Anticipating the cool aesthetic of Seijun Suzukis Branded to Kill and based on a crime novel by Shinji Fujiwara, the author of the original material for the same years A Colt is My Passport, A Certain Killer and A Killers Key are similarly stylish contemporary hitman thrillers directed by Daieis top director of jidai-geki, Kazuo Mori (The Tale of Zatoichi Continues) and starring the studios top actor RaizIchikawa (Shinobi: Band of Assassins, Sleepy Eyes of Death). In A Certain Killer, Shiozakis low-profile existence as a chef at a local sushi restaurant serves as a front for his true job as a professional assassin whose modus operandi is poisoned needles. Hes approached by Maeda, a low-ranking member of a local yakuza group, to take out a rival gang boss. But the sudden arrival into his life of a spirited young woman, Keiko (Yumiko Nogawa, Gate of Flesh), has dramatic ramifications on his relationship with his new employer. Ichikawas lone wolf assassin is back in A Killers