A Few questions about Sword of Doom...

[Guest Miyamoto Akira Jubei]

Heya,

I purchased this film on Region 2 DVD (Europe and the UK) Not the Japanese one. Must say i was MOST disappointed with the quality it was awful. Fusy and bad!

I have been getting allot of "Rips" and they all seem to be good quality. I thought for once i would buy a genuine as this film had good reviews on this forum. What a mistake!

Also this film was good but i cant see what the huge rave about it was? Allot of people say this is in the top few samurai films. Why? It is nothing compared to such masterpeices such as Seven Samurai or The Yagyu Conspiracy.

*Spoiler*

I was also MOST disappointed with the end. We didn't get to see a showdown between Hyoma and the evil dude?

I was also hoping to see a battle between Mifune and the other guy! But nothing? You just see the evil guy get jumped on by a load of Samurai who i didn't even know who they were? It had good fight scenes and the end was just a mass slaughter but i was really looking forward to the showdown between the 2!

Shame. What are other peoples views on this?

[Guest Kevin]

To make a long story short...the sequels were never made. There are other versions of this story: Satan's Sword and Souls in the Moonlight that tell a more complete version of the story. However, SOD is the the one they put most emphasis in the fighting technique...although the others are alright.

[Guest xZAANTRONx]

I didnt really like the Yagyu conspiricy, I thought it was kinda boring. :x

[Guest ninjai]

I was a little disappointed with SOD's ending also it left you hanging with a big Question Mark as to what happened,I mean you guess he got killed by all of the Samurai but I was hoping for a Showdown with him and Mifune. But overall I thought it was an Excellent movie. Now Yagyu Conspiracy I thought was kind of Boring.

NINJAI

[Guest chiba2000]

the Yagyu Conspiracy TV-series is much much better! 8o

[Guest xZAANTRONx]

I think the way sword of doom ends, Ryunosuke Tsukue goes insane and his surroundings sort-of become hell, and he pays for his sins...but mabe thats just my perception.

and yeah I really wanna see the yagyu tv series!!

[Guest Kevin]

Yeah, the idea that Ryunosuke goes insane and fights in a symbolic hell is a common interpretation of that movie, but really the story is well known one in Japan. In the book and in other movies he gets up the the next day, wanders on joining up with the Tenchu movement, and has some other adventures.

[Guest Kortik]

Sword of Doom is awesome, If you know Japanese History of the time you would appreciate the film.

[Guest Akahige]

Ryunosuke Tsukue is like many other anti-heros throughout the history of cinema, he rests alongside the ranks of Pacino's "Scarface", Henry Fonda's child killing character Frank from "Once Upon a Time in the West," Tuco from "The Good the Bad and the Ugly," and too many more to name.

There are intrinsic problems with having an anti-hero as the main character of a film though; first off, the audience has nothing invested in the protagonist, in other words there are no stakes. I mean who cares if a killer gets killed? We've grown to expect it, and it doesn't happen in "Sword of Doom." Secondly, rarely does an anti-hero do something unexpected, they are intrinsically predictable.

*****Spoilers Below*****

The first time I watched this movie, I knew Ryunosuke would kill Omatsu's G-san, Bunnojo, Bunnojo's comrades, his baby's momma and almost everbody else who tastes his steel. Does anybody else get bored with this?

Somehow "Sword of Doom" passes with flying colors though. We don't care about Ryunosuke, but for some reason we do. We hope he is killed by by Hyoma or Toranosuke, but in the end we're glad that he might not be. We pedict and expect the duel between Hyoma and Ryunosuke, but instead we see Ryunosuke take on the entire Shinsengumi (Hyoma probably would have lost if he went in though). By both adhering to, and breaking the rules of the anti-hero, "Sword of Doom" creates a tension and unpredictability that is normally missing from this type of narrative.

I like this movie more and more each time I watch it. There are issues and themes involving karma as well that I could talk about for hours, and the film adheres to a strict circular structure as well.

Does anybody else wonder what happens to Ryunosuke's kid? Also, when and how did Ryunosuke get involved with the Shinsengumi? Didn't the final scene drag on a little bit? One more, has this story ever been told on film by somebody else? If so, what's it called? Are there any other chamabara flicks that feature an anti-hero but succeed as well as "Sword of Doom"?

[Guest Kevin]

Akahige,

Your analysis is pretty good of that movie. There is a lot of deep symbols in the story because the author, Kaizan Nakazoto, wrote it as a sort of Buddhist parable dealing with karma and suffering cycles.

"Does anybody else wonder what happens to Ryunosuke's kid?"

This is actually a very important point in the story and the other filmed versions. Without trying to spoil this for those who haven't seen the other versions, the issue with his son, after everything Ryunosuke has done, shows that there might be some hope left for the main character. Think Luke-Vader, but done in a much more Japanese way.

"One more, has this story ever been told on film by somebody else?"

Daibosatsu Toge has been filmed a few times. The more complete trilogies are "Satan's Sword" (Merlin of Samuraiflix.com is selling a subbed version) and Souls of the Moonlight (unsubbed). You will be disappointed if you are hoping for the same type of intensity as Sword of Doom, but it is the same character and story.