Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

Embracing Love: A Cicada in Winter. (2006) From Youka Nitta

We were not born for this era; like a cicada in fall, it will soon be dead.  But one day there will be an era where we will not be separated by our clans, or ourselves.

Warning: This is a Yaoi review.  Yaoi is a Japanese art form, graphic novels written for women, by women, featuring romance between men.  This DVD gets rather graphic.  So, if this is not your cup of tea; you have been warned.

At the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate, the Choshu clan was firmly behind the Meiji rebellion, trying to take the power away from the Shogunate, and put the authority to rule back in the hands of the emperor.  Kusawa is a member of that clan.  His ideas about opening up the country and learning what the world has to offer beyond the borders of Japan do not sit well with his clan members.

When he learns that a group of radicals are planning to blow up the British embassy, he tries to stop them, but only arrives in time to suffer blame if he and his companion Azimura should get caught.  They are met by a Shogunate retainer, Akizuki, who when Kusawa refuses to use violence to escape, facilitates their departure.  Kusawa is fascinated by the samurai.

They meet later as Kusawa is desperately trying to find a way to learn English.  Akizuki agrees to tutor him, and they spend many happy days on the river bank, studying English, and discussing politics and philosophy.  Kusawa realizes he is falling in love with the other man.  But then fate steps in, and Sufu-Sensei, one of the leaders of the Choshu sends Kusawa to England to learn the language and custom, and bring back technology and behaviors that will modernize Japan.  Realizing he might never see Akizuki again, he confesses his love for him.  Akizuki accepts it, returns it, and consummates it, promising to await Kusawa's return.  For the record, Akizuki is the Uke, or passive partner, and Kusawa is the Seme, or aggressor, which is somewhat at odds with their demeanors and colouring; Akizuki is dark, better born, and far more level headed and deeper voiced.  Kusawa is blondish (?) and more volatile.  Usually, the roles are reversed with these two personality types.

Anyway, by the time Kusawa returns, the country is embroiled in a civil war.  The Shogunate forces have retreated north, and attempted to form the Kingdom of Ezo.  The technologically superior Imperial forces are making short work of them.  Kusawa is noted for always being the first person on the battlefield.  What most do not realize, except for Azimura, is that he is looking for Akizuki.  Will he find his love again?  Will they be together?  And how can they be when one will be on the losing side of the war?  Samurai were not known for leaving the enemy alive.

This is a thoroughly Japanese story, a gay Romeo and Julius if you will.  Separated by the politics of their clans, unable to leave them, forced apart by the expectations of their families, they none the less find love, a love that could destroy them.  Not the fact that they are gay; many samurai were.  Nobody cared.  But the fact that one served the Emperor and the other the Shogun; that was an insurmountable barrier, doomed to bring them nothing but pain and misery.  And they draw out every moment of it in lovely artistic form, like the crying of the Japanese flute.  There is also some very passionate romance and sex going on as well, some of it quite graphic, all of it quite beautiful, like all the art of this program.  Like its sister DVD before it, Embracing Love, Cherished Spring, the art is superlative, very clean and crisp with a realistic, if simplistic style, enriched by extensive backgrounds and the rich use of colour.  The animation is smooth and fluid, and the music is unobtrusive, but subtly builds the mood.  Overall, it is a flawless production.

It definitely has that beloved theme of the Japanese, the doomed love affair.  It just happens to accomplish its tale with more emotion and less melodrama than most.  I highly recommend it.

This is entered into Elvisdo's Funny Pages Write Off.

Gay Movies:

La Mission***Burnt Money***8: The Mormon Propo$ition***In The Flesh***The Sensei***The 24th Day***Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon***ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction***East Side Story***Dorian Blues***Creatures From the Pink Lagoon***Satyricon***Ice Men***Richard O'Briens Rocky Horror Tribute Show***Prom Queen***The Kids are All Right***Between Love and Goodbye***The Mudge Boy***That Man: Peter Berlin***A Single Man***Almost Normal***Outing Riley***Outrage!***Law of Desire***Love is the Devil***Cowboy Junction***Horror in the Wind***Bedrooms and Hallways***Cut Sleeve Boys***Big Eden***For A Lost Soldier***Midnight Cowboy***Redwoods***The Massuer***Boy Culture***Breakfast With Scot***The Fluffer***Flesh***Little Ashes***L.I.E. ***Dorian Gray***9 Dead Gay Guys***Shank***I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry***Beautiful Boxer***Bangkok Love Story***Schoolboy Crush***Shelter***Back Soon***Dog Tags***Theft***The Mulligans***The Velvet Goldmine***Swashbuckler***Smoke Signals
***C'Thulhu***Milk***The Picture of Dorian Gray***Brideshead Revisited***Notes on a Scandal***RocknRolla***Mamma Mia!
***Priscillia: Queen of the Desert***The History Boys***Brokeback Mountain***The Broken Hearts Club*** Yaji and Kita: Midnight Pilgrims ***Surge of Power ***In & Out ***Mambo Italiano ***Touch of Pink ***To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar ***Wolves of Kromer ***Rocky Horror Picture Show ***Taboo ***Deathtrap 


Gay Themed Series:

Spartacus: Blood and Sand
Dante's Cove
Hex
Carnivale Season One
Carnivale Season Two
Rome Season One
Rome Season Two
True Blood
True Blood: Season Two
The Book of Daniel: The Complete Series
Torchwood: Children of Earth
Torchwood: Season One


Gay Animation:

Pirate's Booty***Sensitive Pornograph***Loveless: The Complete Series***Loveless: Hope on the Run***Loveless: Soul of Chains***Loveless: Lost and Found***Embracing Love: A Cicada in Winter***Embracing Love: Cherished Spring ***Stonewall & Riot***Drawn Together Movie: The Movie***Drawn Together: Season 2***Drawn Together: Season 3

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good Date Movie
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age