Holy smokes! Wow. This must be one of the whumpiest dramas I've ever seen. And definitely the whumpiest Jdrama. Like, holy smokes!

The sword fights here were absolutely amazing and Saotome Taichi swinging a sword and kicking butts was smoking hot, like wow.

As I've mentioned, since Kakeru is the sword swinging hero here, he's the object of so much whump like you wouldn't believe. And because the drama is all about found family - Kakeru, Sho and Karen grew up together, the sword master, his partner destined to kill him one day and the scabbard maker, respectively - they all adore Kakeru so the whump is really, really satisfying, the way they worry for him and do all they can to protect him and keep him alive, even risking their lives and going against centuries old traditions and powerful supernatural stuff. And it's what saves Kakeru's life in the end, their love for each other. It's so beautiful!

If you like action driven dramas with the found family trope in abundance, then you will love this one. I'm all a-giddy about it!