Adventures of Zatoichi

Comes dangerously close to being the first "generic" entry in the series but the power of shintaro katsus acting & zatoichis character are just as strong here.The subplot of his desire to see his father again one day is one of the finest bits so far. Mikijiro hira has real menace and despite knowing better he got me for half a second worried zatoichi might lose their showdown. didn't like ichis new ability to be so impossibly fast that suspension of disbelief is broken in 2minor instances

While on a New Year's pilgrimage, Zatoichi agrees to deliver a letter for a stranger, and ends up drawn into a conflict between some villagers and the local yakuza boss. I'm impressed that despite following a pretty standard formula, these movies always find a fresh way to put the reluctant Ichi into situations where he's forced to take action. I also like that Ichi's reputation precedes him after all his escapades. That being said, this is a good but unexceptional entry in the series.

Very good.

So far I'd say you can rate a Zatoichi movie based on how long it takes to get to the good stuff (when emotions start showing and blood starts flowing). In the best ones so far (#6 and #8) it's right off the bat. Here it takes more than half the movie to get some blood flowing. It's still pretty entertaining, overall, but it is fairly unremarkable storywise and a bit slow.

2nd viewing

Unremarkable and mostly boring. These films usually overcome their standard formulas with interesting supporting characters, style, and comedic relief. Not much of those to be had here.

At this point in the series my sympathy for Ichi & the hard lot he keeps drawing has grown pretty strong, and maybe that's why I've found this to be the most effective Zatoichi movie since the first. Several things are done well: Ichi's main combat opponent is more interesting than usual; a bit of Ichi's backstory is revealed in a touching side plot; Ichi's sword tricks have entered into an interesting "so quick it's invisible" territory.