Get_your_azz_to_Mars 'Sanshiro Sugata Part II', unlike the first film from 1943, is essentially a propaganda film, but don't let that dissuade you from seeing it as there are sequences in the film that display Kurosawa's growing strengths as a filmmaker.The story line is rather muddled but basically Sugata feels as if the traditional Japanese forms of martial arts are facing extinction with the emerging popularity of American boxing. Sugata aims to preserve that by defeating a notorious American boxer while extinguishing threats from two karate masters obsessed with destroying him. In the end, Sugata easily crushes his American opponent and brings the two karate masters into his fold.Clearly the film is about uniting the Japanese people and culture against the American menace and its potential to destroy the Japanese people and their way of life. When the film was shot in early 1945 the war was going horribly for Japan and bombs were raining down upon their cities. The Japanese government ordered Kurosawa to make this film to help shore up domestic support for the Japanese cause and to also suggest that the coming Americans may spell doom for their people and way of life.Now Kurosawa created two very interesting sequences in this picture. One is where Sugata is watching the first fight between the American and Japanese and how disgusted he was with how things unfolded. Kurosawa does a series of close-ups of Sugata and then cuts to his point-of-view as he observes people cheering at the violence, laughing, etc...and with each reverse to Sugata you can feel his disgust. It's a very well done montage without any dialogue except for the noise of the fight and the cheers.The other is the final battle between Sugata and the karate master atop a mountain with wind and snow blasting all around them. This is one of the earliest examples of Kurosawa using extreme weather elements in the midst of a battle or confrontation, and it is very well done. This notion of extreme weather during a battle or struggle occurs in a number of his pictures including 'The Seven Samurai', 'Dreams', and 'Yojimbo'. As in those later pictures, the extreme weather heightens the tension, creates dynamic images, and visuals expresses the rage and confusion and frustration of the characters, much like earlier German Expressionism. So while 'Sanshiro Sugata Part II' is not a classic Kurosawa picture with its choppy story line and overt propaganda, it still is an interesting film that shows his growing prowess as a filmmaker. Give a look Kurosawa fans.

Michael_Elliott Sanshiro Sugata 2 (1945) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Kurosawa's sequel has Sugata (Susumu Fujita) still growing in the world of judo but outsiders are wanting to make the fighting style a sport and put it up against American boxing. This is a rather strange film but I do think it's better than the original just because of how out there it is. I've read that the government forced Kurosawa into making this and you can tell because that plays a part in the film. American boxing is really looked down upon and fighting as a sport is shown to be evil and this really translates to Kurosawa being unhappy as he was forced to make this just like the characters here are being forced to do something they see as morally wrong. Seeing the different fighting styles mixed up together was pretty fun as was the ending, which takes place during a snow storm. Fujita is a lot better here than he was in the previous film and really delivers a strong performance and makes his character quite memorable with the difficulties that he faces. The film's biggest problem comes in form of some rather choppy storytelling that has the film wonder off from its main goal way too many times and this is certainly true in the final fifteen-minutes before the final showdown. The low-budget nature of the film also shines through in a negative way but I'm sure the fans of the director will want to watch this at least once.

lastliberal Sugata and Yano have established the dominance of Judo over jujitsu by defeating all comers, but Sugata is not satisfied. Yes, he is the best Judo practitioner in the land, but he is plagued by his victories and is not sleeping.Judo is also facing competition from boxing and karate. Yes, boxing has come to Japan with the occupation. The anti-American sentiment is strong in this film as the top boxer is a drunken sailor who pick on poor rickshaw drivers until Sugata manages to cool him off - laterally. They will meet again.Sugata finally comes to terms with who he is and dispatches the boxer in the first round. Now, the karate thugs have been injuring many to get Sugata to fight.The actual fight is a letdown. It is staged to look almost like those shadow puppets. The calm and cool Sugata is facing a grimacing overly loud competitor.It should not be a surprise who wins, but there are more demons on the horizon. Five years after this film, I will have arrived. What will happen then? The only distraction was the poor quality of the film. One would hope that a better copy would have survived. Of course, we have to wait until the arrival of Toshiro Mifune before Akira Kurosawa perfects his Samurai films and becomes the great master that he was.

MartinHafer There were many reasons I was unimpressed by this film, though one had was certainly not the fault of anyone connected with the movie. Because this it is rarely seen, and it's hard to come by. I finally found both part one and two as an import from MEI AH Laser Disc Company--and boy did THAT leave a lot to be desired. The quality of the print was very poor (though MUCH worse on this sequel--the final fight sequence almost looks like it was a fight between two shadows) and the captioning was beyond abominable! When my daughter saw part of it, she immediately recognized the problem. It seems that many Japanese movies are released by Chinese companies, so the movie is translated from Japanese to Chinese and finally to English--and so much was lost in the translation it practically ruined the experience. For example, "JUDO" is translated as either "Karate" or "Kung Fu" in the movie. For two movies about Judo, the word NEVER appears in the subtitled version! Also, countless sentences simply make no sense--it's as if the words are almost random at times.Part two sacrifices some of the quality seen in part one because the movie obviously is intended as a propaganda flick. Instead of a struggle between rival judo studios, at times, it is a rivalry between judo and stupid Americans. Particularly at the beginning of the movie, the American shown is quite a pig and intended to stir the audience. Now some of this can be forgiven, after all, Americans made many propaganda films as well in which the enemy was seen as almost subhuman. However, it is disturbing to think that the extras used in this film were almost certainly POWs forced to act! My advice is to see any of Kurasawa's post ww2 films--they are indeed masterpieces!