|
Japan 1582: The land is in civil war, & Lord Mitsuhide plans to have the
rightful ruler, Lord Ieyasu of the Tokugawa Clan, killed when he passes through
the peaceful land of Iga. To that end, he sends the notorious evildoers Koga 7,
led by Jaki Amano (Shingo Yamashiro), to Iga to snuff out all opposition &
set a trap for Lord Ieyasu. Soon only a few of the Iga-clan are left alive,
but among them Kagemaru (Hiroki Matsukata), who has been away in Kyoto during
the slaughter, & he swears to his dying father to safeguard Lord Ieyasu
with his life, but of course the Koga 7 prove valiant opposition with their
varying fighting styles, & slowly, Kagemaru has to take them out one by
one. But then, Ieyasu abandons a young boy Kagemaru has entrusted to him,
& even though the boy can eventually be freed, Kagemaru loses all ihnterest
in guarding the life of a man self-obsessed enough to value his own life over
that of a child, & Ieyasu takes off on his own - even though this is
certain suicide ... ... but Jaki Amano now refuses to kill Ieyasu, as he sees
it too little of a challenge & totally devoid of honour to kill a
defenseless man - & instead he decidees to turn the whole game around &
use the defenseless Ieyasu as a bait for Kagemaru - a trap that eventually
works when Kagemaru comes to realize the greatness of Ieyasu, who rather boldly
walks to his own death than abandoning his country. Of course, Kagemaru can
again ave Lord 'Ieyasu & kill some more of the Kogas, but by now Jaki has
kidnapped 2 of Kagemaru's female companions, & challenges him to a final
showdown ... underwater, where he has all the advantages as Kagemaru cannot use
his fighting style ... In the end though, Jaki is defeated when Yukio, one of
the girls kidnapped by Jaki, uses her own kind of magic to overcome Kagemaru's
handicap, & the Kingdom is saed ... Based on Mitsuteru
Yokoyama's popular boys' comic, this is a delightfully childish treatment of
the ninja formula, full of heroes & monsters, magic tricks, songs sung by
children's choirs, & a healthy disregard of realism & gravity. Granted,
it might not be high art, but it's great fun ...
|
amazon.com
amazon.co.uk
amazon.de
eThaiCD.com
find Kagemaru of the Iga Clan at adultvideouniverse.com
