Ashura: Demon Slayer/"Blood Gets In Your Eyes" (2005)

Genre: "Horror"/Samurai/Action/Fantasy
Directed by Yojiro Takita
Written by Sei Kawaguchi, Masashi Todayama & Kazuki Nakashima
Japanese with English subs

/5


(Watch the Trailer Here)

The Deal...
Izumo, revered leading man of a small medieval Japanese theatre has a secret: he was once a Demon Warden- a warrior with the charge of ridding medieval Edo of its on-going demon infestation. Now enjoying a largely event-less existence, Izumo believes his demon-hunting days are long over, but his life is turned upside-down when he encounters a mysterious girl named Tsubaki with an eye-shaped scar on her back that seems to be growing in size with each encounter. As Izumo pursues Tsubaki for her love and companionship, Jaku, Demon Warden and Izumo's ex-colleague, along with the demon priestess Bizan are pursuing her for a much different reasons: they believe that she is the key to awakening the long-sleeping demon emperor Ashura - for it is in Edo, the bridge between the world of the living and the damned, that Ashura is prophesied to finally appear.



Did Wrongs:I do realise that this film is based on a manga, but the plot (not to mention a lot of the dialogue) is cheesy as hell. There seems to be too much content for a mere two hours to cover, so the plot jumps forward at an alarming pace. The relationships between the characters, aside from what they say about each other, are a little unclear, due to the lack of a proper beginning; the movie just kind of....starts.
I'm unsure of the budget because the sets are terribly B-movie. The special-effects are unlike anything I've seen before...and I don't mean this positively. They appear to be animated rather than CG-ed, and with bright green cartoon eyes, teeth, and blood, it's agonisingly hard to take the so-called "demons" seriously. On top of this, the fighting choreography is not very good (with the exception of the final action sequence). The sound-effects are accordingly disappointing.
Overall, the experience is akin to watching a very glorified episode of "Power Rangers."
...Wait, did I say "akin to"? I meant exactly. It's exactly like watched a very long, very thought-out episode of Power Rangers, only produced with an extra $10 or so.

Did Rights:
As harsh as my criticisms may seem, I did enjoy this movie very much. The characters were likeable (or detestable, depending on their purpose), and I found myself holding my breath for them a few times throughout the film. The costumes were not very good, but still managed to be pretty.
While the special effects make an inarguable joke of most of the villians, they do produce some absolutely stunning scenes when it comes to animating mundane objects, such as falling rose petals, snow, blood (normal RED blood vs. the demon's ridiculous green blood), etc. The scene in which Izumo prepares to cross over/crosses over into the demon world is breath-taking. I feel that this movie is worth watching for that scene alone.