I am very excited about this film.  I was fortunate enough to see the popular stage production component of this project in 2014 while I was living in Japan, and I am pleased to see that both director Tsutsumi Yukihiko and lead actors Nakamura Kankurou and Matsuzaka Tori will be returning to continue their roles for this film adaptation.  I have loosely translated and subtitled the video which features some behind the scenes shots, short interviews, and the trailer for the film.

Taking place 14 years after the Battle of Sekigahara, Sanada Ten Braves focuses on one Sanada Yukimura, celebrated as one of the greatest military commanders to ever live whose reputation precedes him everywhere he goes.  In actuality, however, Yukimura has only been blessed repeatedly with miraculous good fortune and he is a coward at heart and the stark difference between his projected self and his actual self troubles him greatly.

Then one day, Yukimura meets the renegade ninja Sarutobi Sasuke (Nakamura Kankurou), who resolves to serve Yukimura and in so doing turn him into a genuine hero.  Sasuke gathers 9 comrades, including fellow renegade ninja Kirigakure Saizo (Matsuzaka Tori), and forms Yukimura’s “Sanada Ten Braves”.

With Tokugawa Ieyasu’s unification of the entire country close at hand, the lady Yodogimi, widow of the late Toyotomi Hideyoshi and mother of Hideyori, issues a summons in honor of Hideyoshi’s dying wish to restore the Toyotomi family… And suddenly Yukimura and his Ten Braves find themselves on the front line of battle against the Tokugawa forces.

Cast features:

• Nakamura Kankurou (中村勘九郎) as Sarutobi Sasuke
• Matsuzaka Tori (松坂桃李) as Kirigakure Saizo
• Oshima Yuko (大島優子) as the kunoichi Hotaru
• Kato Masaya (加藤雅也) as Sanada Yukimura
• Matsudaira Ken (松平健) as Tokugawa Ieyasu (Special Appearance)