The lights dim.
From the orchestra, a heartrending ballad pours out to fill the ambience of the fallen hero's scene.
From the center of the room where the spirit medium stands, a strong and familiar voice resounds, a voice that is not her own.
"It is I, the Steel Samurai! I am now suffering in the world of darkness, where I can no longer protect the people who rely on me."
(So in this movie, when a medium channels someone, only their voice comes through. Considering the true face of the victim, that's a relief.)
"…Sniff."
(But, poor Mr. Powers. Cast down to a voiceover role. I can hear him sniveling between lines.)
"Ahem. It is a dark day for Neo Olde Tokyo. But someday, surely, the villain too will fall. When that day comes… I'll see you in hell, Evil Ninja."
"Worry not, my lord," the prosecutor asserts. "Justice will be served in your honor. Simply tell us the legend of your final moments."
-THE SAMURAI'S STORY-
It hurts, my dear Princess… to hear you testify that my death was the work of a coward.
Every action I took was to ensure the very opposite. Allow me to tell my own tale.
After the bandit attacked the Princess and left her full of shame, she then preyed on these emotions.
"Now that you've been tainted with traitorous thoughts, why not join me once and for all?"
The way the Princess looked at that moment… it was no ordinary look, and it was certainly not my Princess's face.
On my honor, she was bewitched! It was the ninja clan's devious power of mind control!
"I'll join you," is what she shockingly replied.
"Now that we're on the same side, we have to take out the samurai!"
"Yes. TAKE OUT THE SAMURAI!"
Even the bandit turned pale at her fierce, frightening words. After regaining her composure, she addressed me with a scoff.
"Are you hearing this, Samurai? How do you feel about your traitorous Princess?"
Waging a battle of will against the ninja's tricks myself, my head was spinning and the conversation around me grew faint.
All I could muster was, "Princess, snap out of it… Save yourself…"
Soon, I was relieved to hear her footsteps as she obeyed and escaped into the woods.
The Evil Ninja turned to me once more. "Oh, she got away. I guess I have to deal with you myself."
The ninja readied the rapier that she had stolen from my Princess, and approached me.
In one swift motion, I took the weapon from her hands… and I killed myself with it instead.
That is the one and only truth. After all, that's the only honorable way for a samurai to go…
"…OBJECTION!"
The outburst erupts from the prosecutor's bench.
"My lord! I am loath to oppose you, but I cannot stand for these lies any longer."
"Prosecutor, what do you mean?"
"The rapier, as everyone mysteriously insists, was not the murder weapon. This man was killed by the sword!"
The judge thoughtfully strokes his beard. "I see, and… how are you so sure about that?"
"Because I… I was there."
Gasps!
"Prosecutor… You saw the whole thing, didn't you? Why didn't you tell the court?"
"I wished not to get involved. Of course, now there doesn't appear to be much of a choice. I will add my own testimony."
The man in red, with piercing eyes that could slice through wood, nobly takes the witness stand.