AnimEigo releasing "The Samurai I Loved"

US label AnimEigo will be releasing The Samurai I Loved (Semi Shigure, 2005) on region 1 DVD this August. The film is based on a novel by Shuhei Fujisawa, author of the novels on which Yoji Yamada’s samurai trilogy (The Twilight Samurai, The Hidden Blade, and Love and Honor) were based. This film was directed by Mitsuo Kurotsuchi, who’s best known for his long career as a writer for TV dramas, including NHK’s 2003 adaptation of Semi Shigure.

Plot: Bunshiro (Takuya Ishida) is a young samurai, highly skilled in swordsmanship but low in status. His life is thrown into turmoil when his father is forced to commit seppuku (ritual suicide) due to the actions of corrupt officials and his childhood love, Fuku (Aimi Satsukawa), is sent away to Edo to work in a clan lord’s household. Years later, Bunshiro (now played by Somegoro Ichikawa) discovers Fuku (Yoshino Kimura) has become the lord’s concubine and given birth to his child. He tries to put his love for her aside, but when he hears of a plot to murder both Fuku and her child he enlists the help of two childhood friends and rushes to save her. But now forced to face her for the first time in years, buried feelings come flooding back and clash with fate.

Region 1, NTSC, anamorphic widescreen. Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1 audio with selectable English subtitles. Features include interview with the director and more TBA.

Available at the following retailer(s) on August 11, 2009: