Awesome Samurai

These beautiful playing cards from Neversleep Co feature imagery of cats dressed in samurai armor. Each face card illustrates a different feline warrior, equipped with swords and other accessories surrounded by flourishes. The number cards have unique geometric patterns. Add-ons include poker chips, enamel pins, and a red deck as a stretch goal.

This animated short film follows a legendary craftsman who lost his arm and uses who uses a prosthetic arm to take down his enemies. The fight choreography is amazing, and we love the use of sawdust in place of blood. Go behind-the-scenes here, then support their Kickstarter for a feature-length film. (Thanks, Rob!)

Nicolas Cage gets top billing in this colorful samurai western about a criminal who is sprung from jail by a warlord and forced to rescue his runaway granddaughter. If he does not comply or attempts to flee, he’ll meet a terrible fate. We’ve got an Escape from New York meets The Road Warrior vibe going here.

Among The Mandalorian’s many influences are Westerns and samurai movies. This collectible from Bandai celebrates the series’ Eastern influences, envisioning Din Djarin as a rōnin, a wandering warrior with no lord or master. The 6.7″ tall figure includes a real cloth cape, rifle, blaster, and a katana.

This extraordinary, limited-edition watch features a design inspired by a samurai’s kabuto helmet. For each timepiece, a skilled metalsmith hand-carves a dragon into its bezel. Its titanium case and band are cast with special dies that create the look of hand-hammered steel, while brown and blue finishes give it an aged look.

Make liquor bottles extra special with Tadayasu’s fancy bottle toppers. The Samurai Bottle Helmet comes in designs based on the actual helmets worn by some of the country’s most famous feudal warlords.

The latest gameplay video for From Software’s Sekiro Shadows Die Twice sheds light on the game’s story and setting. It also teaches the basics of the game’s fast-paced, skill-based combat system. The game drops 3/22/19 on PS4, Xbox One, and Windows.

XM Studios‘ latest masterpiece is this handcrafted and hand-painted 1:4 porcelain statue that depicts the Dark Knight as a samurai. The Batman Shogun statue comes with three heads, two left arms, two right arms, and two chest emblems.

Our first look at Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice reveals that it is quite a big leap above From Software’s Souls series. You can eliminate enemies in one blow with stealth attacks and counters, and you can instantly revive yourself on the spot.

From Software – creators of Dark Souls and Bloodborne – have a new action adventure game. In Sekiro Shadows Die Twice, you gather gadgets and weapons that you can unleash from your prosthetic hand. Coming 2019 for Xbox One, PS4 and Windows.

(Gore) Our first comprehensive look at Sucker Punch’s open world samurai game Ghost of Tsushima unveils a stunning world with a fast counter-based combat system. The game also has set pieces straight out of samurai movies for certain battles.

We suspect there’s more wire fu than meets the eye in this promo video from Japanese mobile operator SoftBank, but it’s still pretty awesome to watch two sword-wielding samurai go at it while floating around with jetpacks. We would so pay to see this movie.

While you might think your jeans are dyed indigo, they’re not. The real deal is hard to come by, and much richer than what we’re used to. The fascinating thing isn’t the color, but the natural properties it offers that drove Samurai to wear indigo fabric beneath their armor.

Writer and director Junya Okobe presents an awesome take on the tale of Zatōichi, a mythical blind swordsman who takes down an army of evil foes. Hornet’s Nest & Runt Man reminded us of Master Blaster from The Road Warrior, but it’s the ending that truly kicked ass.

From Infamous creator Sucker Punch comes an open world samurai adventure game. Ghost of Tsushima sees you as a vastly outnumbered samurai trying to repel a massive Mongol invasion. The teaser was made with the game’s impressive graphics engine.

Bandai’s imposing Steel Samurai War Machine figure has more arms and abs than Samurai Iron Man. The 7″ tall figure has four guns on each wrist, seven more on its right shoulder, and a freakin’ cannon on its left shoulder. It also comes with a sword and a jetpack.

Shield. Sword. Shuriken. Bandai’s latest Manga Realization action figure is an armored samurai version of Captain America. The action figure is nearly 7″ tall and comes with four swappable hands and a star logo that doubles as a shuriken.

(Gore) “There is a man, somewhere in Edo, who will never die.” From highly prolific director Takashi Miike comes a live action adaptation of Blade of the Immortal. It’s about Manji, a samurai who’s been denied death – but not pain! – until he kills 1000 evil men.

Thailand sculptor Mari9art’s incredible build is made from recycled car parts and scrap steel. It measures 2.2m tall (~7.2 ft), and includes free door-to-port shipping, though getting it to your house might be a challenge from there. His lifesize T-Rex is even more mindblowing.

A samurai tasked with sending an important message is intercepted by two assassins. The Raid 1 & 2‘s writer and director Gareth Evans directed, edited and shot this entire concept short using a Sony NEX-7 digital camera and no camera crew other than himself.

Master swordsman Isao Machii shows us how he’d take on Jake Arrieta, as he manages to drive his samurai blade cleanly through the center of a baseball, tossed at 99.4 mph, and a distance of 30 feet, so the ball is even faster than at MLB’s 60 foot distance.

Industrial robot maker Yaskawa shows off the incredible precision of its MOTOMAN-MH24 by having it learn blade skills from a samurai sword master. The part where it slices the pea pod in half is nuts. Fortunately, it can’t chase us – yet.

Iaido master Isao Machii shows off his sword skills and lightning fast reflexes by slicing various objects lobbed at him at high speed in this commercial for telecom company SoftBank. Flying shrimp is Japanese for fast Internet.