Musashi: The Dream of the Last Samurai...

Uriel

This journey isn't ov--AARGH!
Production I.G Presents...

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Award-winning anime creator and director Mamoru Oshii (Patlabor, Ghost in the Shell, The Sky Crawlers) developed and wrote the film. As the website states, the film deals with "the fact and fiction about the Niten Ichi-ryū of Musashi Miyamoto, the seeker of the way of the invincible sword." Miyamoto is a legendary swordsmen who pioneered the Hyōhō Niten Ichi-ryū style of two-sword fighting and wrote The Book of Five Rings, a book that has been compared to Sun Tzu's The Art of War for its insight on tactics and strategy.

Mizuho Nishikubo, an animation director for Oshii's Ghost in the Shell films, Patlabor 2: The Movie, The Sky Crawlers, and the anime sequence in Kill Bill: Volume 1, is in charge of the actual direction of the film. Samurai Champloo and Kill Bill: Volume 1 animation director Kazuto Nakazawa, designed the characters, while Kazuchika Kise (Blood+, Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone, Ghost in the Shell films) is supervising the animation process.



While I have known about this movie for some time (as I expect many of you havel) there has yet to be a thread dedicated to it.

Mamoru Oshii is one of the greats in my eyes, and while his philosophy doesn't necessary translate well in a few of his films, I'm hoping Musashi will be one of the good ones. Musashi himself is a good vessel for philosophy, but it won't be a mine-field of thought -- there will be action too. Nishikubo has impressed me in the past with his cinematographic eye and from the trailers it already looks to be a visual treat.

I have my reservations though, like the translation: "Last Samurai" =\ I hope you'll look forward to it with me, at least!

Impressions and news to follow in this thread from now on =)
 
Yeah, as you mentioned I seen the trailers before and I was aware of it for sometime. I"ll give it a try once it comes out. The trailer seems decent enough for me to just see it.
 
I'm seeing it, for sure. If the fight scenes are like those in Samurai Champloo or the Blood+ movie, then they'll be phenomenal. Thanks for the heads up!
 
I hadn't heard of this, so thanks for posting, Uriel. I'll check out the trailers later tonight when I'm home. :serpico:
 
Definitely have to check this out; it's looking like the "generic brand" version of Vagabond, but of course when you're covering the same ground that's bound to happen. Still, even the character designs are strikingly similar, maybe they're just following the same classic guidelines as Inoue, but hey, not going out of their way to make it different either.

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"Murphy... er, I mean, "Mushi, is that you?"​

On the flipside, I wonder if Inoue is going to avoid this so as not to have his own vision of the end of the Musashi legend unduly influenced?


P.S. What's the deal with those goofy CGI sequences, that's only for the advertising... right?
 
I'm always wary of anime adaptations. And since this is involving Musashi, I'm more wary than normal.

And again with this Samurai nonsense. Musashi wasn't a samurai until much later in life. The title implies he had a lord that he served. He didn't serve anyone until well after the duel with Kojiro which is depicted here in the logo.
 
Walter said:
I'm always wary of anime adaptations. And since this is involving Musashi, I'm more wary than normal.

Well, as we've chronicled, there's about 10,000 Musashi adaptations, most leaving something to be desired, so anything this gives us is a bonus. I'm pretty much going to consider it the unofficial Vagabond anime in lieu of the real thing.

Walter said:
And again with this Samurai nonsense. Musashi wasn't a samurai until much later in life. The title implies he had a lord that he served. He didn't serve anyone until well after the duel with Kojiro which is depicted here in the logo.

I really don't think there's anything wrong with casually referring to him as a samurai, as it's also been synonymous with one following the way of the sword for centuries. Even Seven Samurai was actually depicting seven ronin, after all. Nobody is going to read or hear "samurai" in advertising for something like this and be confused into thinking, "Oh, it must be about a retainer diligently serving his Daimyo!" =)
 
宮本 グリフィス said:
Even Seven Samurai was actually depicting seven ronin, after all. Nobody is going to read or hear "samurai" in advertising for something like this and be confused into thinking, "Oh, it must be about a retainer diligently serving his Daimyo!" =)
That's true. Actually, Kurosawa scholar Michael Jeck said the director got the idea for the project because the name "sounded good" (七人の侍, Shichinin no samurai) :guts:

So it's pretty safe to say the name is tossed about haphazardly. I'm just pointing out that it's inconsistent with the definition. You won't see ME calling Vagabond-era Musashi a samurai :azan:
 
Walter said:
So it's pretty safe to say the name is tossed about haphazardly. I'm just pointing out that it's inconsistent with the definition.

It's actually not though, we're just anal about the specifics because Musashi is most famously a ronin (and almost infamously a retainer), but the broader definition of "samurai" includes any member of the warrior class, whether they're employed as an active retainer or not.

Walter said:
You won't see ME calling Vagabond-era Musashi a samurai :azan:

Let alone the "last" one:

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Vagabond: The Movie? :ganishka:
 
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