- Adaptation Displacement: Fans of The Truman Show probably have no idea the climactic music
came from Mishima. - Americans Hate Tingle: The movie has a very low profile in Japan because the mainstream doesn't like talking about such a far-right political figure, and the far-right in the country don't like the candid way Mishima's homosexuality is portrayed. In fact, production was repeatedly disrupted by angry Mishima supporters making threats, as recounted in Troubled Production.
- Audience-Alienating Premise: This is most likely the reason it was an Acclaimed Flop. Most american audiences didn't even know of Yukio Mishima or his works, not even Japanese-Americans, not helped by large portions being in Japanese. Meanwhile as outlined in Americans Hate Tingle, Japanese audiences found his political views too offputting to watch to the point it went gone straight to TV there with no home release.
- Awesome Music: What pretty much everyone came to expect from Philip Glass.
- Genius Bonus: The scene of Mishima's seppuku is very similar to his film on the subject, Patriotism. Foreshadowed by a bit of the production of that film being shown in a flashback.
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