Even if you know nothing about Jidaigeki, a genre of Japanese action films set during the Meiji period, A Samurai in Time will make you a fan! It’s twice as good as Rurouni Kenshin and as a modern day drama about what’s worth fighting for, that’s up to Shinzaemon Kosaka (Makiya Yamaguchi) to decide. After his warrior class got disbanded, he’s a soldier without a cause. After a lightning storm interrupted a duel he was going to have with Yamagata Hikokuro of the Choshu Clan (aka Kazami Kyoichiro), just where he lands is modern day Kyoto.
All those conflicts between the factions from his days are now the stuff of entertainment. And sometimes, we delve into the historical significance of who is in the right for the unification, but what matters more is what this warrior class does if any individual loses that stewardship. This theme gets a soft exposition as Kosaka finds a new career as a Yamaguchi, a type of stuntman who performs an absurd pose as he dies.