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Synopsis

Gabimaru, a ninja on death row, has become emotionally detached after a violent past and believes he deserves execution. Repeated execution attempts mysteriously fail. Sagiri Yamada Asaemon, a novice from a respected executioner family assigned to carry out his sentence, refrains from killing him. Convinced Gabimaru lives for his wife, Sagiri proposes an alternative: he can earn a full pardon by traveling to the remote island of Shinsekyo to recover the Elixir of Life, a legendary substance said to grant immortality, and deliver it to the shogun. Many previous seekers of the Elixir never returned in sound mind, if at all. Unaware of the full extent of the island’s perils, Gabimaru accepts the mission and joins ten other condemned prisoners, driven by the hope that he and his wife might one day live quietly together.