SHINOBI: HEART UNDER BLADE

Shinobi: Heart Under Blade is a movie about the rivalry of two ninja clans, Iga and Koga. Yet, their land has been unified and peace reigns until Tokugawa Ieyasu, the highest ruler of Japan, schemes for their destruction in order to achieve total domination. He sees the ninjas as a great obstruction in his plans and therefore thinks of a plot to intensify the rivalry of the two clans. He summons the two clans to have their 5 best warriors to have a fight to the death. Unfortunately star-crossed lovers, Oboro (Nakama Yukie) from the Iga clan and Gennosuke (Odagiri Joe) from the Koga clan were chosen to be the chieftains of their clan. Oboro and Gennosuke who were secretly married are opposed to the plan that Tokugawa has for them, leading to Gennosuke's decision to go to Sumpu together with the other 4 great warriors of Koga in order to find out the reason for their fight, with the Iga clan following. Although Gennosuke's pursuit of peace has begun his comrades on the other hand are keen on fighting. Saying they are of no use once peace reigns stating that they are weapons. There was no way for them to ever attain peace in their clans, they gradually accepted their fate and the soon deaths of their comrades transpired. Until they were the only ones left, they had no other choice but to fight with each other. Gennosuke chose not to defend himself allowing Oboro to win while Tokugawa sent his armies to go and destroy the ninja villages. Oboro begs for him to stop the attacks and to let them live peacefully, knowing about her skill, "The Eyes of Destruction", Tokugawa declines. To show her sincerity, Oboro blinds herself, destroying her most powerful weapon, with that act Tokugawa finally agrees. Oboro has saved both villages and the ninjas continued to live peacefully, according to the movie, their descendants continue to live on until today. (Scary, eh?)

This movie in my opinion had a lot of talented artists. Take Nakama Yukie for instance, she portrayed Oboro, a soft and kind hearted person misplaced in a battlefield who just wants to be with her lover. She had some scenes wherein all that was showing emotion was her face, her body void of motion. Gennosuke, portrayed by Odagiri Joe, also impressed me when he hugged Oboro, (the image in the middle) the scene was so sweet. Although it was just a hug, I really felt how much they loved each other. There was also Hotarubi, the girl in the pink kimono, portrayed by Sawajiri Erika, who just wanted to protect Oboro because Oboro was the only person she's got and the only person who cared for her. There's also Yashamaru, portrayed by Sakaguchi Tak, who had no lines only expressions and amazing fight scenes. The cinematography of this movie is amazing. The landscape shots were breath taking, that it made me want to go to Japan or wherever they shot. The fight scenes were mind-blowing and I was already expecting that, since after all, it is made in Japan, need I say more? All in all this movie was a great balance of action, history and romance. It got me researching about ninjas and all that jazz. Like Hattori Hanzo who was also featured in Kill Bill fictionally. The setting was appropriate for this movie not to mention it got me salivating, I'm envious of the fact that Japan really takes good care of Mother Earth. The costumes were flamboyant, which is a good thing, since ninjas have been stereotyped wearing black jumpers with masks, etc. but they have evolved! Colorful kimonos and fur (Although I am anti-fur), obi belts, scarves, etc. If I was to rate this movie I'd give it 8.5 sushis out of 10 sushis.

Pictures taken from SaruDrama

P.S. Yashamaru is that guy on the left, he seems a bit androgynous but I was attracted to him none the less! Odagiri Joe also gets on my good side.