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Title: It's hard to sense Samura in this.
Review: Foremost, imho, the discussion between Samura and his editors is well worth the price of this, and they express not so positive views on this adaptation.Beginning credits end with Manji against a...contemporary highrise background?Characters walk as if robotic toys; their running disturbed, jarring.Starved ambiant soundtrack, when not illtimed, heavyhanded rock (the appearance of Giichi triggered an unfortunate laugh).Facial movements are wooden, mouth movement derived from a lesser ventriloquist technique, the voicework formulaic, unimaginative - the sound of Rin's cries, as Manji falls ill to Shizuma's poison, channeling Luanne of Mike Judge's King of the Hill.Samura's shifting viewpoints inject more contemplation/ambiance than the slow pans employed here. And, possibly the use of a narrator would have tempered overlong and explanatory character monologues.
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