Shintaro! The Samurai Sensation that Swept a Nation

In 1964, Australian kids fell en masse for a new TV show. The Samurai was a bizarre programming choice – a poorly dubbed show set in feudal Japan – but soon thousands of kids were tuning in to watch Shintaro and his sidekicks do battle with evil ninjas. Samurai merchandise sold by the truckload and the show's star, Koichi Ose, drew bigger crowds than the Beatles when he landed in Australia for a promotional tour.

Of course, grown-ups didn't understand – in fact, many of them were outraged. Not only did the show contain violence (which kids were cheerfully imitating), it was Japanese. Although the youngsters saw Japan as exotic and new, their parents and teachers had an entirely different perspective. Twenty years earlier Japan and Australia had been enemies, and for some the wartime wounds hadn't healed. Shintaro! The Samurai Sensation that Swept a Nation looks at the generation gap exposed by the arrival of a seemingly harmless kids' fad, and asks the kids themselves – now middle aged men and women – to explain what made the show so great.

Shintaro! is a conventional made-for-TV documentary, heavy on talking heads and state-the-obvious narration, but it features enough kitschy clips from The Samurai to keep things interesting. The show looks hilarious, and Koichi Ose is a charming interviewee, although the real highlight is fan and collector Garry Renshaw, whose childlike love of Shintaro is sweet and contagious. Shinataro! is an affectionate look at an odd piece of TV history.

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