The Fable: The Killer Who Doesn't Kill - Unique Story of Legendary Assassin based on Popular Manga

Few days ago, there were 2 new Japanese movies released on Netflix where one was the sequel to another. Both were having a very intriguing premise which interest me. Last night I finally got the chance to watch the 2 movies together with my wife, so it was kind of a marathon movie night for us. Right now, I am writing for the second movie which was quite brand new as it was released in 2021. 

Brief Story Line

A legendary hit-man known as Fable (Junichi Okada - Sekigahara, A Samurai Chronicle etc) was instructed by his boss to lay low and live a normal life in Osaka for a year. Now he went by the name of Akira Sato and was accompanied by his partner who was assigned as his younger sister named Yoko Sato (Fumino Kimura - 99.9 Criminal Lawyer TV series, Spark etc). While living in Osaka, Sato worked at a publishing company together with his co-worker Misaki (Mizuki Yamamoto - Sadako vs Ayako, Perfect World TV series etc) and their boss Takoda (Jiro Sato - Brothers in Brothel etc).

By chance Sato met with a person from his past, a paralyzed young woman named Hinako (Yurina Hirate - The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window etc). He was worried about her as she was living with dangerous people like Utsubo (Shinichi Tsutsumi - Always Sunset on Third Street trilogy etc) and Suzuki (Manasobu Ando - Battle Royale etc).

So how would the story conclude? Find them all in this entertaining action thriller movie.

End of Brief Story Line

Just like in the fist movie, this sequel was having almost the same formula of story telling. It showed how amazing Sato's assassination skills combined with the dark humor of how he had to adjust his social life to a normal living condition, only to end up having to fight against the bad guys without killing anyone. In this sequel though, somehow the comedy felt a bit stronger. There was a scene involving the boss Takoda where my wife and I both laugh out loud, plus other scenes involving the naivety of Sato in everyday life (including his weakness to hot food/drinks).

For those of you who are not aware, this movie was adapted from successful manga titled The Fable written and illustrated by Katsuhisa Minami which spanned to 22 volumes between 2014-2019. As I said, the reason why I was intrigued was due to its unique premise, where an infamous and legendary assassin had to live a normal life without killing anyone, which obviously would be a difficult task for someone like Fable. Such premise actually reminded me a bit of Rurouni Kenshin who was a legendary killer and vowed not to kill anymore & only used a reversed sword, alhtough that felt more serious. Funnily enough, Masanobu Ando who played as Suzuki here, also played in Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning.

The action sequence in this movie were totally awesome, even if some of them defy logic/physics, but they were executed nicely and gave a strong manga feel. Junichi Okada played his role perfectly as we could totally picture him as this assassin who was expressionless at times but actually had a big heart. Some people who played in the first movie also appeared here though at a much lesser capacity, in particular Mizuki Yamamoto as Misaki. Other new characters performed their roles decently, especially Shinichi Tsutsumi who was really good as the villainous Utsubo.

The movie has quite a long duration of 2 hours 11 minutes which was why we had to stay up quite late to finish both films last night (the first one titled The Fable was 123 minutes). And despite having a bit of slower pace in the middle, the finale fight scenes were awesome and worthy of being the climax of this movie. It was categorized for 16+ due to violence and language, which was rightfully so, especially with the graphic killing scenes. But if I had to compare, the first film felt a bit more violent, especially the early part. Btw, both movies had brief post end credit scene. 

For an action movie, this one did really deliver. But what made this movie interesting was the lead character who was truly unique. Since both movies are available on Netflix, obviously you have the chance to watch the first movie as well. Hence I would definitely recommend to watch it first before watching this sequel. It would give better satisfaction and understanding on some of the references from its predecessor. Plus the first movie also explained the real reason behind decision for Fable to lay low. Oh, after finishing this one, I hope there would be another sequel since the adventure of Fable seemed to be far from over. So fingers crossed they would release it in 2 years time (like the span between first and second movie).

So if you are looking for a unique assassin movie based on popular manga, then you are welcome to give this a try. If you are fans of such genre like my wife and I were, chances are you would be entertained by this movie (and the first one) as well. 

Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars