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SAMURAI BALLERINA MOVIE REVIEW
Ah, Paris! The City of Light. Where everyone starts the day with seven-foot-tall baguettes consumed with wine, and if you don’t work as a painter, professional lover, or mime, you seriously must rethink your life, you traitor to the Republic! Set in 1912, Fujiko, a young woman from a wealthy Japanese family, travels to Paris with her eccentric businessman uncle. While she hopes to become a painter, her uncle has his own ideas about their new life in Europe, constantly trying to turn their Asian “exotic” roots into yet another business opportunity in the most cringey manner possible. There, Fujiko reunites with Chizuru, a girl she first met back in Yokohama. Chizuru comes from a proud samurai family and dreams of becoming a ballerina, despite being expected to dedicate herself to the traditional art of naginata. Knowing about Chizuru’s dream, Fujiko helps her find a retired Russian ballerina who can secretly teach her. Soon, Chizuru gets a real chance to pursue ballet in Paris, putting her traditional samurai upbringing on a collision course with her newfound passion. When financial problems arise amidst the rise of WWI, the duo comes up with an idea: open a dojo and teach a colorful group of local oddballs martial arts… including the hottest female town drunk you will ever see. Hopefully, this will pay the rent while allowing them to continue pursuing their dreams. It’s basically porn for people who love stereotypical, romanticized Parisian sights, with a story that, surprisingly, WAS NOT adapted from a 8-volume manga, given its very episodic structure and two hour run time. Directed by Gorō Taniguchi, the man behind Code Geass and One Piece Film: Red, Samurai Ballerina aka Paris ni Saku Étoile is an original animated film produced by ARVO Animation. The screenplay comes from Reiko Yoshida, while legendary character designer Katsuya Kondō, known for his work with Studio Ghibli, created the original character concepts, with Yu Yamashita adapting them for animation. But just how many meters of baguettes is too many baguettes? Maciej Kur shares his thoughts on Samurai Ballerina with Spider-Mike.
DIRECTED BY: Gorō Taniguchi
YOUR REVIEWERS
Maciej Kur (Infestation)
Maciej Kur is a Polish comic and film script writer, director and reviewer, and decidedly the biggest fan and most loyal supporter of Oneofus.net. A graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw with a master’s degree and the Academy of Film and Television. Co-creator of the comic book series Dollicious and Emilka Sza (with Magdalena Kania ) and Lil i Put, (with Piotr Bednarczyk ) and many others. Awarded in 2014 for a comic book in the spirit of Janusz Christa and awarded for “Złoty Puchar” in 2023. He wrote scripts for new comic books in the Polish cult series “Kayko and Kokosh”, as well as episodes of an animated series based on it (available on Netflix). He wrote for many other shows including “Kicia Kocia” (Kitty Kotty), “Pompik the Bison”, “Pucio”, “Hip-Hip and Hurra” and the upcoming animated movies “The Shrew of Destiny” and “Tytus, Romek and A’tomek”. He also directed a documentary about Polish animation legend “Witold Giersz”. Big lover of the art of animation and comic books.
Michael Riojas (Screener Squad, Highly Suspect Reviews)
The man with the ever-changing nicknames. Born in Austin, Riojas was rocketed to Del Rio, Texas, a literal Smallville. In his youth, he was bitten by a radioactive… okay, look. Mike is not very good at this whole “talking about himself” thing. But he has been so obsessed with comics, video games, and anime since childhood- that if one has to choose between listening to Joe Quesada or Mike over any obscure Spider-Man trivia, they go to him (or, at least Martin Thomas once said so). He is also a big fan of “Ghostbusters” (he even owns his own jumpsuit and two, that’s right, TWO proton packs!), collects toys and video games, and will defend “Superman IV: The Quest for Peace” if provoked. He lives in Austin with his beloved Dachshund-Maltese and trusted sidekick, Dean. He can also be heard on RageSelect. He can be found on Twitter and Instagram.
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