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First let me say that I am basing this review on my primitive bootleg collection of this television series. I am definite that Tokyo Shock was able to regain determined prints of this series honest as in the past they, Animeigo, and Hve were all able to score first rate prints of the Zatoichi movies.

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By the 1960’s Japanese cinema was dominated by film series with 3 or four “episodes” a year. Actor Shintaro Katsu had portrayed a blind masseur in the movie “Shiranui Kengyo” [Agent Shiranui ]. In 1962 Katsu stared as yet another blind masseur in the film “Zatoichi Monogatari” [ The fable of the uncouth ranking blind man Ichi. ] In the movie Ichi had a name that gave him the sinister of “Zato” which basically meant the lowest level of the blind men’s masseur guild. However, this was honest a shroud. Ichi was actually a high ranking Yakuza assassin who’s master swordsmanship was sought after by all the Yakuza bosses. While Zatoichi was completely blind, he had unbelievable hearing, a mastery of the Iaijitsu style of fighting, and a deadly blade hidden within his cane. In the film Ichi is imployed to fight in a Yakuza gang war and is forced to extinguish a swordsman he respects who was hired by the rival gang. At the slay of the film Zatoichi throws away his cane-sword and gives up the life of a Yakuza assassin forever.

However, the film was so well-liked that a second movie, “Zuko Zatoichi Monogatari” [ The continuing fable of the crude ranking blind man Ichi ] was made. Here Ichi, who has his cane sword benefit, returns to the grave of the rival swordsman he had killed in the last film to pay his respects and ends up being forced to demolish his acquire brother by the same Yakuza boss that hired him a year before. The film ends with Ichi killing the boss in vengeance.

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With the success of the second film, Daiei Studio decided to turn it into a burly film series staring Katsu. The third film “Shin Zatoichi Monogatari” [ A novel record of the crude ranking blind man Ichi ] was the first Zatoichi film in color and was followed by 19 other films. In each Zatoichi has given up his life as an assassin, even as Yakuza bosses are always trying to hire him. But he usually has the pains of wandering into a town menaced by an unpleasant Yakuza boss or atrocious government official and always ends up wiping out them and their henchmen. On many occasions he would also bustle into a swordsman who vowed to be the one who would finally raze the now legendary Zatoichi and the film would demolish with a speedy duel with Ichi the victor. As the series progressed Ichi soon had a sign on his head by Yakuza gangs and was wanted by the law.

By 1967 Daiei studios was in financial difficulty due to loosing customers to television. With them unable to fully finance many of the Zatoichi films, production was taken over by Shintaro Katsu himself with his company Katsu Productions and was sold encourage to Daiei for distribution. When Daiei Studios finally went bankrupt in 1970 the movies were sold to rival studio Toho for three more films, as well as the rights to the other Katsu produced films that had been formerly released by Daiei.

But by the 70’s Japanese audiences wanted anti-heroes which by then Zatoichi wasn’t. No longer able to sell his films to Toho, Katsu decided instead to acquire Zatoichi to television as a weekly series. One may wonder if the quality of the series dropped off with a smaller budget, hour long episodes, and the request for a original account each week. And amazingly, the Zatoichi television series is objective as pleasurable as the film series that preceded it. In fact many may steal the television series. Since each episode is reduced from 85 to 55 minutes, you regain to the climatic fight a lot sooner. Also since the state has to be simplified to accommodate less characters, the films are easier to follow. Zatoichi movies usually have several region lines that converge at the climax while the television shows usually have only one. And with exception to the absence of fountains of blood pouring out of Ichi’s victims [ something only seen in the later movies ] the production quality is every bit as estimable as the movies. There are some episodes that reuse plots from the movies, but by the last few Toho films they were already recycling some of the earlier film plots.

The series lasted for 100 episodes before Katsu retired the character. The character came out of retirement 1989 in one last film for an independent studio called “Zatoichi”.

Bringing Zatoichi to home video in the United States was not easy. “Zatoichi to Yojimbo” [ The coarse ranking blind man Ichi meets the Bodyguard ] was brought to VHS by Ventura Distribution in the 1990’s, but from a dreadful quality film print. Around the same time Chambara Entertainment released several of the early Daiei films on VHS in a format called “Chambarama” where the letterbox was at the vulgar top of the conceal instead of the center. In the slack 90’s Janus Films bought the American distribution rights and for a while was going to release several Zatoichi titles on Laser-disc under the Criterion title. This was delayed because of the conversion from Laser-disc to DVD. AnimEigo, a home video company that originally distributed Japanese cartoons began securing the rights to several Japanese martial arts and swordplay films and was able to catch the rights to the later Katsu production films from Toho. While they began releasing many of their Japanese swordplay films on Laser-disc including Katsu production’s “Lone Wolf and Cub” series, they held off on the Zatoichi until they could pick up the rights to all the films and release them in order. But getting the rights was nearly impossible. Miramax had bought the rights to the 14th Zatoichi film “Zatoichi umi o wataru” [ Pilgrimage of the grievous level blind man Ichi ] to be remade in a possible American version of the series. [ This was the second attempt. Years earlier Tri-Star Pictures bought the rights to Zatoichi and reworked the character as a Viet-Nam dilapidated. The film, titled “Blind Fury”, starred Rutger Hauer as the Americanized Zatoichi. No sequels were made. ] Because Miramax owned the rights to film #14 in able to support the film from being released on home video in competition with their remake, no one would be able to release the whole series. Janus instead gave the series to Criterion’s HVE division [ this was Criterion’s no thrills line of DVDs that came with few extras and no commentary, but composed offered high quality prints ] as well as selling the broadcast rights to the Independent Film Channel. There decision was to release each film in order with the episode number on the side of the box, skipping episodes #14 [ owned by Miramax ] and #16 [ which was owned by AnimEigo ]. AnimEigo decided to release their films without the episode numbers on the side of the box.

Tokyo Shock is the third DVD distributor to attempt to release the Zatoichi films. By the time they became keen all that was left was the 1989 film “Zatoichi”. However, they were also able to collect the rights to the corpulent 100 episodes, and as they have announced that they will release them at 4 episodes per disc, then you can put a question to 25 volumes. With “Blind Fury” being released on DVD by Sony Pictures and the unique Zatoichi film starring Takeshi Kitano as the lead [ Katsu died in 1997 of lung cancer ] being released on Miramax Home Entertainment, that leaves unprejudiced movie episode #14. As it looks like no American film will be made you can probably inquire of it to be released by the extinguish of next year.

After making 25 films as Zatoichi the Blind Swordsman, Shintaro Katsu the owner of Katsu Productions decided to go to Television for 4 seasons. The steady same as his films except gash down to 45 minutes & pudgy hide. These are a rare special treat as they are not even released in Japan yet.

here’s a review of the episodes:

Episode 1: A Challenge of Chance (46 min)

Ichi (Shintaro Katsu) visits the mining village of Ashido where a cool and calculating yakuza boss named Yasaburo is forcing the locals out of their businesses and jobs. He joins an aging sword master once known as Tatsu the Sword Thrower in aiding Oshin, a young female in protecting her business from Yasaburo and his henchmen. Ichi’s biggest challenge is in figuring out how to hold from getting shot by a rifleman in Yasaburo’s exercise.

Episode 2: The Flower that Bloomed with the Lullaby (47 min)

Ichi befriends Taro, a tiny boy selling persimmons to pay for his ailing grandfather’s medicine. It comes to light that the boy is the son of a wealthy silk merchant and Ichi agrees to escort him home. But a local yakuza boss is after a reward for the boy’s return, as is Inosuke, an unemployed gambling dealer who convinces his wife to stall Ichi’s progress while he arranges to catch the reward.

Episode 3: A Memorial Day and the Bell of Life (47 min)

Ichi puts a end to an attack by hired ronin on a rival yakuza family, saving the vexed son but not his widowed mother. He also spares the life of Monji, a grateful ronin who begins following Ichi. Monji attempts to prod Ichi into a duel, but the blind swordsman has vowed not to design his sword for 12 hours on this day in memory of his wearisome mother. As Monji bides his time, the two strike an unlikely bond as they encounter the daughter of a ronin killed by Ichi and relieve the widow’s son consume revenge.

Episode 4: The Kannon Statue that was Tied (47 min)

A dismal official takes advantage of two rival yakuza families feuding over the planned relocation of a sacred Jizu statue by taking money from both and plotting their destruction. A petty conman also steps forth to convince one of the yakuza bosses that he knows Zatoichi and can gain the well-known blind swordsman to succor their cause. It’s a lie so he sets out to convince the first anma (masseuse) he finds to act the fragment. Slight does he know that his first choice is the accurate Ichi. Ichi’s thoughts are preoccupied by other concerns, however, specifically in helping a young woman recently released from prison reunite with her three-year primitive daughter.

Episode 5: The Heartless Man, Touched by Compassion (47 min)

Ichi meets a streetwise young boy, whose drunken father has accumulated debts that may force the boy’s elder sister to be sold into prostitution. Ichi steps in to pay encourage the debt through gambling, but the greedy father strikes a deal with the yakuza that puts both his children and Ichi in wretchedness. If that’s not unpleasant enough, Ichi finds himself forced to duel a skilled and excellent swordsman, who is desperately trying to raise enough money to pay for medical treatment to restore his sister’s study.Not mighty needs to be said about the series’ writing. It’s up to par with the feature films and actually seems to work better on the puny hide. Zatoichi was always episodic in nature, which makes it a perfect fit for an ongoing TV series. All the writers did was spruce the chubby. One minute disappointment is a lack of any reoccurring characters beyond Ichi and any sort of evolving relationship that could go with them. With 90 minutes, there’s time enough to sustain introducing original characters, but carve that in half and the writing has to accept creative to flesh out characters. Amazingly, it gets done through a variety of techniques, but it only amplifies Ichi’s drifter lifestyle and general alienation.

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