Member waywardsage Posted June 17, 2011 Member Share Posted June 17, 2011 So i finally finished the 5-film Animego boxed set. I do have to say, they did a great job bringing it to disc. There were moments of a bad print here and there. But all considering it looked great. The 3rd film, Birth of the Nito-Ryu style was a bit uneven. It's titled this, but we don't see why, or how he creates the style! Also, the story veers off into left field to deal with side characters, sidelining Musashi for 1/3 of the film. I love samurai films, so I can't hate it. But it's sort of a mess of a film. The last film, Duel at Ganryu Island also leaves a lot of plot holes unfinished. The duel didn't happen at Ganryu Island. In the film they reference a different one! Also, they spend the first 1/4 of the film getting you to care about this small child then never show him reuniting with his long lost sister! Then, out of left field, Matahatchi has a kid with another side character and appears out of nowhere! Overall, the film series spent a lot of time developing all these side characters but never payed off their stories. They just sorta left half of them behind. They never show the reunion of Musashi's first squire with his father in film 3 either. And Otsu is constantly being brought back thru each film but spurned by Musashi. There are just too many unanswered questions: What happened to both of the little boys in the film? How did Mattahachi hook up with Akemi? Why? What happened to the clan that Kojiro joined after he was killed? They said the whole clan would be shamed if he lost. So....was Musashi's squire, (little buddy) also a casualty in this shame? Why did Musashi send him to go train with his "enemies"? What about Otsu's journey? They spent SO much time building her character. Why did they not give her some closure? Why do they never show Musashi ACTUALLY training? Or, why do they never show him writing the Book of 5 Rings? The films all seem to be a bit uneven. I enjoyed them. But there was very little sword play in most of them. Only the 4th film has any sort of extended sword play. Any thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member chanbara Posted June 17, 2011 Member Share Posted June 17, 2011 The island upon which Musashi and Kojiro duel was called Funa-jima. The name was only changed to Ganryu-jima (Ganryu Island) after Kojiro's death, named after his sword style. I highly recommend reading the original novel by Eiji Yoshikawa. Not only is it fantastic, but it will answer most if not all of your questions. I also recommend the 2003 Taiga Drama TV series "Musashi", which follows the novel and also expands on it and shows more of Musashi's training. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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