Naota


... appears to be moonlighting. In this film he is Katagiri's manservant, in Twilight Samurai he is Iguchi's. A busy chap!

Kambei of the Descending Gormful Bedafter Gumi.

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Yes, indeed; his name is Toda. Iguchi says he studied with him 'years ago', Katagiri goes to see him in his retirement. And both stories seem to take place somewhere in the north - cold and snowy in winter, fine and breezy in summer.

Here's another thought. In Twilight Samurai the daimyo dies, at quite an early age; in The Hidden Blade the daimyo is a young boy. Is he perhaps the son and heir of the kindly lord who wanted to know about dried codfish?

Kambei of the Descending Gormful Bedafter Gumi.

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Lol, I noticed that too. I thought maybe it was usual to call menservants "Naota" or something. :P

The similarities are rather funny...the movies are based on novels or short stories by one author, so maybe they are connected and Yamada paid homage to that by having little similarities between the films.

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In both movies... Is Naota semi retarded?

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lol!
thats what I thought

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A busy chap!
Good help is always hard to come by.

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Funny, I noticed the character's name was among the many omitted in the iMDB credits, so I added Hiroshi Kanbe's "Naota" to the credits here. I know directors have their favorite actors, but it wasn't until I just now checked and noticed it was indeed the same manservant who worked for Iguchi in Tasogare as well as Katagiri in this worthy follow-up.

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