I appreciated some ways in which this felt a little different than some of the ones that came before (the nearly 2-hour runtime, for one). It had some funny scenes, legendary Japanese actor Takeshi Shimura was a welcome presence, and any scene between Tora and Sakura was pretty great.
Lampshading/poking fun at some of the series' conventions also proved amusing and subtle enough to not feel eye-rolling. And yes, the conventions are still largely there, but with the longer running time comes the ability to focus on a few new characters and show Tora making an effort at genuinely changing (his bond with a young child was nice, too).
The willingness to push the formula a little and make gentle fun of said formula means that I'm optimistic going forward and further into this franchise, after a not quite amazing but still fairly enjoyable and pleasant 8th instalment.
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