Ashura

Japanese Title: Ashura-jo no hitomi
AKA: Ashura The Demon Slayer
Director: Yojiro Takita
Actors: Somegoro Ichikawa, Rie Miyazawa, Kanako Higuchi
Year Released: 2005
Genre: Action, Samurai
See Also: Onmyoji, Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis

What happened? It all looks great on paper: film adaptation of a kabuki play about demons taking over the earth, with a kabuki actor (Somegoro Ichikawa) playing a demon slayer-turned-kabuki actor-turned demon slayer. Hottie Rie Miyazawa as the love-interest/emerging demonic power. Director Yojiro Takita has a pedigree that includes both Onmyoji movies and When the Last Sword Is Drawn. Special effects. Lavish sets. Green demon blood. So what happened?

That's difficult to say. Ashura has so much going for it, it's confounding as to why it should be so, well, boring. Perhaps it's that the movie takes itself so seriously. Perhaps it's the kabuki content, but contrast Ashura to Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis, a similarly over-the-top special affects extravaganza about demons. Last Megalopolis may not be a great movie but it's still a hoot, and this is largely due to its anything-goes tone and its willingness to not really give a shit. Ashura has way too many expectations for itself (Important actors! Eye candy effects! Thrilling action!) and never quite succeeds with any of them.

I hate to say it, but this is probably due to the direction. I like Yojiro Takita. Onmyoji is another of his films with a stage actor in the lead, but there the actor's seriousness is undercut with a winking playfulness. By contrast, Somegoro Ichikawa just seems pleased with himself, and that grows tiring fast.

Next time: a different director, different actors, and really, no green blood, OK?

—Adam Douglas

Otaku Alert: Rie Miyazawa has appeared in tons of movies, including Twilight Samurai and Tony Takitani, but she's still largely known (at least outside Japan, and on the Internet) as a topless model.

Availability Note: Import only, though readily available region-free on the Internet and at specialty shops.

Comments

[Franzi]

Nomura Mansai is a kyogen actor, not a kabuki actor--it makes all the difference.