Ningyo-tei ibun: Muhôgai no Surônin

OK, first things first - the only way to get a hold of this show using somewhat legal means is to purchase a few badly translated, but, alas, quite expensive bootleg DVDs containing the first eleven episodes. Sadly, at least as far as I'm aware, it has never been officially released on home video - which, of course, is a pity, because it is rather wonderful. Despite the bad translations, it is really worth its price and your time, so if you get the chance, see it. You can find it under the title "Ronin in a Lawless Town".

Despite being well over four decades old, visually it is - still - really nice. Great production values - it just looks big. Produced by Toshiro Mifune himself, money obviously wasn't spared - awesome set design, nice costumes and excellent camera work - makes you feel as if you're watching a big budget movie, despite the letterbox aspect ratio.

Also, the setting is really interesting - Yokohama, soon after the start of the Meiji era. Suddenly open to foreign ships, Japan is swarmed by foreign influences, especially in a port city like Yokohama - and this is shown wonderfully. Although, to be honest, I'm not sure how accurate it is, it looks right - as there are people desperately clinging to their old culture, wearing traditional Japanese clothing and so on, there are also many desperately trying to look like westerners - wearing western clothing, calling each other "Mister" or "Ma'am", even if they don't know a word in English... Clash of cultures - shown pretty well, despite the fact that the show itself isn't pretentious at all.

This leads us to the characters. Toshiro Mifune, playing Mister Danna, is, of course, excellent - he is the master of playing these roles - few actors have his dramatic and comedic chops, as well as his athleticism and ability to perform fight choreography and dangerous stunts. His fight scenes here are every bit as good as what you've seen in his big movies, and his stunt work as a whole is simply jaw dropping. The character is, of course, interesting. Mister Danna has traveled around the world, gathering knowledge, wisdom and cynicism - which has lead him to returning to Japan and living the rest of his life as easily as possible. He doesn't care about foreign influences, he just wears his ragged hakama, drinks, and utters a joke here and there. Whenever he's not forced by the circumstances to grab his sword, he makes a living off of translating love letters for foreigners to and from Japanese - and despite his cynicism, he still is good at heart. Chidori Gennoshin, played by Wakabayashi Go, is at least as awesome, but describing him in so much detail will spoil some major plot points. To a huge extent Chidori is the exact opposite of Mister Danna - we wears a fashionable suit in an European style, takes care of his looks, uses a pistol instead of a sword, and has his own reasons to denounce Japanese culture. His hand-to-hand fight scenes are awesome too. Chidori and Danna are an excellent team, and their friendship, although shown subtly, just rings true. The supporting characters are also awesome, but the review is already getting too long, so I'll not describe them.

As for the writing - it is good. Unpretentious, and every episode is almost completely stand alone. However, keep in mind that, despite the overall comedic tone of the show, it can be really emotional. Every win comes at a price, and sometimes that price is really brutal.

All in all, the show is worth your time. Watch it, if you get the chance.