is a 2005

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

, starring

Ichikawa Somegorō VII may refer to: Places *Ichikawa, Chiba, a city in Chiba, Japan **Ichikawa Gakuen (Ichikawa Junior and Senior High School), a large private boys and girls school in Moto-kita-kata, Ichikawa, Chiba * Ichikawa, Hyogo, a town in Hyōgo, Japan *Ichikawa ...

Rie Miyazawa is a Japanese actress and former teen idol. She is regarded as one of Japan's top actresses, and her accolades include six Japan Academy Film Prizes and three Kinema Junpo Awards Miyazawa began her career as a child model, seeing wide exposure ...

and

Kanako Higuchi (born December 13, 1958) is a Japanese actress. Her credits include film, television, and radio dramas, stage, commercials, and voice roles. Born in Kamo, Niigata, she played her first lead at age 20 in the television drama ''Kōrogi-bashi.'' ...

. Directed by

Yōjirō Takita Yōjirō Takita (滝田洋二郎 ''Takita Yōjirō'', born December 4, 1955) is a Japanese filmmaker. Takita received an Academy Awards, Oscar for Academy Award for Best International Feature Film, Best Foreign Language Film for his 2008 drama '' ...

, it is a film adaptation of a 1987

Kazuki Nakashima is a Japanese playwright, novelist, contributing editor and screenwriter. In addition to working on ''Getter Robo'', he is a fan of Ken Ishikawa. He took pride in being a "Getter Person". This was the same Futabasha's chief producer and product ...

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * Pla ...

set in the 16th century. It has been released on

DVD-Video DVD-Video is a consumer video format used to store digital video on DVD discs. DVD-Video was the dominant consumer home video format in Asia, North America, Europe, and Australia in the 2000s until it was supplanted by the high-definition Blu-r ...

as in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

by Yume Pictures in 2006 and in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

AnimEigo AnimEigo is an American entertainment company that licenses and distributes anime, samurai films and Japanese cinema. Founded in 1988 by Robert Woodhead and Roe R. Adams III, the company was one of the first in North America dedicated to licensi ...

in 2007.

Story

A beautiful ''

oni An is a kind of ''yōkai'', demon, orc, ogre, or troll in Japanese folklore. Oni are mostly known for their fierce and evil nature manifested in their propensity for murder and cannibalism. Notwithstanding their evil reputation, oni possess i ...

'' named Bizan (Kanako Higuchi) appears on Earth. She wants to bring demon queen Ashura back to life, so the demons can take over the world beginning in

Edo Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...

(modern day

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

). Opposing her is the Oni Makado, an army of demon slayers that was created by the Japanese government. Izumo (Somegorō Ichikawa) once fought with the Makado, but resigned to become a

kabuki is a classical form of Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily-stylised performances, the often-glamorous costumes worn by performers, and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers. Kabuki is thought to ...

actor after he thought he accidentally killed a young girl. After 5 years, Izumo encounters Tsubaki (Rie Miyazawa), who is a member of an all-female acrobatic troupe who rob the citizens of Edo during the night. Falling deeply in love, Izumo notices a red, ugly scar on Tsubaki's shoulder, which is the mark of Ashura. Meanwhile, Jaku, one of Izumo's ex-comrades (

Atsuro Watabe is a Japanese actor. Career Born in Tokyo, Watabe debuted as an actor on television in 1991 with the drama ''Seishun no mon''. He won awards of excellence in the best actor and new face categories at the 19th Japan Academy Prize (film), Japan A ...

), falls for Bizan, leading the Oni Makado over to the dark side. Jaku desires the power of Ashura and captures Tsubaki, but Izumo rescues her. The passion between Izumo and Tsubaki eventually causes the spirit of Ashura to awaken within the latter. After introspection, both Izumo and Tsubaki recall the event they were unable to remember from 5 years ago. This explains why their supposedly chance meetings always invoked a feeling of familiarity. With great disdain for the transgressions in her human life, Tsubaki leaves for the demon world to fulfill her destiny as their queen. In forlorn pursuit, Izumo arrives at Ashura's inverted sky castle of the demon world and slays Jaku, and then Bizan. Eventually Izumo finds Ashura and fights to the death.

Cast

Music

The music for the movie was composed and scored by

Yoko Kanno is a Japanese composer, arranger and music producer best known for her work on the soundtracks of anime series, television series, live-action films, video games, and advertisements. She was born in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. She has wri ...

. The theme song for the English-dubbed version is "

My Funny Valentine "My Funny Valentine" is a show tune from the 1937 Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart coming of age musical ''Babes in Arms'' in which it was introduced by teenaged star Mitzi Green. The song became a popular jazz standard, appearing on over 130 ...

", which is performed by

Sting Sting may refer to: * Stinger or sting, a structure of an animal to inject venom, or the injury produced by a stinger * Irritating hairs or prickles of a stinging plant, or the plant itself Fictional characters and entities * Sting (Middle-eart ...

and features

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

playing by

Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and composer. Hancock started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. He shortly thereafter joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he help ...

Release

The two-disc set contains special features on the second disc. Two

featurette In the American film industry, a featurette is a kind of film that is shorter than a full-length feature, but longer than a short film. The term may refer to either of two types of content: a shorter film or a companion film. Medium-length film ...

s are included: "The Making of ''Ashura''" and "The Visual Effects of ''Ashura''." The first featurette, running 25 minutes, is a production documentary with behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with the cast and crew. The special features documentary is 15 minutes long. Also included are a photo gallery, which is viewed without a remote, trailers for other releases from the same distributor and production notes for ''Ashura''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ashurajo No Hitomi 2005 films 2005 horror films Films directed by Yōjirō Takita Films set in the 16th century Japanese horror films Jidaigeki films Shochiku films Tokusatsu films 2000s Japanese films