Fairly early on, one gets the sense that this two-part adaptation (by Fumitaka Iwasaki, from a novel by Kan Kikuchi, who also provided source material for GATE OF HELL) spells out its issues too directly to be Naruse's dream project... The crazy plot does what it will, sweeping aside petty issues of characterization. Certainly it would be hard to tell what any of the characters learn from their experience.