Kaiketsu Raion Maru

Suitably filmed martial arts fantasy set during the Feudal wars in medieval Japan and concerning a shapeshifting sword fighter. This amusing 'mini feature' seems patterned after comic book fluff and resembles a cross between a kung fu flick and the fun Japanese cult series 'Ultra Man'.

I got this old video tape for Christmas back in the 1980s from my parents and was surprised to find it was an episode of a t.v. series from the early 70s. Despite really rank dubbing, this has a few things going for it: marauding skull ninjas (looking like they stepped out of 'He Man & The Masters Of The Universe'), sword swinging villain that looks like a poor cousin of 'The Thing' (from 'Fantastic Four') here called 'Mole Man', three likable nomadic war orphans (one of which is the lycanthropic 'Lion Maru') and a running time of 22 minutes. I can't find enough info on this series to tell what episode this might be but judging from the narration and the story, it's possible that this is the first one.