47 Ronin

In late-medieval Japan, Kai is a teenage English-Japanese outcast found in the woods near Wakkanai and adopted by Lord Asano, the benevolent ruler of the Akō Domain. Kai and Asano's daughter, Mika, fall in love despite the scorn her father's samurai hold for Kai's mixed ancestry. Lord Kira, the Shōgun's master of ceremonies, seeks to take control of Akō with the help of Mizuki, a shapeshifting kitsune. She sends a kirin to kill Asano and his men on a hunting trip, but Kai takes up a fallen sword and slays the monster. He sees a white fox with different-colored eyes. When the Shōgun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi visits Akō, Kai notices a concubine with the same multi-colored eyes and recognizes her as an enchantress. He tries to warn Asano's principal counselor, Oishi, about the witch in Kira's household but is dismissed. For the entertainment of the Shōgun, Kira arranges a duel between his best warrior, a golem, and Asano's chosen combatant, whom Mizuki incapacitates with magic just before the contest. Kai dons his armor to fight in his stead but is unmasked during the duel, and the Shōgun orders him to be severely beaten. That night, Mizuki bewitches Asano into believing Kira is raping Mika, causing him to attack the unarmed lord. Sentenced to death, Asano is compelled to perform seppuku to preserve his honor. The Shōgun gives Kira domain over Akō and decrees Mika must marry him but grants her one year of mourning before the wedding. The Shōgun brands Oishi and his men rōnin, forbidding them from avenging Asano. Kira has Oishi imprisoned and Kai sold into slavery. Nearly a year later, Oishi is released by his captors, who believe him now harmless. Having realized that Kira used sorcery to frame Asano, Oishi and his son Chikara reunite the scattered rōnin and rescue Kai from the fighting pits of the Dutch colony of Dejima. Kai leads them to the mystical Tengu Forest, from which he long ago fled, to obtain the special blades of the Tengu. Kai warns Oishi not to draw his sword inside the Tengu temple as he goes deeper inside to face the Tengu Master who once trained him. Alone, Oishi sees an illusion of his men and son being slaughtered by the Tengu but resists the urge to draw his sword, while Kai bests his former master. Having proven themselves worthy, the rōnin receive their blades. They plan to ambush Kira on his pilgrimage to a shrine, but the procession is a trap, and most of the rōnin are killed. Mistakenly believing they are all dead, Mizuki presents Kira with Oishi's sword and taunts Mika with their deaths. Half the remaining rōnin infiltrate Kira's castle disguised as a band of wedding performers, while the other half scale the castle walls and covertly attack the guards. Finally Oishi fights Kira while Kai and Mika face Mizuki as a dragon, when Kai must at last draw on the mystical powers of the Tengu to kill her. When Oishi emerges with Kira's severed head, Kira's retainers surrender. The rōnin and Kai surrender and are sentenced to death, having violated the Shōgun's prohibition on avenging Asano. However, the Shōgun declares that they followed the principles of bushido, restoring their honor as samurai and allowing them to perform seppuku and receive the honor of burial with Asano. The Shōgun returns the domain of Akō to Mika and pardons Chikara so that he may preserve Oishi's bloodline and serve Akō. As Mika mourns Kai's death, she remembers that he will search through 1,000 worlds and 10,000 lifetimes until he finds her.

Plot from 47 Ronin (2013 film)CC BY-SA 4.0