You really have to watch the Japanese sending up this style of acting themselves before you realize where the "restraint" comes from -- every gesture, every lip quiver, every zip across the koto strings comes straight out of the Big Kabuki Book Of Business for stage actors, and half the fun lies in watching how the ancient, eternal themes take form in THIS moment, THIS lunatic jealousy, THIS lust. OK, that's overstated, especially since the sendups I refer to come in Tenchi Muyo -- but whether the role is Ayeka or Lady Kesa (an interesting name, by the way), this movie is fun to watch. If it seems strange to Americans, bear in mind it was made in 1953, and unlike almost all of Akira Kurosawa's films was made with Japanese sensibilities in mind, not American.