Manga Entertainment’s live-action label, Manga “Live” will present Japanese director Shinya Tsukamoto’s surreal vision of science fiction and horror by releasing Tetsuo II: Body Hammer and Tokyo Fist on DVD June 29, 1999. Both films are digitally re-mastered on DVD. Tetsuo II is in stereo while Tokyo Fist utilizes Dolby pro-logic. Both DVDs have the following features: director biography, scene index, theatrical trailer, web-link, anti-drug trailer, Palm Pictures DVD catalog, Manga Video trailer and Manga Video Fan Club information.

A wildly adventurous techno-thriller, Tetsuo II: Body Hammer is Japan’s
answer to Blade Runner and The Terminator. More a stunning follow-up than a
sequel to the cult-classic original, Tetsuo: The Iron Man, Body Hammer leads
you into a breathtaking post-industrial world.

The story revolves around Taniguchi, a Tokyo businessman whose son is
kidnapped by a gang of indoctrinated street thugs. Pushed over the edge by
his son’s disappearance, Taniguchi undergoes a cyborg transformation – from
mild-mannered family man to a ferocious half-man/half-machine walking
arsenal. When Taniguchi confronts his primeval nemesis, a murderous battle
rages between himself and his enemy’s deadly gang and culminates in a final
clash between these two powerful forces of redemption and destruction.

In the critically acclaimed follow-up to Body Hammer, Shinya Tsukamoto
returns to the screen wearing the unprecedented septuple crown of
director-screenwriter-executive producer-editor-director of photography-art
director and star of Tokyo Fist.

In Tokyo Fist, he plays Tsuda, an insurance salesman whose placid life with
his fiancée Hizuru (Kahori Fujii) is turned upside down by the appearance of
his old high-school classmate Takuji (Koji Tsukamoto, the filmmaker’s
real-life brother). Takuji is now a professional boxer with serious
emotional problems, yet his arrival sparks the attention of Hizuru, who
becomes fixated with the boxer. Profoundly jealous of Takuji, Tsuda begins
vigorous training at a local gym to acquire the skills and strength needed
to destroy Takuji’s hold on Hizuru.

Tokyo Fist offers a rare blend of psychological drama and raw physical
energy in its dissection of the curious balance between power and frailty.
As the edges of this love triangle grow sharper and bloodier, Tsukamoto
poses the harrowing challenge to audiences: which blow is ultimately
stronger, the one to the body or the one to the soul?