I’m fond of historical drama, and I’ve been watching Yoshitsune, a 2005 Taiga drama by Japan’s NHK. It tells the story of famous Heian-era general, Minamoto no Yoshitsune.

I enjoyed the good scripting with its subtle nuances in storytelling and the cast’s performance. I must say I was surprised by Hideaki Takizawa’s acting. I’ve only watched a couple of his early dramas before and his acting was unremarkable, but in Yoshitsune he seems to have matured a lot as an actor, and held his own well next to the veteran actors.

The only flaw was the battle choreography. I was laughing at inappropriate times in the story because the battle sequences were so fake. I was stunned to see a war scene where extras just ran in front of the camera, waved their swords randomly, then fell to the ground without even being touched, supposedly “slashed” by an approaching samurai on a horse, who was clearly at least a metre away and similarly waving his sword randomly (except with more gravitas than the extras).

It made me appreciate the quality fight choreography of Hong Kong and China’s drama serials that I’ve been used to and taken granted for. Heck, I think I’ve seen better fight scenes even in old SBC dramas!

Bad fight scenes aside, it is a good drama. I just fast-forward through the unimportant battles.