FIRST FORUM REVIEW
This show had me at hello with a spectacular battlefield one-er opening scene. It’s like Squid Games meets Shogun except it’s set in the shizoku era and all the games are just sword fights. The lead - Junichi Okawa - even has an expression that echoes Lee Jung-Jae from SG, a desperate trapped gonna-fight-my-way-out look. Okawa is a BJJ guy and moves well.
The plot is mostly an excuse for sword fights, but it thickens with backstories. And the sword fights so far are good. Some swirling mass brawls so far and one sweet decapitation. One of the best decapitations ever when our hero finally gets past his ptsd and cuts up a crew. The kills are surprising - never sure who’s gonna die next, except the main characters - haven’t lost one of those yet. There’s a really good archery fight. And the sword fights are lit. Some very imaginative sequences & cinematography., very satisfying. There’s another strong one-er in ep4 that does some very tricky camera work going through shelves and under legs. And I went back for that opening one-er and caught the 3 stitches - still technically impressive.
6 50 min eps. Worth the watch. Spoiler Alert: This is just chapter 1.
I’m down for season 2.
This has been #1 on the “What are we watching tonight?” scale - trying to make it last - two episodes left.