Zatoichi

[Drunk Monk]

S1e6 was unusually brooding, even for tragic Zatoichi. He confesses his fears to an ex-prostitute who was freed by her brother when he joined the yakuza to make the money to buy her freedom, only to be killed by Ichi. Out of guilt, Ichi gives her his cane sword as a pledge if she stops drinking. Then he’s attacked by the local yakuza, plus their hired ronin who is also an expert swordsman and cuts a moth in two without even looking. The big fight happens in a torrential downpour which heightens the grim drama, plus there’s some wacky cinematography like a bird’s eye shot looking down at an narrow alley in pouring rain that I liked a lot. This one wasn’t as strong storywise and the previous - it felt more abstract and disjointed, but therein lies it’s charm.

[Drunk Monk]

In e7, Ichi makes a friend, a bird loving samurai, and amazingly, he survives. He’s a peaceful samurai who has never killed anyone. Instead he smears goo on their eyes. Ichi kills a lot of swordsmen tho. And there’s a peasant aspiring to be yakuza. That never ends well.

[Drunk Monk]

In e8, Ichi rescues another prostitute, sold to a brothel by some cheating dude. As a cover, she claims Ichi to be her husband. There's a low level yakuza head who has excessive nose hairs and plucks them while listening to her play shamisen. That was strangely disgusting and I was pleased when Ichi cut him down. Good finale fight, and you can probably guess the prostitute's fate.

[Drunk Monk]

E9 has a Zatoichi impersonator and Ichi reveals he was once named Boroichi. It’s mildly funny to watch the impersonator and all that believe him. The femme fatale is truly evil. Then it gets sadistic. Then Ichi kills everyone.

[Drunk Monk]

E10 starts with a suicide by hanging attempt again, but it’s a wannabe sumo wrestler so the bean breaks and he falls on Ichi. The rest is a tale of karma and redemption, a yakuza who reforms into a soba shop owner (made me crave soba). And there’s a ronin so there’s some dueling. Ichi slaughters a yakuza gang and its leader with his usual panache - like two dozen plus yakuza who just cannot get a cut in on Ichi. Then that finale duel is a beaut. Katsu pulls off a wicked draw cut and noto (re-sheathing - the trickiest part). It’s one clean clear shot that looks like a simple bit but that noto of Katsu’s is so skillful. He has such a gorgeous noto. He makes it look so easy but Ichi’s cane sword doesn’t have a lip and he doesn’t make a koi-guchi ‘shelf’ with his hand to run the blade along and feel for the opening. He just drops it in. That’s very skillful. Pure skill. For all Katsu’s goofy antics, he handles his blade like a true master.

[Drunk Monk]

E11 had some fresh twists. There’s a traveling doctor and his daughter, and a drunk ronin with a pistol. He shoots Ichi for 10 ryu (bought by a snivelly yakuza boss that Ichi cuts in the opening scene). Ichi is mended by the doctor but has to rest and the yakuza try everything to finish him off, even paying the Fu man another 30 ryu. But that ronin has a history with the doc’s daughter and was himself a doc.

The revenge scene after Ichi recovers is great. He sneakily cuts a hole in the floor and drops the yakuza boss so only his head is showing and tells him not to move. But he does and a misty arterial spray emerges as the boss slumps over. Then he rises from the floor surrounded by hench yakuza which he slays furiously, including a beautiful oner where he drops 3 outside a doorway, then walks towards the camera to be ambushed by more that he drops, and then that simple noto, tip straight and smooth into the scabbard - such a masterful move. Shintaro Katsu was such a fine swordsman. He continues to impress.

I don’t know why everyone eats rice balls so sloppily tho. I get why Ichi does - he’s blind - but the rest? Wth?