Documentary On the Hawaiian Legends

[Gaijingai 998]

https://www.thehollywoodnews.com/2021/06/23/trailer-for-upcoming-documentary-the-giants-about-hawaiis-sumo-legends/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=trailer-for-upcoming-documentary-the-giants-about-hawaiis-sumo-legends

[Eikokurai 3,194]

Awesome. There aren’t enough serious documentaries about sumo in English.

[Kaminariyuki 476]

The written bit says "The film comes to the UK on streaming service Rakuten TV on 22nd July." The end of the trailer doesn't mentionthe UK. Since we're talking about internet in essentially open countries, can we assume that also means the US, Singapore,S. Korea, etc?

[Shinobi Steve 124]

I did some quick googling and it looks like lots of us will need to wait for the documentary to be distributed more broadly. Rakuten TV appears to only be available in 12 European countries:  Spain, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Finland, Austria, Ireland, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Portugal and Switzerland. If you're in one of those countries, please watch and give us all a review while the rest of us wait. 

[Kaminariyuki 476]

Yes, I just tried to link and got a message that "Sorry, Rakuten is not available in your country."

If anyone finds a work-around, please let us know! Hopefully, Shinobi Steve (above) is correct and it will be released more widely, by and by.

[Halian 7]

Hopefully it makes its way to the US…

[arkinso 5]

My first post on these forums... Konichiwa!

The documentary is now available in this address:

https://rakuten.tv/uk/search/the giants

Unfortunately, it is only available in the UK. However, I succeeded watching it through free VPN service.

I've only watched the first episode (there are three), and honestly, I am a bit disappointed. I don't consider myself an expert on the history of sumo, but the only new thing I've learned is how embarrassed was Konishiki to expose his bare bum in public... Anyway, there are two more episodes, and I hope things will improve.

 

[arkinso 5]

I watched the other 2 episodes, and I am still disappointed.

To begin with, although it is presented as if each episode tells the story of a different Hawaiian, all the episodes actually focus on Konishiki's story, and only briefly mention the other wrestlers. There are also a lot of stock footage videos which should be already familiar to anyone who spent a day or two searching YouTube for sumo videos.

The only new stuff are interviews with Konishiki and Musashimaru. I like both of them, and enjoy hearing them tell their story. Konishiki is very honest and funny, and Musashimaru is hilarious. That said, the interviews are short, and the whole thing seems very disjointed and unfocused. I would prefer simple interviews with Konishiki and Musashimaru, or even just giving them time to tell their story. They are both interesting and funny.

I still recommend seeing this series, if only to hear Konishiki telling a story about a certain treatment that I shall not try to describe here. This is only my second post and I don't want to get a warning or to be banned...

I should also mention that Konishiki was saying that he was forced to retire - something I didn't know. He offers no explanation, but perhaps it got to do with him being an ex-ozeki falling down to juryo.

Lastly, the series includes several clips from an interview of all four Hawaiians together by the late Larry King. I didn't know about that interview. I don't like Larry King as an interviewer, because he had absolutely no sense of humor. The clips, however, were very funny, thanks to the interviewees. I would really like to see the whole interview.

 

Edited July 30, 2021 by arkinso