And the answer to the film about "Jin'e" (from Rurouni Kenshin) is...

[JasonPratt]

_Sword of Doom_

While the character is never called "Jin'e" or "Kurogasa" (so far as I recall), the parallels especially near the end make him a very close match to have inspired the character.


Relevance to anime: duh. {g}


The film itself is very artistic in its shot composition--not so constantly as a wuxia film might typically be, but substantially so. Blacks and whites and greys are well-used. The swordfighting is naturalistic (thus somewhat sparse), but well-choreographed even so; and there tends to be more of it than in some non-exploitative Japanese samurai films.

I should add that the film isn't for everyone. Think about watching the Kenshin Trust/Betrayal OVA as a Christian. Now eliminate any morally redeeming value in the main character (though also reducing the amount of bloodshed per se actually shown).

Also, it's annoying that the film ends at a frenzied (and literally nightmarish) climax with more of the story (namely his foreshadowed duel with Toshiro Mifune's character, who is probably the most morally upright person in the film) still to come--and never to come. But, then, we Kenshin fans can supply the rest, in a way: "Jin'e" is cast out of the Shinsengumi, having descended so far into madness that he has become like a rabid dog (notably one of Saito's jobs within the Shinsengumi was to get rid of people like Jin'e--guess he signally failed there, eh? {wry g}), and lives in seclusion from society as a serial murderer until hired by corrupt members of the Meiji government to assassinate some of their peers within the bureaucracy, whereupon he crosses swords with Kenshin.


Anyway, for fans of the Kenshin anime/manga, it may be worth a rental, simply for curiosity's sake!