Bounty Hunter Muyonosuke
1990 · 140m · TV Movie · Action · Drama
Takahashi Hideki stars as Muyonosuke, the one-eyed ronin who makes his living as a bounty hunter who is on a never-ending quest to find the man who murdered his father. The usually aloof Muyonosuke, who never would pause to help the common man winds up befriending an orphan boy and a mysterious woman, and getting involved in a feud between two families, but finds out there is a high power behind the curtain who pulls their strings.
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