Customer Reviews:
from a beginners perspective.......2007-07-07
Dont waste your money if you want something you can follow yourself, as a beginner it is too fast and each move is done slow then fast then he moves on. I havent learnt anything from it i was hoping to do a workout/home class from it with my son to support our classes but it is not clear or explained well enough for beginners. Also very dated the guy looks like an eightys footballer with that moustache hard to take him seriously me and my son will stick to lessons and bin this.
Useful but not for brown belts training for black.......2006-01-21
This is a reasonable effort at presenting a very difficult and complex martial art for beginners. It tries to pack a lot in to the dvd and this is it's best and worst part because it does not allow the beginner to see the intricacies of the techniques. For taking a beginner through their first 4-5 gradings, this dvd would be a good choice and it would serve as a reference for brown belts but probably would offer nothing new. The narrator rightly says that the different associations have different syllabuses; this becomes very evident at the purple/brown belt stage. My association uses Tekki 1; bassai dai; Jion; Jitte; Ji'in; Empi and Kanku dai to take you to first kyu - each of those would take a dvd of their own to explain!!
Good effort filmed in around 1995, buy as a one of the more easily available dvds.
For neither brown belt nor beginner.......2005-05-22
I wasn't impressed with this DVD. It says it is from beginner to black belt so I was expecting something more along the lines of the book of that title by Gulshan Sahota, which is pretty good.
However, as a brown belt, I didnt get anything from it, aside from viewing the kata at full speed, which I can get from my sensei anyway. I suppose I was looking for more indepth technical analysis - hips, for example, as that is so key to karate - but it was lacking. A technique is shown slowly and then quickly, without much dialogue of any insight at all. Also, the kata only go up to Heian Godan; there is no mention of Tekki Shodan or Bassai Dai. Kumite is not covered well at all. I had to admit I was a bit unsure how 'shotokan' this dvd was.
As to its relevance for a beginner, I guess it is a handy resource in that you can watch it over and over on your dvd, but I found each technique was covered very briefly. The film quality's not great either - I could get a camcorder and record my sensei and it would be of comparable quality.
All in all, I would rather refer to a book to remind myself of techniques in between classes than have this dvd. Mind you, I suppose it would just be better to attend another lesson instead...
Amateur dramatics.......2004-05-28
I bought the DVD thinking that it covered everything for the kyu grades up to shodan. One the face of it, it appears to. The way in which the basic moves, strikes and blocks are described is flawed, however.
Each skill is demonstrated twice by an eminent rokudan sensei who, with all the best will in the world, sometimes does not perform precisely the same move when it is demonstrated "in full" the second time. The kicks, for instance, are embarassing to watch.
The few kata are performed a little on the fast side, which I would have thought a little pointless in an instructional video.
Lastly, the poor quality camera resolution and rather trite Geordie commentary serve to make this apparently well-made DVD production appear frankly amateurish. This is an important issue as it makes the subtle moves and stances harder to see clearly when reviewing kata.
Why can one not put some effort into making a polished and well-presented visual karate production that makes the best use of the technology?
Get Your Black Belt.......2004-05-20
Shotokan Karate - From Beginner To Black Belt focuses more on developing technique than power, but with correct technique comes the power. Does well presenting the katas, stances and attacks that are part of Shotokan Karate. This DVD is part of a series of martial arts dvds allowing a beginner to hone their skills, by practising techniques and also "kumite" sparring. Each chapter contains show clear techniques, shown in various angles and then goes on to show the practical application of the moves. I valuable and inexpensive addition for training.
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