really like called Yellow Magic Orchestra. I used to listen to the soundtrack for this film all the time. Also the movie has David Bowie in it so there's that.. Edit. So I made this post as soon as you mentioned the movie but it turns out that you've heard of YMO and Ryuishi Sakamoto. They are very unknown here in the United States.
I'm a pretty unemotional dude, I never cried in front of anybody perhaps maybe once in my life. That piano line from Joe Hisaishi's Spirited Away theme made me bawl my eyes out for some reason. I never even saw the film, I was just listening to it, it's pretty crazy, I was so caught off guard by that line. And then I cried myself to sleep.
CORRECTIONS:
- @slow.poetry in the comments pointed out that Europe has had a show called Games Without Borders that predates Takeshi’s Castle as a human obstacle course thing by like two decades. This is kind of a glaringly huge error on my part that I’m pretty embarrassed by. And it also makes the introduction to this video far worse.
- Also multiple people have pointed out that those flowers at the end are NOT tulips and are in fact peace lilies. I have no idea how I fucked that up considering I was literally looking at them for ages editing this, but I found a way.
So yeah, I am an idiot. I apologise.
Dude, I watched games without boarders when I was young and I totally forgot its existence until I read your comment, so don't worry about it :D
great vid :)
i forgive you
all good
What really struck me about Hana-bi is that on the one side, Takeshi dwells in a world of ruthless violence as a cop who deals with hardened criminals and can be merciless at it. On the other he shares a sweet and tender love with his dying wife and sets out on a final journey with her.
My personal favorite Kitano film is Kikujiro. A heart-warming story of two outcasts, a boy and an (ex?) yakuza, who spend a summer together, bond and turn out to be much more alike than one would think at first glance.
Can't believe we got the flip side of the Gordon Ramsey video where someone confusingly using their skills and charm to create art, elevate others, and be hot.
Hehe
Be hot?
Finally someone not talking out of their ass about Kitano
One of the things that I enjoy most about Kitano's works are the range of emotions that they can bring up in you. Both Sonatine and Hana-Bi are simultaneously the some of the most heartwarming and sad movies I've ever seen, capable of making me smile from pure joy and cry within the same runtime.
The beach sumo fight scene in Sonatine is one of the most purest human moments I've seen in cinema, I love Takeshi so much
My first introduction to Takeshi's Castle was the American version called MOST EXTREME ELIMINATION CHALLENGE where it was literally just that show with American voiceovers making fun of everyone
one of the best stoner shows ever. we used to take bong hits and laugh our asses off at Guy LeDouche 🤣
I recall my grandparents watching that on a rotation of MASH and Archie Bunker
There’s also a British version named after the original Takeshi’s castle, which played the games straighter. The USA one is more a parody.
Goddamn I love Kitano. I love the movies you mentioned, I also love how he commentated on video games and how we play them and the state of them through Takeshi’s Challenge. In terms of how he approaches art and stays busy is one of my biggest inspirations.
Just played yakuza 6. The way I gasped when patriarch hirose flashed across the screen. I had no idea!
Same 😂
Kitano being one of the most unique and talented film directors of all time and most people not even knowing him because of that is frustrating but also really funny
Also, there is a legend, that Kurosawa's dying wish was leaving Japanese cinema to Kitano. He understood that time of monumental, epic, historical movies like his has passed, so the art needed someone more avant-garde. What a guy.
youtube scientists seem to have finally located the surprisingly elusive Human Main Character, and he is a japanese game show host
Hana-bi is Joe Hisaishi's best soundtrack hands down. I love how it features the beautiful orchestral arrangements and melodies you associate with him, but then he unifies it with shit you would never hear in a Ghibli movie like an acoustic guitar and a drum machine. The sensation of listening to it all is always a unique and invigorating experience. Wonderful video, I've loved discovering your channel in the past few months. Video essays of this detail and with a commitment to expressing unique scholarly discussion is a dying breed imho. It's great to see new ones such as yours. Hana-bi is my favourite Kitano film, but I was really enlightened by the inference of the police car as being an expression of art and an almost existential interrogation of Kitano's character. That scene really flew over my head, but now I see it in a new light and I want to watch it again.
this is very kind of you! thank you!!
I recently watched Hana-bi and seeing you end the video with the ending of the movie hits really hard, what an incredible director is Takeshi Kitano
Opens video that has nothing to do with SMT, hears SMT IV's OST playing in the background, instant like and 10/10 respect from me my guy. Immaculate taste. Also I just love your essays in general
I'm so glad to see someone talk about Kitano this way, and even more floored that they remembered Hisaishi's work with him. "Painters" from Hana-Bi nearly reduced me to tears the first time I heard it. "Piercing" is a perfect word to describe his music and Kitano's work, both
You got me at the edge of tears here at the end of the video. This was so good, thank you.
I became a Kitano fan during the pandemic and I rembember lookin for kitano video essays and finding nothing. So glad I
found this video
THANK YOU!!! We needed this video. Takeshi does not get the recognition he deserves!! I knew you had it in you after the two and a half men video. Keep up the good work. You’re a legend.
Glad you mentioned the comedy in all the seriousness of his movies. The understanding of timing to pull that off is unmatched. Kikujiro for me is a masterclass of that.
Great video. Love your analysis on art being a hard thing but its so great because your creating something that hasn’t been created. Hit me differently
That description in the American voiceover is phenomenal lmao
Yesssss I've been saying for years that Joe's work on Hana-bi is peak
The Takeshi's Castle was really huge in India. Every child in India from 2000s is a huge fan of this show.
I really am glad that this man made my childhood fun. 😊
that cut to black gave me shivers, i love your videos
I'm so happy to have a friend with the same niche interests making videos. Thanks, Jay.
Hisaishi's score for "Brother" is one of my favorite of his scores and I love his music.
Takeshi's Castle got unbelievably popular in INDIA, thanks to genius casting of Actor/Comedian Javed Jaffery.
It was off-the-cuff humor, creative improvisations very rarely seen on major TV. Best parts were when a contestant would get brutally defeated in the challenge and Javed just cracks up in laughter at the sheer ridiculousness.
DON'T. GET. ELIMINATED!
Really do need more vids on Kitano. This nice to see.
My mom and me used to watch Takeshi's castle all the time, good memories.
glad to have another vid on the channel
Bro I love your channel from the bottom of my heart keep doing what you’re doing
Bro I just discovered your channel, binged all your videos, then you drop another gem, god bless 🫡
Can I just say that you have some of the most well-made anylisis videos I've seen this platform. You should be proud of yourself.
Wtf...that's the guy from that one Yakuza movie. Dude was insanely scary in that film. You telling me he's a comedian...
I don’t know how I never put two and two together that the Takeshi of Takeshi’s Castle was the same Takeshi of Takeshi’s Challenge for NES. I’ll always love the Dunkey video on that game, it’s truly one of the first anti-games made by probably the best person for such a job.
oh man what a video, said everything I could have wanted to hear from a 30 minute dive into kitano's body of work. Kikujiro is my favourite film of all time and it's soundtrack is my favourite so im really glad hisaishi got a mention. great vid
Using the ending of Hana-bi for the end of your Kitano video essay is cold af. Sidenote, I feel like when you watch his film in clips, like here in this video, it gives off the sense that the films are somewhat boring. That said, I think this video is a perfect intro to Takeshi, but I think when you see everything in order it never drags liked you'd imagine it would. Each frame during his 90s era is like a painting. These films are butter and I can't wait to watch more of them.
awesome work as per usual!! 😎that quote from kitano about humor and violence really hits the nail on the head on why his movies are so bonkers compelling to watch. the unpredictable nature of both in his work feels real and raw and human. can't wait to watch more of his stuff...
What a great analysis. I need to watch his work as I'd literally never heard of him before this. There is something about people who push hard with their art in multiple directions that has always spoken to me. Where there's smoke, there's fire.
I remember watching his film Brother when it came out in in cinemas and being blown away by it. Became an instant fan. Kikujiro is my personal favorite. His adaptation of Zatoichi, the blind swordsman, is also great.
Thanks for introducing me to Takeshi Kitano as a director. Sonatine's one of the best movies I've ever watched.
Takeshi has such a weird history: from comedy to acting to tv showrunner to terrible video game designer to yakuza genre moviemaker to video gamr antagonist. I want to win at life like him.
fantastic video as always, so many movies going on my watchlist after this one
Takashi's castle was every 2000's indian kids childhood, we watched this shit religiously
Another excellent video. And as always I really like your use of music.
This was fantastic! Subscribed!
I’ve never seen about Takeshi’s castle but as an old school Wipeout fan I am very intrigued
Check it out, it's significantly better than Wipeout trust
Wipeout is justba ripoff of takeshis castle
It's always fun to watch videos like this that gives you appreciation for something you didn't even know existed or was barely aware of before clicking the video. I should watch some of his movies in full.
Cool video dude!
Yo this video essay was beautiful my man
SILENT LOVE from Kitano's 'Scene at the Sea' is an all-timer Hisaishi piece, their collaborations were so perfect
The exact moment of the violence is precisely the philosophy of Takeshi Kitano with his movies, and I guess you can say this to his more conventional Outrage trilogy as well. I see that you've inserted the Hana-Bi BTS here, so I guess you may have heard him about likening scenes like that to fireworks, something like that. Unexpected, sudden, with no real build-up.
In Hana-Bi, just as Kitano's character lights a cigarette inside the hospital room (Odd, but okay), it goes straight to a jump cut of Osugi's character being shot during a stakeout. It was so violent when I first saw it, I had to do a double take and pause for a while. Only a bit later that Terajima's character goes to the room to bring the news and both run quick.
Which leads to a very gentle seaside scene of Horibe (Osugi) lamenting about his life after the failed stakeout, complete with the music of Joe Hisaishi. The tenderness usually associated with Studio Ghibli music is subverted into something that helps reveal the vulnerable side of the "tough right hand man" characters that Osugi usually played, and this continues to the wonderfully poignant "Painters" scene.
This is also seen around the end, where as Nishi (Kitano) shoots one of the Yakuza chasing after him, it jumps into something NOT violent: Horibe splashing a container of red paint on an otherwise dark, winter painting. It was equally just as jolting as the gunshot, and we see Horibe just... looking on as he completed the process of creation.
I need to watch this video again because HANABI is one of the reasons I began to make art and illustrations starting on December 2019, and used stippling similar to Kitano's paintings (I didn't even know it was called that until I sent it to a streamer's art showcase in early 2021).
Forgotten alongside creators of similar works. Incredibly accomplished in a myriad of creative fields. Most importantly, misunderstood. This is what it means to be "peerless."
It's not just that Hisaishi got too expensive - apparently there was a lot of friction over creative control when they collaborated on Dolls.
I absolutely love his work on Battle Royale, great dude!!!
Kitano doesn't need to act kitano is just kitano . Takeshis is a underrated kitano movie about his image about his movies and his thinking. I absolutely love Kitano and admire him much
Ansolutely awesome video
voltou, obrigado Querido.
In america we had a show called mxc which was literally Takeshi's castle but with a raunchy american dub over it. It was on spike tv back in the day.
have not finished it yet because I realized I somehow haven’t seen sonatine but huge W video
kikujiro is one of my all time favorites, and every single one of his other films I’ve seen definitely have this distinct kitano feel to it that I love
hisaishi’s scores are also all spectacular-if only the world knew he’s so much more than the ghibli music man 😔✊
This is great! Cult hero in the West amongst genuine filmos. His little nod at the end of Zatoichi is fantastic.
We are so back!
Idk if this has already been said but the flower is a peace lily, a harbinger of peace and rebirth. Makes everything you said and what he’s trying to convey just that much more poignant to me 💛
Neat essay. I appreciate the use of SMTIV, Shadow Hearts II, The Silver Case, Another Code and Hotel Dusk BGM. Great taste.
My favourite Kitano films are 'A Scene at the Sea', 'Kikujiro's Summer' and '3-4x10'.
This was great. Would love a 2 hour long one about his career as a whole.
"Roger Ebert, the David Cage of movies" Why did you do him dirty like that 💀
Takeshi Kitano, otherwise known as Beat Takeshi. Japanese film director, comedian, singer, actor author screenwriter poet painter okay what wasn't this guy?
And one time, video game designer.
great video
I'm a huge fan of Kitano the filmmaker, thank you for this, appreciate your insight.
Been a fan of Takeshi Kitano since Violent Cop and Takeshi's Castle was required viewing with me and my mates 20 years ago
Well done!
that sweater is 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
As a 90's kid Takeshi's Castle was childhood. Best thing on TV with Craig Charles narrating it XD back when wrestling used to slap on Sky1
Great vid :)
We had Mr. Javed Jaffery do the commentary on the rerun of Takeshi's Castle in India. It was hilarious. Defiantly a happy memory growing up.
LETS KEEP THIS JAIMENTUM UP
omfg i love Jai 😍😍😍
Watched Hana-Bi in the theaters when it released, had no idea what I was in for
Remember watching it when i was a teen in 90s it was glorious
Gonna recommend Yojiro Takita's No More Comics! where Kitano re-enacts a real incident in which yakuzas broke into a reporter's apartment and killed him in front of TV cameras.
I agree so much about Joe hisaishi and how important it it to the movies. That’s how I even found Takashis movies, I remember listening so some of the songs from Hana bi and though man these are so good I wonder how the movie is. To me it was like one long music video, something to watch while I listen to the music. Then I felt in love with his story telling and cinematography. Hisaishi X Kitano🐐❤️
Hold on honey, Jai uploaded!!
Man absolute war crime that you have 44k subscribers.
I watched the Challenge broadcasts of Takeshi's Castle all the time as a kid as well. So I guess I was the audience.
I have a very weird sort of connection to Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence. I was really into an English band called Japan and they used to work with a famous Japanese musician who was the man who composed the score for this film. His name is Ryuishi Sakamoto and he was in another band I really like called Yellow Magic Orchestra. I used to listen to the soundtrack for this film all the time. Also the movie has David Bowie in it so there's that..
Edit. So I made this post as soon as you mentioned the movie but it turns out that you've heard of YMO and Ryuishi Sakamoto. They are very unknown here in the United States.
Your touching on how influential music is to film make me immediately think…
Joe is Japan’s John Williams
that quote about comedy and violence yessssssss
I'm a pretty unemotional dude, I never cried in front of anybody perhaps maybe once in my life. That piano line from Joe Hisaishi's Spirited Away theme made me bawl my eyes out for some reason. I never even saw the film, I was just listening to it, it's pretty crazy, I was so caught off guard by that line. And then I cried myself to sleep.
finally had a slow enough day to finish this!!! jai said my username 😳😳😳😳😳
THANK U FOR INSPIRING ME TO CREATE
really happy you enjoyed it btw!!!
2:38 It would've been great if he sat motionless, said nothing and didn't even blink whenever he was in a scene. 😁
its time.
Sonatine is a masterpiece, like this video
Glory To The Filmmaker is a fun one that sums up your point of Western audiences missing a lot of the whole picture of the man and his career
You give me this vibe. You're like... the most Irish guy who isn't actually Irish.
I really enjoyed Violent Cop and Boiling Point
"you cant hit the ball if you dont swing"
I grew up watching the most extreme challenge version of Takeshis castle
Great video 👌👌
Hisaishi is Japan's Trent R... I mean Jerry Goldsmith
Very good video congratulations