Akira Kurosawa and Anime: Part 1: Kaze no Yojimbo

As a huge buff of both animation and Akira Kurosawa movies, it is only natural that animated series inspired by his films would hold an interest to me. That is why we are going to look at these series individually. First up comes a Japanese animated TV series inspired by Kurosawa's 1961 film Yojimbo. This is Kaze no Yojimbo or as it has also been called Bodyguard of the Wind. This series first aired in 2001 and every episode of it was directed by Hayato Date (Naruto, Tokyo Underground, Saiyuki: Requiem). Only 25 episodes of this show were made.

Akira Kurosawa's original film had already inspired a lot before this anime. Kurosawa himself would make a sequel called Sanjuro, Sergio Leone's film A Fistful of Dollars was a remake and its main character even served as an influence for John Belushi's samurai character on Saturday Night Live. So it is not much of surprise that it would inspire an animated TV series.


This anime is far from a straight adaption of Kurosawa's movie. For one thing the series takes place in modern day Japan instead of 1860. Another thing is that the characters are often drastically different. Also the story often heads in directions that differ heavily from that film. What it retains from the original is a skeleton of a basic plot. A lone stranger heads to a small town to discover it is divided by a gang war and ends up becoming involved in this.

The animation itself is very limited, but there is more than enough to make up for that. The story is quite well written, the characters are interesting, and it creates a very believable and acceptable environment. The show also uses a lot of nice filmmaking touches including fast cutting, dissolves, and especially color tinting. The color is tinted so perfectly to set the mood for each of the scenes and it is very effective. This may even remind one of the great color tinting device used in the classic German films of the silent era. I am not saying this is as good as watching a Kurosawa movie but it definitely has quite a bit going for it.

-Michael J. Ruhland.