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Sharaku was a famous woodprint artist, of whom little is actually known. He worked for less than a year and produced some 140 prints, before he vanished from history, unidentified. Among those intrigued by the Sharaku mystery was the comedian Frankie Sakai, who wrote a book about him and spend nearly three decades to get someone to make the film. Eventually, he managed to get Masahiro Shinoda to direct and a producer willing to spend money, but the result was, unfortunately, marred by the chaotic script of pop writer Hiroko Minagawa (source: nytimes.com). Let us take things from the beginning though.

The story takes place in Edo in 1791, when the new government turned hard against all kinds of art, banning erotic works and all kinds of frivolity, including the one supposedly exhibited from Kabuki theatre. During that time, Tonbo, a kabuki stuntman of sorts, suffers an accident on a scene...