A conspiracy theory related to 3rd shogun appointment. Although, history records say 2nd shogun only died few years after Iemitsu has been appointed as shogun. And during this early time of Tokugawa Shogunate, the system was consist of retired and active shoguns, a dual rule system with the former has the actual power. So there was no issue in choosing an heir to begin with.

On the movie itself, this is my first time watching classic samurai movie so it's hard to objectively evaluate it. It is however full with action and sword fight, but of course the special effects like human flesh and blood looked extremely faked to the eye of person who watch this in 21st century.

Story was not so difficult to follow, but characters come and go to the point it feels their existence pointless. Even Sony Chiba's character did not have many screen time despite being the main attraction of this film. Cinematography was more Hong Kong-ish but sadly the BGM was not the best.