Real samurai. “Sanada Maru” or “Sanada Fortress” is a representative of one of the most respected areas of drama in Japan – Taiga, or “Drama of the Big River”. Since 1963, these projects tell the audience about the key moments of the history and iconic personalities of the “Land of the Rising Sun”. But, nothing lasts forever, and as the faded cherry blossoms fall to the ground, the popularity of these projects has declined in recent years. And it was on the “Fortress of Sanada” that the responsible task was entrusted – to make the viewer fall in love with the “taiga dramas” again.
We cannot judge whether the gods of luck Ebis, Daikok and Fukurokuju favored the director Takafumi Kimura, since this film product is designed specifically for the Japanese audience. Western viewers in such cases always fall into the trap of language barriers and watch such dramas about the history of Japan only when at least subtitles appear. In this regard, a special bow to those who did not lazy and translated “Sanada Maru” from beginning to end into Russian.
Japan, late 16th – early 17th century. The drama tells us about the life and deeds of the “hero who can appear once in a hundred years” and the “Crimson Demon of War”. Sanada Yukimura (Nobushige) and his family.
Since the Sanada clan is remembered and revered in modern Japan, it is not surprising that the creators of the drama wanted to make it a hit, which is why the popular then and now Masato Sakai took the role of Yukimura. I have nothing against him, and in the same “Shinsengumi” in 2004 (by the way, also Taiga-dorama), he worked for “hurrah”. The only remark is that for so many years, Masato Sakai never learned to show the same rage, anger, frustration. On the screen, you can directly feel how he squeezes out negative emotions that cannot break through a good-natured face and a half-smile. From this, the same "Crimson Demon of War" in the most fierce battles becomes some kind of Petry with a katana in his hand. But this disadvantage is compensated by other manifestations of Masato’s acting talent.
Other characters also do well in their roles. In Japanese films, especially on historical themes, one should not expect any expression from the actors. They embody samurai, restrained, but at the same time explosive. Therefore, the physical manifestation of feelings inherent in Hollywood is not found here. It's for the best.
To give credit to writer Koki Mitani, who was able to stretch the story into 50 episodes without losing any chronology. What to say, a talent, and recognized, as indicated by the Don Quixote Prize at the Berlin Film Festival, which he received for the comedy “Happy Return, Mr. McDonald” in 1997. Comedy notes are also present in the “Fortress of Sanada”, and they are quite successfully inscribed in the main narrative.
All such dramas are mainly built around some high-profile events that filled the eternally fragmented Japan of that time. And the film will tell us, among other things, about the most significant episode of their history for the Sanada clan - the siege of Osaka Castle. Despite the fact that the lion’s part of the budget of Taiga Doram goes to create scenes of battles, in “Sanada Maru” with this clearly cheap. No, you can see, but when the 30,000 Tokugawa Ieyasu troops who tried to take Sanada Fortress in 1615 are shown by only a couple dozen extras, you are involuntarily disappointed. The scale was not enough, but the beautiful costumes and armor of the samurai are good.
However, the whole point of the drama is not in this. The main thing here is tactical techniques, attempts to unravel the enemy and other wisdom of military affairs, which Sanada Yukimura and his relatives perfectly possessed. The ability to survive one very proud clan in the conditions of bloody transformations of the whole country – that is the plot. This has always been interesting to watch and that is why the “Fortress of Sanada” deserves to be in the collection of all fans of Japanese historical cinema.
Like the cherry on the cake. Do not turn off the episode with the beginning of the credits, because then the creators share with us an interesting historical background about those events and places that were shown in the series. Spectators are transported to modern Japan, and in this contrast you can feel the abyss of the times when from the old castles and fortresses there were only ruins, and true followers of the Bushido teaching now live only on films. But we really want to touch this world, and the creators of Sanada Maru gave us this opportunity.
9 out of 10