Clear as mud, innit? The exotic cheap thrills are, anyway, with the self-parodying laughs and gory comic-strip savagery making it a snappy little mongrel all round.

Aside from the little-boy's narration, however, the movie's not much fun once you've gotten the picture.

Perhaps not as action-packed as some martial-arts epics, but Shogun Assassin has an emotional warmth and subtlety that the big guns often lack.

There is nothing offensive here at all, everything is handled very tongue-in-cheek... well worth the time and effort to see.