Assassination begins with the events of 1853 when "four black ships" anchored at Edo Bay, sparking civil unrest and the major political manoeuvring that saw the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate. At a time when assassination had become a disturbing political tool, Shinoda's film follows Hachiro Kiyokawa, an ambitious, masterless samurai whose allegiances drift dangerously between the Shogunate and the Emperor.

Machiko and Haruki’s drama continues. Two meet again in Hokkaido only to be separated again.

Part 2 starts where the first film ended, with Iemon disposing of the bodies of his wife and Kohei, marrying upward, and being blackmailed by the evil Naosuke.

Iemon Tamiya is an impoverished masterless samurai who craves a better life, which he cannot have because of his marriage to Oiwa, who is completely devoted to her husband.

Okoma, a witty young woman working as a conductor in an old, rickety bus in Kōfu, Yamanashi (rural Japan), has a creative idea that could avert the dwindling number of passengers when her job and the bus company itself are at stake.

Kichigoro, a firefighter from the Maeda family of the Kaga Principality, rescues Oshimo, the younger sister of Jirokichi, a city firefighter from the Ha-gumi group, from a samurai who is trying to kidnap her. Oshimo has feelings for Kichigoro. At this moment, a fire warning bell sounds in the city...

When Kaoru's sister-in-law Miyoko arrives at the family home, tender feelings start to grow between the two. However, the initial happiness that Kaoru finds in the company of her beautiful sister-in-law is frustrated by her brother Mitsuo, Miyoko's husband, who intervenes in their budding passion. Full of unspoken words, deeply suggestive mise-en-scène, and forbidden glances, Fukujuso is a compelling melodrama that surprises us with its potent homoeroticism, especially considering its year of production.