This had so much potential, but was poorly executed on different levels. Makes me wonder and eager to search more for the ideal work by Dezaki. I'm really interested and fan of two things in this: the historical period it is dealing with, and realistic anime, both in the art and storytelling. I just love these works where they try to make characters and situations look and act as real as possible, competing with films even. Curiously, plenty of such examples (and far better) are found in manga compared to anime. Imagine if this was done by a talented group specialized in noir, my ratingwould definitely go higher than 6.