5 comments about Fighting Black Kings [VHS].

1. This documentry features Mas Oyama's Kyokushin Karate that would spawn other great Karate systems like Enshin and Seidokan. There are also many great martial artists features like Sato and Joko Ninomiya (founder of Enshin and Sabaki). The documentry follows many fighters from America, Japan, England, Thailand, and Hong Kong as they enter the first world karate tournement.
   
   The matches are good, but what is especially interetsing is following the training that these individuals go through to enter this tournement. This is fighting karate and anyone interested in rugged sparring and work-outs should view this film.
   
   Additional Note: 02/23/2008: Several years later and I still love this film. I watch it three-four times a year. One of the best martial arts docs out there. A DVD version with special features would be terrific, I hope it happens soon.



2. Fighting Black Kings was the first video I've seen on full contact traditional karate. The film follows the training regimen of fighters from all over the world as they prepare for the prestigious all-world full contact karate tournament in Japan. The film cuts nicely from when the fighters are are on the fighting mat in the tournament to showing them back home training in their respective contries. Although the tournament is open to all styles, the rules favor the kyokushinkai system.

   The only reason the film is called "Fighting Black Kings" is because it focused on a number of prominent black karateka from New York such as Willie Williams and William Oliver who were preparing to compete in the All-World. They trained in the Kyokushinkai system which is known for it's emphasis on full-contact kumite with no pads or gloves. The fighters are interviewed and offer their perspectives on fighting in the All-World Tournament.




3. You'll see a guy in the tornament He thinks he's Bruce lee the way he dance jab,fake and yell kiap wata!heya! "Copied style but effective". and the "Muthai boxers KICK ASS"!
   I would like to see more karate tournament goes to Thailand ,
   Its very Contraversy,not too many Karate dojo went to thailand,
   Only KyokoshinKai and some small groups.this Tape is much far more better documentary of all the oyamas Documentary Tape look like the original Scene of "The Karate Kids Story" or "The Karate Man" Except there;s no Pat Morita and Ralph Machio and hollywood stunts,camera tricks! sad they have to freeze frame some of the tournaments otherwise is cool! I gave them not only 5 stars but 500 stars it gaves me 1000 stars to motivate myself to practice martial arts and concentrate,focus in all walks of life.
   I wonder now a days I dont see them on pride Fighting Championship 2004 or 2005.
   Only on K-1 . and not Ufc Ultimate fighting Championship!
   Maybe Nextime.!Me and Max Lee Martial arts research Lab. glim@asia.com



4. I watched this movie on tv, thought it was awesome, and ordered the vhs from amazon for $9.95. That was in October, it was backordered for FOUR MONTHS, and just recently amazon decided to cancel my order for me. The price now, just days after my order was cancelled, is $35.95!! This practice should be illegal, I think someone should be thrown in jail for this.



5. Get this on DVD asap while everyone is going wild for Black Dynamite. We want more true 70's style pimptastic kung fu, karate and karazy!

4 comments about Vol. 5-Part 1 Mas Oyama [VHS].

1. While the video has some rare video clips of Mas Oyama fighting bulls and doing breaking techniques, the quality wasn't impressive. The clips are old granted but the video seemed to be thrown together at the last minute. The commentary wasn't well scripted and the announcer lacked any enthusiasm. The rest of the video is filmed with wierd mood music. They do show a wide range of Kyokushin from the Honbu Dojo, demonstrations from the first world tournament to more recent fighters like Midori. All in all the video is good but lacks in some areas. The video was also half shot in PAL so it won't work some VCRs. At least mine had reception problems. It's good to rent, but not a great buy. Still it is good to have the clips of Mas Oyama. It's a love hate relationship.



2. Unfortunately this video is a rip off on Oyama's reputation. To begin with almost half the video is of fighters other than Oyama, then adding insult to injury the video is shot in PAL format so that you can't clearly see a good 5 minutes of a 23 minute tape. Ok so do the math, half the tape is not Oyama and but some other fighters from other commercial tapes (such as The Strongest Karate)5 minutes are shot in PAL which leaves you with 6 minutes of Mas Oyama. These last 6 minutes contain tensho, and tekki 1 photographed from an angle that takes away any technical knowledge. Save your money look for tapes from japan that are not commercial rip offs with out value. I suggest you do not buy this tape.



3. This is one of the worst karate video's I have seen. Print quality is extremely poor.



4. I'm not a student of his Dojo. its just amazing of what Kyoshinkai Karate do. my young brother Max lee studied under him and I realized they are not film makers, so its a sort of documentary style of doing films .At that time they dont have a high technology to enhance the tape/films.
   Its only a good collection .
   Gelbert Coloma,Max lee,and all the Martial arts Family.

5 comments about Kyo Ku Shin Kai's Mas Oyama - d.

1. Mas oyama's karate is tougher than other martial arts. I've been hospitalize for two months said my friend max lee he spoke to him and train personally.
   and I saw the other training video is a must buy this dvd. if you wana be a "karate guy". he was born in korea 1923 formely Master choi Young Li after he move to Japan age 15 yrs old men he knew exactly why he was born.



2. I paid 30 bucks for this 23 minute DVD, and only 5-10 minutes (and ten would be very generous) are actually of Mas Oyama, and a lot of that ten minutes is the same footage repeated (guess it must be hard to fill 23 minutes). What's the rest? I'd love to tell you, but this DVD was of such incredibly poor quality that the majority of the scenes were unplayable -- just a gray screen with music that sounded like a Japanese John Tesch scoring a porn movie.
   
   Just to give you an idea of the Oyama/Not Oyama ratio and the gross misrepresentation of the DVD's title, imagine ordering a "Star Wars" DVD and getting two hours of people playing shuffle board. Now imagine every ten minutes or so George Lucas appears on screen and waves a Luke Skywalker action figure back and forth for five seconds while he makes light saber noises.
   
   From what I could see, however, the non-Oyama parts were a combination of tournament footage and various guys breaking stuff. Maybe they're Oyama students, I don't know. There was no commentary, and no clues in the pseudo-porn music that may have revealed the performers' top-secret identities.
   
   One really nice touch was the line of static -- much like the "bad tracking" static you used to see on VHS tapes -- that obscured those rare times that THE GRAY VOID OF NOTHINGNESS did not consume the entire video screen. You just can't buy special effects like that for less than thirty bucks for 23 minutes.
   
   I gave this DVD one star because I had to (there's no zero on Amazon's scale); however, it's an easy five stars for any industry watchdogs, consumer advocacy groups, class action attorneys, or law enforcement agencies that are looking for unscrupulous, weasely, DVD distributors to harass. These guys should be ashamed of themselves. Oh wait, maybe they are. Here's a direct quote from the Product Details page: "Studio: (studio name not provided)." Who can blame them?
   
   Oh, I forgot to mention. This thirty dollar coaster didn't even come shrink-wrapped -- a small piece of scotch tape held the case closed. Pretty classy, eh?



3. I got this DVD about two months ago and can only now bring myself to review it. This DVD is just awful. 1 star is the minimum scale on the Amazon scale otherwise I would have given it a 0.
   It has heavy static line that mars the picture up until about the five minute mark. It clears up but is soon replaced by a blank grey screen which flicks in an out with maybe a couple of seconds of footage between each grey screen. this continues on until about the 12 minute mark.
   No problems with the picture and Im actually getting to watch something when bang! Grey screen again at about the 15 minute mark right through until the end. I tried watching the DVD in a few different machines but it just won't work.
   This on top of an appaling sound track, total lack of commentary after about the 5 minute mark and the distinct lack, from what I could see between the flickering grey screens, of MAS OYAMA makes this product worse than rubbish.
   I am a practioner of Kyokushin Karate and was excited at the thought of getting a rare insight into the master of this style. But this certainly wasn't it!
   My appologies to any who have purchased this product between the time I bought it and placed this review



4. 
   quality very bad , not what I expected, next time I'll think twice before ordering again.



5. you can see all the same footage, on you tube, for free! maybe more!? OSU!

3 comments about Kyokushinkai Karate Complete!.

1. Very good display of Kata, including showing an above view, would recommend to anyone starting out.
   My only reason for dropping a star would be the sound quality, the drumming was at sometimes quite annoying



2. On this spectacular DVD you will learn Japan's most rugged full contact Karate style! It includes the complete system of Kyokushinkai knock out karate, which means the style of Ultimate Truth. You will learn warm ups, basic, kata & Kumite-sparring. Includes the kata Taikyoku I, II, III, Unique KIcking kata, Yantau, Pinan IV, Seipai, Saiha, Tensho, Sanchin, Kanku and Seiunchin. Includes the complete system of sparring and how to knock your opponent out with one powerful blow & much more! 90 minutes.



3. please NOTE: this is transferred from a very old vhs video and is entirely in japanese, with no english subtitles or language options, and the quality of the dvd is fragile and worn with fading colour and "jumpy" picture(understandable though having been transferred from vhs). the drumming in the background continues throughout the entire video too and can be abit annoying because the sound of the instructions are drowned out (not that i understand japanese language anyway) from the drumming. the sound quality is fairly poor as well with constant buzzing (like what you'd hear from a very old vhs video cassette).
   
   other than these initial problems, i found the different angles of the views of karate demonstration to be helpful. and they slow it right down and break down the movements to show you what to do. there is a 3D character to show where some of the strikes are to be thrown, which is also helpful. i found that alot of what had been shown in the classroom during the dvd resembles a great deal what my own class teaches. its a genuine dvd but unless you speak fluent japanese and dont mind the slightly poor quality of the dvd (plus constant drumming), i would probably recommend that you continue your search for another kyokushin karate instruction dvd. although having said that, you would still get alot out of learning from this dvd.

5 comments about Sonny Chiba - Masutatsu Oyama Trilogy.

1. This is a great set for Chiba fans. You can tell they put some love into it with great picture and sound. All are in widescreen and subtitled with an option for simulated 5.1 sound. For those who haven't seen these movies before it's sort of a Karate action drama based on Chiba's mentor. They're the original uncut versions so there shouldn't be anything missing. Extras are limited to trailers. I'm no expert on widescreen, color saturation or sound so purists may have another opinion. I personally love this set.



2. I am a practitoner of Grand Master Mas Oyama's Kyokushin Karate for over 30 years now. Kyokushin is Japan's strongest and No. 1 style of Karate, very different from the other styles. I remember when the first movie in this triology "Kenka Karate Kyokushin Ken" was released to U.S. movie theaters under the title "Champion Of Death". Starring Japan action star Sonny Chiba, it was a big hit, particularly in drive-in movie theaters in the late 70's. I remember writing a movie review of this film when it played in my own hometown so many years ago. Later, this movie was shown on THE MOVIE CHANNEL and I had it recorded, being the only one around who had a dubbed English language copy of this movie. Eventually, "Champion Of Death" was released on video by a second rate video distribution company. My copy from TV was superior in quality to what was released, even clearer than the dvd that was later released. Now, we have the "Sonny Chiba - Masutatsu Oyama Trilogy" officially released, remastered, in wide screen format, containing all three movies in this series uncut in the original Japanese language with removable English subtitles. A dream come true and so affordable for a 3 disk boxset. I'm sure this movie trilogy was done justice because of the recent interest in action star Sonny Chiba since his appearance in the movie hit "Kill Bill Vol. One". But, whatever the reason, all Kyokushin students should grab this set while it's still available. True, it may be loosely based on Mas Oyama's life story, but it still worth owning as part of your martial arts movie collection. The third movie "Karate For Life" contains the best on screen Karate action in Sonny Chiba's entire career. I highly recommend this exciting dvd boxset. OSU!



3. This boxset of films chronicling Oyama's trials and tribulations has more in common with the The Sister Street Fighter Collection set (also released by BCI) in that the packaging is well thought out-three discs in slim plastic cases with original poster art on the inlay on their interiors. However, the first two films-Karate Bull Fighter and Karate Bear Fighter are so identical that it becomes tedious; Oyama challenges a school, get's banished, flees to the country-side, kills an animal, and returns to kill his enemies. Karate Bull Fighter outshines Karate Bear Fighter in that the bull is real versus the hilarious man in bear suit featured in the later. The jewel in the crown is Karate For Life in which Oyama finds himself in occupied Okinawa fighting American wrestlers and takes up shelter with a rag tag lot of Okinawan youth. All three films are not as action-packed as The Street Fighter series; all involve some melodramatic love and death side stories, the same villain appears in all three films, and kids in particular spew repetitive line such a "Ojiisan" over and over (as seen in Karate For Life). All in all, this set is better than the Sonny Chiba Collectionand the The Executioner/The Executioner II: Karate Inferno double pack.



4. This "Trilogy" is actually a rather loosely-connected series of films that happen to have the same leading character (Mas Oyama).I really believe they are not particularly well done. I didn't get any sense of an attempt to explore the character of Oyama Sensei. The Karate sequences were nothing special and I was not made aware of what, if anything but raw strength, distinguished his style from that of any of the other characters represented in the film. If someone were a true Sonny Chiba fan then the films should be in their collection. Otherwise, see if you can rent them or borrow them from a fellow fan.



5. I paid all of 9 dollars for this 3 movie set.Man it was worth every penny and alot more! All 3 were very cool Karate flicks from the 70's era.Great picture and sound,nice simple package! A must have for Chiba fans! I think Adness is great!