Genroku ryôran

This 1999 taiga version of the story of the 47 Ronin goes into much greater detail than previous dramatizations; it's also the longest - a year of one hour episodes. Any Japanese viewer knows the story well enough that "spoilers" have no meaning. But this is one of the most precisely drawn accounts of the tragedy - every bit the equal of the two major film versions.

The drama is most thrilling in its unfolding of the revenge plot - a splendid piece of action choreography that involves overhead tracking shots, exciting martial arts, and a sense of verisimilitude that hasn't been equaled.