Sep 23 2008
Tougher than a bear
If that cover art doesn’t blind you, then this music video by macho Japanese superstar Riki Takeuchi is bound to make your eyeballs burst in a spasm of whacked-out joy.
Who’s Riki Takeuchi, you ask? He’s one of Japan’s top actors in its wildly popular direct-to-video (or “V-cinema”) market. He might be most familiar to Western viewers from films that actually crossed over into theaters and DVDs out here, like Takashi Miike’s deliriously excessive yakuza flick Dead or Alive, or Kenta Fukasaku’s Battle Royale II, the forgettable sequel to the smash hit from 2000 directed by Fukasaku’s father.
Like a lot of Asian movie stars, Riki T. also pimps it up as a pop singer, and his new album, Ma-Tsu-Ri, is tailor-made for a late night of shōchū-fueled mayhem and raising hell in Ginza. Even Amazon Japan declares that with Ma-Tsu-Ri, “Riki has started a rampage through the city!”
Don’t believe me? Well, feast your eyes below as the tough guy’s tough guy hammers a taiko, hoofs it as his name blazes overhead in lights, and kicks a bear’s ass! (And if you wanna visit his official website, “Riki Project,” it’s here.)
