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She's the deadliest sword in Kyoto and she's coughing up her heart for a man who hates the smell of blood.
TMDB
75
Watch(JP)

A Naive History of the Bakumatsu Era (1991)

tragicomicgender-bendingbloody romantic

Overview

ComedyDrama

In the last days of the Tokugawa shogunate, there was a cute warrior, Souji Okita, who belonged to the armed police of the shogunate in Kyoto. Very few knew that Souji was not a boy, but a woman. Souji loved the vice-leader of the armed police, Toshizou Hijikata. Souji suffered from pulmonary tuberculosis and coughed up blood during a battle. Toshizou helped her but said that he did not care for the girl with a smell of blood. Souji had a real talent for swordsmanship and no one but Ryouma Sakamoto could compete with her. Ryouma was a liberal intellectual and tried to carry out a revolution without blood. However, the bloody Meiji Restoration broke out and Souji killed Ryouma who lost his dream. Because a friendship had sprung up between Toshizou and Ryouma, Toshizou got angry and slashed at Souji with a sword. Unwillingly, she unsheathed her sword and thought that she might get love if she was killed by the man she loved.

Flag of JPJPJapanese
Content warning
historical fictionbakumatsujidaigekishinsengumi

Standout Aspects

Acting

Riho Makise's lethal fragility—killing men while dying beautifully.

Costume

The shinsengumi blues hiding a woman's body in plain sight.

Writing

The cruel irony: she only wins at swords, loses at love.

Best for:Solo: When you want to ugly-cry about sword lesbians and tragic men.·Date Night: If your type is emotionally catastrophic historical drama.·Rewatch: To catch how the comedy curdles into doom.
Heads up:Violence: Sword fights with consumptive blood-hacking throughout.·Emotional: Terminal illness, doomed queer love, and revolution's betrayals.
M

Director

Mitsuyuki Yakushiji

ReleasedJul 6, 1991
Runtime1h 42m
StatusReleased

Vibe

Pacesteady
Intensityhigh
Tonemixed
Feelheavy
KADOKAWA

Top Cast

Ken Watanabe

Ken Watanabe

Ryoma Sakamoto

Riho Makise

Riho Makise

Soji Okita

Tetta Sugimoto

Tetta Sugimoto

Toshizo Hijikata

Masatô Ibu

Masatô Ibu

Isamu Kondo

Naomi Zaizen

Naomi Zaizen

Miyuki

Akira Emoto

Akira Emoto

Kogoro Katsura

Takaaki Enoki

Takaaki Enoki

Katamori Matsudaira

Masahiko Tsugawa

Masahiko Tsugawa

Tomomi Iwakura

Kenjirou Ishimaru

Kenjirou Ishimaru

Toshimichi Okubo

Kinzō Sakura

Kinzō Sakura

Saigo Takamori

Yoneko Matsukane

Yoneko Matsukane

Otose

Kazuya Kimura

Kazuya Kimura

Izo Okada

Kippei Shiina

Kippei Shiina

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Deep Dive

Trivia, insights & behind the scenes

Cultural

The real Okita Sōji was male, but tuberculosis rumors and androgynous beauty made gender-bending retellings irresistible in 1990s Japanese cinema.

Trivia

Ken Watanabe's Ryouma is written as the ideological opposite of the Shinsengumi—his death marks the film's pivot from comedy to tragedy.

Gallery

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