47 Ronin sucks.

The writers of 47 ronin used a meat cleaver to mince up the Japanese legend into an oriental fantasy. Here are some of the messed up shit:

1. Side quest for 'special swords' from a group of Tengu ascetics who live in a forest. Lord of the rings anyone?

2. References to the 'myth' of a 'tengu forest' where the ascetics live in. Because the writers obviously looked up wikipedia and decided that it was good enough research about Tengu. Tengu live in mountains. In legends where Tengu appear in forests, the forests are almost certainly in a valley or near a mountain. This is akin to having Fairies live in rivers.

3. Marrying a princess would seal the bloodlines and henceforth combining two clans into one. Firstly, the daughter of a Daimyo is not a princess. Secondly, the daughter of a Daimyo cannot own land (Yes, Daimyo, not samurai. Samurais are akin to soldiers. Daimyo are feudal lords.) Thirdly, when the Daimyo passes away without any descendants, anyone can be chosen as a descendant by taking up the Daimyo's clan name.

4. The samurai swords that are used are of the wrong length. The samurai swords we commonly see are those made after the shogunate has been established. They are made shorter as their purpose is no longer for battle in the open, but for decoration and the more macabre purpose of killing people in traditional houses with low ceilings and fighting in narrow streets.

5. There's a scene with pirates and guns who are holding slave fight club matches 'illegally'. And you know, despite having that on the coast of 'Ako', the Daimyo and Shogunate continue to use samurai swords.

6. The Kitsune ate salmon sashimi. I mean... Have you seen a fox eat fish? This is akin to Popeye getting strong via eating raw beef. Kitsune likes aburage, i.e fried tofu slices. Thats why the tofu udon is called Kitsune Udon.

7. The Kitsune uses the blood of the bad daimyo to make a spider. In Japanese folklore, Kitsune do not have this ability.Its like, imagine Hercules with the ability to turn water into wine. In fact, Kitsune are supposedly great at possessing people. Hence, this proxy curse via a spider nonsense doesn't happen and wouldn't need to.

8. The whole story is about 'love' and the political intrigue is based on DH Lawrence's Lady Chatterly's lover rather than Japanese myth. In the film, love was prevented by class differences and status between a 'half breed' (who was a game keeper) and a 'princess' (who sneakily visited the game keeper at night in his shed), which had repercussions on the fate of 'Ako'. The death of the daimyo was also motivated by sexual jealousy and protection of chastity.

In the original 47 ronin story, the theme was about Honor and Loyalty to the samurai way. It was a tragedy of Japanese proportions as all the characters involved have indeed served the code of bushido, and yet, circumstances dictate that they are punished for it. The death of the daimyo was due to continued slights made in the imperial court over the education of the daimyo. When the slight was too great, the daimyo drew his sword in the imperial court and stabbed (but did not kill) the teacher. Drawing one's sword in the imperial compound was punishable by death and hence the daimyo died.

The original historical legend highlighted the honourable way revenge was sought (innocents were spared) and the intelligent manner the battle was waged. The ronin took every effort to create an appearance that they have no interest in revenge and when they time was ripe, they planned their revenge.

Despite having only 47, the ronins out numbered their enemies when they laid their ambush. When they captured the daimyo, they also allowed him to seppaku, as they were of a lower rank from the daimyo and hence did not want to sully him with their sword (honour even when facing their enemy). The daimyo did not want to seppaku and hence was beheaded. The head was then taken to the temple where the 47 ronin's daimyo was buried and offered as a sacrifice to their lord before the 47 ronin surrendered themselves to the shogunate.

9. Japanese women in the Shogunate era are not dainty. They fight alongside men when their house is attack and calls for it.

10. The freaking Kitsune turned into a dragon. That's like having Achilles turn into Jesus when his heel was shot. Also, slutty female dragons are unheard of in Japanese mythology.