You’ve never seen Commando until you’ve seen it surrounded by rabid Japanese fans in costume with firecrackers and tambourines.

A very special movie is turning the big 3-0 this year. Yes, it was three decades ago that retired US Special Forces Colonel John Matrix set out on a mission to rescue his daughter from the clutches of an ousted South American dictator.

Now, before you all go, “Hey jackass, Commando was released in 1985, and I have the limited edition Blu-ray director’s cut to prove it,” this is the 30th anniversary of Commando‘s debut on TV Asahi with dubbed voices. In the minds of many Japanese movie buffs, the movie never was truly complete until then.

It was this particular showing of Commando that brought together the talents of prolific voice actors Tessho Gendo and Mika Doi as Matrix and Cindy respectively. Their work on Commando had catapulted both of their careers to the point that you’d be hard pressed to find any major anime series in the past 30 years that doesn’t have at least one of them making an appearance.

Their talents were guided by the cunning translation work of Katsushige Hirata, who would also go on to translate most of the Star Wars and 007 movies as well as the entire Lord of the Rings filmography. The result managed to capture all of Commando’s fun and subtle campiness perfectly – perhaps even more so than the original English version – and is considered by many in Japan to be among the best Hollywood translations and dubs to date.

▼ A compilation of Commando scenes featuring its most memorable lines. Even in Japanese you’ll probably be able to recognize them.

To mark the 30th anniversary of the TV Asahi broadcast of Commando, a special screening will be held at the Shin-Bungeiza theater in Toshima, Tokyo on 20 October. This one-time event will feature two showings of the film, the first will be a normal screening of the Blu-ray release of the TV Asahi dubbed version of Commando.

The second, though, will be a special “interactive” screening that encourages people shouting jokes and famous lines, cosplay, sing-alongs with tambourines, shoot-alongs (using 20 different kinds of crackers to simulate gun shots), and much more.  It will be a huge oversight, however, if no one there is playing the steel drums.

▼ Better start brushing up on the lyrics to “We Fight for Love” by Power Station now!

Commando bingo will also be played in which great prizes will be given away, and the event will also be attended by legends Gendo, Doi, and Hirata who will give talks to the crowd and play along with the special screening.

Tickets are 3,900 yen (US$35), and unfortunately food isn’t included so be sure to eat some Green Berets for breakfast before heading out. Still, it’s a small price to pay for such a unique Commando-related event.

At the very least, if you happen to see a lot of people with camo, mesh shirts, and obscenely large rocket launchers in Ikebukuro on the 20th, you’ll know what’s going down. My bosses here at SoraNews24 offered me a hundred grand to go down and cover the event. You wanna know something? I said I’d do it for nothing.

Event information
Commando TV Asahi Dubbed Version 30th Anniversary Special Screening / 「コマンドー」テレビ朝日版吹替・制作30周年アニバーサリー特別上映
Shin Bungeiza, Tokyo-to, Toshima-ku, Higashiikebukuro 1-43-5 Maruhan Ikebukuro Bldg.
新文芸坐 　東京都豊島区東池袋１丁目４３−５ マルハン池袋ビル
20 October, 2018
Regular screening starts at 4 p.m.
Interactive screening starts at 7:20 p.m.
Admission: 3,900 yen
Website

Source: TC Entertainment, My Game News Flash
Featured image: YouTube/MUSICXXL
Top image: YouTube/rei003rd