Danemon Ban: Samurai, Tanuki, and a Whole Lot of Distraction

Is this worth the watch?

If you're into the weird, dusty corners of Japanese cinema history, sure. If you’re looking for a tight monster-slaying flick, keep walking. This is for the folks who get a kick out of practical effects that look like they were held together by tape and pure willpower.

Yoshitaro Kataoka plays the samurai with this perpetually confused look on his face, which honestly feels right given the situation. He shows up at this castle expecting, I don’t know, demons or something. Instead, he gets a hospitality suite.

The Tanuki Problem

The women in this movie are clearly up to no good, but the movie plays it so coy you’d think they were just auditioning for a play. There’s a specific scene where they’re all lounging around, and the editing just... stops. It lingers on their faces for about five seconds too long. You can practically hear the director shouting at them to look more mysterious.

It reminds me a bit of the pacing issues in Narkose, where things just sort of float along without much urgency. It’s not necessarily bad, just dreamy in a way that feels like a mistake.

The whole 'tanuki turning into ladies' bit is a classic trope, but here it’s handled with all the grace of a toddler trying to hide a stolen cookie. You see the seams. You see the wires. Maybe that's the charm? 🤷‍♂️

Odd Details

• The castle set has this one pillar that is clearly wobbling every time a door slams shut.
• I swear the samurai’s sword props are made of balsa wood; they have zero weight to them during the 'fights.'
• The background music sounds like it was recorded in a tin can.

There’s this moment when the hero tries to be all stoic and serious, but a cat—or maybe a raccoon dog, I couldn't tell—walks across the frame in the background. Nobody acknowledged it. They just kept talking about honor. It was the best part of the movie.

It’s not as polished as something like Tess of the D'Urbervilles, obviously, but it has this chaotic, messy energy. It feels like a project made by people who were having a very strange weekend.

Don't expect a masterpiece. Just expect to be confused, slightly amused, and maybe a little tired by the end. Sometimes a movie just needs to exist, and Danemon Ban is definitely existing, even if it doesn't really know why.