Posted by G. M. Watson on 01/22/06 10:51

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In article <12HAf.21120$PL5.4958@newssvr11.news.prodigy.com>, jimmy
<wa6tkq@sbcglobal.net> wrote:


> These DVDs with english subtitles are available from YesAsia and DVD
> Asian. Just do a search for "Tora-san". They are being released
> gradually starting from the first one and they are up to number 25 now.
>
> NYC XYZ wrote:
>> Hi, All:
>>
>> Know where this amazing franchise is available on DVD?
>>
>> Surely something which incurred 48 incarnations over 25 years is a
>> must-see!
>>
>> I hear it's sentimental, I hear it's formulaic -- but it's a Japanese
>> classic, a perennial favorite, full of panaramic Technicolor
>> on-location sweeps of the Japanese countryside and cityscape.
>>
>> "Otoko wa tsurai yo" translates as "it's hard to be a man." These
>> movies are the picaresque adventures of a lovable and all-too-human
>> itinerant salesman of kitchenware who inevitably falls in love and is
>> inevitably rejected, and whose schemes get himself or his family and
>> friends into heaps of trouble but who's indefatigable and always
>> returns to repeat the whole formula in the next episode. How could
>> this be the 21st Century and no English editions available of this
>> mainstream Japanese hit??

Probably because once you see two or three Tora-Sans, you've seen them all.
Also, the rather specialized nature of their Japaneseness means they have
little to offer the average North American DVD buyer. Even in Japan,
Tora-San appealed primarily to a conservative, older audience, who relished
the series' nostalgic depiction of an idealized Japan they remembered
vaguely from their youth, a Japan that had long since ceased to exist; a
Japan of small old-fashioned neighborhoods that somehow survived in the
middle of the urban landscape; neighborhoods where everyone knew everyone
else, the sun always shone, people looked out for each other, and nothing
really bad ever happened. The Tora-San series only came to an end after 27
years when its indefatigable star, Atsumi Kiyoshi, died in 1996 at the age
of 68. So identified was he with the role that continuing the series was
simply impossible. More recently the series' creator, producer and long-time
director, Yamada Yoji, has unexpectedly turned his attention to the Samurai
genre; his excellent 2002 feature, "The Twilight Samurai", won wide acclaim;
but its 2005 followup, "The Hidden Blade", is reportedly quite
disappointing.

The Tora-Sans were formulaic in the extreme, tho sorta fun in small doses
(and it was nice to see Ryu Chishu, of Ozu fame, get so much work so late in
life-- he always played the neighborhood priest). Recommended primarily for
people who really, really enjoy "Coronation Street" or Andy Hardy movies.
GMW

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