We all know Lone Wolf and Cub in the U.S. Before that, Tomisaburô Wakayama starred in these three films, which combine Italian Westerns with Eurospy for a series of saucy, spicy and delicious dishes.

Killer’s Mission (1969): Directed by Shigehiro Ozawa, this film introduces Ichibê Shikoro, a secret agent/doctor/all-around tough guy who has been hired to protect the only person who can save Japan. Shikoro even has gadgets like any good spy of the time, such as a sword cane, a folding pistol and knives that emerge from his sandals. He’s joined by a female spy who has a comb that doubles as a dart gun!

The Satsuma clan wanted to purchase a thousand rifles from a Dutch ship that would give them a modern edge against their rivals, the Tokugawa, and change the balance of power. Of course, Ichibê Shikoro is more than up to this challenge, even fighting another samurai in a Sergio Leone-inspired duel. Well, Leone stole from Japan first, you know?

I’d never seen any of these films and am frankly amazed by how fun they are, even if the hero never works as a bounty hunter.

The Fort of Death (1969): Coming out the same year as the first movie, this Eiichi Kudô-directed movie brings back Ichibê Shikoro in the service of the villagers of Enoki Village, who have hired him to stop the elite from taxing them into oblivion.

Seeing as how its hero starts the movie dragging a dead body while on a horse and smoking a little cigar, and it ends with a Gatling gun-powered massacre, this is very much the West going to Italy before coming to Japan. Als,: They brought some ninjas.

This is the kind of film where the bad guys take a dead body of their comrade and throw him like a bomb at their enemies, only to be bested by a massive gun that needs to be cooled by the only liquid left, urine. That said, the only weapon it really needs is Ichibê Shikoro, dual wielding a katana and a six-shooter, somewhere between the West and the East in his own strange time zone, killing everyone in his path, no long a spy, still a doctor, always a bad ass.

Eight Men to Kill (1972): Three years later, Shigehiro Ozawa would direct the final film in this trilogy. Ichibê Shikoro must find the missing gold in five days before a solar eclipse happens and Japan falls into turmoil again.

Everyone else that he comes into contact with only wants the gold for themselves, making our hero the lone center of morality in a grim and bloody world. How grim? How about at least two scenes where bellies are sliced open to reveal stolen gold, as well as numerous heads, hands and arms all sliced off.

This feels like it mimics the Italian Westerns’ move to darker and more horror-filled ideas before comedy took over. It’s very open about how little its hero cares about the government and how they handle their business; even when the villains pay for their crimes, there’s still very little hope by the end.

This Radiance Films box set has extras including audio commentary on Killer’s Mission by Tom Mes, an interview with film historian and Shigehiro Ozawa expert Akihito Ito about the filmmaker, a visual essay on Eiichi Kudo by Japanese cinema expert Robin Gatto, a series poster and press image gallery, trailers and more. You can get this from MVD.