 Unlike other Kurosawa heroes, like Kikuchiyo in "Seven Samurai" or Watanabe from "Ikiru", who die performing great acts, Saburo dies pointlessly.Gentle characters like Lady Sué are doomed to fall victim to the evil and violence around them, and conniving characters like Jiro or Lady Kaede are never given a chance to atone and are predestined to a life of wickedness culminating in violent death.Released on June 1, 1985, it was modestly successful financially in Japan.