Perfect cast and a good story

Disturbing yet enthralling

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Adventures of Zatoichi is the ninth film of the franchise based upon the blind masseur. Zatoichi wants to celebrate New Year's Eve peacefully in a town next to a mountain where a lot of artists, businessmen and comedians have gathered. However, they are soon informed that the local intendant plans on asking forty percent of their profits. This isn't the only bad news as Zatoichi must share his room with two beautiful but desperate women. One is looking for her father who mysteriously disappeared about a month ago. The other one secretly meets her brother who was tricked into committing a crime for the local intendant, just to be captured and sent into exile and who managed to escape to have his revenge. Zatoichi wants to help the two women and put an end to the local intendant's abusive reign of terror.One element I liked about the movie was the intriguing cast of characters. The two resilient and strong women aren't as flat and stereotyped as in other films of the franchise and one actually cares about their fates. Two other interesting characters are two gymnast boys who occasionally help Zatoichi and the two women and are a welcome change if compared to the kids that usually just make fun of the blind swordsman in the other movies. Zatoichi also has to face two quite intriguing swordsmen hired by the local intendant. One of them is frustrated by his low salary and decides to avoid fighting Zatoichi. The other one is a disillusioned man from a poor family who only wants to fight Zatoichi because he sees a valuable opponent in him. Another intriguing character is an old drunkard who reminds Zatoichi of his own father.This leads to another strong element of the story. This film gives us some more background information about Zatoichi. It tells us how he got separated from his father when he was just five years old and how he desires to meet him again. The movie exposes Zatoichi's desire to have a normal life with a normal family as he grows tired of his life as a criminal and drifter. The film adds some depth to an already intriguing protagonist.Another element to appreciate is the movie's atmosphere. The diversified locations include traditional Japanese inns, shady bars and dark guard stations. The numerous colorful artists, businessmen and comedians are also interesting to watch. The movie is filmed with much precision and beautiful backdrops. Especially the final scenes with sword fights in the snow and a rising sun above a mountain are particularly beautiful. The film finds the right balance between gloomy backdrops and beautiful settings.However, the film also has a few minor flaws. The story is nicely developed and unfolds smoothly but it's hardly surprising and lacking fresh elements. Most twists are quite predictable and only the side story between the blind masseur and the local drunkard tries to add something new to the franchise. Another problem is that the sword fights aren't particularly interesting. They are often brief and repetitive and especially the final showdown is slightly underwhelming.In the end, Adventures of Zatoichi is a good average entry in the franchise as it neither stands out negatively or positively. Those who are familiar with the franchise will like this film for sure. Those who aren't familiar with it yet shouldn't start here and either watch the very first film or the contemporary remake with Kitano Takeshi.

Kimiyoshi Yasuda, who directed Zatoichi #5 ("On the Road") which is my least favorite of the bunch so far, returns for #9, generically titled/translated as Adventures of Zatoichi, which turned out to be my second least favorite Zatoichi film right after #5. This isn't the last Zatoichi film directed by Yasuda either, so I hope his later efforts will be better.With a title like Adventures of Zatoichi, you can only expect two things. Either the plot is so generic that they couldn't describe it any way else so they went with the most commonplace title possible, or this entry in the series actually has some fresh and imaginative, well, adventures, to offer. Unfortunately, the former approach is the case here. #9 just doesn't offer anything new to the table that already hasn't been explored in the series yet. Yes, we do have a fake-out concerning the where-abouts of Ichi's father, but aside from that, the only characters that make this film stand out are two comedians at the start. I also remember there were two kids in red kimonos in this movie. Yes, it didn't really stick in my memory.The music feels too loud and intrusive in this film, and the color work is, like in #5, pretty bland with endless variations of gray hues and dark spaces. There are some interesting compositions in the final 20 minutes, but aside from that, the film looks the same as it feels, as a cookie-cutter placeholder without much to offer.Highlight of this particular film would have to be the duel between Zatoichi and some villain in a snowy field, I think.

I love the Zatoichi movies, though I have found that because they made so many and the plots tended to blend together so often, it is hard to distinguish them apart. I would give all of them about the same score of a 7 or an 8--with a few exceptions (the return of the original in 1989 was a TERRIBLE and depressing movie, while the new Zatoichi movie starring Beat Takeshi is probably the best of any Zatoichi movies).Of the original Zatoichi films, this is probably my second favorite film. The two women he helps and the interconnectedness of their stories make this a much better than average blind swordsman movie. Give it a watch.

For those of who have viewed and enjoyed the first 8 films in the series, this entry doesn't have many surprises. Yet, I still enjoyed Adventures of Zatoichi thoroughly. The film's strength is in the fine ensemble of characters throughout. I especially enjoyed the two traditional comedians at the beginning of the film. In addition, the boss has two very interesting yojimbos. The newly hired yojimbo has to be one of the smartest in the complete series. After watching Zatoichi fight several times, he calmly informs Zatoichi that he has no desire to fight him because he isn't getting paid enough. He then amicably turns away and walks off into the mountains! The more senior yojimbo is unhappy with his prospects as a third son of a low ranking samurai. He shares this information over a few cups of sake that Zatoichi offers him. In the end, this is the big duel at the end of the film. The duel takes place at night, with swirling snow. It's a great scene.If you have seen a few entries in the series and are looking for something different, keep looking! If you like the formula of the series and haven't seen this entry yet, you should find this film very enjoyable.