Nemuri Kyôshirô: Tajôken

Three films earlier, masterless samurai Kyoshiro Nemuri (Raizo Ichikawa) embarrassed the Shogun's rogue daughter, Princess Kiku (Michiko Ai). Driven mad by the burn scars on her face, Kiku takes out her frustrations on innocent men and women--thereby drawing Nemuri's ire. The princess returns in this seventh film of the series, determined to kill Nemuri in the most painful manner possible. While fending off Kiku's army of assassins, Nemuri also rescues a young girl from a life of prostitution; eventually, the two storylines converge and the girl falls into the clutches of the evil princess.

"The Mask of the Princess" is self-consciously artsy. Director Akira Inoue favors indirect shots, partially obscuring his performers behind sliding doors; in several instances the camera even follows their feet, rather than their faces, as the events of the film unfold. This sometimes has a deleterious effect on the fight scenes, such as when Nemuri cuts down multiple opponents behind a row of trees, but there's enough action that these occasional obscured shots aren't a deal-breaker. Overall I enjoyed Inoue's approach. He doesn't rush the story (making this film about ten minutes longer than the average entry in the series), and there's a nice mix of indoor and outdoor photography by Yasukazu Takemura. Not a good starting point if you're new to the Sleepy Eyes of Death series, but fun if you've seen the previous films.

This is a typical samurai film. The masked daughter of the Shogun wants to kill a samurai who has seen her scarred face. I guess she's a little self-conscious about her appearance. Anyways, she sends waves of ninja warriors to kill the samurai and plots diabolical schemes / ambushes without much success.

This film is apparently part of a series featuring the same samurai character. The masked princess also featured in the 4th film of the series, so this is sort of a revenge film.

The film is okay, although production values are a little low, and the fight scenes are merely average. Still, if you like serial-type films or samurai films, this is good for a couple of hours of entertainment.

The Mask of the Princess brings back Princess Kiku from the fourth entry, Sword of Seduction. The facially scarred Princess Kiku is the most memorable villainess thus far in the series. Perhaps because of that I set my expectations a little too high.

First off, this seventh entry is an enjoyable film in its own right. Early on, Kyoshiro Nemuri rescues a young lady sold into prostitution. This girl hates samurai because one killed her father. Nemuri also meets a samurai on a quest for vengeance. Nemuri's peaceful adventures soon ends. Nemuri is first threatened by assassins and then he is framed for the murder of two women, each with a cross drawn on their body. Eventually, Nemuri figures out that Princess Kiku is back for revenge.

Much of the The Mask of the Princess is structured as a series of assassination attempts. The most ingenious one involves a bedroom becoming a cage. Eventually, Nemuri takes the fight to Princess Kiku's country estate. This leads to a rousing finale. One of the locations consists of a barren wood around which makeshift crosses with nooses have been set up. It is a memorable location for the finale. Nemuri even has to face an enemy using Nemuri's Full Moon Cut against him.

The Mask of the Princess is reasonably exciting. In addition, the film has a couple of beautifully colorful backdrops. This is a good film. However, after the kill fest of the sixth film, this seventh entry feels a little like a missed opportunity. Princess Kiku does not do that much, other than laugh and vow to kill Nemuri. Even the rescuing of the young lady who dislikes samurai seems awfully familiar coming after the last entry, where Nemuri rescued a boy who disliked samurai.

The Mask of the Princess lacks that the extra something special. The fourth entry, which introduced Princess Kiku, had Gothic ambiance in spades. The sixth entry, Sword of Satan, had a high body count. The second entry, Sword of Adventure, had the most heart. Those are the three best entries in the series thus far. The Mask of the Princess, while certainly entertaining, is not quite at their level. However, die hard fans of the series might love the film more than I did.