The Dagger of Kamui (1985)
A young boy named Jiro finds his mother and sister murdered in his home. Falsely accused of the crime, he flees from his village and meets a priest named Tenkai, who has him kill a rogue ninja named Tarouza. After fulfilling that task, Jiro undergoes training to become a master assassin. Many years later, Jiro finds out that he was an orphan and his real father was Tarouza, who had worked for Tenkai until he aborted his mission when he fell in love with an Ainu woman. The young ninja discovers that the Shogunate was to retrieve the lost treasure of Captain Kidd and use it to once again isolate Japan from the rest of the world. Using the clues that Tarouza had kept secret, Jiro - along with the female ninja Oyuki and a slave named Sam - travels to Russia and America to search for the treasure in hopes of using it to extract revenge from Tenkai.
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I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
I love this movie so much
Truly Dreadful Film
By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
This film believe or not was the first anime film I've ever watched and in my book is still the best. This is an underrated and forgotten gem, some current and newbie anime fans these days just don't have the patience to allow story to unfold and have to rely on an explosion a minute. Personally I don't mind the pace and length, just because some movies are long and have a pace that you don't agree with doesn't make them bad movies, in fact that's part of makes this film perfect it's an epic journey.Loosely based off of a manga mini series, there are just lots of things I love about this film from the way it has animated the background of locations and the detail of them, it really has the familiarity feel of real life locations from times long gone. What's even more memorable about the animation is some of the fantasy element involved, mainly in fight scenes which are well choreography. I like that it doesn't look like a clichéd Shonen anime fight where it's seems to be based on just simply trumping the enemy with superpower alone. This characters didn't have super powers but more had superhuman abilities, just seeing the way they move it really look like a lot of technique and strategy is involved which mad the action all the better because it seemed realistic. But also have a surrealistic and dream like quality to them, making them all the more interesting. Two of my favorites are the fight with the three Devil ninja, it played out like both a bad acid trip but also reminded me of some of those surrealistic Japanese landscape paintings which always had that wavy quality to them. As well as the encounter with the beautiful ninja Oyuki and how she uses her power of illusion over him which concocts multiple versions of her and the use of red coloring. These things literally play with our senses where it feels like the line between reality and fantasy is blurred, this is one of the main joys of the film because it's an exercise in expressionism which feels not just artistic but almost poetic and even brings out an emotional quality which is something I don't really see in most anime anymore.The music score is just excellent, from the theme song but my favorite the end theme song which is just beautiful. There are some memorable minor characters he encounters and has touched and affected their lives in a way. Oyuki is probably the most memorable minor character because she's the most sympathetic and soulful, both Jiro and her are enemies at first but as we see when he helps her they develop a deep bond. And there is a cameo by Samuel Celimens whom we know as Mark Twain, what was interesting about him was his fascination of Jiro is enduring when he tells his reason why which is rather deep and parallels his own life. The main villain Tenkai is very good, he is a villain you just plain hate, he's intimidating, hypocritical despite being a priest he is contradicting and perverting the religious teaching, a power monger, but worst of all just simply has no heart as he constantly is hurting Jiro for both his own gains but also just simply his sick pleasure.However the soul of this film lies in the main character Jiro. His path to the way of the warrior is one that is long and adventurous, but also carries a look of grief. The dramatic dilemmas and the twists that we see are like a Shakespearian tragedy, Jiro is a man who is constantly dealing with the loss of his murdered family. You feel heavy pathos for him all the way though, like in one scene where he's visiting the old village before the final conflict, he then remembers all of his family members, at that point I just teared up at the same time as him , it wasn't just the images that carried out the emotional impact but the sadness in his eyes. His long journey isn't just a simple quest for revenge but it's also about defending the human spirit against evil forces that want to mechanized the world. Indeed he encounters a lot of this evil in different forms from not just the ninja clan he fights and is on the run from, but political corruption, guns, and racism.This film has a deep residing philosophy all the way though which is about how one man can become more, make a difference as well as touch many lives. But most importantly that the human spirit is limitless and surpasses all things corrupt and mechanized.Dagger of Kamui is a nerve ending legend that's not just about Jiro but our own journeys in life as well.Rating: 4 stars
I haven't read the original manga series that this film is based on so I don't know how close the film is to its original source.The story is simple, young Jirô gets his family killed, falsely accused of the murders and starts investigating into who and why his family was murdered.He quickly realizes that he is a foundling and the people responsible for the killings has very dangerous agenda.This film is basically a action melodrama where the director/screenwriter tries to fit in as much storyline as possible in the shortest amount of time.Therefore the viewer served a very long, confusing, erratic storyline that sometimes doesn't make any sense at all. Political intrigues that hardly gets explained(yes I saw the 132 min with original audio), characters that comes and goes without explanation.Something must have been edited out, is there a TV -series version somewhere? Who knows.....But the action sequences are very visually striking and surreal, as if the animators wants to capture the fleeting moment of combat(or if they all were high on drugs which would explain the bad storyline) that split second when you enter a duel and only one can survive.Personally I prefer Jûbê ninpûchô/Ninja Scroll (1993), Rurouni Kenshin (2000), Samurai chanpurû/Samurai Champloo(2004–2005) etc but this should be seen by future viewers because of the amazing fighting sequences.Remember that this film was made in 1985, and the animation in some cases still holds up.
Interesting how all of the negative reviews for Kamui no Ken seem to have risen to the top. So I figured I might as well add my opinion just to keep this all in perspective. Yes, this movie is about 15-30 minutes too long. Yes, there are about 3 too many plot twists. And yes, the majority of the mainstream "We love Ninja Scroll" anime crowd will likely it. But Kamui no Ken has stuck with me over the years, and is easily one of my favorite anime titles.Rin Taro is a brilliant director, but his films take getting used to. He often uses a very slow pace, and allows periods of silence and dead space to make his powerful images have even more impact. Kamui no Ken is the long, winding oddessy of a young boy who goes from a foundling to a true ninja warrior. Many, many things happen along the way, and the movie chronicles ALL of them. This epic scope will either make the film fascinating, or boring. It all depends on you. Personally, I loved it. The characters are uniformly amazing, and as I have said before, the film is awash with brilliant imagery. It feels much closer to the style of classic Japanese historical drama than the splattering action of Ninja Scroll or the Kenshin OVA's (both of which I also loved).Problem... it drags. and it runs on for quite a long time. One plot twist in particular (MINOR SPOILER, NO SPECIFICS) involves the apparent death of an evil character. This will seem terribly implausible, even ludicrous, to American audiences (Although from the traditional Japanese storytelling perspective, this is much less far fetched). Individually, I can't think of many scenes to cut (one showdown in the wild west was perhaps unneccessary), but even these scenes are very cool in their own way. If this movie weren't so long and epic, it wouldn't be as interesting as it is.Basically, it depends on you. If you REALLY love the ancient japanese tradition, and enjoy the more serious, dramatic aspect to samurai/ninja tales, you will enjoy Kamui no Ken. But casual anime fans may be disappointed.
This movie was a little to long. It could have easily been shorter and considering what I thought of the movie it should have been shorter. I thought this ran for a bit to long, it was manly because it had a deep story to it. I just saw points that could have easily been cut out but weren't. The story had its highs and low, more lows then highs. And the lows kept the movie dragging along. The artwork in this was very familiar. Like I' ve seen it before, probably from Galaxy Express 999. One other thing I thought about this was what's the deal with the blood. The blood was bright orange. Blood does not need to be this bright and that colour. The people seemed to spurt radioactive Orange juice when they where killed. Anyways this movie was watchable. It's probably a little too violent and long for younger people. And the fact that it's animation my turn off adults.My review 5 out of 10.