***The Age of Assassins*** (殺人狂時代, *Satsujinkyō jidai*) is a 1967 Japanese crime action comedy film directed by Kihachi Okamoto and produced by Toho. It was based on Michio Tsuzuki's novel *Hungry Heritage* (飢えた遺産, *Ueta isan*)*.*The film was shot in black and white.

Overview
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The project was originally made into a film by Nikkatsu, but due to various reasons it was scrapped, and the rights were purchased by filmmaker Kihachi Okamoto, who was given a script with the Nikkatsu logo written by two screenwriters, Ei Ogawa and Tadaaki Yamazaki, revised the script. It was produced and completed in 1966 with the addition of adding comedic and action scenarios. However, due to a decision by Toho's upper management, the film was shelved just before its release, and was quietly released the following year without much publicity.

The film was screened alongside a documentary that was not expected to attract many viewers (``*Explosion Course*'' (インディレース・爆走, *Indirēsu bakusō*), directed by Hiroshi Teshigahara), and was released in February, the month of the year when movie theaters receive the least amount of foot traffic. As a result, box office sales were the lowest since Toho's inception. Director Okamoto was also extremely depressed. It finally gained acclaim in the 1980s when it was revived and is still popular as a cult film.

During the story, the word "kichigai" (気違い) (which means lunatic or madness in Japaese), which is currently prohibited from being broadcast, is thrown around, so it is rarely broadcast on television. When it was broadcast on WOWOW radio, the term was muted. The setting of Kikyo and the development of the second half have been changed from the original, and the treatment of Mizorogi has expanded considerably. The film shows a fast-paced comedic confrontation between Kikyo, who is short-sighted and defeats her enemies by accident, and the assassins who self-destruct while showing off their bizarre gimmicks, and is also bright in the dark scenes of murder. It has the feel of a romantic thriller, with canzones played. 

The same original film was made into a radio drama on NHK Nagoya in the 1980s. The cast at that time was Akira Nakao (Kikyo), Miyuki Kojima (Keiko), and Mitsuo Senda (Bill). It's much more faithful to the original story than the movie, but the killers all speak the Nagoya dialect, and Kikyo is quite dashing. According to film critic Tomohiro Machiyama, he stated that this film, a long with Danger Pays, Branded to Kill, The Pistol That Sprouted Hair, Sun Above, Death Below, and Ninja, a Band of Assassins are the inspiration for the 1971 anime series, Lupin the 3rd Part I.

Plot
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Dr. Shogo Mizorogi, who runs a mental hospital, is visited by Rudolf von Bruckenmayer, an ex-Gestapo officer of former Nazi Germany. The "secret Nazi organization" to which Bruckenmayer belongs is reportedly considering requesting work from the ``Greater Japan Population Control Council'' (大日本人口調節審議会, *Dai nihon jinkōchōsetsu shingikai*), which is organized by Mizorogi. The purpose of the ``Council'' is to secretly kill people deemed useless for population control purposes, and Mizorogi was training the hospitalized patients to become homicidal killers.

As a test for his job offer, Bruckenmayer asked Mizorogi to kill three people randomly selected from a telephone book. The person designated as one of the murder targets was Shinji Kikyo, a university lecturer in criminal psychology. He is a dull middle-aged man who suffers from athlete's foot. Kikyo is attacked by a man named Mabuchi, an assassin from the council who can throw razor sharp cards, in his apartment, but by chance he ends up killing Mabuchi after a statue of his mother lands on his head. He reports the incident to the police, but when he returns to his room, Mabuchi's body has disappeared and the police thinks Kikyo is talking nonsense, thus ending the investigation. 

Kikyo, along with Keiko Tsurumaki, a mystery reporter he happens to meet, and Bill Otomo, a car thief, confront several assassins of the Council who are targeting Kikyo. Meanwhile, Mizorogi, who is suspicious of Bruckenmayer's behavior, tortures him and discovers that his target is Kikyo and that the diamond called the Cleopatra's Tears (クレオパトラの涙, *Kureopatora no namida*), which was lost during World War II is behind it. Kikyo, whose life is being targeted, gets lucky and defeats the assassins one after another, but Keiko is captured by Mizorogi. Kikyo and Bill are determined to rescue Keiko and fight for their lives to stop the Council from killing people. Mizorogi finally appears in front of Kikyo and tells her a surprising truth. When Kikyo was eight years old, he went to Germany as a boy envoy, and during his stay there he had a diamond sewn into his injured shoulder from the explosive by Jewish partisans. Kikyo accompanies Keiko to the hospital where she is being held captive, and challenges Mizorogi to a one-on-one duel.

Staff
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* Director: Kihachi Okamoto
* Producers: Tomoyuki Tanaka, Kenichiro Tsunoda
* Story: *Hungry Heritage* (飢えた遺産, *Ueta isan*) by Michio Tsuzuki ※ (Currently Ask the Slugs (なめくじに聞いてみろ, *Namekuji ni kiite miro*) )
* Writers: Ei Ogawa, Tadaaki Yamazaki, Kihachi Okamoto
* Cinematographer: Rokuro Nishigaki
* Production Designer: Iwao Akune
* Sound: Shin Watarai
* Lighting: Tsurumi Nishikawa
* Composer: Masaru Sato
* Audio: Hisashi Shimonaga
* Editor: Yoshitami Kuroiwa
* Assistant Director: Kunihiko Watanabe
* Stunt Coordinator: Ryu Kuze

Cast
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* Tatsuya Nakadai as Shinji Kikyo
* Reiko Dan as Keiko Tsurumaki
* Hideo Sunazuka as Bill Otomo
* Hideyo Amamoto as Shogo Mizorogi
* Keiichi Taki as Ikeno
* Misako Tominaga as Woman with prosthetic eyes
* Seishirô Kuno as Man with crutch
* Yasuzô Ogawa as Kensaku Mabuchi (Trump Killer)
* Ikio Sawamura as Old Umbrella Murderer
* Tatsuyoshi Ehara as Hikaru Aochi (Komatsu's subordinate and killer with a whip) (as Tatsuya Ebara)
* Atsuko Kawaguchi as Yumiko Komatsu (a hypnotist who calls herself a spiritual medium)
* Wataru Ōmae as Salaryman at the station, Oba Q (2 roles)
* Shin Ibuki as Delivery guy at the ramen shop, Atom (2 roles)
* Hiroshi Hasegawa as Cook, Soran (2 roles)
* Masanari Nihei as Tailor, Pappy (2 roles)
* Shoji Oki as Yasu
* Ben Hiura as Hide
* Naoya Kusakawa as Editor-in-chief (Tsurumaki's boss)
* Hiroko Minami as Hostess
* Satoko Fukai as Big woman
* Terumi Oka as Small woman
* Kyoko Mori as Callgirl (second victim)
* Yutaka Nakayama as Laughing madman
* Ren Yamamoto as Roaring madman
* Shiro Tsuchiya as Madman in haori and hakama
* Tamami Urayama as Winking madwoman
* Yaeko Izumo as Madwoman with Uchiwadaiko (Fan-drum) (final film appearance)
* Koji Uno as Long-neck salaryman (first victim)
* Yasuhiko Saijô, Shinsuke Achiha, Toyoyuki Kimura, Hiroshi Sekita as Bar patrons
* Yukihiko Gondo as Station staff
* Yumi Mizusawa as Teenage girl
* Ryoji Shimizu as Editorial staff
* Rinsaku Ogata as Countdown soldier
* Bruno Lucique as Rudolf von Bruckmayer (as Bruno Laske) ※Uncredited

※ Uncredited performers

* Yuichi Nara as Koban policeman
* Hideki Furukawa as Bar costumer
* Shigeru Kinami as Young man at the station
* Yoshie Kihira, Sachiko Mori as Customers at the bar
* Shoji Kosugi, Hiroshi Akitsu, Haruo Suzuki, Yukio Kawamata, Shigeo Kato as Psychiatric hospital patients
* Ryutaro Amami, Jiro Suzukawa, Takashi Narita as Onlookers at the station
* Hideo Shibuya, Seiji Yoshida, Masayoshi Kawabe, Jumpei Natsuki, Masahide Matsushita, Sôji Ubukata as Passengers at Shinjuku Station
* Koichi Sato, Koji Uruki, Seiji Onaka, Saburo Kadowaki, Junnosuke Suda as Bar customers
* Minoru Ito, Masaaki Tachibana, Hideo Otsuka, Shigemi Sunagawa as Bartenders
* Andrew Hughes as Dr. Hinkel (flashback)
* Yoshio Katsube as Man on the bus
* Leo Britt, Hugh Elton, Gerard Heinz, Richard Marner as Gestapo officers and soldiers (flashback)