Samurai Showdown: The Motion Picture (1993)
Review by Dindrane
Film:
DVD:

Directed by Hiroshi Ishiodori

Dindrane's Anime Warnings:

• King of All the Hornets
• Pro-wrester villain
• Minor profanity
• Minor violence

Released by: ADV
Region: 1
Rating: 12+
Anamorphic: N/A; appears in its original 1.33:1 format.

My Advice: Get it if you like fighting games

Based upon the popular video game of the same name, Samurai Showdown will appeal to fans of the historic action/fighting game genre. It may lack deep and cutting-edge commentary on something, but the show is exactly what it tries to be: fluffy fun with lots of action.

The plot is standard epic: 100 years ago, six holy warriors were betrayed and defeated by the seventh guardian of the Gates of Heaven, Amakusa Shirou. Now the six warriors have been reborn and gather to fight Amakusa and her powers of darkness; luckily, they each have special powers and a holy blade of some sort, but unluckily, one of their number, Haohmaru, is very impulsive (one might say "reckless") and willful and just not interested in being part of a team, wanting revenge more than justice.

The rest of the characters are nicely disparate: Galford is the requisite smart-aleck with his dog, "Puppy," Charlotte is the rapier-wielding French knight, Tam Tam wears a demon mask and is nicely creepy, Wan Fu is a burly strong-man of few words, and Nakoruru is a nature priestess who fights with a flaming hawk and wolf. Each character has their own strengths and specialties and complement each other nicely. Amakusa does a great job as villainess, playing upon Haohmaru's anger and thirst for revenge, not unlike the Emperor and Luke Skywalker.

It is a bit odd that the screenplay writers chose to focus so much on Haohmaru alone; we even get to see in a flashback how he, not unlike Kal El, fell from the sky and is found and adopted by his mother. As for the other characters--nothing. We barely learn their names; though undoubtedly fans of the game would already know the life-stories of their favorites, but people ADV hopes to court with the movie alone might need a bit more help to understand and appreciate the characters.

The animation is good; the fighting scenes are nicely choreographed, with interesting fighting moves and swordplay. It avoids relying too much on fancy energy attacks and lets the holiness of the warriors shine. The buildings of this "historical Japan" are lovely, and the attractiveness of the good elements contrast appropriately with the ugly, evil bits, like some of Amakusa's minions. The sound is also good, though there is no Japanese audio option. The incidental music is particularly effective. The menu is simple, but easy to navigate.

There are no special features, which is a shame. It would have been a good chance to show off some screenshots of the game, and a bit more text backstory or a dramatis personae would have been appreciated too... Or maybe a look at how each character's weapon suits their fighting style, like Charlotte's rapier.

Samurai Showdown will appeal to fans of shows like Dragonball Z, Knights of the Zodiac, and Ronin Warriors. Fans of the game will probably love it. If only the show had spent more time on the backstory of each character, on developing the idea of a Guardian of the Gate of Heaven, and a bit less on the fighting that made the game a success, this could have been even better. As it is, it's a solid afternoon's entertainment for the 12-16 set who won't mind the simple characterizations or predictable plot. Definitely not bad as video game adaptations go.