J-drama ● Review: Last Samurai Standing
- Very Average Joe
- 24 hours ago
- 3 min read
English Title: Last Samurai Standing
Japanese Title: イクサガミ[lit. war god]
Director(s): Fujii Michihito, Yamaguchi Kento, Yamamoto Toru
Screenwriter(s): Yamaguchi Kento & Fujii Michihito
Studio: Kodansha, Office Shirous
Released: 2025
Runtime: 6 episodes, 43m–56m each.
Starring: Okada Junichi, Fujisaki Yumia, Kiyohara Kaya, Higashide Masahiro
My Verdict: Nothing great but a solid series nonetheless. Decent writing, good performances and well-produced.
● This is a live-action adaptation of the work by Imamura Shogo. There are two novels in the series so far, the first published in 2022, with a manga adaptation that started in 2022 and is ongoing.
● I have not read the novel or the manga so this review is of the live-action series only.
● Set ten years after the end of the Boshin War (1868–1869), when imperial rule re-established itself after defeating the shogunate, this action drama follows a small group of individuals as they participate in a contest in the hopes of winning the big prize.
● Shujiro Saga (Okada Junichi) is a former samurai struggling to support his family during a cholera outbreak. Japan is modernizing and society has in many respects moved on from people like him. He comes across an ad that invites fighters to Kyoto to participate for a chance to win a big prize. He goes and it turns out to be a death match that requires participants to collect other participants’ wooden tags to pass through checkpoints on their way to Tokyo.
● In the mayhem, Shujiro sees a girl, Kazuki Futaba (Fujisaki Yumia), who reminds him of his daughter and so he protects her. Later, he comes across others: Kinugasa Iroha (Kiyohara Kaya) is from his past whilst Tsuge Kyojin (Higashide Masahiro) proposes an alliance.
● Although the first two episodes could be a little faster, it is not slow in absolute terms. It is appreciated that it does not cheaply rush into pointless action. The series does try to build up to the set pieces.
● The narrative in the present is broken up by flashbacks that provide background expositions regarding the main characters.
● The narrative also follows high-level government officials as they investigate what this game is and who is behind it. Clearly, it involves powerful people given the manpower and the money involved.
● The premise suggests it may be another survival game in the format of a gauntlet run. There is that aspect but so far, it mostly avoids that. The main characters are not so stupid as to assume an honest game. They almost immediately play with the intention to investigate who is behind it, which enhances the intrigue and pacing.
● Visually, it is shot and edited well enough. Stylistically, there is moderate grit but it avoids being dark for the sake of being dark. It actually manages to make good use of rich colors without contradicting the gritty tone of the story.
● The use of CG is detectable as such but it is usually blended well enough with other elements in the frame that it is not jarring.
● There are a few instances when the choreography in which one fights multiple opponents can be better, but the action is generally cool even if it tries a little too hard.
● So far, at merely 6 episodes, the main characters are not too deep but there is enough to make them real and plausible, and the cast does well to bring them to life with what they have been given. Of note is Fujisaki Yumia who gives a good performance given her youth although she is not exactly a newcomer.
● As expected, the heroes have their nemeses to give the plot some focus. My one complaint is that the overuse of “past connections”. One or two is understandable given the premise but anything more can come across as too neat and cheesy.
● One could state that there is nothing great in the series but apart from a few minor issues, there is nothing particularly bad about it either. Just when the plot seems to slow too much, it shifts into action or exposition or flashback. This is a good example of a series that does everything well enough so that on balance it is solid.
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