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Zatoichi:
The Blind Swordsman on DVD
reviews
by Bill Hunt and
Todd Doogan of The
Digital Bits
Zatoichi
on DVD (Index)
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Zatoichi
10 - Zatoichi's Revenge
(Zatoichi Nidan-Giri)
1965 (2003) - Daiei Studios (Home Vision)
Film Rating: A
Alright! Now we're talking Zatoichi
turkey. Even though Zatoichi's Revenge
starts off comedic, it ends up walloping you on the head. Ichi's
sword tastes blood over and over again, and it rocks.
Probably one of the best Zatoichi
films ever made, Zatoichi's Revenge
finds Ichi visiting the village of his youth, where (under his
mentor Hikonoichi) he learned to be a masseur. But surprise of all
surprises, Hikonoichi has been recently murdered and his daughter
forced into prostitution. As it turns out, due to the regular
corrupt political element that pops up in these films, a bureaucrat
and a gambling chief have set up a twisted scheme which claims the
daughters of debtors as prostitutes. Naturally, Ichi's plan to free
his mentor's daughter (as well as the other girls) will end in a
series of blood brawls that are sure to entertain every
Ichi fan out there.
The reason this is one of the best Ichi films is not because of the
story, but rather because of the character's growth. Ichi hasn't
been this bad-ass before. It's almost as if Sam Peckinpah adopted
the name Akira Inoue and made a spaghetti western inspired samurai
film. I can't say enough good things about this flick. If you've
liked Ichi so far, you'll love Zatoichi's
Revenge.
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Like
all the other Home Vision Ichi
films this one sounds good and looks even better on DVD, sporting a
new anamorphic widescreen transfer and 2.0 mono audio. Again, the
extras are light, but what do you really want? Included are trailers
for Adventures of Zatoichi,
Zatoichi's Revenge and
Zatoichi and The Doomed Man,
as well as yet another super cool (and framable) poster.
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Zatoichi
11 - Zatoichi and the Doomed Man
(Zatoichi Sakate-Giri)
1965 (2003) - Daiei Studios (Home Vision)
Film Rating: B
While locked up on gambling charges, Ichi meets a man sentenced to
die. He claims to be innocent, and knowing Ichi will be released, he
begs him to find the one man who can prove his innocence. He also
asks Ichi to tell his family he'll be home very soon.
After such a string of adventures, Ichi is hesitant to go on this
errand and chooses to walk the other way, but fate (as well as an
inept con man's scheme) puts him right smack dab in the middle. Soon
Ichi learns that friends are foes, greed is God and everyone is
somehow related. Oh, Ichi, such is your lot in life: round and round
the circle goes.
Here's another great Ichi DVD
from Home Vision - the last until May of 2004, damnit. It looks
great in anamorphic widescreen, it sounds great in 2.0 mono, and it
has a few fun extras. On the disc are three trailers (for
Ichi's Revenge,
Doomed Man and
Chess Expert). All look great.
But even cooler than that, there's also a sweet mini-poster insert
in the case. Just unfold, frame and put on your wall. Home
decorating made simple.
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Zatoichi
12 - Zatoichi and the Chess Expert
(Zatoichi Jigoku Tabi)
1965 (2004) - Daiei Studios (Home Vision)
Film Rating: A-
On a boat bound for the island of Enoshima, Ichi befriends a
chess-playing samurai named Tadasu Jumon. Impressing him with his
blind playing, Jumon joins Ichi in his travels. While on the boat,
Ichi takes in a friendly game of dice, pulling his trademark slight
of hand dice trick ("Why would you bet on the dice outside the
cup? Where's the game in that?") on a group of thugs. When they
get pissed off, they look for revenge and, considering they work for
the influential Banyu crime family, there's trouble to be had once
they get to Enoshima. During a scuffle, Ichi sends a bad guy out a
window to land on a young girl named Miki and her guardian Tane,
hurting Miki. Needing medicine, Ichi raises the necessary funds and
goes about saving the girl's life. But who is Tane and why are a
group of men hunting for her? Is Jumon a friend or an enemy waiting
to pounce on Ichi? And how do the mysterious Sagawa, Roppei and Kume
fit into the story? Find out in Zatoichi
and the Chess Expert.
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Chess
Expert is pure Zatoichi
fun - a great film to spin if you haven't joined the Ichi
party yet. It's got everything that makes the series great,
including some really cool fights. This Home Vision release is
superb. The anamorphic transfer is incredibly clean and colorful.
Blacks are hard and the print is flawless. Audio is in the original
mono and sounds fine. Extras include trailers for this film as well
as Zatoichi's Vengeance and
Zatoichi and the Doomed Man, a
promo trailer for the series, liner notes by Michael Jeck and a
reproduction of the theatrical poster.
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Zatoichi
13 - Zatoichi's Vengeance
(Zatoichi No Uta Ga Kikoeru)
1966 (2004) - Daiei Studios (Home Vision)
Film Rating: B+
Ichi stumbles upon a dying man, who was attacked because he was
caught cheating at dice. He is asked to give the money he stole to
someone named Taichi. Not knowing where to find this person, Ichi
continues on his journey and bumps into a blind priest, who sends
him to the sleepy haven of Ichinomiya. But Ichi finds that
Ichinomiya is no sleepy town. It's being taken over by a gang of
ruthless yakuza who are demanding all the business owners pay them
to continue operating. He also finds the Taichi he was asked to
find, who turns out to be the dying man's son. Oh... and Ichi also
bumps into a disgraced samurai who is looking to buy back his wife's
retainer from the local whorehouse using the money he will earn for
Ichi's head. But Ichi isn't going to hand it over. Will Ichi's sword
corrupt the malleable mind of young Taichi into a world he shouldn't
enter?
Zatoichi's Vengeance is
another good entry in the series. It's sort of understated, but
still a rip-roaring fun way to spend 80 or so minutes. This disc is
beautiful, with a great transfer from Home Vision - just flawless.
Sound is Dolby Digital mono and serves the film nicely. Extras
include trailers for Zatoichi and the
Chess Expert, Zatoichi's
Vengeance and Zatoichi and the
Doomed Man, a promo trailer for this series, liner notes
by Michael Jeck and a reproduction of the theatrical poster.
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Zatoichi
14 - Zatoichi's Pilgrimage
(Zatoichi Umi O Wataru)
1966 - Daiei Studios
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Zatoichi
15 - Zatoichi's Cane Sword
(Zatoichi Tekka Tabi)
1967 (2004) - Daiei Studios (Home Vision)
Film Rating: A+
This is the seminal Zatoichi film. Ichi hitches a ride with a
traveling theatrical troupe on their way to Tonda, where he enters
into a dice game and cleans house. As you might guess, the losers
are all yakuza and they want their money back. Not taking any guff
from these sore losers, Ichi makes mincemeat out of them. But when a
retired sword maker examines Ichi's sword, he discovers it was made
by his old sensei and will break in two during his next battle.
Swearing off sword fighting from here on in, Ichi spends the rest of
the film avoiding confrontation, making for some funny and equally
tense moments. Of course, we all know he'll have to pull out the
sword. But how will he manage, knowing full well that after one
slash, he'll be weaponless?
This is a great, great Ichi
film - probably Todd's favorite in the series. Cane
Sword sums up everything we like about these films. It
has some of the best characters in the series, some of the best
acting and some really scary moments. This Home Vision release has a
wonderful anamorphic widescreen transfer, clean Dolby Digital mono
sound and a select group of extras including trailers for Zatoichi's
Vengeance, Zatoichi and the
Doomed Man and Zatoichi
Challenged, a promo trailer for this series, liner notes
by Michael Jeck and a reproduction of the theatrical poster.
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Zatoichi
16 - Zatoichi the Outlaw
(Zatoichi Rooyaburi)
1967 (2003) - Toho Co., Ltd. (AnimEigo)
Film Rating: B+
Ichi doesn't like cheaters. Always on the hunt for a filling rice
ball, a hot cup of saki and a good wager, Ichi should be in heaven
when he arrives in a small town that supports itself with two
gambling houses.
But it's gambling that is ripping the town apart.
The farmers are so caught up in the game that they can't get their
crops going. And, low on cash, these farmers are handing over their
land to pay their growing debts. As Ichi arrives in town, he meets a
former samurai turned farming teacher, dedicated to helping the
peasants get a grip on their lives.
Ichi, not knowing what's really going on, gets caught in the middle
of a conflict between the two gambling houses, and must choose a
side to support. He thinks he's made the right decision, but ends up
going on the lamb as a house masseuse when he learns some very
distressing news about his decision. Ichi may not be able to see,
but he knows when he's been screwed.
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This
was the first Ichi production actually overseen by Katsu, and right
from the start you can see he wanted to make a big splash with this
baby. Everything here is ramped up, from the reinvisioned arrow gag
(seen previously in Doomed Man),
to the epic-styled music. Outlaw
opens with an epic bang and keeps chugging along until the end.
The transfer here is anamorphic widescreen, and it looks damn good.
AnimEigo took their time and put a lot of love and care into this
disc. Color representation is accurate, with nice detail and hard
blacks. The sound is 2.0 stereo and the quality is on par with Home
Vision's work. Worth noting are the subtitles here. There are two to
choose from - "limited" (which only translates what is
being said) and "full" (which also explains what is meant
or the reference that's being made). Often times in these films,
references to money, puns or locales need a further translation.
With the "full" option, you won't be lost in a foreign
world.
In terms of extras, the AnimEigo line features some additional
content the Home Vision titles lack. It's nothing hefty, but is
certainly helpful. Along with trailers (for Outlaw,
Festival of Fire and
Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance),
there are also nice character biographies, liner notes and a hard
copy reference card (inserted right in the case) that repeats the
information in the liner notes. This is a nice holdover from
AnimEigo's videotape days - their VHS Samurai Collection titles had
full sheet inserts giving character backgrounds, historical data and
translations.
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Zatoichi
17 - Zatoichi Challenged
(Zatoichi Chikemuri Kaido)
1967 (2004) - Daiei Studios (Home Vision)
Film Rating: B-
If you thought messing with a lion's cub was a bad idea, wait until
you mess with a kid under Ichi's protection. In Zatoichi
Challenged, our favorite blind swordsman is once again on
the road. But this time, he's with the young son of a recently
passed woman who, as her dying wish, asks Ichi to bring the boy to
his father in the town of Maebara. Naturally, Ichi plans honor her
request.
The problem arises when Ichi finds out that the boy's father,
Shokichi, is a talented artist forced to create forbidden art for a
band of gangsters. Can Ichi save the day? Can he save the father
from the vicious gangsters? What about these government officials
hell bent on wiping everyone and everything associated with such art
off the face of the Earth? Oh... and just who is this ronin Tajuro
Akazuka, anyway?
Zatoichi Challenged is
definitely a grade-A piece of Ichi
gold. The first half of the film does a lot to pump up Ichi's charm,
focusing on Ichi and the boy as they form a cute bond, which shows
off Ichi's softer side.
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It helps here that the child under Ichi's watchful "eye"
is a bit older than the last time he played baby-sitter (see #8:
Fight, Zatoichi, Fight for that adventure). There are
great moments of comedy (like when the child passes off a stone as a
piece of candy). Then the second half of the film kicks in and Ichi
takes off his clown mask and straps on the cane sword, letting the
blood fly. It also helps that this is one of the better photographed
Ichi films in the series, using bold vistas and colorful landscapes.
This DVD is another one of the Home Vision releases, with a
wonderful anamorphic widescreen transfer, clean Dolby Digital mono
sound and a select group of extras including trailers for Zatoichi's
Cane Sword, Zatoichi
Challenged and Zatoichi and
the Fugitives, along with a promo trailer for this
series, liner notes by Ray Pride and a reproduction of the
theatrical poster.
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Zatoichi
on DVD (Index)
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