Zatoichi's Revenge

Watching these in a row this came as a surprise. Akira inoue decided to lay it on thick with style. Its got a great soundtrack and interesting direction. I won't say it all works but its still a pretty film. Its also more grim. Zatoichi still plays the affable oblivious man till he unleashes. Lots of thrilling anticipation in this one. His agreeing to the duel was one of my fav moments of the series so far. The side characters are more sympathetic than usual. Huge bodycount of badguys in the end

Zatoichi goes to visit the man who taught him the massage trade, only to find his sensei dead and his daughter being forced to work in a brothel. When his investigation uncovers a conspiracy between the local yakuza and a government official, Ichi righteously decides to take them all down. It's got a cool western guitar theme, a colorful cast of supporting characters and the biggest final battle yet...Ichi slaughters dozens of men and they just keep coming. Great stuff.

The script is thin, but the characterization is strong. Being that the stakes are more personal for Ichi this time around, this is among the bleaker episodes, the swordsman even going so far as to kill two men execution style. It's also one of the more impressively crafted installments: the immaculate framing, the autumnal color scheme, the use of flashback, the strange acoustic score.

Zatoichi returns to the village of his teacher and finds that he has been murdered and his daughter coerced into becoming a prostitute. He investigates and uncovers a conspiracy between the local Yakuza boss and magistrate to force women into prostitution. An unusually serious and dour entry in the series, but also one of the best.

Nominally one of the "darker" installments, this one is full of grim righteousness but pretty thin in terms of character and story.