Dagger of Kamui

Original Title: カムイの剣
Romanized: Kamui no Ken
Literal: The Blade of Kamui

Plot Synopsis

In the middle of the 19th century, the era of Shogun rule in Japan is nearing its end. Corruption in the government and warring between the factions vying for power have facilitated the rise of powerful Ninja clans, making use of lethal skills and mystic arts to attain their goals. But not all ninjas are evil--some are noble men, but are also apt to be manipulated by the clans they serve.

When a kind woman and her daughter are found murdered, Jiro, the child they found by the river and raised, is chased from the village as a parent-killer. Left with nothing but the dagger he found by the body of his foster mother--the Dagger of Kamui--Jiro is taken in by Tenkai, the head of a powerful ninja clan and a an evil Buddhist monk. First allowed to take vengeance on his family's apparent killer, and then trained in the ways of the ninja by Tenkai and his minions, as he reaches maturity Jiro realizes what kind of organization he has been taken in by, and vows to stop them in their apparent plan to take control of Japan. He flees the ninja and begins seeking not only a way to combat Tenkai and his minions, but to learn the truth about himself and his parents. Hounded by Tenkai's underlings and tormented by fate, Jiro begins his quest armed only with the mysterious Dagger of Kamui and a legend about Kamui, a mystical mountain somehow connected to both the dagger and Jiro's past.

Quick Review

Rating: 5 / 5
Reviewer: Marc
Review Date: 2005-07-10

The Dagger of Kamui is a true anime classic, a historical epic full of action, intertwined fates, interesting characters, and subtle mysticism. It follows a grand quest across the changing world landscape of the 1800s, blending the framework of a ninja movie with the style of a reserved samurai drama to produce a film that has both exciting (yet artistic) action and traditionally reserved Japanese drama. It also manages as well-woven story that evokes a sense of greater purpose and the grand scale that the 19th century world held to its inhabitants while still keeping the human drama at a realistic level.

Don't come looking for mindless action, and be prepared for a lengthy and methodically paced movie, but if you like Japanese history, tales of samurai and ninja, or just a great story, you will almost certainly enjoy the Dagger of Kamui.

US DVD Review

Based on AnimEigo's reputation, I'm going to assume it is because of a lack of good source material, but this is not an impressive DVD. The Japanese audio is clean if not impressive stereo, but sounds good for a movie of this vintage. The video, on the other hand, looks a bit washed out and rather soft, has some unpleasant color artifacts around sharp edges, and is interlaced--looks like a direct transfer from a video source of unimpressive quality. This would've been a great film to see a Macross-style cleanup on, but the result, though a disappointment by videophile standards, isn't all that bad. The special features consist of some basic maps of the various locations Jiro travels to, a series of character bios, and the original theatrical trailer. There are also two sets of subtitles; one with full subtitling, and one that only translates onscreen text (of limited value to most viewers, since the dialogue is Japanese-only).

Content Guide

Rated 13-up by AnimEigo on account of some mature themes and violence.

Violence: 3 - Not gratuitous, but still quite violent.

Nudity: 2 - A couple of brief scenes.

Sex/Mature Themes: 1 - Implied romance only.

Language: 1 - Not noteworthy.

Notes and Trivia

As always, AnimEigo's famed liner notes (as well as full credits and song lyrics) are available on the web, and in this case are extremely extensive.

The film is based on a series of five novels by Tetsu Yano.

As for the story, it's quite strange to think of a ninja hanging out in the wild west, but the periods were in fact simultaneous, and this is probably your only chance to see it happen (with a serious face, anyway).

Note also that this is one of AnimEigo's first releases, but there are also two old VHS versions of it floating around, each by a different company. One is a full-length dubbed version called "The Blade of Kamui." The other is a different dubbed version released under the name "The Sword of Kamui," which apparently had about an hour of the movie cut out and somehow added an alien invasion to the plot if the text on the box is to be believed. I have seen neither, but I'd guess that the latter ranks with the "Warriors of the Wind" dub of Nausicaa as one of the greatest anime travesties of all time (though I do have to wonder what kind of creative dubbing they employed to get aliens into 19th century Japan).

There was a little-known video game adaptation of this story for the FM-7 computer, only available in Japan. It was of the text-based adventure sort, but with color illustrations.

Availability

Available on subtitled Japanese-only DVD from AnimEigo. Was previously available on subtitled-only LaserDisc and VHS, also from AnimEigo. There were also dub-only VHS versions sold as The Blade of Kamui and The Sword of Kamui, the latter of which is heavily edited, and neither of which is now in print.

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