It's an interesting design, because it shows what people who didn't really understand revolvers very well would come up with. It is DAO, because it is surprisingly hard to get people who have not fired pistols to understand the advantage of an SA trigger. It has a hinged sideplate, because easy cleaning of the lockwork seems like a good idea, although not as necessary as people think. It's a top-break, because the advantages of that over a rod-ejector gun are obvious, whereas the advantages of a swing-out cylinder gun are more subtle (and at the time, swing-out guns were still in their infancy). And the lack of cylinder locking except when the trigger is being pulled is what you would expect from inexperience.
The recessed case heads are a surprising touch, though. Did Japan use rimfire S&W's before this? Anyway, just my 2 cents.