An unusual eruption of Kazuo Koike’s manga into cinema (and please take it as that, a graphic novel—in the same way that you don’t question why a man wears a cape and flies in Superman—before questioning its realism, from which it takes some aspects such as the abuses of the Lords). This little-known gem from Tsuboshima lambasts the corruption and iniquities of feudal Japan, but mixes the samurai chanbara genre with a twisted streak of folk horror and gore. The oniwaban – Demon spies – are not a caste because their positions or functions are not hereditary. They are, rather, originally an elite in the service of the Edo period shogunate, trained in isolation and forced – perhaps perverse from a Western perspective – as their dynamics from childhood are exaggerated, including murdering their master to prove their loyalty.

my trailer https://aqueronte72.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/obi.mp4

This piece begins when some unsuspecting individuals enter the oniwaban zone and pay the price. Rituals have been added to Koike’s manga, and this film creates a delightful atmosphere, where you can feel the tension and anguish but also the harshness of the off-the-grid place where the masked men find themselves.

They are always masked, from childhood, but they have now become teenagers, and it can be said that the plot begins with their initiation, although one of them, Koboshi, rebels and doubt spreads, causing the rebellion to explode. In short, they all kill each other and only five are saved. Minutes earlier, the master had shown them the arts of love, as they had reached youth, but didn’t I mention cruelty? We cannot see their faces because of the masks, but we can see the firm breasts of Koboshi, whom the master selects to show how she must strip herself of her femininity and use her charms as a weapon against Uzujiko, who must subdue and possess her to prove that she is like them, an oniwaban where there is no male or female. However, as she runs after her a few metres away, in the struggle she cracks Uzujiko’s mask, and the rule says that any Demon Spy who removes their mask must die for becoming human and contaminating themselves. When brought before the others, Jimushi orders the sensei to cut Uzujiko’s throat for not wearing the mask, but instead he pulls off his own mask and rebels against the senseis and the others. Fukimame and Rokujizo back him up, and the five of them begin a bloody battle against the others.

When only the master remains, instead of removing his mask, he slashes his face with it on, dying, and that is the bloody beginning in which the five, grumbling and doubting whether to continue being demons, begin a crusade or fight against Lord Shogen, the flute player, and his lieutenant Lord Kagemaru, villains who have subjugated and abused the villagers. In fact, they arrive in Kishu just in time to rescue the beautiful young girl Hisano from the repugnant pimp Shikaiha, who was dragging her away for his own pleasure. Uzujiko recognises her and rescues her, although he is arrested and taken to the dungeons while the other Oniwaban plot to storm the palace and come across Sir Genkai, whom they had not seen for years and who was supposed to be their master. Genkai, whom they had not seen for years and who was supposed to be their master. Genkai betrays the other Oniwaban but seems to regret it and later helps Hisano and Uzujiko, confessing that he has been pretending to be loyal to Lord Shogen for five years in order to spy on his movements. In any case, he dies in the skirmishes but rescues the two young people, as others with them die in the cells where powder is scattered to put them to sleep while knives are wielded inside to finish them off if they fall asleep. Rokujizo also dies, crushed by the blades of the trap cells that fall on him.

Before dying, Genkai reveals to the others that the villains’ armoury is located just below the mansion of Shogen the flatist, but first, the three Oniwaban are thrown into the hell of the nearby volcanic basin, and on the slope, they are awaited by men with rifles to shoot them if they choose not to die of dehydration or burning. When, in the end, even Koboshi dies after killing Lor Shogen and taking revenge, Uzujiko wonders why the others died and what caused their deaths. He vows not to die until he finds out the answer.