As this darker than normal 'Zatoichi' film opens our eponymous blind samurai is crossing a rickety bridge. As he does so he meets an old woman who is heading to see her daughter, there is an accident and she falls to her death. Feeling guilty Zatoichi goes in search of the daughter. She is working as a prostitute and can't finish until a bond of fifty ryo is paid. Zatoichi raises the money hustling a group of local gamblers who think it is they who are cheating him. The problems aren't over; the woman's fiancé is part of a group determined to kill Zatoichi for the reward. In the background to all of this Mangoro, the local boss, is forcing the town's fishermen out of business so he can employ them for a pittance while making a fortune from his monopoly of the local market
inevitably he will eventually cross swords with Zatoichi.
This is the darkest of the 'Zatoichi' films that I have seen (not that I've seen that many unfortunately); Mangoro is a particularly unpleasant villain and the theme of forced prostitution is pretty grim especially when the latest person forced into the profession is a fourteen year old girl whose story has a particularly tragic ending; as does that of her younger brother. Inevitably we see Zatoichi win many fights but at one point he is badly injured in a way that leaves the viewer wondering just how he will manage to prevail. As well as being dark in tone the film is perhaps a bit too dark in terms of light levels at times; this makes some of the action a bit hard to make out presumably done to tone down the bloodshed in these scenes. Shintaro Katsu does a fine job both acting in the lead role and as the director of the film. Overall I'd recommend this to fans of Zatoichi in particular and samurai films in general.
This is the darkest of the 'Zatoichi' films that I have seen (not that I've seen that many unfortunately); Mangoro is a particularly unpleasant villain and the theme of forced prostitution is pretty grim especially when the latest person forced into the profession is a fourteen year old girl whose story has a particularly tragic ending; as does that of her younger brother. Inevitably we see Zatoichi win many fights but at one point he is badly injured in a way that leaves the viewer wondering just how he will manage to prevail. As well as being dark in tone the film is perhaps a bit too dark in terms of light levels at times; this makes some of the action a bit hard to make out presumably done to tone down the bloodshed in these scenes. Shintaro Katsu does a fine job both acting in the lead role and as the director of the film. Overall I'd recommend this to fans of Zatoichi in particular and samurai films in general.