Yasuke (2021)

In 1579, a black man from Africa arrived in Japan with an Italian Jesuit.  The very idea of a man with black skin so intrigued Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582) that he wanted to meet this man.  Yasuke's original name is lost to history but this was the name he used in Nobunaga's service.  He became an armed retainer of the most powerful daimyo (feudal lord) of the era.  In 1582, Nobunaga was assassinated and Yasuke found his way to the heir.  And there ends the historical record of Yasuke, the black samurai.

The Netflix series picks up the action 20 years later.  Yasuke works as a fisherman in a small village when he is recruited to escort a young girl, Saki, and her mother, Ichika, to a special doctor.  En route, they are attacked.  It turns out that the girl has magical powers that could tip the balance of power in Japan.  Despite his desire to be a humble fisherman, Yasuke finds himself becoming Saki's protector and once again involved in the power struggles of Japan.  Yasuke proves to be the greatest of all the samurai, a natural talent who can only be defeated by those wielding dark magic.  Unfortunately, there is a lot of dark magic at the moment.

Though supposedly taking place at the beginning of 17th century Japan, the characters are ludicrous.  There is a robot!  Really?  The evil Catholic priest, Abraham, wields magic like some Dungeons & Dragons wizard.  Among Abraham's band of mercenaries are the futuristic Japanimation battle robot, a Russian warrior woman who turns into a werebear, an African witch doctor with arcane magical powers, and a scythe swinging lady assassin.  Yeah, this looks so much like historical Japan.

The heart of the series is the connection between Yasuke and Saki.  Though he views himself as her protector, it is often she who protects him.  Her magical powers increase through the series and she becomes a major power despite her youth.

The anachronistic presence of a wise-cracking battle robot and the other out of place mercenaries served to destroy the setting.  Why go to the effort of placing the adventure in a particular historical time if you are going to completely upend that setting with the inclusion of these oddities?  The flashy and ridiculously powerful magic unleashed by the greater forces at play made the soldiers and samurai merely a sideshow.  It was somewhat reminiscent of Avatar the Last Airbender.  Sokka may have been a fine swordsman, but he was no match for even a minimally skilled bender.  An army without benders vs. one with benders is doomed.  That goes for this show too.  As such, the central character is often just an observer.

Mediocre.  Skip.

Isle of Dogs

The movie opens with a prologue of a time long ago when the Kobayashi clan sought to wipe out the dog populations of Japan.  On the very day that the dogs were about to be wiped out, a boy samurai slew the leader of the Kobayashi clan and saved the remaining dogs who became pets.  In the present, dogs are everywhere and assailed by dog flu.  To prevent a potential leap from dog to human, all dogs are banished to Trash Island.

The story centers on a particular pack of dogs: Chief (Bryan Cranston), Rex (Ed Norton), King (Bob Balaban), Boss (Bill Murray), and Duke (Jeff Goldblum).  They are all alpha dogs and thus all decisions are put to a vote.  Soon after they have won a fight with a different dog pack, Atari (Koyu Rankin) crashes on Trash Island in search of his dog, Spots (Liev Scheiber).  Most of the dogs take to him immediately but Chief - who has been a stray for the majority of his life - shows mostly disdain.  The growing relationship between Atari and Chief is extremely well done and the best thing about the movie.  That Atari wins over the misanthropic Chief is the heart of the movie.  Cranston does a brilliant job in bringing Chief to life and provides an emotional and convincing transition from a 'bad' dog to one that risks life and limb for Atari.

While Atari and the dogs seek Spots, Tracy Walker (Greta Gerwig) the American exchange student and cub reporter for the school paper untangles the machinations of the Kobayashi Clan's plot to avenge themselves on the dogs of Uni Prefecture.  This storyline is mostly uninteresting but does provide some background for Atari, setting him in the role of the modern version of the boy samurai of the prologue.

The movie is somewhat awkward in using English for the dogs, exchange student Tracy Walker (Greta Gerwig), and a translator.  Though used to good effect a couple of times, it more often slows the movie because we hear both the Japanese and then the English translation.  On top of that, there are scenes that could have been cut or shortened.  It felt like a long movie though it was only an hour and 40 minutes.

 

Not the best Wes Anderson film but not his worst.  Enjoyable but nothing to rush out and see.