Zatoichi Movies (and a Remake! ^^)

[Shinken]

As everybody knows, I'm a huge samurai fan. So, I've obviously seen the Zatoichi movies. For those of you who don't know what I'm ranting about, they revolved around a wandering swordsman named Ichi. To get by, he's a masseusse/gambler, and he's also extremely well-trained in the use of a katana. But there's a catch: He's completely BLIND. ^^x So of course, he's capable of seemingly super-human sword tricks.

My question is this: Has anyone else seen them? I'd like to discuss them, so I can refresh my memory for the upcoming remake ( [url]http://www.miramax.com/zatoichi/index.html[/url] ). Yes, that's right, they're doing a remake. With much better fight scenes, nonetheless. I saw a certain fight scene on NHK, and let me put it this way: [b]Look at the visceral juices fly![/b]

I hope I'm not the only one who's seen these. Then again, I'm used to being in the minority! (50-50!) ^^x

[Semjaza]

I'm glad the remake has been picked up for US release. I'm interested in seeing it.

I don't know a lot about Zatoichi, but I like what I've seen. I'm not really a big samurai movie fan either. However, these are pretty cool and I've enjoyed Katsu Shintaro's performances. The guy is pretty amazing in these. I was surprised to learn of how popular they are in Japan... Apparently it's comparable to James Bond's popularity elsewhere.

Animego (or however it is spelled) is putting out some new ones soon, I believe. I'm hoping to pick them up soon.

[Shinken]

Speaking of their popularity, the Zatoichi movies were even used in the production of the Marvel superhero movie [i]Daredevil[/i]. Seeing as how both Zatoichi and Matt Murdock are blind, the director had Ben Affleck watch them so he could see how to act blind. Use that little tidbit the next time you're playing Trivial Pursuit.

[future girl]

I'm a huge fan of Zatoichi the Man Slayer, heh. Samurai Saturdays on the IFC ^_^. I don't even know if those are still going on, but I've seen quite a few of the Blind Swordsman Movies because of them. I'm quite a fan ::points to pictures on wall::. I'm not really that big of a samurai freak anymore, it was one of those stages in my life. To me these movies are a bit like the predecessor to what anime is now, in fact I find the Blind Samurai to be really similar to Rurouni Kenshin in that their both searching for redemption.

In any case, I hadn't heard there was gonna be a remake. I'm definately looking foward to this.

[BlueYoshi]

[color=teal]I watched the Zatoichi movie the first day that it came out in cinemas over here in the UK. Nothing about the actual story turned my attention to the film, plus I hardly knew what it was before seeing the movie poster, but the fact that it was a 'Beat' Takeshi film was an incentive of its own to see it.

It's a very typical Ronin type of film where Ichi just travels around with no intention of going anywhere in particular, he just happens to save who ever is in peril while he's at it. Zatoichi was an extra ordinary film, as the director wanted to merge it with an anime-esque look. Hence how the blood is. Granted that this method did allow for a lot more gruesome battles and deaths, but for a show that has a name to live up to I didn't think it was necessary.

Admittedly, I thought I could see where the story was going from a mile away, and I was right, however, with Takeshi knowing that he?s going to approach a predictable story line, he decided to twist it around once more, so in a way it's not all that obvious.

Zatoichi was made upon a personal request from an old lady who wanted to see the series in its prime again, which generally gave him the motivation to go with it. He had to go about things in his own way, like giving Ichi blonde hair, and circulating part of the plot around a transvestite Geisha. In a way, Takeshi kind of added some essence to it overall by making it more demonstrable than the usual blood-fests that they are.

It's almost your typical superhero adventure, too. The hero will always win against the thugs, but will have some difficulty with the leader or head, which is exactly the case with this Zatoichi movie. There are perilous occasions, but most of the time you'll be seeing Ichi?s opponent's blood fly. I can only imagine anyone taking interest in Zatoichi if they've actually got some background on the initial idea of it, or are at least into the genre it's based under.

I liked the film though, it's not worth buying and you won't feel the need or urge to watch it a second time, but primarily it's a scratch above the rest of today's Samurai/Feudal Japan movies.[/color]

[WW2]

I've known about Zatoichi for a while now, and was suprised to hear Miramax was releasing the latest movie in American theaters.
I guess its due to the popularity of Kill Bill.

As for the older movies, I haven't ever seen any. But I did see the Zatoichi inspired American remake: Blind Justice, and it was um....ok.

I heard they're re-releasing the older films on DVD next month, in support of the new movie's theatrical release.
Maybe I'll see em' then.

Hopefully they'll be as entertaining as the Yojimbo/Sanjuro films.

Does anyone know if Miramax dubbed the movie into English? I sure hope not.

[BlueYoshi]

[color=teal]Yes, the movie will be dubbed into English for the US release, unfortunately. It's not the end of the world though, I'm sure that there'll be an option that will allow you to view the film with the original Japanese dialogue, just the way Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon did.

Personally, I wouldn't recommend buying it. Don't get me wrong, Zatoichi is far from tentative, it's just the content; I believe you can get your kicks out of it in the same way you would by simply watching any other action orientated anime series.[/color]