Born in 1969 at Osaka, Toshiaki Toyoda is a Japanese director who has worked on a number of films and also music videos throughout his career. His most well-known film is his adaptation of the manga Blue Spring (青い春), which Third Window Films also released on Blu-ray in the UK, and a sequel to Takashi Miike’s adaptation of the Crows manga called Crows Explode (クローズ EXPLODE).
Background:
Pornostar (1998)
“A young man gets off the train in the morning and wanders the business districts aimlessly. He runs across some yakuza gangsters, whom he despises, and goes on a killing spree, but soon becomes involved with a subordinate gang.”Unchain (2000)
“Documentary on the Japanese boxer Unchain Kaji, who retired from the ring at the age of 30 with an eye injury and a losing record. He then tries to start a new life as a civilian.”9 Souls (2003)
Plot Synopsis via Third Window Films, December 2016
“Nine convicts escape from prison; most are convicted murders. They commandeer a van from a strip club. Their plan is to find a stash of counterfeit money that a deranged cell mate told them about, divide it, then part ways. They make it to the site where the money is supposed to be hidden, and then one by one, each seeks out the place he wants to be, a version of home, somewhere to connect. Will it end well for any of them?”
Before Third Window Films released Blue Spring in 2019, the same distributor also brought over three films from Toshiaki Toyoda’s catalogue and released them on Blu-ray for the first time in the United Kingdom a few years prior. These three films had never been released on the Blu-ray format before so it was exciting to have an independent UK distributor give them a second chance of reaching an audience.
The first title included is the 1998 film Pornostar (ポルノスター, Porunosutā) which was Toshiaki Toyoda’s directorial debut in the role and also earned him the Directors Guild of Japan New Directors Award.
The second title included is the 2000 film Unchain (アンチェイン) which is a documentary about Unchain Kaji.
After releasing Blue Spring in 2001, the third title in this collection is the 2003 film 9 Souls (ナイン・ソウルズ, Nainu sōruzu), though apparently he was arrested not long after its release over drugs.
About Third Window Films:
Third Window Films is one of my favourite distributors in the United Kingdom due to their unique preference on the titles that they acquire from Asia. While they have released a number of films from Japan, Korea and Hong Kong, in recent years they have focused more towards Japan but that doesn’t stop them from gathering special titles like Macoto Tezka’s long-lost 1985 gem The Legend of the Stardust Brothers, Shin’ichirô Ueda’s cult classic 2017 film One Cut of the Dead, and a wide variety of films from iconic directors like Shinya Tsukamoto (Tetsuo: The Iron Man), Sion Sono (Love Exposure), Takeshi Kitano (Hana-bi) and soon they will release the late Nobuhiko Ōbayashi’s 2017 war film Hanagatami, Ujicha’s experimental Gekimation anime films from 2013 and 2018 with Burning Buddha Man and Violence Voyager, and Seiji Tanaka’s directorial debut 2018 film Melancholic.
Limited Edition Contents:
Putting the focus back onto Toshiaki Toyoda, the three films I mentioned – 9 Souls, Pornostar, and Unchain – are part of a collection called Toshiaki Toyoda: The Early Years. This collection was released a few years ago, and has been presented in a limited edition Blu-ray set with a digipack presentation.
There are only 2000 units printed for this set with no word on a standard edition re-release at the time of this post. The SRP for this release was £29.99.
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Third Window Films
Released: 26th December 2016
The limited edition release for Toshiaki Toyoda: The Early Years contains all three films spread across three Blu-ray discs; one film per disc, and each of them have some on-disc extra features.
No English dub was ever produced so 9 Souls, Pornostar, and Unchain are all presented in their Japanese language with English subtitles. The white subtitles are unlockable during playback and each Blu-ray disc is compatible with Regions A & B after testing them.
The films Pornostar and 9 Souls also feature audio commentary with Midnight Eye writers Tom Mes and Jasper Sharp, both of whom are well inversed in Japanese cinema.
Blu-ray Specs:
| Languages | Japanese |
| Audio | Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 |
| Video | Pornostar & 9 Souls: 1080p High Definition Native format 1:85:1 aspect ratio Unchain: 1080p High Definition Native format 1.33:1 aspect ratio |
| Region | A B |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | No |
| Discs | 3 BD-50s |
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
Disc 1: Pornostar
- Audio Commentary with Tom Mes (Japanese cinema expert over at Midnight Eye)
- Pornostar Trailer
- Interview with Director Toshiaki Toyoda
- Toshiaki Toyoda: The Early Years Boxset Trailer
Disc 2: 9 Souls
- Audio Commentary with Jasper Sharp (Japanese cinema expert over at Midnight Eye)
- 9 Souls Trailer
- Making of 9 Souls
- Outtakes
- Toshiaki Toyoda: The Early Years Boxset Trailer
Disc 3: Unchain
- Unchain Trailer
- Unchain Kaji Sings Impudent Man
- Music Video
- Marketing Materials
- Toshiaki Toyoda: The Early Years Boxset Trailer
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
Toshiaki Toyoda: The Early Years is available on Blu-ray from Third Window Films for the United Kingdom and Ireland. You can order the collection on Arrow Films official website and on Amazon UK.
The Normanic Vault 
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