It’s taken two years and a global pandemic since the earliest promos began making the rounds for Masato Harada’s Baragaki: Unbroken Samurai, though now the period sword drama has an October 15 date set for its release in Japan from Toho and Asmik Ace.
Harada, best known for playing the loathesome villain role in films such as The Last Samurai and Jet Li starrer, Fearless, reunites at the helm with The Fable star Junichi Okada since wrapping 17th century war epic, Sekigahara (2017), which scored 2.4 billion yen at the box office. Baragaki: Unbroken Samurai takes its cues from Shiba Ryotaro’s 1964 Shukan Bunshun publication, centered on the wartime chronicles of Hijikata Toshizo, the Shinsengumi vice-commander who led the shogunate forces against the imperialist Meiji government during the Boshin War.
Epic period drama based on Shiba Ryotaro’s historical novel, helmed and scripted by Harada Masato of Sekigahara and KAKEKOMI. Vividly depicts Shinsengumi vice commander Hijikata Toshizo’s life spanning the final days of the Edo period into the Meiji period.
After the Perry Expedition, the domestic conflict intensified between the “sabaku” faction that wanted to restore the bakufu’s authority and the “tobaku” faction aiming to topple the Shogunate and build the nation around the Emperor. Toshizo (Okada Junichi), who was born into a farming family, heads for Kyoto with his cohorts to become swordsmen, and they form the Shinsengumi.
Rounding out the principal Shinsengumi roles of Kondo Isamu and Okita Soji are Hentai Kamen star Suzuki Ryohei and Hey! Say! JUMP member, Fullmetal Alchemist star Yamada Ryosuke, with Ito Hideaki (Lesson of Evil) as Serizawa Kamo and Shibasaki Kou (Battle Royale, Nobunaga Concerto) as Hijikata’s romantic interest Oyuki.
Check out two long-form trailers below, as well as the newest poster art.
