Title: Ikusagami イクサガミ
Rating: 7 / 10
Recommended for:
Those who want to watch a samurai action movie with a modern take and smooth action scenes and/or are fans of the cast especially Okada Junichi
* Potential spoilers ahead!
Liked:
- While I tend to shy away from period works mainly because of the slow pacing and overly complex and indirect speech which hampers the flow of developments at times, this drama offered a very refreshing way of presenting this genre. This was probably made possible due to the time setting of the story - at the cusp of Japan's modernization in the early days of the Meiji era - so that would have given some room for newer elements to be introduced as compared to a typical period work set in an era far further back. As a result, the pacing of the developments was speedier and the transition between older and newer elements turned out to be smoother than expected.
- The thing about the action scenes in samurai-themed dramas and movies is that they can appear to be underwhelming for today's audiences because we have been spoiled with lots of aesthetics, CG and grand-scale action scenes to date. In contrast, the fighting scenes in period works tend to look like slow-motion comical moves based on today's standards. Of course, that can't be helped because the old days wouldn't have modern weaponry or advanced fighting techniques like what we have now.
Nonetheless, what worked well for this drama was having Okada Junichi as the action planner and joint producer. This was where his martial arts background and training all these years really helped to lift the quality of the action scenes in this drama. Not only did the motions flow in a sleek manner, they were such a joy to watch on screen and very unlike what you would expect from a samurai story which tend to focus on swordsmanship rather than incorporate them along with close-contact combat.
- The cast lineup was better and more impressive than I thought initially. Given that some of the actors only appeared from the middle or towards the end of the series, there was hardly any mention of their involvement in this project prior to the release of the show. As such, you should be in for a surprise to see some of them onscreen. And for those who were "known" from the start, some of them delivered eye-catching performances which were quite unlike their images to date e.g. Ito Hideaki and Kiyohara Kaya.
Disliked:
- The biggest issue I had was the story being nothing more than a prologue or introduction to what is to come in future. Soon after this series was released on Netflix, they announced that Season 2 was coming (that's a given since the story is definitely unfinished). I wasn't expecting this to be a multi-season title prior to watching it so obviously, it was disappointing to find out that this season merely laid the groundwork. I really think that it is best for things to be wrapped up at one go rather than drag endlessly and across multiple seasons for most stories. These days, it's almost a given that OTT drama series can never end at one go in one season so I'm really sick and tired of "never seeing the end" of a story. And we don't even know if this series will end in Season 2.
- If this show had been launched before "Squid Game" became an international phenomenon, I think this could have enjoyed more attention and fame. Although I do not think there was deliberate copying of the K-drama which was said to have started planning and production in 2019 and released in 2021, the fact remains that the J-drama came later (based on an original novel first published in 2022) so this inevitably led to some coining this as Japan's analogue version of Squid Game. While I didn't care which was better (we all have our preferences anyway), I did find myself trying to look for similarities and differences between both versions unconsciously in my mind. As such, I think I would have enjoyed this drama a bit more if there wasn't this unwelcome distraction.
- What was good about the strong cast lineup also turned out to be its failing. Given that there were so many big names who were roped in to act in this series, the "blatant wastage" of such a strong talent pool by killing off people so easily and randomly e.g. Tamaki Hiroshi or Iura Arata left me quite bewildered and annoyed. In Tamaki's case especially, I was expecting that his training in martial arts could come in handy this time but the way his character "died" - what did I just see??? He hardly fought and the next scene simply showed that he "died"?
As more yet-to-be-explored-in-detail characters and last-minute addition at the very end were revealed, I shudder to imagine how the body count would be like in Season 2 (or even more seasons ahead). I know, this is a deadly survival game where people have to "die" but considering how there's been a lot of talk that the big names are now hogged by the OTTs with deep pockets, it feels terribly wasteful to gather all these people but let them "disappear" almost instantly. Then why cast them in the first place when their name values nor acting skills didn't seem to be needed in the first place?
