Star Junichi Okada’s action choreography in both scenes is fist-pumpingly good, but in two totally different ways. Bukotsu and Ukyo fight in quick bursts, lashing out and then regrouping, before things break down as Bukotsu gets the upper hand. Their whole battle, which is intercut with Fubata and Shujiro’s storyline as well as Ukyo’s origin story throughout the episode, is filmed as it happens, with minimal camera trickery.
Shujiro’s killcrazy rampage through the game’s enforcers, by contrast, is a balletic, bullet-timed thing of beauty. Against a blue-gray sky tinted purple-pink by the spray of blood in the air, Shujiro moves in and out of regular speed, with the action slowing down to show us individual sword strikes and spectacular deaths and dismemberments. As Sakura, the top lieutenant with the gnarly scar, says from a safe distance, “Kokushu the Manslayer has awakened.”
I reviewed the second episode of Last Samurai Standing for Decider.
Tags: decider, last samurai standing, TV, TV reviews