Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.5

Bohachi Bushido: The Villain Blu-ray Movie Review

Bohachi Bushido: The Villain is an old-school samurai tale with a mixture of action-adventure and other genre elements. Produced by studio Toei, Bohachi Bushido: The Villain combines some of the straight cut action of old-school swordsman pictures with a sense of melancholy horror with a tale exploring and focusing on a sex slave trade set against the world of brothels. Bohachi Bushido: The Villain stars Gorô Ibuki and Reiko Ike.

Kyushi-Issho (Gorô Ibuki) is a ronin warrior who is living life in Edo, Japan. The world of Kyushi-Issho is one that is full of unexpected horrors. It is almost as though life is so brutal that hell is upon Earth itself. A world without morals and a world without justice. Kyushi-Issho lives life as an aimless samurai who is now employed as an assassin for a large group of human sex traffickers upon having his life saved by the group.

Now thrown in to a seedy underbelly of Japan with an abundance of criminal corruption, he sees a world of debauchery and extreme torment. The girls of the brothels are mistreated and are sold off as human sex slaves: tortured to treat them to fear even worse torment if any should even try and escape from the sex trade. The samurai Kyushi-Issho must determine his own path now – as either the hero or villain.

Gorô Ibuki delivers a solid performance in the central role of Bohachi Bushido: The Villain. The role is one that showcases a sense of range for the actor. There is an inherent darkness to the role that can emphasis the complex undercurrent of the tale. The role is more complex as a result. This is not the shadowy figure of a perfect character and instead a complicated part for the actor to explore. The navigation of the role by the actor is something than enhanced the filmmaking and made the effort ultimately stand out all the more.

The production of Bohachi Bushido: The Villain is graced with an impressive aesthetic. The production design is top-notch and provides a lot of detailed environments for the storytelling to be explored within. Under the art direction of Akira Yoshimura, Bohachi Bushido: The Villain has a fantastic production on so many levels – from the detailed landscapes of the outdoors to the designs showcasing the brothels. The level of detail given to Bohachi Bushido: The Villain from the production team in quite impressive and is ultimately noteworthy.

The cinematography by Shigeru Akatsuka (Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon, The Shogun Assassins) is one of the best highlights of the filmmaking. Akatsuka is a gifted cinematographer and the results here are first-rate. The cinematographic style of Bohachi Bushido: The Villain is something that adds a lot to the cinematic experience. This is not a simplistic looking film and the canvas of the visuals provides several scenes with a painterly attribute – much of this due to the lensing.

The score composed by Hajime Kaburagi (Beast in the Shadows, Lady Moonflower) adds to the film and enhances the experience. The score by Kaburagi fits the tone and material well. The score certainly is an appropriate match for the darkness of the tale. There is something darkly haunting about the music in how it perfectly matches the terror of the filmmaking when required.

Written by Takeo Kaneko (Return of the Sister Street Fighter, Hot Springs Konjac Geisha) and Sadao Nakajima (The Seburi Story, A Savage Beast Goes Mad), Bohachi Bushido: The Villain is a film that features impressive scriptwriting. The storytelling one of the finest strengths of the film. The film manages to convey the darkness of the tale in a complex way. One of the big elements of Bohachi Bushido: The Villain is how it handles exploring the underworld of the sex trade – with an emphasis focusing on slavery in to the brothels. This is a horrifying aspect of the movie and something that is haunting to see unfold. The girls are tortured against their free will and are forced in to the brothel environment in order to work as sex slaves. The script showcases the dark aspect of the tale with these moments and it adds a sense of horror and melancholy to the filmmaking.

Directed by Takashi Harada (A Boss with the Samurai Spirit, The Killer Priest’s Journey), Bohachi Bushido: The Villain is a compelling feature-film. The sense of style in Bohachi Bushido: The Villain is apparent in each frame. The film has a good sense of direction and the filmmaking builds itself to a grand climax. Indeed, the conclusion of Bohachi Bushido: The Villain is a highlight of the entire film. The final act manages to showcase some samurai swordplay that is rather compelling and will have audiences on the edge of their seat. The sword fighting is one of the greatest attributes of Bohachi Bushido: The Villain and reason enough for some to check out the film. A good effort from director Harada.

Bohachi Bushido: The Villain Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Arriving on Blu-ray from Discotek Media, Bohachi Bushido: The Villain is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high definition in the original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.39:1 widescreen. The film is presented with an impressive native high-definition presentation. The transfer on the release is excellent looking overall. The print quality is superb and there is a lot of fine detail apparent. A wonderful aesthetic is achieved with the presentation.

The scan preserves natural film grain and showcases a good amount of detail in the image. Though the print isn't a flawless one (with some occasional dirt and slight imperfections to the print used), the scan still looks excellent overall and preserves the color and cinematography. The release benefits from a healthy bit-rate as well and is a good showcase for the fine encoding efforts of distributor Discotek Media. The higher bit-rates of the Blu-ray disc format are one of the strengths of the physical format medium and why physical media remains vastly superior to streaming alternatives (which tend to only provide video with a more compressed data stream).

Bohachi Bushido: The Villain Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release is presented in Japanese uncompressed PCM 2.0 mono (with English subtitles). The release sounds impressive with a lossless audio encoding in 16 bit depth. The lossless audio preserves the original sound design by Shigeji Nakayama (Samurai Reincarnation, Fighting Festival in Edo). The presentation manages to showcase the essence of the soundstage. The score is well reproduced.

Dialogue is excellent sounding and is clear throughout the presentation. Even though this might sound like an audio presentation with less fidelity and range compared to modern feature-film presentations, the level of clarity and detail allotted to the presentation is excellent on the whole. The release was well encoded by Discotek Media and is a fine effort on the whole.

Bohachi Bushido: The Villain Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The release does not include any on-disc supplemental features. This is the biggest drawback to the release. The package could have been improved with the addition of audio commentary, making-of featurettes, or other behind-the-scenes additions. Nonetheless, the disc is barebones (and doesn't even provide a trailer). The release does include a nice-looking o-card slipcover and the inner art sleeve has additional artwork (differentiating it from the slipcover artwork). The package design is a nice touch for the release.

Bohachi Bushido: The Villain Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Bohachi Bushido: The Villain is a compelling Japanese film with an exploration on the world of Samurai and the dangerous realm of sex slavery. The film explores the underworld of illegal Japanese brothels with sex slaves. The storyline explores the way in which the girls in the brothels are sold and bought, tortured, and tormented. The tale of Bohachi Bushido: The Villain also explores the journey of the Samurai brought in to this realm. The final act of the film includes an intense action sequence that is arguably worth the price of admission alone.

The Blu-ray release from Discotek Media includes a strong video and audio presentation. The release comes with a nice o-card slipcover featuring unique artwork. Bohachi Bushido: The Villain is debuting on Blu-ray from Discotek Media and this release marks the first time the film has been available in high definition on disc (even with including Japan). Recommended.