Customer Reviews

Kaze No Yojimbo: Complete Collection

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

So I'll admit that I don't like Kurosawa movies. They tend to be hideously over-acted, generally hard to follow and for the most part pretty lame.

But I love remakes of his movies. Odd, huh?

Kaze no Yojimbo isn't an exception to that rule. The story follows George Kodama as he journeys to Kimjuku to find out what happened to his brother fifteen years ago. But instead of an idyllic country town, George finds himself smack dab in the middle of a gang fight. The two sides are headed by the old money Tanokura, who pretty much controls the town power structure, and the Ginzame gang, who are pretty much young upstarts who just happened to roll into town.

There really isn't much to dislike about the characters. Kodama is probably one of the most interesting protagonists that I've seen in anime. He's a punk, dislikes authority, stands up for himself without being hot-headed, and in general is coolness personified. But more in the Steve McQueen tough guy way, than the tall, dark and silent way that most anime is so fond of. The other characters stand on their own, and with the exception of the teenage daughter of Tanokura, they're actually pretty interesting.

The plot unfortunately is uneven. The first part of the series moves pretty quickly, throwing out enough loose ends to keep the viewer involved. But the middle of the series is a bit sluggish, while it bides its time to work up to its really good conclusion. And the best thing about it - it doesn't leave any questions unanswered. I'm so excited about that, I could spit.

The entire thing looks like it had a budget that came out of the bottom of a washing machine. Generally the animation is chunky and uses way too many shortcuts to really be interesting. But the framing of the scenes does cover for a lot of it. There are a lot of points where the show will use a close-up on a character and make the background fuzzy. (I'm assuming this is to save on the cost of having to animate the entire scene.) It's a trick that gets old after a while. But honestly, if you're watching this show for the animation then you're watching it for the wrong reasons.

The soundtrack makes up for the lousy animation though. It's a combination of a single guitar, or a flute or sometimes an orchestra. But it really helps to build the mood of the series. And this series is all about mood. The dub on this is actually really good at capturing the combination of hidden secrets and conflicting agendas.

In the end, Kaze no Yojimbo isn't for everyone. If you're looking for boys crying out "I want to be stronger" or girls pining over milquetoast heroes or giant robots or anything else that's been done to death, then this show isn't for you. But if you're looking for something different, albeit a little slow, then Kaze no Yojimbo is good buy.

This anime is truly unique; its a mystery story that draws you in during the opening minutes and doesn't let you go until the very end. The characters are developed wonderfully, the music is great, and the story is one of the best I've ever seen. I would recommend this to anybody because I believe it's the best anime out since Cowboy Bebop, and that's lofty territory!

While there are a few scenes where the animation could stand to be improved a bit, the overall impression of this series is that it's a delight to watch. The music is simply wonderful and the story gripping. There was not a one episode where I felt bored and/or didn't want to continue watching. The series may be a remake of 'Yojimbo' but having seen the movie will not deter you from enjoying the series with its plot twists - there is a reason why the main character comes to the town in the first place, and it takes the whole series to uncover the mystery.

Kaze no Yojimbo is defintely a great show. All begins when George Kodama arrives to a countryside town looking for a man named Genzo Araki, but his presence will shake things a bit. At the beginning nothing seems to make sense but at the end everything is related. It has such an excellent plot.
I absolutely recommend it, please watch it.

The series has a few strengths, which Mr. Probert's review does a good job of highlighting. The story is fairly unique for an anime and is fairly intriguing, and the soundtrack is pretty strong. Kodama is a pretty interesting lead character. However, for me, the numerous failings of the series seriously detract from what it does well. The pacing is indeed very uneven, and several episodes simply distract from the overall story. The animation is sub par. There are a few nagging inconsistencies, and occasionally, the laws of physics simply get ignored. I wouldn't recommend it.

This is Great Story, Kaze No Yojimbo is defintely a great show and great anime action,amazing, I love the story , I enjoy

This animation remake tries very hard to capitalize on the original movie by Akira Kurosawa (which is considered a masterpiece even today). This anime however does not even come close the movie's quality. Here tons of filler material drags down the story's pacing. Taking place in modern Japan, the stranger called, George Kadama, arrives at the town of Kimujuku, and gets hired by two rival faction, he plays tricks and betrays both gangs through out the series. George Kadama, is a drifter who seems like he wandered into town by chance, but later we learn that he is looking for a man, who supposedly vanished. The town is full of suspicious characters who seem to be hiding some sort of secret and later we learn that a train in the past had been robbed of millions of dollars in gold and platinum. The stranger, George is very interested in finding that treasure as well, but he needs to speak with the right people and put the pieces to the mystery together.

I didn't give any spoiler's to the story, as most of this information is actually revealed within the first four episodes. Yojimbo is a mystery anime where all characters have ulterior motives and secrets. Although the mystery theme is somewhat interesting the stories for the most part is terribly boring; pacing is very slow with a few fist fights in between to bring in some action sequences, characters all talk very slowly, and seem bored themselves actually. The mood of the anime has a very heavy laid back feel to it; it bit too laid back. The town is sparesly populated and looks almost abandoned, again making it feel more boring. The dialog between characters is very long winded and and overly chatty. George, lives like a tramp wandering from place to place, constantly eating Ramen noodles, getting offered tons of money for work (yet he always turns down the money and continues to live like a tramp, defying all logic and reason). George Kadama is said to be skilled at fighting, but I never saw anything special about his fighting techniques! He just does simple punches and kicks which bring opponents to the ground. Trust me when I say that the action is very weak and unimpressive.

Character designs look like american cartoons and animation was poorly done. Many of action sequences were done in still shots. Dialog between characters was done by showing talking heads superimposed over background images- making the animation look very cheap; which to me subtracted the novelty of traditional anime. Yojimbo's worst offense is the boredom it invokes. I could barely keep my eyes open. I paid over $40.00 for this snorefest and regret losing my money. I hope you don't make the same mistake. There are so many better anime series out there. I recommend the anime called "Heat Guy J" and "Daphne In The Brilliant Blue".