The Fable

Very seldom I watch Japanese movies. I gave this a shot, never heard of any actors or director and didn't know about the manga. It was a pleasant surprise. Very engaging characters, odd stories, very sweet fun humor.

The story is a about an mythical assasin "The Fable" - his real name Sato. He is taking a sabbatical year in another town together with his companion Yoko. He is struggling to live a normal life, but of course other criminals and assasins cannot leave him alone.

The pace of the movie is perfect. The story is bound in the everyday life they are trying to live. This gives them so much more character and depth than a typical action movie. The action is also very well done with some nice unique moments, and it is always mixed with their personal traits and interactions.

This is a light movie in many ways, both visually with much of the shots done during daytime, when it comes to the motives and actions of the warm hearted characters and with some very sweet humor. I strongly recommend it.

This movie reminds me a lot of the comic City Hunter. Although, this movie is comical comedic, the actions are not. They are very well choreographed.

Recommended for comedy and action fans.

Now, I am going for the part two. Hope it is as good.

This was the second Japanese film I've watched after Rurouni Kenshin (series)... this one is a pure action/comedy entertainer. I was not expecting this out when I started this movie on Netflix.. Just enjoyed throughout. Simply storyline, but executed very well.

Deliciously funny, action packed flick with comments on what's considered relevant I'm social behavior. Sarcastic and very efficient!

I first watched the sequel and then this. Both are kind of similar, although the sequel felt a little more grounded. Great action scenes, all actors do a great job, even the stupid faced Yakuza types that normally just bug out their eyes and jut their chins and shout rude slang, in this film they have a personality and act with care for their characters. As others noticed, it is a film threading a fine line between comedy and dark action, which doesn't always work, but mostly does.

In fact, the film feels really inconsistent: good acting in a manga adaption, forced sex trafficking followed by comedy, great action scenes in a rather unentertaining story, although not a formulaic one, deeper levels of characterization in a movie about an autistic assassin. Worth a watch.