As we’ve mentioned before, Japan is often late to the Hollywood blockbuster party. With a lucrative movie theater industry, highly localized marketing, and little piracy, it’s not unusual for a film to open in Japan weeks, or even months, after its overseas debut.
The latest example is “Rambo: Last Blood,” which came out way back on Sept 20 in the U.S. That’s so long ago that not only has it completed its North American theatrical run, Amazon USA has already discounted the Blu-ray by over 50 percent.
“Last Blood” will finally open in Japan on June 26. However, while the movie has taken its sweet time coming to Japan, it’s at least arriving with a sweet piece of promotional art: an official portrait of protagonist John Rambo/series star Sylvester Stallone.
If something seems familiar about all that visceral and dripping muscular masculinity, it’s probably because the portrait was drawn by none other than Keisuke Itagaki, creator of manga “Grappler Baki.” Debuting almost 30 years ago, “Baki” has fought its way to the top of anime/manga’s ever-competitive super-ripped-dudes-punching-each-other genre, and so Itagaki was a natural choice to capture Rambo’s old-school buffness in illustrated form.
Online reactions have included:
“Awesome.”
“Even when I saw the overseas posters, I thought ‘That totally looks like Keisuke Itagaki artwork.”
“He did a really good job recreating Rambo’s eyebrows.”
“He looks like he doesn’t need any weapons to kill you.”
“Actually, using weapons is just a way for him to suppress his full killing power.”
“Now I want to see Rambo fight [Baki opponent] Gaia.”
“Can we have Itagaki draw portraits for future Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis action movies too?”
The praise hasn’t been 100-percent universal, with some calling it over-the-top and one commenter likening the excessive aesthetics to “pouring curry on an ice cream parfait.” But really, if subtlety is what you’re looking for, you were never going to find it in “Baki” or the new “Rambo” anyway.
Reference: Twitter/板垣恵介 ランボー, Twitter/@livedoornews
Read more stories from SoraNews24.
— Limited-edition Batman Ninja figure is the epitome of stealth, justice and awesomeness
— Huge anime character balloon terrifies all it encounters, gives viewers a literal tongue lashing
— Badass art: Ono Gaf and his giant metal turtle
© SoraNews24