This film is set in the 16th century during a time of political unrest that ultimately led to a civil war among various Japanese factions. Consequently, trade between Japan and other nations was cut off, but a small group of traders known as the Kaizoku Bahansen continued to do business using ships modified for battle. Consequently, some of the Japanese populace mistakenly consider them pirates--when in reality, they have also been victims of piracy. This is especially true with a young merchant named "Kamon" (Hashizo Okawa) discovers that his sister, "Koshizu" (Hiroko Sakuramachi), has been kidnapped by a notorious pirate and will soon be sold as a slave in a foreign country. It's also during this time that he learns his biological father was one of the most significant commanders of the Kaizoku Bahansen. As a result, he reluctantly becomes the commander of one of the ships set to hunt down the pirates responsible for his sister's kidnapping. What he doesn't realize, however, is just how difficult this will turn out to be. Instead of revealing any more, I will say that this film was a bit complicated to fully comprehend initially, but it became somewhat easier to understand as the movie progressed. I especially liked the battles between the opposing ships, which looked realistic. Likewise, the addition of several attractive actresses like Satomi Oka (as "Suga"), Eiko Maruyama ("Jahana") along with the aforementioned Hiroko Sakuramachi certainly didn't hurt the scenery in any way either. That aside, I mostly enjoyed this film and have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.
