The Tale of Zatoichi Continues

A year later, Zatoichi returns to the site of the gang war from the first movie to pay his respects to the dead, but finds some of the survivors are still holding a grudge against him. Complicating matters is the simultaneous arrival of a one armed killer played by Katsu's real life brother Tomisaburo Wakayama. Good action and emotional drama, but the finale is cut disappointingly short by a freeze frame right as the final battle begins. Unforgivable for a movie that's only 72 minutes long.

It’s only the second film in and Zatoichi gets not one, not two, but three love interests … and those are some great odds. The villains here have close to no menace, even the familial ones, and the plot suffers as a result. But there’s this moment over voiceover where Zatoichi recalls a frenemy, the camera tilts up, and two fish dart out of a lake. I doubt it was planned and its inclusion and execution is beautiful.

Feels a bit more episodic and less self-contained than the first film, though the larger scope of the fight scenes is a welcome improvement.

This felt more of a bookend to the first Zatoichi film. The plot is quite thin, it's barely 70mins and refers to events of the previous film. It's surprisingly melancholic as an action film with scenes like Zatoichi paying his respects to his opponent from the 1st film or reminiscing about his wife. It was fun to see Tomisaburo Wakayama of Lone Wolf fame as the one-armed swordsman (and more). Abrupt ending. It's not bad, but for me it is a clear step down from the original film.

Maratona Zatôichi filme #2. Não tão belo quanto o primeiro filme, mas igualmente trágico. Ainda bem que não leio sinopse de filme antes de assistir, essa do imdb entrega o twist do filme. Rá! Box Versátil.

In the second film in the Zatoichi series, Zatoichi discovers that a powerful lord is quite mad, and this targets him for death by the lord's retainers. There's also a mysterious samurai thrown into the mix whose true identity is quite a twist. This is a solid follow-up to the first film that even sees Zatoichi hook up with a woman for a romantic interlude.

Didn't quite connect with me as much as the first, but that last cut is magnificent

Very slight but more action-packed than it's predecessor. The plot is the thinnest possible, completely dependent on coincidences and cliches. But I appreciate that it's a true sequel picking up the events and characters from the last movie rather than just being a new story with the same main character. Also that ending is quite simply badass as hell.

Amazing fighting. Neat story.

Ostensibly a more-of-the-same sequel, but it can't really manage even that; it's missing both the mystical and gritty qualities that worked so well together in the first film. Dramatic beats feel over- or under-sold. The ending was pretty cool, though.

(2nd viewing)

Lighter, leaner, more abrupt, and less substantial than the first film. It features two competing, tenuously connected, and ultimately improbable plot threads. But nevertheless, Katsu is great and there's plenty of good swordplay.

Kind of a long coda to the first one.

Fine little samurai flick, but like many "part 2"s, seems a bit too confident that part 3 is on the way to secure its legacy. Will it? I look forward to finding out.

Competently shot, with some good action sequences (well, Zatoichi's fighting style is interesting), but there isn't much of a story and the film drags in between the two or three sword fights. (ps:67)

Truly awful writing. Despite the close proximity of release date to the original, I'm pretty sure this is a complete cash-in hack job.

More exciting than the first, but with the short runtime the story and characters (save Zatoichi) aren't fleshed out enough. I am definitely looking forward to seeing more of these, a feeling that I didn't find so much in the first one.

"It's the mood, atmosphere, and attitude that make the Zatoichi movies so damn cool."

A nice follow up with some good twist and turns. It builds somewhat on the first movie's story, but actually I feel they don't do much with what they've set up; yet the conclusion is very satisfactory. Perhaps the strongest point of the entire Ichi series is that all the movies have terrific endings.

Good film.