A retired samurai's midlife crisis gets interrupted by actual swordsmen. Pipe first, panic later.
Retired samurai Kumosuke lives quietly, not to say idly, in Edo (old Tokyo) with his wife and two children, a young boy named Shinnosuke and an infant girl, Ohana. While he nominally runs a courier business to earn a living, he seems to spend most of his time smoking his pipe, drinking sake, and chasing women. The arrival of a Shinsengumi squad led by a young swordswman, Ichimonji Hyougo, disrupts this peaceful routine, forcing Kumosuke to defend himself.
Writing
Procrastination comedy before it was mainstream
Director
Mori Masaki
Shingo Yamashiro
Kumo (voice)
Chiyoko Kawashima
Okiyo (voice)
Fuyumi Shiraishi
O-Hana (voice)
Joji Yanami
Shibusawa Sensei (voice)
Kazuhiko Kishino
Roku (voice)
Mami Kumagai
O-Kame (voice)
Masashi Amenomori
Yokujiro (voice)
Noriko Tsukase
Ango (voice)
Koji Totani
Assassin 2 (voice)
Makio Inoue
Ryoma Sakamoto (voice)
Masaharu Sato
Assassin 1 (voice)
Naoki Tatsuta
Merchant (voice)
Satomi Majima
Ryutaro (voice)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Based on George Akiyama's manga, which ran for 15 years and was far more politically satirical than this adaptation dared.
The Shinsengumi were real 1860s police force; their casual villainy here reflects 1980s Japanese nostalgia for Edo's 'simpler' violence.
JP
