Sangokushi vs. Sangokushi: Nothing "Romantic" About This Encounter, That's For Sure!

Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a story that has had many adaptations... so, so many adaptations. However, when it comes to Japan, most adaptations tend to avoid outright calling themselves what the story is actually called over there: Sangokushi Engi, or just Sangokushi for short. There are all sorts of understandable reasons for that (being able to copyright an original title, not wanting to create confusion with said source material, etc.), and when it comes to various media there tends to be one "definitive" Sangokushi adaptation, at least when it comes to using the original title. The novel... well, that's the OG. For video games there's Koei's iconic grand strategy series. For manga there's Mitsuteru Yokoyama's 60-volume adaptation. For live-action TV there's China's iconic 87-episode series from 1994. As for anime, though, that's where things can get a bit interesting. The reason for that is because the word "Sangokushi", or at least "Sangoku", is seen in a few different anime's titles, like Koutetsu Sangokushi, the various SD Gundam adaptations of the story, Saikyo Bushouden Sangoku Engi, & Yokoyama Mitsuteru Sangokushi (the anime adaptation of Yokoyama's manga). However, there are in fact two completely different anime productions that dared to call themselves nothing more than "Sangokushi", and when you take production time into account they were even in production at the same time, at least for a period.

In other words, it's time for both sides to create teams of three, one from each kingdom, & see which one stands tall over a not-so-unified China!

In Japan Romance is a highly beloved tale, so the idea of adapting it into anime back in the 80s, which (to my knowledge) had not been done yet at that point, was likely taken as a big deal. Therefore, it's not all that much of a surprise that when the first (still existing) anime adaptation of Romance debuted in Japan, it was given some special treatment. Namely, on March 20, 1985 Nippon TV aired the made-for-TV anime movie (also sometimes referred to as a TV special) Sangokushi on its Wednesday Road Show program. There is apparently a TV anime special from 1982 also called Sangokushi, produced by Studio Sangosho & Tezuka Kikaku (no relation to Tezuka Productions?), but it looks to have become lost media & information about it is extremely scarce. Anyway, WRS ran from 1972 to 1985 & was the Japanese equivalent to something like NBC's Saturday Night at the Movies & its many imitators (before the home video market this was how people could watch hit movies at home), and would be replaced with Friday Road Show on October 4, 1985, which NTV still airs to this day. This movie would get re-aired in March of 1986 on FRS in order to get viewers ready for its sequel, Sangokushi II: Amakakeru Otoko-tachi/Soaring Manly Heroes, which first aired on FRS on August 22, 1986. Produced by NTV for 150 million yen (though this amount might only be for the first film?), these movies were animated by Shin-Ei Animation, the studio best known for Doraemon & (later) Crayon Shin-chan, both of which are still in production to this day. These movies also credit themselves as being adaptations of Mitsuteru Yokoyama's Sangokushi manga that was still running at the time, to the point that Hikari Production is on the copyright for them, but aside from telling (portions of) the same source story they really aren't, especially visually. These two movies would find themselves fans, such as Masami Tsuda, who'd later go on to be the creator of the manga His & Her Circumstances. However, possibly unbeknownst to Shin-Ei & NTV at the time, there was actually another anime adaptation of Romance in the works while these two movies debuted on TV in Japan, though this wouldn't finally appear until years later.

In the early 80s the production company Shinano Kikaku, formerly (& literally) Soka Gakkai Public Relations Bureau, started production on its own anime adaptation of Romance, hiring Toei Animation to do the animation itself. After 10 years & a budget of 1.5 billion yen, ten times the cost of NTV & Shin-Ei's movies, Shinano Kikaku would finally release Sangokushi Part 1: Eiyuu-tachi no Yoake/Dawn of the Heroes in theaters on January 25, 1992. Yes, much like NTV's movies this was also a multi-part production, three parts this time instead of two, but unlike those movies this trilogy of films were released in theaters on a yearly basis, with the second film, Part 2: Choukou Moeyu!/The Yangtze Burns!, debuting on March 20, 1993, & the third film, Part 3: Harukanaru Daichi/Distant Lands, on April 9, 1994. The first of these films would actually see an official English release as well, as Streamline Pictures would license, dub, & release Dawn of the Heroes in the 90s under the title Great Conquest: The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, even hiring the late Pat Morita to act as the narrator for the dub; Streamline's dub, though, did also cut down the film to 120 minutes, from its original 140 minutes. In 2020 Discotek Media, during its now defunct working relationship with Enoki Films (which handles international licensing for these films, on behalf of Shinano Kikaku), would re-release Great Conquest on double-disc DVD, with the first disc including Streamline's cut down dub & the second including the original uncut Japanese version with English subtitles for the first time, though the other two films would never see official release in English; this would also be the final DVD release Discotek would ever do, as they've only released on Blu-Ray since.

So, with two different anime movie series calling themselves "Sangokushi", which one comes out without rival: NTV or Shinano?

Scope of Adaptation:

In past Vs. Battles this category would called "Story"... but that feels a bit redundant when they're both adapting from the same general story, which itself is based on actual historical records. Also, these two productions are naturally not quite on the same "scale", even from a basic total length perspective, as NTV's movie duology totals a little over 3 hours, while Shinano's film trilogy is over 7.3 hours long, a little shy of 2.5x the length. Therefore, the first point will be determined on the "scope", i.e. how much of Romance's story is told in each production relative to the total length of time they each have. For Sangokushi I the focus is on Cao Cao taking over Jingzhou Castle from Liu Biao (including a fight with Liu Bei), Liu Bei's three visits to recruit Zhuge Liang, Liu Bei's retreat from Xinye Castle & the Battle of Changban that followed, & finally the iconic Battle of Chibi. Sangokushi II, in turn, focuses primarily on Jingzhou Castle & the happenings around it. Namely, we have Liu Bei reclaiming it in the midst of Zhou Yu of Wu trying the same, which leads to the marriage between Liu Bei & Sun Quan's sister Lihua, followed by a variant of the Battle of Fancheng, & then ending with a fictionalized battle between Liu Bei & Cao Cao's forces in the mountains on the border of Shu, likely in Yi Province (which, in actual history, Liu Bei would take over to begin the Kingdom of Shu Han). Compared to Sangokushi I, Sangokushi II definitely plays more fast & loose with historical accuracy, as events seen in this second movie happen in ways & orders that don't align with either Romance or even the original Records of the Three Kingdoms that the original novel was based on, let alone the Yokoyama manga it claims to be adapting. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, but it is a very noticeable change from the first film, which while having its own moments of playing fast & loose was definitely a bit more focused on staying (mostly) true to the historical order of events.

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As for Shinano's film trilogy... it's a lot. Again, these are all 2+-hour films that together aim to tell a massive story going from the Yellow Turban Rebellion to Wuzhang Plains (which is what Eiji Yoshikawa's interpretation from the 1930s & 40s covered), so I can't really go over each & every major part that's adapted in this trilogy. So, from a broad strokes perspective, Dawn of the Heroes covers the introduction of Liu Bei, Guan Yu, & Zhang Fei meeting & making their blood brother oath in the peach garden, their skirmishes in helping quash the Rebellion earning them notoriety, the introduction of Cao Cao & his failed assassination attempt on Dong Zhuo (who managed to forcibly take control of the Han with the help of Lü Bu), the formation (& later dissolution) of the coalition to take on Dong Zhuo, Diaochan managing to fool Lü Bu into killing Dong Zhuo, & finally the various battles between Cao Cao, Lü Bu, & Liu Bei that eventually results in Lü Bu's capture & death at the unified hands of Cao Cao & Liu Bei's forces. The Yangtze Burns! covers Liu Bei breaking away from Cao Cao, which includes Guan Yu's short stint as one of Cao Cao's generals when he found himself accidentally abandoned, Liu Bei's side finding sanctuary over in Jingzhou, the three visits to recruit Zhuge Liang, the Battle of Changban, & finally the events leading up to the Battle of Chibi, before climaxing with the legendary battle itself & some of the aftermath; in essence, this is Shinano's equivalent to the first NTV movie, only much longer. Finally, Distant Lands covers Liu Bei's campaign to take over Chengdu & establish Shu as his own kingdom, Guan Yu discovering that he has a surrogate daughter in Fengji (a fictionalized take on Lady Guan Yinping), Wei & Wu collaborating to defeat Guan Yu in the Battle of Fancheng, Cao Cao's death leading to the formal end of the Han & the foundation of Wei (which in turn fully established the Three Kingdoms), Liu Bei's failed attempt at getting revenge in the Battle of Yiling, Ma Su's failure in the Battle of Jieting, & then a six-year time skip for the Battle of Wuzhang Plains to finish the entire movie trilogy off.

Like I said, there's a lot that happens in Shinano's film trilogy... almost too much, honestly.

Winner: NTV

This first battle is very much a case of which wins out more: A focus on a specific section of time from this era (even if it deliberately messes with history for the sake of a good story) or a focus on accurately adapting the actual story (for the most part, at least). NTV's movies are but a small portion of the overall Romance story, and features more than a little bit of fictionalizing for the sake of the story it wants to tell... but the story that they do tell is honestly really good. In comparison, Shinano's films aim to tell as much of the overall story as they possibly can in as accurate a form as possible (though it, too, sometimes fictionalizes for the sake of storytelling at points)... but the end result can sometimes feel very overwhelming to watch, and I personally had to split watching the latter two movies across two sessions each because of that. On the one hand Shinano's scope sounds like it should be an easy win, but on the other hand that scope is also a bit of a double-edged sword, so I'm going to give the win here to NTV's movie duology, though I can certainly see the argument for the other way around. NTV's movie duology is nowhere near as grand in scope as Shinano's film trilogy, but that also makes them easier to take in while watching; there's good reason why attempts at adapting the "whole" Romance story tend to be TV series, not movies.

Usage of Cast:

Similar to the first category, traditional Vs. Battles would simply have this category as "Cast" or "Characters"... but once again that's a bit redundant as this time around both productions feature the same exact characters that are based on actual Chinese historical figures; minor details, like designs, may differ but they're still essentially the same people. Therefore, the second point will be determined based on how these characters are actually utilized in each production, i.e. which characters are the focus, are there any characters who are seemingly focused on without much long-term purpose, etc. Sangokushi I focuses almost exclusively on the battle between Liu Bei & Cao Cao, so for our "heroes" we naturally see Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, & Zhuge Liang get the primary focus. Then there's Lihua, a fictionalized take on Lady Sun Ren of Wu, who today is known more under the alternate name Sun Shang Xiang. The first movie showcases her as a student of Zhuge Liang, though in reality she's trying to get him to side with Wu, initially trying to prevent Liu Bei from recruiting him & even downright attempts to assassinate Liu Bei. However, she eventually falls in love with her future historical husband, leading to their marriage in Sangokshi II... and while I won't go into major spoilers I do feel that Lihua was done especially dirty in the second movie. Finally, Sangokushi II brings Zhao Yun into the story (after he should have already been involved in stuff like the Battle of Changban, but I digress), introduced here as the leader of a group of bandits who initially try to kill Liu Bei for a reward before siding with him; he does get a little more screen time here than Guan Yu or Zhang Fei, but plays more of a standard bodyguard. Alongside him is a young girl named Meichan... who I feel also gets done dirty at the very end, but again I digress.

Meanwhile, the side of Wei are more or less outright villains in these movies, with Cao Cao having a full-on evil laugh at various points. His generals, though, are oddly segmented across each movie. Sangokushi I features Yu Jin, who's been gender-swapped into a woman that not-so-secretly is in love with Cao Cao, as well as Xu Chu (i.e. Xu Zhu) as a consistent foil for Liu Bei's side to deal with, plus what amounts to a glorified pair of cameos by Xiahou Dun... and all three are killed off during the Battle of Chibi, which isn't accurate at all to history or Romance. As for Sangokushi II, all newly introduced Wei characters (Sima Yi, Xiahou Yuan, Dian Wei, Cao Ren, etc.) get what amount to glorified cameos, getting none of the focus that Yu Jin or even Xu Chu got in the first film. As for Wu, they mainly play a tertiary role in Sangokushi I, with only Sun Quan & Lihua getting any real moments to shine, while in Sangokushi II we do see Zhou Yu, who takes up the antagonistic role for the first half, but after Wu's involvement in Jingzhou Castle is over they're gone from the rest of the story, returning things back to Cao Cao & Wei.

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Meanwhile, over in Shinano's film trilogy, the sheer scale of its adaptation can only mean two real options: Have a massive cast that results in a lack of focus to accommodate all of them or put the focus on a small group of people that results in various characters only getting what amount to bit roles. Shinano's film trilogy mainly goes with the latter option, though it swaps between who gets the primary focus depending on the specific period of time. Dawn of the Heroes, for example, initially focuses exclusively on Liu Bei, Guan Yu, & Zhang Fei for roughly the first 35 minutes or so, before then shifting things over to properly establishing Cao Cao for a bit, then introducing Lü Bu so that his story can be showcased over the rest of the film while swapping back & forth between all three sides as focal points here & there. That being said, there is some cool attention to detail to be seen for the the more secondary players. Chen Gong is introduced early on so that Cao Cao's guilt over having him beheaded for assisting Lü Bu at the end of Dawn of the Heroes has weight to it. Xiahou Dun eats his own eyeball after it gets shot with an arrow, just as legend states. Zhang Liao & Guan Yu's respectful rivalry plays out over multiple films, which is cool to see. Xiulan, a version of Zhuge Liang's wife Lady Huang Yueying, is shown to not be especially physically attractive, just as legend states she was. Finally, Liu Bei, Cao Cao, & Zhuge Liang noticeably age over the course of the films, to establish the passage of time (though other characters, like Guan Yu & Zhang Fei, don't see it quite as much), while Zhuge Liang himself is actually first seen in Dawn of the Heroes here & there as a child, establishing his tough life growing up in war-torn China before he becomes a major character halfway into The Yangtze Burns!. Of course, with these being such massively long films that cover a ton of events there are many characters who either only get one or two scenes, at best, or do appear multiple times throughout more than one film but are never really given much of anything notable. Hell, Wu doesn't even appear until the second half of The Yangtze Burns!, though they do appear a bit more in Distant Lands.

There is also a Lihua in these movies, this time based on Lady Gan (one of Liu Bei's concubines), but outside of her involvement in specific moments she's really not important whatsoever to these films. Then there's Fengji, who's essentially a central focal character in Distant Lands, so much so that it kind of messes with some of the history. For example, at the end of the final film she leaves Shu behind to become a teacher, but since no proper successor to Zhuge Liang is ever established by that point (Jiang Wei isn't in either anime) it makes it look like Fengji simply abandons Shu & leaves it without any strategist; whoops!

Winner: NTV

I really didn't want to make a quick decision regarding this category, since it does kind of feel like the shorter, smaller scale adaptation would have an inherent advantage here. However, as I continued watching each of Shinano's films there would be various moments where characters would get glorified cameos or would repeatedly appear but overall not really do all that much in the long run, despite getting a decent number of apperances. Shinano's films do surpass NTV's movies when it comes to certain characters (like Zhang Liao & Sima Yi), but at the same time there are simply a bunch of characters who appear in those films that are given focus but don't really contribute much to the overall story. NTV's movies, in comparison, keep things simple & (for the most part) focused, which is appreciated.

Visuals:

OK, now we can return to "traditional" categories, starting with the obvious: Which anime Sangokushi looks nicer? As mentioned, NTV's movies were handled by Shin-Ei Animation, which while known primarily for its long-running productions of both Doraemon & Crayon Shin-chan also has a variety of other notable works to its name, including Game Center Arashi, Oishinbo, The Laughing Salesman, Haré+Guu, Teasing Master Takagi-san, My Neighbor Seki, & Knight in the Area. The idea of a "made-for-TV movie" has a bit of a connotation with it, at least in North America, as being something that might look higher budgeted than a traditional TV series, though not always, but certainly nowhere near the budget of a "standard" feature film shown in theaters. However, there's no doubt that NTV & Shin-Ei gave their Sangokushi movies the attention, care, & budget that was necessary, because these are very nice looking productions, and the version I watched was based on an HD remaster that was done extremely well, allowing the animation to shine even better than it possibly could have back in the mid-80s. Now, sure, this isn't exactly theatrical-quality animation, but it's still well above most TV anime for the era, with some very well animated sequences throughout both movies & great use of color that really can pop via the HD remaster. That said, though, the sight of Cao Cao being a blonde, when he's traditionally seen in various works with dark hair, is definitely a bit wild to see. To be fair, the second movie tries to justify this as Cao Cao explaining that he was "born in the North" & got his hair color from his father... but Cao Cao was historically born in Qiao County (now Bozhou, Anhui), which is nowhere near the "North", even during the late Han dynasty; probably would have been better to just never explain it. Regardless, NTV's Sangokushi duology are very nice looking TV movies, to be sure.

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Meanwhile, Shinano's films were handled by Toei Animation... which isn't surprising at all to see, because Toei tended to be the go-to studio for just about any anime adaptation of the late Soka Gakkai founder Daisaku Ikeda's various works, though this relationship looks to have ended after 2006; Kozo Morishita became Managing Director in June 2006, so that could have been a factor. Anyway, the first thing I thought once I started watching Dawn of the Heroes was "Wow, this movie looks older than I thought it would", because even though it came out in 1992 it honestly harkened back to an older style of anime movie. Now, yes, there is the (alleged) 10-year production process this film trilogy went through, so it's entirely possible that animation for the first movie was indeed started years before it finally ran in theaters, but it's not just that factor. Instead, watching it really reminded me more of Toei's early anime movie output, namely their stuff from the 60s & 70s. Part of that may be due to the late Koichi Tsunoda, who handled the character designs & animation direction for this trilogy & whose career dated back to 1968's Horus, Prince of the Sun; in fact, outside of a literal handful of jobs, this film trilogy would be Tsunoda's last "major" credit in anime. In comparison to the made-for-TV films, which definitely aimed to look more "dynamic", Shinano's film trilogy aims to look a bit more realistic in its designs, color usage, & overall presentation, and while the animation is very nice & fluid at points, all three films definitely feel older than they actually are. That being said, there is the occasional moment when the films do go for something a little more visually spectacular, and the latter two films don't look quite as "old" as the first, which would match with the 10-year production schedule.

Also, just as a note, Discotek's release of Dawn of the Heroes is presented in 4:3, while the latest Japanese releases (which the modern fansubs for these films are based on) actually crop all three films into 16:9; I have no idea which aspect ratio was used for the films when they ran in theaters in the 90s. The cropping doesn't exactly mess with the films visually, but it does result in a softer image overall, as the animation is now essentially zoomed in to accommodate the widescreen ratio. This won't effect my decision for a winner in this category, but it's worth pointing out.

Winner: NTV

Both movie/film series were given excellent treatment when it came to the visuals, that's without debate, and the end result is that all of them still look rather nice to this very day. However, I still give the point here to NTV's movie duology for the simple fact that they are more visually appealing & interesting from an overall standpoint. Sure, Cao Cao being a blonde is definitely "a choice", but it also is representative of these two movies wanting to make sure that they have an identity all their own. Shinano's film trilogy, in comparison, is likely more "accurate" when it comes to visual designs, but in the end it also kind of dates the films as being older than their releases would indicate. I won't say that Shinano's films look "bland", but they definitely don't look quite as interesting as NTV's movies.

Music:

When it comes to music, NTV's movies were scored by the late Takeo Watanabe, who was best known for titles like the original Cutie Honey & Gundam anime (including composing both of their equally iconic OP themes), Nobody's Boy Remi, Heidi, Girl of the Alps, Zambot 3, & Daitarn 3, while Watanabe was also the the man who taught Joe Hisaishi how to compose; Watanabe would pass away on June 2, 1989 at only the age of 56 due to kidney failure. When it comes to the NTV Sangokushi TV movies Watanabe went for more of a subdued & atmospheric score, something that matches the mood of the scenes that feature music, though there are also plenty of scenes throughout both films that feature no music at all. The end result is a score that, in some regards, doesn't really stick in your head after you've watched the films, but more than carry their weight in helping give emotion & feeling at key moments. It's the kind of score that, arguably, isn't really meant for isolated listening on its own, but not every movie score is really meant for that. Some scores are there to supplement scenes rather than help carry scenes, and that best describes Takeo Watanabe's Sangokushi duology music.

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As for Shinano's films, they were scored by the late Seiji Yokoyama, who like Toei was a regular when it came to anime adaptations of Daisaku Ikeda's works (though he didn't score every single one), but to most anime fans is best known for both Saint Seiya & Space Pirate Captain Harlock, while tokusatsu fans will know him for Super Android Metalder, Special Rescue Police Winspector, & Chouriki Sentai Ohranger; Yokoyama would pass away on July 8, 2017 at the age of 82 from pneumonia. In comparison to what Takeo Watanabe did with NTV's movies, Seiji Yokoyama's score for Shinano's films is... well, it's definitely a Seiji Yokoyama score, that's for sure. What that means is that most songs in these movies aim to deliver a feeling of sweeping, orchestral grandiosity to them, in an effort to make the scenes associated with them feeling bigger in scale & relevance than they otherwise would with just the animation. Admittedly I am only truly familiar with Yokoyama via his Saint Seiya music, but there were plenty of times while watching these films that I thought "Yeah, I could definitely see this song fitting the Saint Seiya anime", and some songs even sounded extremely similar to some of Seiya's score at points; not so much that I'd call it outright re-using, but definitely enough to call it Yokoyama's "style".

Winner: Shinano

Much like the visuals, both series have very good musical scores, but in the end I guess my appreciation for Saint Seiya's iconic musical style was too strong. Takeo Watanabe's score for NTV's movie duology is very solid & carries the weight of the scenes they're used in well, and while Seiji Yokoyama's score can sound a bit too similar to Saint Seiya's at points there's no denying that his sweeping orchestral style definitely fits Romance of the Three Kingdoms well. If anything, I'd say that Watanabe's score fits the characters specifically while Yokoyama's score fits the overall grandeur of the era, but if I had to choose just one I'd go with Yokoyama's score, overall.

Execution:

As usual, our final category is a bit of a vague one, but overall simply comes down to which production is the overall better watch, and it's where we can also compare directors. For NTV's movies we have the late Shin-Ei founder Daikichiro Kusube as "Chief Director", while Tetsuo Imazawa acted as the main director. Imazawa himself has had a long career in anime, directing the likes of Candy Candy, God Mars, Mushrambo (a.k.a. Shinzo), both Shin Tetsujin 28 & Tetsujin 28 FX, & being one of the three directors of the original Kinnikuman anime; he even got roped into directing the very first Happy Science anime, Hermes - Winds of Love. I had previously mentioned that Masami Tsuda was a big fan of these two movies, and in the afterword of Volume 6 of His & Her Circumstances she went into more detail regarding this. She wrote about how she would go from used video store to used video store in search of them & that she was overwhelmed by the late Hiroshi Wagatsuma's character designs, feeling that they were ahead of their time & wouldn't be matched until anime in the 90s. I've also seen it mentioned in Japanese that, due to historical anime not being a truly established genre quite yet, that these movies feature elements of giant robot & "hero" anime of the era, which I can see the argument towards.

Namely, NTV's Sangokushi is very much a straightforward battle between two powerful personalities, Liu Bei & Cao Cao, with Liu Bei portrayed as the eternally kind & honorable "good guy" & Cao Cao portrayed as the conniving & ambitious "bad guy", while Sun Quan is portrayed more as well-intentioned but allowing his emotions & pride to cloud his judgment at points. There is no real ambiguity to be seen here, as you are meant to cheer for Liu Bei & boo Cao Cao, and in that regard the first movie is really damn good by telling a rather focused & straightforward tale. As for the second movie, while it's still overall very good I do feel that it's not as strong as the first, as it very much splits things between Wu & Wei as the primary villain to Liu Bei between the two halves, resulting in a bit of a loss in focus overall. Also, as mentioned before, I really did not like how both Lihua & Meichan were treated in the second film, though I must admit that Zhang Fei was given a much more honorable death here than how he historically died, & it really did fit these movies' more "hero" anime aesthetic. Overall, as long as you don't go into these TV movies expecting full adherence to historical accuracy, especially when it comes to the second one, I think you'll have a very good time with them, though I would lower expectations just a little for Sangokushi II.

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When it comes to Shinano's films... well, to no surprise we have yet another Daisaku Ikeda anime regular, in this case director Tomoharu Katsumata, who directed most (but not all) of the Ikeda anime adaptations; yeah, Shinano definitely had anime staff it could rely on. That being said, though, Katsumata has a very large non-Ikeda anime resume to his name as director, including the likes of Arcadia of My Youth (both the movie & the Endless Orbit SSX TV sequel), the original Cutie Honey, Ginga -Nagareboshi Gin-, Saint Seiya Hades Inferno & Elysion, Salaryman Kintaro, UFO Robo Grendizer, & Yume Senshi Wingman. So, first & foremost, I must reiterate once again... these films are just "a lot". When your shortest film is still so long that Discotek's subbed DVD literally splits it up into two parts then you know that these films likely were produced with the intention to give audiences in the theater an intermission during each one. However, there's no denying that Shinano's film trilogy can be categorized with a single word: Dry. What I mean is that these films are very much focused on doing one thing, and that's adapting the story of Romance of the Three Kingdoms (or, at least, a Liu Bei/Shu-focused take on it) in as straightforward a fashion as possible, with only little bits of things like visual panache to really accentuate specific moments, instead relying on the legendary & beloved characters to carry everything through. That doesn't mean that these films are bad, though, because they absolutely are very engaging all throughout & showcase why Romance is such a beloved story. However, it does result in these films sometimes just feeling a bit bland in execution, especially when compared to how the NTV movies aimed to be more "traditional" movie-watching experiences. Also, there's no getting around the fact that these are LOOOOOOOOONG films, with a total length that's the equivalent of around 18 episodes of traditional TV anime. In fact, considering how similar things have been done for titles like Broken Blade, Gundam Unicorn, & Berserk: The Golden Age Arc, I think Shinano's Sangokushi film trilogy could actually work rather well if recut into TV episodes.

And then there's Distant Lands, which feels like a notably different film from the other two in some ways. This is due to the introduction of Fengji, who has along with her both a young girl ally in Xiaoyuan who acts like a monkey for most of it as well as Zuo Ci, a Taoist who's a literal magic user who gets a scene where he performs various impossible feats to make Cao Cao look like a fool. This scene is accurate to Romance, but its inclusion here clashes so much with everything else, while Fengji's storyline really makes me wonder if Shinano was influenced by NTV's movies during the decade-long production. The end result is that Distant Lands can sometimes feel different from the prior two films in a bit of an awkward way.

Winner: NTV

Much like the "Usage of Cast" category I didn't want to jump to conclusions with this final category, but the more I thought about it the more that I came to the same result as in that prior category. Namely, despite being very good films in & of themselves, Shinano's film trilogy is just too big for its own good. While watching them I never felt bored or unengaged, but at the same time it did sometimes feel more like Shinano's productions were simply going over history, rather than telling something truly enthralling, which I certainly can never say about NTV's movie duology; also, Distant Lands' course correction with Fengji just felt like a case of "too little too late". Sure, NTV's productions were much more loose when it came to the actual history, but those two movies are honestly just a lot of fun to watch, even if I felt a tad bit let down with Sangokushi II in some ways. In the end, I feel as though I could always potentially go back & re-watch NTV's movies at some point, while I honestly don't feel the same for Shinano's films, despite them being well worth a watch at least once.

Final Score

With a final tally of 4-1, the winner of this Vs. Battle is NTV's Sangokushi movie duology! Going into this piece I seriously had no idea which way this would go, so believe me when I say that I'm honestly a little surprised at how one-sided the tally wound up being. Considering how large in scale Shinano's film trilogy is I would have figured that maybe, just maybe, it would have gotten a couple points in the initial two categories, as it covers a much larger amount of Romance of the Three Kingdoms' overall plot, which in turn necessitates having a much larger overall cast. However, it's that same gigantic scale & scope that wound up being a bit of an albatross for Shinano's films, as the end result was three very long films with a massive cast, but overall a lot of that cast don't really get much to actually do. In comparison, NTV's two movies are both much more reasonable in length & feature smaller casts that get more focus put on each them, though they certainly have their own flaws as films.

In the end, this wound up being a true David vs. Goliath battle with the smaller, more focused, NTV movies winning out over the larger, more grandiose Shinano films. However, that's not to say that Shinano's films aren't worth a full watch if you are curious about the story of Romance of the Three Kingdoms. As I said earlier, despite a bit of dry & bland straightforwardness, those films are still a great example of why Romance is so beloved to this very day, and it's because they still manage to convey the memorable characters & story of the Three Kingdoms era in a way that they remain an engaging watch. It's just that I really do feel that these movies would seriously fare much better now if they were recut into a TV series, and when you take into consideration traditional TV anime episode length & the inclusion of stuff like OP/ED sequences such a recut would wind up being around 20 episodes long, which certainly sounds a bit more reasonable than three films that are all shy of 2.5 hours long each.

When I return to the Three Kingdoms era in anime form later this year it'll be with the first time Romance ever got adapted into TV anime form, though due to its length it'll be covered across two reviews. So look forward to this April when I review Episodes 1 to 22 of Mitsuteru Yokoyama's Romance of the Three Kingdoms!

Sangokushi (Made-for-TV Movie Duology) © Hikari Production/Shin-Ei

Sangokushi (Theatrical Film Trilogy) © Shinano Kikaku