Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings: The Last Party Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings: The Last Party Blu-ray Movie Review

Party like it's 1499.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 6, 2012

A recent issue of The Hollywood Reporter had a really interesting and perhaps surprisingly thoughtful little piece by Nicole Kidman where she recounted working with the legendary Stanley Kubrick on Eyes Wide Shut. In assessing Kubrick’s literate (and literary) side, Kidman remarked quite rightly that no one seems to read anymore and people tend to get their information from mass media, whether that be motion pictures or television. Kidman actually lauded Kubrick therefore for being able to translate philosophical and even mythological tropes into a purely visual medium that was instantly accessible, if not consciously understood, by a large audience (I am massively paraphrasing here, so for those of you who may have read this Kidman piece, forgive me for generalizing). If we take some of the creative staff of Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings at their word, the anime (based on a popular Playstation 2 game) has sparked a whole new wave of interest in historical matters throughout Japan, though if one also pays attention to a brief shot of a premiere night audience that is being amped up by one of the film’s crew, one may also come to the conclusion that the bulk of Sengoku Basara’s audience is twelve year old (and younger) boys who are there for nothing other than the “fight, fight, fight” they are being urged to get excited about. For us chauvinistic Westerners who often think that history started with 1776 and never penetrated beyond either the Pacific or Atlantic beaches, there actually was a Sengoku period in Japan, an era which spanned about a century and a half between roughly 1450 and 1600. This was an era of warring feudal city-states, each with its own warrior class and its own “samurai king”, so to speak, and Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings dealt with a number of fierce battles whereby one vicious potential dictator was overthrown only to be replaced by someone just as nefarious. By the time this feature film has opened, we are supposedly in a time of relative peace, but it is a peace filled with the scars and traumas caused by literally generations of people having lived (and died) by the sword.

For those who didn’t catch any of Sengoku Basara - Samurai Kings (the link is for the first season; the second season can be found here), Sengoku Basara The Last Party starts out with one of those “previously on. . .” recaps that is both helpful but actually ultimately funny in its attempts to sum up one of the more complex (and sometimes frankly hugely populated) anime of the past couple of years. If you can keep track of everything (and everyone) that is covered in this brief prelude, you’re a better samurai lover than I am, and I’ve watched the two seasons of the television series! But the fact is, you don’t actually need an overweening familiarity with the Sengoku Basara universe to make general sense out of The Last Party, with one of the main reasons being the feature film has more of what seems to be an intentionally funny take on its material than the actual series did.

Truth be told, the television series was never really a model of historical solemnity, and virtually every episode had the combatants simply screaming each other’s names between them in escalating volume as they sliced and diced their way to victory. So much for Sengoku Basara inspiring a serious examination of history. But of course that’s missing the point. The videogame was, as many videogames are, built around the battles, and the series and this film as well follow suit, as should be expected. But The Last Party is often much funnier than the series, and unlike the series, more consistently intentionally so. There are certainly dramatic elements at play throughout the film—one big surprise after a knock down drag out fight early in the film reveals that Masamune may not be as impervious as he’s appeared to be previously and how in fact he claimed to be with his major antagonist here, Mitsunari.

But even within these sometimes shocking developments, there’s a very real sense of humor at work. Several characters are on the fey side (one early supposed warlord plays like an animated version of Billy DeWolfe, replete with natty mustache), and the voice work is so obviously hyperbolic that it’s hard not to giggle sometimes, even when the scenes seem to be intended to be taken seriously. There’s an undeniably dramatic undertone to the basic setup here—especially with regard to the horrors of war having spawned one wounded soul on a mad dash for revenge—but Sengoku Basara The Last Party doesn’t ever let that stand in the way of completely over the top action and lunatic characters. This may make the feature film somewhat less appealing to more reserved viewers, but for those who don’t mind some genuine goofiness accompanying their anime adventures, this will certainly fill the bill.

There are several simultaneously unfolding arcs in Sengoku Basara The Last Party, but the general setup is perhaps only too familiar to fans of the anime series: once again, Japan is threatened with being put under the thumb of a nefarious dictator-warlord. Playing out within that background are a couple of interesting stories. First, in the wake of Hideyoshi’s vanquishing, Misunari is out to wreak vengeance on Masmune. Contrasting Misunari’s scorched earth policy is that of Ieyasu, who seems to be attempting to get former combatants to beat their samurai katanas into plowshares. However, his real intentions may not exactly be what they seem. Everything (including several other tangential plots) catapults toward an expectedly over the top battle finale which includes a big showdown between Masamune and Misunari.

The film should certainly appeal to Sengoku Basara’s fanbase, whether they are drawn to the franchise from the videogame or Samurai Kings. But the underlying goofiness of this enterprise may well endear it even to those who wouldn’t know a shogun from shinola. I found myself laughing at Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings a lot of the time (especially with the “I can scream your name louder than you can scream mine” angle that seemed to crop up in many episodes), but I felt like I was laughing with this feature film.

Packaging Note: FUNimation continues its really odd decision to house the Blu-ray disc and DVD discs in a standard Blu-ray case, but to put those in a DVD sized slipcover with little cardboard brackets at the bottom of the slipcase to make up for the extra space.

Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings: The Last Party Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Sengoku Basara The Last Party is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of FUNimation Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. As with Sengoku Basrara: Samurai Kings, this is an exceptionally pretty anime, filled with crisp line detail and gorgeously designed characters and backgrounds. Colors are bright, bold and extremely vivid, and the entire high definition presentation really pops with excellent detail. There are some cool graphical elements that enter the film (see the screencap with Japanese ideographs over the image of the candle), and those also look great. If you've been a fan of Samurai Kings, you'll get more of the same—maybe even a little more in terms of nuanced character design and more fleshed out backgrounds.

Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings: The Last Party Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Sengoku Basara The Last Party features Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mixes in both the original Japanese language version as well as an English dub. Both of these tracks are very well done, with a wealth of fantastic surround activity in the battle scenes. Dialogue and effects are very well mixed, and the tradition of combatants screaming each other's names is presented with a lot of energy and (relative) precision. Fidelity is excellent and dynamic range is fairly wide, given reasonable expectation (this is an intentionally hyperbolic anime, so there aren't a whole lot of "kinder, gentler" moments).

Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings: The Last Party Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Four Panel Theater: Another Last Party (HD; 7:48) contains brief (mostly) still panels starring chibi versions of the cast and featuring chapters devoted to Date Masamune, Sanada Yukimura, Tokugawa Ieyasu, Ishida Mitsunari, and Kuroda Kanbei.


• Making of The Last Party (1080i; 49:27) is an above average piece that goes into quite some depth about Sengoku Basara's cultural impact in Japan as well as production of this particular feature.


• Trailer and Commercial Collection (HD; 8:58)


• Textless Opening Song (HD; 2:06)


• Textless Closing Song (HD; 4:42)

Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings: The Last Party Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I have to believe that the creative staff behind Sengoku Basara The Last Party intentionally made this feature film sequel more looney than the original series. The characters here are so over the top from the get go that it's hard not to laugh, and when we're also presented with a number of just flat out goofy supporting characters, it seems obvious that we're supposed to laugh. That may not sit well with the film's ostensible theme of revenge and the horrors of war, but it actually works surprisingly well. As with Samurai Kings, this Sengoku Basara outing is exceptionally well animated, and both audio options included on this Blu-ray are extremely boisterous. Recommended.