Last Samurai Standing

The Battle Royale concept has been tried and tested across various media landscapes to the point where its very specific structure neither surprises nor shocks us. Whether it's The Hunger Games, Squid Game, or Ready or Not, we all know what the dish served up time and time again tastes like, but that doesn't mean it doesn't taste good.

Take Last Samurai Standing as an example. The concept is familiar: nearly 300 former samurai are lured to meet with a mysterious organiser during Japan's Meiji era, i.e. in the late 1800s. The organiser initiates a deadly game called Kodoku, where you have to kill other participants, collect small tokens, present them at various checkpoints located along a route from Kyoto to Tokyo, and thereby prove that you are the best. It's a race of elimination similar to many other Battle Royale-like experiences, and the narrative takes shape accordingly.

Fortunately, the series' mere six episodes manage to impress the viewer in ways other than through a truly innovative premise. Although it is all a bit anime-coded, with mysterious figures who appear almost ungodly strong and deadly, gradually stepping into the spotlight of the series as our main character Shujiro Saga and a young woman named Futaba Katsuki, whom he decides to protect, travel from the beginning to the end of the game, this formula is quite effective. Saga himself is a multifaceted character, and the series manages quite effectively to expand the framework of the game itself with small touches of past traumas and personal connections between the participants.

But most of all, in the best anime tradition, it provides the framework for some truly fantastic fight sequences that seamlessly blend brutal, dirty, and violent shots with slightly caricatured use of slow motion and CG exaggerations. It undoubtedly belongs in the "reality+" pile, where realistic credibility is sacrificed in favour of visually spectacular sequences, but it certainly adds to the entertainment value.

Overall, the production values are sky-high here, and even though the plot, apart from the close connections we form with the few core characters led by Saga, doesn't quite manage to take hold in just six episodes, one could also argue that this series really doesn't waste your time. We get straight to the point here - literally - and with an interesting and intense premise as a framework, the series is rarely boring.

It lacks a little more flair here and there. Up close, the series delivers the battles, character drama and intrigue it needs to, but there is rarely any real narrative innovation. But if you have a penchant for Battle Royale narratives, and perhaps sword fighting in particular, then there is a spectacular series in store here that hits the ground running from the start and rarely lets up all the way to the end.