This is a love story that can reach out to more modern audiences. While not taking away too much from the old school samurai movie feel. Kinda like "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" when it comes to westerns. Some say this movie kinda reminds them of the samurai movies directed by Yôji Yamada which is understandable. Since the story came from Shûhei Fujisawa and is the main source when it comes to the story for Yôji Yamada. The cinematography in this is a bit different since it's more clean and doesn't feel a bit dusty like Yôji Yamada. Although Yôji Yamada brings out the more old school samurai movie feels and goes in a more realistic direction. The music also feels a bit more modern. So the story is about Ito(Keiko Kitagawa) who has very good swordsmanship and no man could beat her in a duel. But no man take her seriously in a duel because she is a woman. Until the day Magoshiro(Shuntaro Miyao) who is the best swordsman in another school challenges her to a friendly duel. And she ends up falling for him because he doesn't look at her as just a mere woman but shows her respect in the duel. And probably because he is more handsome and cool compared to the person she is arranged to marry. His name is Saisuke(Masahiro Komoto) who eats and constantly smiles a lot but far from being a handsome samurai. But when Magoshiro is framed and commits seppuku, Ito decides to take revenge for him although their relationship is mere acquaintance. I guess like how in movies men falls for a woman's beauty at first sight it goes the other way around. So when Ito asks Saisuke for a favor to find out who is responsible, Saisuke volunteers to help and most of the story is the investigation part of it after the framing part. To be honest though although sometimes I like philosophical aspects to a movie this seemed to drag because of it. The constant philosophical talk about swords and samurais didn't go in a direction that peeked my interest and just wanted to get to the core of the story. Also when Saisuke went on about the Bushido code it didn't make much sense either. Since when it came to this movie had to do with keeping a corrupt person as the head guy to run things. Which means he might do even worse things to innocent people. Anyways that is just my thought. Overall this is a delightful and yet gripping love at first sight kinda story that is well written. It's a samurai movie that for the most part isn't dry and entertaining to watch even if it's slow at times.
8/10
8/10