

User Score
0 votes
The federal lord of Kofu, Tunatoyo (Tsutomu Isobe), was elected to be the next General. On his way on a trip to Edo for the ceremony, his scapegoat was shot. Oometsuke ordered an Oniwaban, Shinnosuke Takusyoku (Mikijiro Hira) to take Tsunatoyo to Edo safely. However, the enemy turned out to be his younger brother and the federal lord of Tatebayashi Kiyotake (Yoshihiro Kobayashi). On top of that, the Oniwaban sent by Kiyotake to assassinate Tsunatoyo was Shinsuke's father-in-law, Genshin Uno (Shigeru Kamiyuama).
Director
Screenplay
Status
Released
Original Language
JA

In an alternate version of 1949 Japan in which World War II never happened, the Japanese capital of Teito is home to both an ultra rich upper class and the dirt poor masses. The city is thrown into a state of panic when a phantom thief called “The Kaijin (Fiend) with 20 Faces” (K-20 for short) begins to use his mysterious abilities to steal from the rich and give to the poor. One day a circus acrobat named Heikichi Endo (Takeshi Kaneshiro) is framed for K-20’s crimes and becomes determined to clear his name. He teams up with K-20’s next target, a wealthy duchess named Yoko Hashiba (Takako Matsu) and her detective fiancé (Toru Nakamura), to take K-20 down once and for all.

Following the death of the second Tokugawa shogun, it is revealed that he was poisoned by retainers of his son Iemitsu in hopes of gaining him the shogunate despite the stammer and birthmark which undermine his respect. Iemitsu and his brother Tadanaga become bitter rivals for the shogunate, and the land is split into factions, eventually erupting into warfare. Iemitsu's mentor, his fencing instructor Yagyu, is fixated upon securing Iemitsu the shogunate and ends up betraying everyone, even his own family, in pursuit of the goal.