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| Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |
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| Buy | 9 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 8 |
 Ggultra2764
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[series:2868#1552] | |
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Not too often I get to see a Japanese feudal era title to see out of recent efforts that isn't spun off from dating sims and it marks my 1100th review here on Mikomi. This movie spins its own unique take on the classic Japanese tale of Hakkenden where the beast-dogs of the legend are being hunted down by human hunters with a human hunter girl named Hamaji becoming conflicted in wanting to kill one of the eight called Shino, whom she befriends throughout the course of the film. Throughout its two hour run, Fuse does well at focusing on the major aspects of its plot with Hamaji trying to come to grips with how to react towards much of humanity's treatment of the beast-dogs and how much of Japanese society perceive them. The film makes some nice parallels to the story such as the name of Fuse, the name the beast-dogs are called in this film, being a nod to the human woman that gave birth to them and an appearance from the novel's original author Takizawa Bakin. Many of the characters are likeable and get enough fleshing out where you can connect with them and understand their motivations, especially in Hamaji's case as she is conflicted over whether or not to follow her family's trade of being a hunter. Plus, the film isn't afraid to explore the downfalls of feudal society with the moral corruption of feudal lords and samurai become an aspect of the movie's plot towards the finale of the film. The visuals to this are also quite pleasing on the eyes with beautiful color and plenty of detail on feudal town and forest settings, characters drawn almost like the Ghibli style and having a good deal of fluid movement during many moments in the film like battle scenes and foot chases. Do be warned though that this baby does sport a good amount of intense violence at points in the film such as the severed heads of the dog-beasts being on display and some brutal deaths shown onscreen, which doesn't make this the best film to show towards younger audiences. Also, the heavy focus on feudal Japanese history and nods to Hakkenden may be lost on those unfamiliar with these aspects to the culture. Setting these issues aside though, Fuse is an engaging historical film exploring the different ordeals faced by Hamaji and Shino as they come to grips with their ordeals. It's a definite watch if you enjoy a nice mix of feudal Japanese settings and folklore. Last updated Sunday, February 23 2014. Created Sunday, February 23 2014. | ||||||||
Other Sites
| Name | URL |
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| Official Japanese Movie Web Site | http://fuse-anime.com/ |
