Sanada Jûyûshi (2016)

Sanada Jûyûshi: Directed by Yukihiko Tsutsumi. With Kankurô Nakamura, Tôri Matsuzaka, Yûko Ôshima, Ken Aoki. Despite his manly appearance and reputation, Yukimura Sanada is a coward. A bunch of ninja decide to help him to be a real hero.

“Borrowing some elements from Seven Samurai, this is nowhere in the same league as Kurosawau0026#39;s masterpiece, but it does eventually turn out to be a bit of a corker. Essentially told as a manga come to life, the style does take some getting used to as a hybrid of Taiga dramas by way of Kill Bill.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eA group of rag-tag samurai wannabes take it upon themselves to help cushion the Toyotomi familyu0026#39;s fall from power in feudal Japan as the seemingly unstoppable Ieyasu consolidates his power. Itu0026#39;s a fun riff on the historical story that didnu0026#39;t have me regretting the time spent to watch it. Itu0026#39;s not going to be on any top ten lists but if youu0026#39;re into this sort of thing I donu0026#39;t think youu0026#39;ll be too disappointed. Despite a limited budget they do quite a lot with what theyu0026#39;ve got.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAn entertaining piece of samurai fluff and itu0026#39;s always nice to see Ken Matsudaira, particularly back with the Tokugawa gang.”