40 Films in Robotech: Sabu and Ichi’s Detective Stories (1981)

     

This film isn't referenced verbatim in Robotech but the title is close enough... and this film's release date and quirkiness  justify including it in this ongoing cinematic celebration of Robotech. Plus, it was a new-to-me screening. Little did I initially know how appropriate the pick would be…

 ROBOTECH MENTION:  

Page 9 of Comico’s Robotech: The Macross Saga issue #13 - Blue Wind has our favorite micronized Zendtraedi spies wondering around the interior city on the SDF-1. Like all issues in the Comico series, this issue is the "as seen on TV" depiction of a Robotech TV episode. In this case, the TV episode is also the 13th and entitled Blue Wind. As the questionably dressed Zendtraedi spies pass storefronts, the walk near a video rental place called “Video World” (much like the old Blockbuster Video chain). A film poster is taped to the door for a movie called “Sabu Cairo.” This poster does not appear in the television version of Blue Wind - nor does the VIDEO WORLD rental store.

 

Note the "Video World" store door to the right of the male Zendtraedi in a skirt.
The movie poster on the door reads: "Sabu Cairo."

Since “Sabu Cairo” doesn’t exist as a real movie title, I wanted to pick a ‘Sabu’ title that mixed genres since “Sabu Cairo” looks like a cowboy/samurai mash-up. Sabu and Ichi’s Detective Stories combines classic samurai fighting with film noir mystery. 

 SYNOPSIS:  

IMDB.com’s synopsis: “In Edo, masked samurai raid a seafood wholesaler, killing the clerk. They spare blind swordsman Ichi, later falsely accused of murder. Released, Ichi seeks truth with a friend after more killings occur.”

 AWARDS & KUDOS:  

From DVDPlanetStore: “Sabu to Ichi Torimono Hikae, sometimes translated as Sabu and Ichi's Detective Stories/Tales and Sabu and Ichi's Arrest Warrant, is a manga series by Shotaro Ishimori originally published in Weekly Shōnen Sunday beginning in 1966. In April 1968, the series moved to serialization in the first issue of Big Comic, where it was published until the series ended four years later in the April 10, 1972 issue. The manga was adapted into an anime TV series which aired on NET from October 3, 1968 to September 24, 1969. The series won the 1968 Shogakukan Manga Award.

In addition to the manga and anime series, a live action period drama series was aired on Fuji TV from 1981 to 1982 as part of their Jidaigeki Special series. A total of four specials were created and aired [including this movie on Digging Star Wars!]. Sabu and Ichi were played by veteran actors Tomokazu Miura and Tatsuo Umemiya, with Yūko Natori and Junzaburo Ban playing the parts of Midori and her father, Saheiji.”

 OTHER COOL FACTS:  

Fans of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) will find similarities between Ichi and one of the Guardians of the Whills.

 ROBOTECH REASON:  

Sabu and Ichi originate in classic manga and anime. Having Sabu as an Easter egg in the Robotech comic is fitting.

To read my ⭐⭐⭐ (out of a possible 5 star) rating Sabu and Ichi's Detective Stories (1981) on Letterboxd, click here.