Brief Story Line
Story was set during the late Edo period where Hijikata Toshizo (Yamada Yuki - Godzilla Minus One, School Police TV series etc) the poor son of a farmer was searching for someone that could make him stronger till he finally met Kondo Isami (Suzuki Nobuyuki - Prince of Legend TV series, Revenge Girl etc), the master of Shieikan Dojo. Toshizo became the latest disciple of Shieikan together with several others including the sword prodigy Okita Soji (Hosoda Kanata - A Kiss Lasts Forever TV series, Bullet Train Explosion etc), the academically intelligent Yamanami Keisuke (Nakamura Aoi - Tokyo Refugees, Tokyo Salad Bowl TV series etc), Nagakura Shinpachi (Uesugi Shuhei - Land of Tanabata TV series, Windbreaker etc) who was excellent in using his hands and others with their own specialties.
As time went on, Kondo and the rest of his disciples went to Kyoto in search of a Master to serve where ultimately they became part of Azui clain led by Matsudaira Katamori (Matsumoto Jun - Girl in the Sunny Place, Gokusen TV series etc). The group of Samurai were called Roshigumi (later on changed to Shinsegumi) with one faction led by Kondo and another by the fearless but difficult to control Serizawa Kamo (Ayano Go - Tokyo Swindlers TV series, Mentor etc) with his right hand men Niimi (Okuno Eita - Midsummer Fruit etc) and Hirayama (Takahashi Mitsuomi - Kingdom 3: Flame of Destiny etc). With internal power struggle in Shinsegumi, things became more complicated due to the involvement of deadly assassins who were hired to kill them.
So what would happen to Toshizo, Kondo and the rest of the group? You could find out in this series.
End of Brief Story Line
This series could be a little bit challenging at times for me especially since it involed some major historical things in the past that were not that easy to follow. I am not sure just how historically accurate this series is because from what I read, it was adapted from manga Chiruran: Shinsengumi Requiem written by Shinya Umemura and illustrated by Eiji Hashimoto. However I did some checkings on the internet and found that majority of the characters were real, although the story of what happened to them might have been dramatized like in a lot of movies or series.
In any case, aside from those historical part, the series itself was entertaining specifically on the action. The fights were totally awesome and amazingly done with many of those were truly intense. During the first half, majority of the fights were one on one duel. But the second half was completely different as there were multiple fights involving many many people. I was really in awe with the wonderfully executed major fights in episode 5 and 6. The 7th episode was just as good with the finale worthy of the long wait. However there was one thing that I was a bit unsatisfied, i.e. that grand fight between Hijikata and Hirayama which I think could have been shown a bit more detailed. The rest though was simply breathtaking! Credit should be given to the action choreographer Sonomura Kensuke (stunt director for Baby Assassins and its sequel, Signal 100 etc).
The whole season consisted of only 8 episodes which should have been easy to binge watch. But the 1st and 2nd episode has a surprisingly long duration of around 1.5 hour. When I read about the series, apparently it was divided into two parts, i.e. Song of the Samurai: Youthful Days in Edo that consisted of 2 episodes and Song of the Samurai: Fateful Showdown in Kyoto with 6 episodes between 50-57 minutes long. The ending certainly left a lot of room for more story if they decide to renew this, although by the time I wrote this, there was no decidion yet of its status. Obviously I would have been delighted if there is another season as it would be exciting to see further story of the Shinsegumi.
The cast did amazing job here specifically during the fights scenes. As for the acting part, I truly admired Ayano Go who was so fantastic portraying the sometimes irritating but very cool villain Serizawa Kamo. I also really liked Suzuki Nobuyuki as the Boss/Master Kondo Isami who could be tough but also warm at the same time and of course Yamada Yuki as the lead character Toshizo. Aside from the above names, there were also appearances of Fujiwara Kisetsu (Gilgamesh Fight TV series etc), Yanagi Shuntaro (Scandal Eve TV series etc), Miyazaki Shuto (Meiji Tokyo Renka etc), Iwanaga Hihio (Ryusei etc) as Kondo's other disciples Hajime, Sanosuke, Heisuke and Genzaburo respecitvely. In addition, there were also Sakurai Yuki (Riko High! TV series etc) as Serizawa's mistress Oume, Nukumi Meru (Kururi: Who's In Love With Me TV series etc) as the mysterious woman in the Meiji era, Nakajima Kento (Love Like the Falling Petals etc) as Okada Izo and some others. The series was directed by Watanabe Kazutaka (Rohan au Louvre, Naotora: The Lady Warlord TV series etc) and written by Sakai Masaaki (Informa: Beasts of the Underworld TV series, Small, Slow but Steady etc).
Overall, this was a series that was very entertaining in term of action as it was not pale in comparison to other high profile Samurai films and series. However the rather detail deep dive into the history was the part that sometimes felt too long and frankly a bit difficult to keep track for me. Even though I could understand that it's important since the story was somewhat based on history, but I would have preferred they make them less detail. The journey of Hijikata Toshizo and his familial bond with Kondo Isami and other disciples was interesting to watch as well. So if you plan to watch this series hoping for full action, then you might need to manage your expectation a bit. But if you are into a historical story of one of the most well known Samurai (and Shinsegumi) with plenty of violent & magnificently done fight scenes, then I think you would enjoy this series.
Mike's movie moments rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars
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