07-08-2014, 11:30 AM
I forgot to mention that there was a Kung Fu villain in Trapped! He had a really odd dao, and did a lot of flying moves. Overall, Crimson Bat feels a little more like a Kung Fu film than Chanbara, especially the soundtrack which sounds like a Carl Stalling hangover.
So I wound up binging on CB last night. Finished the series. It was very enjoyable.
Watch Out, Crimson Bat!
Oichi establishes herself as a bounty hunter, which is a great foil for lots of swordfights. Giants villains are introduced. There's a surreal and incongruous duel - fan vs. throwing daggers - on a performance stage with another female fighter. The plot centers around delivering a scroll with a formula for gun powder, and there's this persistent undertone of WMD issues (after all, Japan was the only country that has actually experienced a nuclear attack). There's a frenemy ronin and two annoying orphan urchins. The fact that Oichi is blind hardly enters into it. It's a convoluted plot but the payout is magnificent. Great fights. Long extended complicated single shot scenes with both the ronin and Oichi laying waste to dozens of yakuza at a time. It's really all about watching Oichi move. She brings a unique grace to her swordwomanship, an ethereal quality like a geisha banshee.
Crimson Bat Wanted Dead or Alive
The final installment in the series, sad to say, although Oichi walks off in the sunset at the end as if to move towards another installment. A forced relocation, a friendly ronin village protector, more villainous yakuza including bounty hunters hunting bounty hunter Oichi (one of which is a giant monk). The fights are great and copious, although fairly bloodless. I was sorry to see it end.
After that, I was itchin for more Ichi, so I started watching Ichi and was quickly reminded that I had seen it before: <!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="http://brotherhoodofdoom.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1953">viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1953</a><!-- l -->. I got about half an hour in until I realized it was super late and I should go to sleep.
So I wound up binging on CB last night. Finished the series. It was very enjoyable.
Watch Out, Crimson Bat!
Oichi establishes herself as a bounty hunter, which is a great foil for lots of swordfights. Giants villains are introduced. There's a surreal and incongruous duel - fan vs. throwing daggers - on a performance stage with another female fighter. The plot centers around delivering a scroll with a formula for gun powder, and there's this persistent undertone of WMD issues (after all, Japan was the only country that has actually experienced a nuclear attack). There's a frenemy ronin and two annoying orphan urchins. The fact that Oichi is blind hardly enters into it. It's a convoluted plot but the payout is magnificent. Great fights. Long extended complicated single shot scenes with both the ronin and Oichi laying waste to dozens of yakuza at a time. It's really all about watching Oichi move. She brings a unique grace to her swordwomanship, an ethereal quality like a geisha banshee.
Crimson Bat Wanted Dead or Alive
The final installment in the series, sad to say, although Oichi walks off in the sunset at the end as if to move towards another installment. A forced relocation, a friendly ronin village protector, more villainous yakuza including bounty hunters hunting bounty hunter Oichi (one of which is a giant monk). The fights are great and copious, although fairly bloodless. I was sorry to see it end.
After that, I was itchin for more Ichi, so I started watching Ichi and was quickly reminded that I had seen it before: <!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="http://brotherhoodofdoom.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1953">viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1953</a><!-- l -->. I got about half an hour in until I realized it was super late and I should go to sleep.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse