I sat down to watch the 2005 Japanese action fantasy movie "Ashura-jô no hitomi" (aka "Ashura") for the second time here in 2021, as I could literally not recall a single thing from the movie back when I watched it for the first time in 2005.

"Ashura-jô no hitomi" is a long movie, driven by a somewhat slow paced plot and script, which makes the movie feel excruciatingly long. In fact, it was so slow paced that it was losing its moment a couple of times along the way, so the movie could have benefitted from some trimming in the cutting room.

In terms of storyline and script, then "Ashura-jô no hitomi" was adequate. It wasn't an outstanding or particularly memorable story though. And I guess you have to be Japanese or familiar with the play that the movie is based upon in order to fully appreciate the movie from writers Hare Kawaguchi, Kazuki Nakashima and Masashi Todayama.

Visually then "Ashura-jô no hitomi" is showing signs of its age, as the special effects in the movie weren't coming off as all that impressive here in 2021. Sure, they were watchable, and luckily the movie wasn't relying that much on special effects, so it was bearable.

The acting performances in the movie were fair. But there weren't a single performance where I would single someone out and say that it was a spectacular performance.

There were some nice costumes, props and sets in the movie, which definitely added character, flavor and texture to the movie.

"Ashura-jô no hitomi" is not a movie that I would recommend you rush out to get your hands on, not even if you are a fan of Japanese cinema.

My rating of director Yôjirô Takita's "Ashura-jô no hitomi" lands on a less than mediocre four out of ten stars.

'Ashura-jô no hitomi'takes place in the Japan of some centuries ago. Demons have infested Edo, the main city, taking human form and being hard to recognize. That's why they have the Demons Wardens, the guys who hunt and kill the demons to bring some peace to Edo.Even being a necessary job, being a Demon Warden is not easy, since you need to have a lot of cold blood and a sixth sense to recognize demons. Izumo is a charming and well known Kabuki actor with a demon-slaying past. He eventually meets the mysterious girl Tsubaki and falls in love with her. The problem that neither he or Tsubaki knows, is that she is a demon, the reincarnation of Ashura, the Queen of all the demons. And as the mysterious mark in Tsubaki's body increases her size, more strange things starts to happen to her. To make things harder, Jaku, who was Demon Warden working with Izumi, is corrupted by Bizan, a demon lady who is a kind of Ashura's advisory and follower.

'Ashura-jô no hitomi' looks an incredible movie for it's reviews, but I need to be honest and say that I expected a little more excitement from it. (It's is not that the movie is terrible or anything like that, I thought it was fun and I liked some actors and actresses, I just thought it would be FANTASTIC.)

Some of the special effects (specially the first ones in the demons eyes and mouths)were bad, but you can forget that when you see the charming Izumo Wakuraba trying to get Tsubaki's heart.

Ps: I think this is the first Japanese movie I see a sex scene.

Ps2: Even enjoying the acting of the actor Somegoro Ichikawa as the character Izumo Wakuraba, I found his looks a little odd, looking he did plastic, botox and lip collagen. Can someone who is familiarized with the actor Somegoro, send me a PM telling me if he did those procedures or not?

The movie only enter the cinema in Indonesia this year (2007),two years after it's official release, and after many illegal DVD's had found its way to the public. Apparently the popularity of the illegal DVD's lead to the release into the theaters, with still public coming to watch.

The movie is a great epic, bringing Japanese culture into your house in an exiting way. In a sometimes humorist way, the story is told about a theater writer who writes a story for his theater, since the regular Kabuki theater plays is something he finds boring.

At first, the audience might be a little bit confused about which story we are following, but when the story unfolds, we see that the love between a male human and a female demon leads to a great story for a new Kabuki theater piece.

The audience is left in the dark if this is a story that is supposed to really have happened in Japanese traditions and mythology, but that doesn't matter.

The way the story is told with a love for theater, expression, vivid colors, humor and tragedy, makes this a great ride on the roller-coaster of Japanese cinema as well as theater.

Let yourself go completely when you watch this movie, try to see it in a cinema instead of on your television at home.

One critical point though: the soundtrack is sometimes a little bit annoying. Though most of it is great music, there are a few moments in the movie that I think they should have chosen some more dramatic music. But maybe the fact that the story contains moments of humor made the director choose for lighter moments in music as well.