Dog Warriors

(The Hakkenden)

CARL's TAKE: <<<Three and a half stars>>>

Summary - The story begins with a legend: In 15th century fuedal Japan, the Satomi Clan is under attack from its neighbor, who is being aided by dark supernatural forces. Seiged in their last stronghold and facing mass starvation, the leader of the Satomi clan jokingly tells his dog, Yatsufusa, that he can have the princess's hand in marriage if he can defeat the seemingly invincible enemy warlord. Yatsufusa succeeds, and when he brings back the warlord's head the princess decides to honor her father's foolish promise and disappears into the mountains with Yatsufusa, taking only a necklace of eight prayer beads given to her mother by a monk. But little did she know, a curse had been placed upon her by the evil that almost destroyed her clan. She was killed along with Yatsufusa, but not before she is told in a dream that she would give birth to a littler of eight 'pups'. Upon her death, the chinese characters on her prayer beads changed, each representing one of the eight qualities of a true samurai, and flew off into the night. These beads would carry her blessings to her eight children, who would bare the curse placed upon her family.
Twenty years later, the eight 'dog warriors' have come of age, each possessing the bead representing what samurai trait they must pursue. The story follows each of them through the twists and turns of fate that brings these eight brothers together to face the evil hanging over the Satomi name.

Impression - a remarkable work of Japanese history fused with capable storytelling. Compelling.

Review - My opinion on this one is a little biased. I'm big on Japanese history, and swordfighting, and good animation, and good plots, and good character development...where was I? Anyway, I think this title is pretty darn good. I highly recommend it to anyone with at least a tolerance of japanese culture and a desire to see a deep, flowing drama in Japanese tradition. But there's the thing - if you thought the summary sounded a bit too hokey or japanese, then you probably won't appreciate this title much. It's very artsy and confident in its storytelling, so the average viewer probably won't get it much.

VERDICT: read the review and decide for yourself

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