Makoto Ogino

This Chinese-Japanese co-production is a timeless story with state-of-the-art designs and special effects. Set in the present day, its valiant young heroes battle their mythological foes through the streets of Tokyo and Hong Kong. The beautiful Ashura holds the only key to The Gates of Hell, where its King is imprisoned. But Ashura has been asleep for centuries. When the evil Raga awakens her and tries to steal the key, it is up to two young monks to foil Raga's plan. (hkmdb.com)

A sacred girl of Hell enjoys some time on Earth when she fiddles with some sacred Buddhist artifacts and unleashes some evil stuff. The girl has some muppet friend who falls down a pit into Hell and she and her guardians go in to save it. She upsets the gods and is sentenced to live a life in a sacred statue with no chance of sunlight. She refuses to go and instead opts to die but is granted seven last days on Earth. The queen of Hell plots to steal her life force to destroy all humanity. (hkcinemagic.com)

Kujaku is assigned to retrieve a statue of Ashura, not his partner but one of the ancient Eight Guardians of Buddha, although a connection between young Ashura and her ancient counterpart is eventually revealed. The statue had been stolen from a well-guarded temple by Tatsuma, a student and amateur occultist hoping to use it to awaken his dormant psychic powers and save him years of study with a master. (imdb)

This volume begins as occult researchers retrieve an old painting of Nobunaga's Azuchi Castle, an act which revives a set of evil-intended "tenshi" or "angels" who perform a ritual to revive Nobunaga by possessing the body of young female researcher Tatsuko. In the course of it all, Nobunaga's massive sunken castle rises from Lake Biwa and the stage is set for the final battle between our intrepid ghost hunter heroes and Nobunaga and his minions. (imdb)

et predominantly in the island mansion of a reclusive former Japanese movie star, the piece starts out more along the lines of a haunted house/mystery style horror film before bringing on, in its final third, the standard dark gods/revived spirit motifs of the traditional occult thriller. This entry in the series continues the practice of invoking Japanese historical figures, in this case one Lady Yomi. However, it also takes the bold step of implicating the American postwar military occupation. (imdb)

The action starts out in Germany at Castle Valhalla where Kujaku, the young Buddhist monk, and his allies must rescue Kujaku's sidekick Ashura and retrieve the Dragon Orb, which Neo-Nazis have stolen from the monks at Yurokoya Temple in Japan. After the German episode, the action shifts to Tibet and a massive plateau overlooking a sweeping plain where ancient, unresolved struggles are destined to be played out. (imdb)