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Set in the early years of the Tokugawa Shogunate, the samurai adventure Sword for Truth is a nonstop bloodbath: characters are beheaded, disemboweled, dismembered, stabbed, impaled, and otherwise dispatched amid fountains of blood. The violence is so repetitious, it soon loses its shock value. The icy Shuranosuke Sakaki wears the "Blades of Death" on his kimono--with good reason. Apparently a ronin (a masterless samurai), he's hired by the Nakura clan to rescue the kidnapped Princess Mayu from the Seki Ninja, who are demanding the antique Ginryu Sword as a ransom. Shuranosuke fights a succession of warriors, a kappa (a water demon in Japanese folklore) and the damned soul of a Seki Ninja, slaughtering them all effortlessly. The story makes no sense. The viewer never learns why the Seki or the rival Himiko Ninja desire the Ginryu Sword. An extended sequence depicting lesbian sex and opium use never pays off; neither does the duel between noble Kazuma Utsuki and a paid assassin. But the minimal plot is only there to connect the sword fights. When Utsuki comments, "The scent of death is in the air," he's not kidding. For hard-core fans of anime swordplay and violence only. Unrated, but graphic depictions of violence, violence against women, sexual encounters, drug use, and drinking are unsuitable for children. --Charles Solomon
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