Sanada Jûyûshi

Borrowing some elements from Seven Samurai, this is nowhere in the same league as Kurosawa's masterpiece, but it does eventually turn out to be a bit of a corker. Essentially told as a manga come to life, the style does take some getting used to as a hybrid of Taiga dramas by way of Kill Bill.

A group of rag-tag samurai wannabes take it upon themselves to help cushion the Toyotomi family's fall from power in feudal Japan as the seemingly unstoppable Ieyasu consolidates his power. It's a fun riff on the historical story that didn't have me regretting the time spent to watch it. It's not going to be on any top ten lists but if you're into this sort of thing I don't think you'll be too disappointed. Despite a limited budget they do quite a lot with what they've got.

An entertaining piece of samurai fluff and it's always nice to see Ken Matsudaira, particularly back with the Tokugawa gang.