This came out with little PR and I saw an advert and was suddenly intrigued as I am big fan of J-Cinema starting with Toei Studios and Kitano and The Ring a long time ago!
I'm happy that Netflix are investing in these shows but always worry that we're seeing a one-sason-only run and that's all folks!
The narrative and concept is excellent. The good samurai family; heavily featured in the film must defeat their arch-nemesis; The Fuma clan!
It's got great concepts such as their awesome Shinobi household's secrets being exposed by the young son who is so determined to follow family history once he realises the shocking truth. We see his education from the start and that is a rarity in these movies. It's often when actors are in their adult life when we see the action aspect of samurai/shinobi-styled movies.
As shinobi ninjas they have to keep the shinobi family secret to EVERYBODY. It makes some interesting cross-character developments where sexually-starved and aggrivated family members have to wait for their calling.
It means they do not have the modern lifestyle of relationships; being exposed to others and romance so they are very much a connected and lonely people and may be deemed as losers to their generation.
They have a sort of guild of overlords looking after their code and business and making sure nothing is changed unless their pay masters change them. It is a very difficult period for the family as they have a member taken by the rival clan.
The way the story develops is just fab. The direction of camera is great. There's a lot of excellent action sequences which the great (RIP) Sonny Chiba would have been proud of! Close-ups of actors' eyes is a neat homage to similar movies in the past.
We need a lot more fun J-Cinema on Netflix like this. Hopefully they will deliver. The build-up to the final episode was well-plotted and narrated. It also had you wanting more and the action is top-draw.
I'm happy that Netflix are investing in these shows but always worry that we're seeing a one-sason-only run and that's all folks!
The narrative and concept is excellent. The good samurai family; heavily featured in the film must defeat their arch-nemesis; The Fuma clan!
It's got great concepts such as their awesome Shinobi household's secrets being exposed by the young son who is so determined to follow family history once he realises the shocking truth. We see his education from the start and that is a rarity in these movies. It's often when actors are in their adult life when we see the action aspect of samurai/shinobi-styled movies.
As shinobi ninjas they have to keep the shinobi family secret to EVERYBODY. It makes some interesting cross-character developments where sexually-starved and aggrivated family members have to wait for their calling.
It means they do not have the modern lifestyle of relationships; being exposed to others and romance so they are very much a connected and lonely people and may be deemed as losers to their generation.
They have a sort of guild of overlords looking after their code and business and making sure nothing is changed unless their pay masters change them. It is a very difficult period for the family as they have a member taken by the rival clan.
The way the story develops is just fab. The direction of camera is great. There's a lot of excellent action sequences which the great (RIP) Sonny Chiba would have been proud of! Close-ups of actors' eyes is a neat homage to similar movies in the past.
We need a lot more fun J-Cinema on Netflix like this. Hopefully they will deliver. The build-up to the final episode was well-plotted and narrated. It also had you wanting more and the action is top-draw.