Series: Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings
Release date: 15th November 2010
Certificate: 15
Running time: 296 mins
Director: Itsuro Kawasaki
Starring: Kazuya Nakai, Norio Wakamoto, Souichiro Hoshi, Hiroki Shimowada, Kouji Tsujitani
Genre: Anime
Studio: Manga
Format: DVD & Blu-ray
Country: Japan
Those who have encountered the series of ‘hack and slash’ video games that shares the name of Itsuro Kawasaki’s anime will know exactly what to expect. Demigod heroes engaged in do or die battle for the future of a war-torn feudal Japan. That the game series has been created by Capcom (who gave the world the Street Fighter franchise) offers some clue to the uninitiated.
There will be fights aplenty but the tone is set by the introductory credits in which a military line up dances eccentrically to the Jrock theme tune, conveying a series which does not take itself too seriously.
Sengoku Basara lives up to this reputation, though the story is undoubtedly more vivid and complicated than expectation might suggest. We follow our two contrasting heroes: Date Masamune, the one-eyed dragon who wields six katanas at the same time; and Sandana Yukimura, fiercely loyal young spear fighter and servant of the rival Takeda clan. Our two heroes cross swords right from the word go and forge a bond of mutual respect, one that must culminate in them facing each other in honourable single combat.
Unfortunately for them, fate seems to have other ideas, as the many warring factions enter a shifting series of battles and allegiances as the fight for the country, based in part on actual Japanese history, intensifies.
Soon the warring clans, led by their samurai lords, are forced to try and unite in the face of a new and even greater threat – that of the titular Devil King Nobunaga whose ambition for ‘warrior rule’ of the country can be equated to covering the lands in darkness and indiscriminately butchering their inhabitants.
Masamune and Yukimura are forced to set aside their personal struggle and unite behind their lords as they try to push back Nobunaga’s marauders…
Whilst the many different clans and protagonists may leave some struggling to keep up, the series follows simple rules. Each clan is headed by a samurai hero of superhuman power. Each lord has his almost as powerful second, who is sworn to protect the life of their leader and offer candid counsel. Each clan also seems to enlist the services of a ninja - stealthy mercenaries who hurry through the shadows at the bidding of their masters, stopping long enough to shake their heads wryly in amusement at the antics of their lords.
As anyone familiar with the genre might imagine, there are indeed plenty of battles, from huge army set pieces to deadly single combat between fighters of superhuman strength. What is surprising about Sengoku Basara is the intensity of character definition, and, for lack of a better word, the amount of love on display. Aside from the complicated, touching romances woven through the series, the loyalty the characters display for one another is touching and, in places, moving - rarely more so than in the relationship between Yukimura and his master Takeda, who good naturedly pummel each other whilst debating strategy and philosophy. Or that of impossibly attired female ninja Kosuga and her unrequited love for her master, Uesugi Kenshin, whom she was sent to kill. Similarly, the loyalties of the common soldiers, whom one always felt for as they are eliminated fifty at a time by the superhuman commanders of their opponents.
A scene between the one-eyed dragon Masamune and his second-in-command Kojuro is particularly poignant. Kojuro must fight his own master to stop him going into battle in his weakened state, and uses Masamune’s blind spot to defeat him.
There are some interesting touches in the series. The evil enemies are conspicuously armed with Western weapons, and sentimentalisation of the sword is in evidence, echoing the forced opening of Japan to the West in the 1850s. The series places its emphasis on bonds of loyalty, honour, duty and love but is never simplified for doing so.
Whilst the final battle and ultimate confrontation are over rather quickly, there is plenty to see as a basis for a follow up series due next year. Arguably it might prove even more interesting as the complicated rivalries between characters were put on hold to defeat the self-evidently evil Nobunaga. It is reasonable to assume, therefore, that series two might contain rather more shades of grey.
The DVD does not contain special features as such, save for the bonus episode further explaining maverick Maida Keiji’s travels with his monkey. The visuals are what you would expect, colourfully rendered in good detail. The sound configuration on the Japanese version is such that the ambient noise and music can drown out the dialogue, though the subtitles are clear and consistent, if not terribly elegant in their translation.
This series is addictively watchable, funny and packs an emotional punch every bit as powerful as the many physical ones doled out through the thirteen short episodes that pass in a flurry of battles, betrayals and seductions that belay Sengoku Basara’s video game roots. NB
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