Chronique du soleil à la fin de l'ère Edo

Pros: 1. The costume and set design are incredible, and it cements the 1860's Japan era wonderfully. 2. The fight between Osome (Sachiko Hidari) and Koharu (Yôko Minamida) is well-shot and extremely entertaining to watch. 3. The cinematography is great and is visually stunning in a minimalist sense. 4. The score is fun and bouncy when it needs to be, but can also slow down to add real weight to the emotional scenes. 5. Both Furankî Sakai (Inokori Saheiji) and Shoichi Ozawa (Kinzo) give fantastic performances. 6. Some of the gags are utterly hilarious. A good example of this would be when Kinzo pretends to be dead to guilt-shame Koharu.

Cons: 1. Some of the humour falls flat and comes across as trying too hard. 2. There are way too many characters which serves for poor character development, and thus any connection you might attach to them. 3. The plot doesn't have any firm structure and it seems to just wander about whilst introducing a load of sub-plots along the way. It doesn't make for much engrossing viewership. 4. The foreigner sub-plot, regarding the British and the Americans, doesn't go anywhere. It's a little baffling as to why it was even included.