Azumi concerns the first mission of a group of ten young people - nine boys and one cutie, the title character (played by Aya Ueto) - who have been raised apart from civilization by their master, for the purpose of becoming deadly assassins. Some years back, their master had been the lone survivor of a horrendous battle (Sekigahara?) and took it as his mission to assassinate any warlords who might spring up across the land, so that wars could be stopped before they had even begun. As one can imagine, the kids' mission goes awry - right from the beginning - and before the end of the film there are more sword-slashed bodies than can fit on a movie screen.

Azumi is a non-stop actioner, with enough cool swordplay and blood-&-guts to satisfy anyone. Directed by Ryuhei Kitamura, who'd directed the zombies-battle-gangsters film Versus, the film moves from one gorgeous scene to the next, utilizing the fantastic cinematography the best Japanese filmmakers are known for. Even the bloody, chaotic battles - and there are several of them - are executed with style, and the viewer is never left wondering who everyone is and what is supposed to be going on. Fans know that one make-or-break issue dealing with samurai films is the fight scene choreography: is it well-paced? Is it 'clean' and well-constructed? Do we always get to cleary see what the fighters are doing? In Azumi, we get some of the most amazing fight scenes ever put on film: in the climax, Azumi single-handedly takes on an entire town of thugs and samurai, not to mention the main 'weird' villain.

Speaking of whom, the villain of the piece, Bijomaru, is spectacularly weird, and is a good-looking visual - 'good-looking' in the sense that one can pick him out of a crowd from a hundred yards away. Since Azumi originated as a manga (comic book), I'm guessing the villain's look was lifted pretty much whole from the printed page. Bijomaru is one of the more memorable villains we've seen lately; he radiates an intense grisliness and aura of casual death, beautiful and ugly at the same time.

The DVD I have is the Limited Edition, double-disc set from Toshiba, and the (optional) subtitles are well-done (not so Azumi II, of which more later). The second disc is packed with extra features, but unfortunately these are not subtitled so I cannot comment on them. The video and sound are gorgeous, and the better or bigger the TV one uses to watch it, the better.

If you don't mind a bit of blood spattering - okay, a lot of blood spattering - check out Azumi. It kicks major ass. Enough ass to fill an island nation.