Five years ago, at the time of this writing, UK distributor Third Window Films released a limited edition box set dedicated to three films from Japanese director Toshiaki Toyoda (豊田利晃). It was called The Early Years which included Pornostar, Unchain, and 9 Souls. It was available for 2000 units only and took a few years to officially sell out completely. I picked it up a few years later and was really surprised by how interesting each film was. In a sense, you could argue the box set sold poorly and the distributor would not bother with any more of the director’s titles due to the sales.
But, then we fast-forward to 2021 and we now have a second box set from the same director and distributor. And not only that, we now have six films!
Background:
Before we go over the second box set, let’s recap a few things. Toshiaki Toyoda has directed over 12 different films of various genres throughout his career in Japan. His films have included various ideas like sword-fighting, yakuza, and family related drama. His most notable film was a live-action adaptation of Blue Spring, a manga about a group of delinquents in a run-down high school.
Blue Spring was the first film I watched from his filmography and was intrigued by its story, characters and direction. Eventually I did check out his Early Years box set, and I really enjoyed each film that was on offer, with 9 Souls being the highlight for its concept and well-done characters that develop throughout their journey.
When I found out that Third Window Films was going to be releasing another batch of films from the director I was very much excited because the films I had watched from his filmography were from early on in his career so it was interesting to see what the later films would be like in comparison, since directors often improve or change the way their films are stylised over time.
Due to the vast variety of films included in the box set, Third Window Films decided to call its second boxset Toshiaki Toyoda: 2005-2021 which refers to the earliest and most recent films included. What we have are three full-length films and three shorter-length but actually cover a whole trilogy.
Starting off with the full-length films we have Hanging Garden (空中庭園, Kūchū teien), released in 2015. The family drama story is an adaptation of Mitsuyo Kakuta’s novel of the same name.
Next we have Monsters Club (モンスターズクラブ, Monsutāzu kurabu), released in 2011.
Then we have I’m Flash (アイム・フラッシュ！, Aimu Furasshu), released in 2012. The film stars Tatsuya Fujiwara who played the main leads in Battle Royale and Death Note, as well as Ryûhei Matsuda who’s featured in many of Toyoda’s works.
Then we have the three shorter length films known as either the Wolf Mountain or Resurrection trilogy.
The three films included are 2019’s Wolf’s Calling (狼煙が呼ぶ, Noroshi ga Yobu), 2020’s The Day of Destruction (破壊の日, Hakai no Hi), and 2021’s Go Seppuku Yourselves (全員切腹, Zen’in seppuku). Each film has a runtime around 1 hour or less and cover different stories, characters and themes.
Admittedly I have yet to watch each of these films, but I think it’s great to have a variety from different parts of his career available in one place, so you can see how far Toyoda has come from his Pornostar film all the way to this year’s Go Seppuku Yourselves.
There are still a few of his films not yet been released over here in the United Kingdom including Crows Explode 3 but that’s a film that is probably best suited for a distributor like Arrow Video considering Takashi Miike directed the first two (and the first two were released on DVD by MVM Entertainment).
While I have not been actively buying much Japanese films throughout this past year (and thanks to recent events I can now officially speed up the pace), I still try to support Third Window Films whenever possible. You could arguably compare the distributor to MVM Entertainment (UK anime distributor) because both literally only have a single or few individuals compared to other distributors in their scene, which if you think about it is really impressive and also shows you how much hard-work they are doing to get these sorts of titles out there to their respective audiences.
Third Window Films 2021’s line-up has been rather interesting. So far they have released a new One Cut of the Dead set that includes the Hollywood spin-off film, re-releases of FUNUKE: Show Some Love, You Losers! and Underwater Love on Blu-ray, Tezuka’s Babara, and Gekimation anime film collection The Weird and Wonderful World of Ujicha. If you think that wasn’t enough, we also have Junta Yamaguchi’s critically acclaimed film Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes in November, more films from the late Nobuhiko Obayashi with the Anti-War Trilogy box set this December, Shinya Tsukamoto’s Hiruko the Goblin in January, and a very special release with both Funky Forest: The First Contact and The Warped Forest in one box set from directors Katsuhito Ishii, Hajime Ishimine and Shunichiro Miki arriving in 2022 (which is a big deal because the latter was considered ‘lost’ or unreleased in that case).
Limited Edition Contents:
For the second Toshiaki Toyoda box set, UK distributor Third Window Films offered a special limited edition package which maintains the consistency and design of the previous box set.
The box set consists of a sturdy cardboard slipcase with a digipack that contains the six films across three Blu-ray discs. Each disc is also packed full of on-disc bonus features.
The SRP is £59.99 and has a 2000 unit print run. Once the print run is out of stock, this edition won’t be available. The Early Years box set did get re-releases for two of the three films (Unchain will remain exclusive to the box set) and I reckon the same will likely apply here, though I would not be surprised if Third Window wants to put the Resurrection trilogy as its own disc if it gets a standard edition given the context behind those films.
Physical Contents:
- Limited Edition slipcase with digipack packaging
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Third Window Films
Released: 18th October 2021
The limited edition release for Toshiaki Toyoda: 2005-2021 contains all six films spread across three Blu-ray discs. No English dub was ever produced for these films so they are all presented in Japanese audio with English subtitles. The white subtitles are unlockable during playback and each Blu-ray disc is Region B locked.
Hanging Garden features a full-length audio commentary from director Toshiaki Toyoda, while Monsters Club features commentary by Jasper Sharp, and I’m Flash features commentary by Tom Mes. Both Jasper Sharp and Tom Mes are writers for Midnight Eye who have extensive knowledge for Japanese film cinema.
Blu-ray Specs:
| Languages | Japanese |
| Audio | Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 |
| Video | Hanging Garden & Go Seppuku Yourselves: 1080p High Definition Native format 1:85:1 aspect ratio Monster’s Club & I’m Flash: 1080p High Definition Native format 2:35:1 aspect ratio Wolf’s Calling & The Day of Destruction: 1080p High Definition Native format 1:78:1 aspect ratio |
| Region | B |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | No |
| Discs | 3 BD-50s |
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
Disc 1: Hanging Garden
- Audio Commentary with Toshiaki Toyoda
- Making of Hanging Garden (29 mins)
- Deleted Scenes (30 mins)
Disc 2: Monsters Club, Wolf’s Calling, The Day of Destruction & Go Seppuku Yourselves
- Monsters Club Audio Commentary with Jasper Sharp
- Making of Monsters Club (8 mins)
- Interview with Toshiaki Toyoda (12 mins)
- Monsters Club Teaser Trailer
- Day of Destruction Trailer
- Wolf’s Calling Teaser Trailer
Disc 3: I’m Flash
- Audio Commentary with Tom Mes
- Making of I’m Flash (20 mins)
- Interview with Toshiaki Toyoda (19 mins)
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
Toshiaki Toyoda: 2005-2021 limited edition box set is licensed and released by UK distributor Third Window Films. You can order the box set on Terracotta Distribution’s store.
The Normanic Vault 
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