ARE YOOU READY GAIS (for the last time)?
Sengoku Basara: The Last Party picks up after Sengoku Basara 2nd season, where Toyotomi Hideyoshi was defeated. This time, there are two antagonistic section: Ishida Mitsunari and Tenkai. Mitsunari wants nothing more than to avenge Hideyoshi by defeating Date ‘LET’S PARTAY’ Masamune , and Tenkai has a hidden agenda of his own. Can Yukimura and Masamune fight off those two raging forces?
To sum it up nicely, this movie is Sengoku Basara 2.5 the Video Game.
In terms of new characters, only handful made it to the movie from Sengoku Basara 3 game:
- Mitsunari Ishida
- Ieyasu Tokugawa
- Otani Yoshitsugu
- Tenkai
- Hideaki Kobayakawa
- Mogami Yoshiaki (yes…he appears in the movie briefly)
MINOR SPOILER ALERT
(The difference between Basara 3 game and this movie is that Takeda Shingen falls severely ill in Basara 3 game, while in the movie he just seemed to have retired from battle altogether.)
Usually with Sengoku Basara, it’s ‘DEFEAT ALL BADGUYS’ plotline. However this time, there’s few sub-plots such as revenge (since Masamune did kill Hideyoshi) and unification (Ieyasu trying to end this war through peace and bond). But as always, something goes wrong and everyone involved need to fight, at Sekigahara of all places. When you figure out who Tenkai is, oh let’s say… 3 seconds after you see him, you can already guess what the insidious plot is if you saw the last 2 seasons of Basara.
In addition, it seems that the law of death does not apply in this movie (except for grunt soldiers and Nagamasa). Later in the movie, we see Mori Motonari, who was considered to be burnt to crisp and death during his bout with Yukimura in Sengoku Basara 2nd season. Not to mention, the movie really had no conclusion. Final boss got defeated, core characters live, and they…continue fighting with each other to settle their differences.
At this point, and by that I mean right before I watched the movie because I know what kind of series Sengoku Basara is, I gave up expecting grand storyline. I took this movie as extension of Sengoku Basara video game, and I had a lot of fun with it. Much like how people like B-Movies for what it is, I liked it for flashy actions and Masamune’s ENGRISH (‘KEEP IT COOL’).
The characters were likeable…for the most part. I did not like the Hot Pot kid (Hideaki), due to the fact that he was a whiny-ass kid. He felt very out of place, between badass men and angry insane men. I understand that he’s just a kid being manipulated by Tenkai, but goddamn he cries a lot! Even Oichi (yes she does show up somehow) was more badass than him, and it’s fucking Oichi we’re talking about here. Other than that, characters were handled nicely. I liked the contrast between Mitsunari and Ieyasu, as one was blinded with rage and the other one saw the light and tries to gather other factions into the enlightenment.
As usual, IG’s animation fluctuates from cheap to WOW THAT’S AWESOME. A lot of times, the graphics felt tight and the fight scenes felt fluid enough that I didn’t mind the minor quality issues here and there.
As of this article’s post date, there is no plan for the movie’s English dubbing. Which is odd, since it seems Funimation already has a grasp on it. I suppose we’ll see something come up around Anime Expo.
Sengoku Basara: The Last Party is a solid farewell letter to fans, with usual casts keeping their charm and the actions enjoyable as always. I will say again that THIS MOVIE IS FOR FANS OF THE SERIES ONLY. It’s not a good entry point to Sengoku Basara franchise, and if you didn’t like the series before, you will not like this movie.
3.5 PARTY ON! BURNING SOUL! out of 5
(I swear, they really know how to make end credit interesting)
