G.I. Samurai

G.I. Samurai
G.I. Samurai
	Japanese theatrical release poster
Directed by	Kōsei Saitō
Written by	Toshio Kamata
Based on	Sengoku Jieitai; by Ryō Hanmura
Produced by	Haruki Kadokawa; Takeshi Motomura
Starring	Sonny Chiba
Music by	Kentaro Haneda
Distributed by	Toho
Release date	1979;
Running time	139 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese
Budget	$9,000,000

G.I. Samurai (戦国自衛隊, Sengoku jieitai (Time Slip) and Sengoku Self Defense Force) is a 1979 Japanese science fiction/action film focusing on the adventures of a modern-day Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) team that accidentally travels in time to the Warring States period (戦国時代, Sengoku jidai). The film stars Sonny Chiba, one of the top male Japanese actors, and was based on a novel by Ryo Hanmura, a well-known writer of historical novels and science fiction. A remake was theatrically released in Japan in 2005 under the title Samurai Commando: Mission 1549.

Plot[]

During a defensing exercise, a wildly mixed group of Japanese SDF members with a tank, an APC, a patrol boat and a helicopter suddenly find themselves stranded 400 years in the past and under attack by samurai forces. Their acting commanding officer, Second Lieutenant Yoshiaki Iba, befriends and joins forces with Nagao Kagetora, the war leader of lord Koizumi. Seeing the stranded members' defensing machinery in action, Kagetora persuades Iba to aid him in his struggle for supremacy in feudal Japan.

In the meantime, however, Iba finds himself facing the desperation of his men who want to return to their own time. Some make contact with the locals - one of the members, Private First Class Mimura, even finds himself a consort who keeps following him - whilst others freak out, running away in a desperate attempt to return home, or rebelling against rules and restrictions and try to live a pirate's life. Finally, his force shrunk from 21 men to 11, Iba manages to calm his troops by telling them that by fighting history and thus creating a time paradox they might be able to return home. Iba joins Kagetora and fights by his side.

Finally, Iba and the members face Takeda Shingen's forces in battle. But their trust in their advanced weaponry costs them dearly: Shingen's forces outmanoeuvre them at every turn, the soldiers lose all their vehicles and major weapons, and five of them die on the battlefield; though at heavy cost to Shingen's forces. In a desperate attempt, Iba forces his way to Shingen's command post and kills him in a sword duel.

As Iba and his remaining men go to join Kagetora in Kyoto, the latter is put under pressure by his family and the Shōgun Ashikaga Yoshiaki to get rid of Iba. Reluctantly conceding, Kagetora intercepts Iba's group at an old temple. But as Iba prepares to kill Kagetora for his betrayal, he is shot by him. The other soldiers are killed by Kagetora's archers, and Mimura's consort delivers the coup-de-grace to her lover.

Kagetora shows remorse by burying Iba and his men with all due honors. In the end, only one of the members, Private Mokichi Nemoto, survives, who had left the group to help a boy and his family, whose father had been killed.

Cast[]

Shōwa period characters[]

Commissioned Officers

Sonny Chiba as Second Lieutenant Yoshiaki Iba (Commanding Officer of the brigade)
as Ensign Shōichirō Ono (Commanding Officer of the patrol boat)

Non-Commissioned Officers and

Raita Ryū as Sergeant Haruhisa Kimura
as Sergeant Goichi Shimada
Tadashi Kato as Sergeant First Class Hideo Shimizu (Pilot-In-Command of the helicopter)
Tsunehiko Watase as Hayato Yano
Hiroshi Kamayatsu as Private Mokichi Nemoto
as Private Osamu Seki
as Private Kenji Hori
Jun Eto as Private First Class Nobuhiko Ken
as Private First Class Manabu Nonaka
as Private First Class Koji Kikuchi
as Private First Class Gō Nishizawa
as Private First Class Taisuke Mimura
Ryo Hayami as Private First Class Kazumichi Morishita
as Seaman Toshishige Suga
Isao Kuraishi as Private First Class Masao Maruoka
as Private First Class Koji Kano
Ken Takahashi as Private First Class Masayoshi Hirai
as Private First Class Satoshi Ōnishi
as Seaman Harumi Takashima
Nana Okada as Kazuko Arai
Hiroshi Katsuno as Track Coach

Sengoku period characters[]

Isao Natsuyagi as Nagao Kagetora
Haruki Kadokawa as Sanada Masayuki
as Kuribayashi Magoichi
Kentaro Kudo as Ishiba Takehide
Katsumasa Uchida as Asaba Yorichika
as Tategawa Katsuzō
Asao Koike as Koizumi Yukinaga
Shin Kishida as Naoe Bungo
as Kuroda Naoharu
as Takeda Shingen
Hiroyuki Sanada as Takeda Katsuyori
Hiroko Yakushimaru as Young Takeda Samurai
as Foot Soldier
Mikio Narita as Kōsa
Mizuho Suzuki as Shōgun Ashikaga Yoshiaki
as Hosokawa Fujitaka
Miyuki Ono as Miwa
Masao Kusakari as Masakichi
Ryudo Uzaki as Ochimusha
Ayako Honma as Old Woman
Koji Iizuka as Shokichi
Maiko Ōtsuka as Mai
as Shokichi & Mai's Mother
as Yoshitaka Kujo
as Widow Yui

Equipment[]

Initially, the producers approached the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) for props and vehicles, but the army cut their support after reading that the soldiers went AWOL in the script. For that reason, old and sometimes out-dated equipment (like M3 submachine guns) had to be used. The tank featured in the movie was even built entirely from scratch.

The vehicles, including a tank and a helicopter, continue to run despite there being no replenishing fuel supply in the 16th century – a logical problem which was resolved in the remake.

Adaptations[]

A film remake in 2005 was titled Sengoku Jieitai 1549.
A four-episode TV miniseries called Sengoku Jieitai: Sekigahara no Tatakai was aired in 2006 by NTV, directed by Kōsei Saitō.

Name of the movie in different languages[]

Japanese: Sengoku Jieitai
English: G.I. Samurai
French: Les Guerriers de l'Apocalypse
Spanish: Eclipse En El Tiempo
Croatian: Vrijeme je stalo u 5 i 18
German: Time Slip - Tag der Apokalypse
Norwegian: Tidsstorm
Russian: Провал во времени
Cantonese: Zin3 Gwok3 Zi6 Wai6 Deoi6

Home video[]

In the UK, the film was bundled with Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon and The Bullet Train in The Sonny Chiba Collection Vol. 2 Region 2 DVD set by Optimum Home Releasing.^[1]

In popular culture[]

The film is indirectly referenced in the Japanese light novel series Gate as research material for JSDF countermeasures against the Special Region's Imperial forces, and fire rams and ambush trenches (both of which appear during the battle against Shingen's forces in the film) are made use of by Zorzal's forces during the later Imperial civil war.

References[]

^ "The Sonny Chiba Collection Vol. 2". Retrieved 2017-08-19.

戦国自衛隊・非公式サイト

External links[]

Sengoku Jieitai at IMDb

[1] "The Sonny Chiba Collection Vol. 2". Retrieved 2017-08-19.

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