# Best Japanese Samurai Movie: (Zato-ichi)



## Iamasingularity (Dec 21, 2011)

So many of you might have heard of this movie, but most probably not. This story is about a blind samurai and the events that surround him in this movie. I don`t want to say much, because its gonna be a spoiler but please checkout this movie. This a well remade movie, so make sure you watch the 2003 version, starring (Takeshi Kitano) also know as Beato Takeshi. If you like action/thriller and samurais in general, this is something you won`t regret watching. Don`t judge without watching it. Watch and discuss:


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## ralphy1976 (Dec 21, 2011)

check out the 13 assassins if you haven't already done so (in japanese of course)

Zato-ichi from 2003 is really good. Good call there


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## ShadyDavey (Dec 21, 2011)

Yep, it's one I own and have enjoyed several times


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## AK DRAGON (Dec 21, 2011)

Zatoichi is one of my favorite samurai films. I've been searching for the complete TV series.


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## Iamasingularity (Dec 21, 2011)

AK DRAGON said:


> Zatoichi is one of my favorite samurai films. I've been searching for the complete TV series.



If you want I can search it for you, I live in Japan.


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## ry_z (Dec 21, 2011)

I enjoyed this film a lot.


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## Iamasingularity (Dec 21, 2011)

If I ever live to be old or become blind, I just wish I can stay as sharp as him.


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## synrgy (Dec 21, 2011)

There are approximately eleventy bajillion versions of this story on film. Most of them are awesome. 

I keep hoping that some day, someone will do a new version of Musashi. The book is fantastic, but the movie(s) based on the book are super old, and while not terrible, still weren't done particularly well.


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## The Grief Hole (Dec 21, 2011)

Kozure Ookami! Aka lone wolf and cub. Some of the old jaPanese tv series are great. The third series of hisarsu shigoto nin is some heavy shit.


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## Iamasingularity (Dec 21, 2011)

The Grief Hole said:


> Kozure Ookami! Aka lone wolf and cub. Some of the old jaPanese tv series are great. The third series of hisarsu shigoto nin is some heavy shit.


 
Ya I`ve read the manga version and seen the tv series. I just hope I could live up to be such a good role model and father. After watching it, I`ve always wanted to have a kid, but it`ll have to wait for now


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## signalgrey (Dec 21, 2011)

I love Takeshi Kitano. He was super creepy in Battle Royale too. Shame about his stroke though.


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## Iamasingularity (Dec 21, 2011)

signalgrey said:


> I love Takeshi Kitano. He was super creepy in Battle Royale too. Shame about his stroke though.


 
Yeah, sucks. He`s still doing well though. Hard to tell when he`s laughing though. I enjoyed Takeshi`s castle as a kid. Man that show was killer!


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## The Grief Hole (Dec 21, 2011)

Did he have a stroke?


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## Bloody_Inferno (Dec 21, 2011)

I grew up watching the classic Katsu Shintaro Zatoichi films, so I'm a little biased. But I did like this what Kitano did for this film. Hell, I even liked the Ichi film with Haruka Ayase.


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## signalgrey (Dec 21, 2011)

The Grief Hole said:


> Did he have a stroke?


yeah a while ago, part of his face is paralyzed too i think. sad.


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## Iamasingularity (Dec 21, 2011)

signalgrey said:


> yeah a while ago, part of his face is paralyzed too i think. sad.



His face got paralyzed after he tried to attempt suicide while driving his motorcycle. His body was kinda paralyzed as well, but surgery helped him recover.


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## HOKENSTYFE (Dec 23, 2011)

Kitano-Brilliant 
His Yakuza films are top-notch!

I saw the remake to Blind Swordman a few years ago...yeah, pretty cool. Not sure if this film qualifies, but...'Shogun Assassin'. My favorite, ninja/samurai/feudal Japan-artierial blood spray, booby-trapped baby-cart movie, ever!

Am hoping, Takashi Miike does a remake with, maybe Riki Takeguchi(?), worked with him on the Dead/Alive series, amongst other Miike, classics!


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## Iamasingularity (Dec 23, 2011)

Artierial blood sprays are the best. I wonder if they actually work like that. My dad was really drunk once, and he pissed of my dog. My dog retaliated and bit him on the leg, realeasing a high spray of blood. There were spots on the cieling too.


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## The Grief Hole (Dec 23, 2011)

HOKENSTYFE said:


> Kitano-Brilliant
> His Yakuza films are top-notch!
> 
> I saw the remake to Blind Swordman a few years ago...yeah, pretty cool. Not sure if this film qualifies, but...'Shogun Assassin'. My favorite, ninja/samurai/feudal Japan-artierial blood spray, booby-trapped baby-cart movie, ever!
> ...



Shogun assassin is lone wolf and cub (aka kosure ookami). The first two films were edited together and released under that name for western audiences. They did remake it for tv, so minus the blood but it had a total shock ending.

Dont forget lady snowblood which not only lent its theme tune to kill bill, but also features the wonderful meiko kaji (female prisoner scorpion) : )


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## ralphy1976 (Dec 23, 2011)

don't forget last samurai guys..i mean...Maverick IZ a samurai..C'mon!!!


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## Stealthdjentstic (Dec 23, 2011)

Iamasingularity said:


> Artierial blood sprays are the best. I wonder if they actually work like that. *My dad was really drunk once, and he pissed of my dog*. My dog retaliated and bit him on the leg, realeasing a high spray of blood. There were spots on the cieling too.



What...the...fuck? 


I wanna party with your dad, the R Kelly of Japan!


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## HOKENSTYFE (Dec 23, 2011)

Forgot about 'Lady Snowblood', always meant to see it...next to buy from Amazon! 

Edited together...? I got two Shogun Assassin films. One originally called Shogun Assassin & a sequel that blew ass, had guns and shit. Not what I was hoping for. The first of those two, had the three big hat, gonna get ripped off by that Kurt Russell film villains, female ninjas tearing up that one samurai and Lone Wolf on the run from the White haired evil lord! Which ever that one is, bloody fuckin' brilliant! It ends with the kid saying, sometimes I wish it would have ended differently!

Choose the ball, join your mother in heaven...

Choose the sword, join me on a path to hell...

...I always wished I'd have chosen the sword...if I was a little Japanese son of a hunted former samurai!


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## Bloody_Inferno (Dec 23, 2011)

HOKENSTYFE said:


> Edited together...? I got two Shogun Assassin films. One originally called Shogun Assassin & a sequel that blew ass, had guns and shit.



Lone Wolf and Cub was a 6 film affair. Shogun Assassin is basically the first 2 Lone Wolf and Cub films (Sword of Vengeance/Baby Cart in River Styx) cut apart and edited together, most of the scenes from the second one. SA2 was the third movie (Baby Cart to Hades) unedited. 

You thought that was ridiculous, the last one White Heaven in Hell was even more so.


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## Iamasingularity (Dec 23, 2011)

Stealthdjentstic said:


> What...the...fuck?
> 
> 
> I wanna party with your dad, the R Kelly of Japan!


 
I wish he was even close to be compared with R. Kelly. Anyways thanks guys for the comments, I plan to look into some of the movies/series you have mentioned. Looks like I have to catch up with what you guys have seen.


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## texshred777 (Dec 24, 2011)

Zato-ichi is awesome. My father introduced me to the old series way back in high school when IFC had their Samurai Saturdays(they still might, I don't know). 

Lone Wolf and Cub was a favorite as a child. I would watch that shit over and over.


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## HOKENSTYFE (Dec 24, 2011)

Nah, no more IFC samurai saturdays. That stopped the last two years. Got stale, the same three or four Zatoichi films! 

Not sure if this film will count...'Versus' by Ryuhei Kitamura. An opening sequence of feudal Japan, with samurai's and sword play. But the gist, a forest of resurrection, that is a portal of hell. Zombies, jail-breaks & gangsters. Time-displacement and a nice little love story. Did I mention, zombies...gangsters, karate and guns?


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## Iamasingularity (Dec 25, 2011)

HOKENSTYFE said:


> Nah, no more IFC samurai saturdays. That stopped the last two years. Got stale, the same three or four Zatoichi films!
> 
> Not sure if this film will count...'Versus' by Ryuhei Kitamura. An opening sequence of feudal Japan, with samurai's and sword play. But the gist, a forest of resurrection, that is a portal of hell. Zombies, jail-breaks & gangsters. Time-displacement and a nice little love story. Did I mention, zombies...gangsters, karate and guns?


 
Looks like I know what I`m watching today.


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## Bloody_Inferno (Dec 25, 2011)

HOKENSTYFE said:


> Not sure if this film will count...'Versus' by Ryuhei Kitamura. An opening sequence of feudal Japan, with samurai's and sword play. But the gist, a forest of resurrection, that is a portal of hell. Zombies, jail-breaks & gangsters. Time-displacement and a nice little love story. Did I mention, zombies...gangsters, karate and guns?



With the exception of Azumi 1+2 and Sky High, Ryuhei Kitamura's films focuses less on plot and more on pure action and lots of CG (particularly Versus and Aragami). Not that that's a bad thing, they're enjoyable for what they are. Aragami wins due to having Maybe I'll Die Tomorrow by Paul Gilbert as a theme song. 

If you're into that, check out Death Trance. Stars Tak Sakaguchi (Versus) and Kentaro Segal (Steven's son) and it's basically the guy who did the action scenes from Versus and Devil May Cry 3 making a film. Exactly what it sounds. 

If you liked Azumi, check out Shinobi Heart Under Blade. More or less a compressed retelling of the Iga/Koga ninja rivalry tales. For something more recent, check out Goemon: a CG filled epic tale based during the Sengoku period. 

As for classics, I'm surprised none of Akira Kurosawa's films have been mentioned.  Seven Samurai, Rashamon, Yojimbo and Hidden Fortress are given mandatory choices. As with the others like Ran, Kagemusha, Sanjuro, Throne of Blood, all great viewing.


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## Iamasingularity (Dec 25, 2011)

Bloody_Inferno said:


> As for classics, I'm surprised none of Akira Kurosawa's films have been mentioned.  Seven Samurai, Rashamon, Yojimbo and Hidden Fortress are given mandatory choices. As with the others like Ran, Kagemusha, Sanjuro, Throne of Blood, all great viewing.


 
Thanks for listing them, but when I posted I was thinking of the more modern films. Seven Samurai, Rashomon, Yojimbo/Etc are all great movies, but I find that most of the people I recommend them to can`t sit through a black and white movie. I guess it can`t be help for those who only watch color  Anyway thanks, I`m sure someone with interest will look into them.


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## Bloody_Inferno (Dec 25, 2011)

Fair enough, though I still believe visuals will never get in the way of good story telling. Mr George Lucas, please take note. These were your bread and butter once upon a time ago. 

Ran and Kagemusha are in colour though.


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## Iamasingularity (Dec 25, 2011)

Bloody_Inferno said:


> Fair enough, though I still believe visuals will never get in the way of good story telling. Mr George Lucas, please take note. These were your bread and butter once upon a time ago.
> 
> Ran and Kagemusha are in colour though.


 
Thats why I left them out. I often see you in posts related to Japan, or ones that you made yourself about things related to it. How come so much interest?


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## Bloody_Inferno (Dec 25, 2011)

Iamasingularity said:


> Thats why I left them out. I often see you in posts related to Japan, or ones that you made yourself about things related to it. How come so much interest?



I have a lot of Japanese friends, and I've stayed in Japan a few times. So basically I grew up with the culture embedded into my memory for as long as I can remember. If anything I'm just sharing the interest to others who have difficulty finding all this stuff. 

I can even add a ton of films from the Asian mainland too, but that would be getting slightly off topic... 

Speaking of new, isn't there a new Zatoichi movie (The Last Stand) released last year? Not sure if I wanna watch that one though..


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## Iamasingularity (Dec 25, 2011)

Bloody_Inferno said:


> I have a lot of Japanese friends, and I've stayed in Japan a few times. So basically I grew up with the culture embedded into my memory for as long as I can remember. If anything I'm just sharing the interest to others who have difficulty finding all this stuff.
> 
> I can even add a ton of films from the Asian mainland too, but that would be getting slightly off topic...
> 
> Speaking of new, isn't there a new Zatoichi movie (The Last Stand) released last year? Not sure if I wanna watch that one though..


 
I see, well thats good to know, glad your helping others with this kinda stuff. The new zatoichi movie... I haven`t seen it, my dad says its meh. compared to the old ones. Watching the new one won`t hurt though, but I really doubt it can top the one with Takeshi.


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## The Grief Hole (Dec 25, 2011)

There are some other great modern ones. Twilight Samurai was excellent (I thought) and less recently, Hanzo The Razor, starring the late, great Wakayama Tomisaburo (brother of Shintaro Katsu aka. Zatoichi).

For fans of everything asian there are a couple that are not samurai movies but are essential watches: Tetsuo, School Of The Holy Beast (amazing visual) and Pulse (the most realistic suicide in movies). Plus the mighty Akira (Tuesday night if you want Johar).

Totally on the China movie trip as well. The scene in Once Upon A Time In China when Yuen Biao first sees Iron Vest performing in the rain is one of the most epic scenes in cinema history.

The new zatoichi was the one with the girl?


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## Iamasingularity (Dec 25, 2011)

Haha alright man, do you want me to bring anything over?
Do you have the movie?


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## Bloody_Inferno (Dec 25, 2011)

The Grief Hole said:


> There are some other great modern ones. Twilight Samurai was excellent (I thought) and less recently, Hanzo The Razor, starring the late, great Wakayama Tomisaburo (brother of Shintaro Katsu aka. Zatoichi).
> 
> For fans of everything asian there are a couple that are not samurai movies but are essential watches: Tetsuo, School Of The Holy Beast (amazing visual) and Pulse (the most realistic suicide in movies). Plus the mighty Akira (Tuesday night if you want Johar).
> 
> ...



The new zatoichi you're referring to is Ichi, staring Haruka Ayase. It's not bad, but I just have a habit of watching everything with her in it.  The newest one has the dude from SMAP playing zatoichi, same dude that played Son Goku on the Saiyuki (Monkey Magic) series. 

Twilight Samurai is great. More focus on story telling than actual action, but the story was great. 

For others, let's not forget every single Sonny Chiba movie ever made. Too many to list, this includes Storm Riders. 

For Chinese, there's way to many for me to recommend. The aforementioned Once Upon A Time In China series are great... the first 3 at least. Everything after that gets a little bland. It's very easy to recommend every pre Hollywood Jackie Chan/Jet Li movie so I'll skip that. Most recent great efforts are Red Cliff (1/2) and . Try to avoid the condensed version. Ip Man was great too. Korean films ain't too shabby either with Musa, Duelist and Bichunmoo. 

Also, just for the sake of being thorough, I cannot recommend a film more highly than Mongol. Tadanobu Asano playing Genghis Khan is so full of win.


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## HOKENSTYFE (Dec 25, 2011)

Yup...seen & own, 'Death Trance'(meh), loved 'Alive', wicked prison/jedi-midiclorian, type sci-fi, action flick! Shinobi:Heart Under Blade...had hopes for this, thought it was a let down. There was a Korean film, a few years before...Bichunmoo, which I loved actually! 

MIIKE is god! '13 Assassins' (not my favorite Miike, but for this thread, see this film/ ICHI & DOA series my favorites!)

Just got done seeing 'Outrage' by 'Beat' Kitano...not bad! He did appear to still have some effects of the stroke...right side mouth movements were limited. If you didn't know any better, not to bad. Seems to have recovered nicely, glad for him!


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## HOKENSTYFE (Dec 25, 2011)

For the record, I have seen all the classics...black & white. You can not go wrong! All Japanese movies for me, have a depth sincerely lacking in Hollywood films! The Japanese belief of spirit and existence of the soul and it's power, is beyond approach!


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## HOKENSTYFE (Dec 25, 2011)

I just saw someone mention Chinese films...start a thread! I grew up with Chinese action films! Shaw Brothers, rule all! (5) Deadly Venoms, Masked Avengers, all rule. Kuo Choi & the crew. Always wanted to meet those guys. Half, have since passed on! 

Oh boy! Much to discuss! Unbeatable Dragon, (yeah I know...a ton of different names for these movies based on assholes that think because I'm American I can't count to W...wait...)


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## Iamasingularity (Dec 25, 2011)

I`m really glad your having fun and taking the time to post. I wish eveyone would give the old films a try too.
Also, try to put everything in one post, or the mods are gonna correct you.


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## HOKENSTYFE (Dec 25, 2011)

Iamasingularity said:


> I`m really glad your having fun and taking the time to post. I wish eveyone would give the old films a try too.
> Also, try to put everything in one post, or the mods are gonna correct you.



Sorry everybody! Just when my train of thought was over, here comes another thought! Would of posted all in one, per:edit! 

Been having trouble with that recently, actually! Every time I go to edit, then save, it re-posts the whole post, as well as keeps the original post! 

This site has been a little glitchy to me, as of recent! Sign in, go to post, you must be signed in to post! Ok...twice now, I'm in, see something to post in, draw up a post, save, then I get signed out! 

If I was still getting high, I might take it personal!


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## ry_z (Dec 25, 2011)

Bloody_Inferno said:


> Ran


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## The Grief Hole (Dec 25, 2011)

Ran is a beautiful movie. Kagemusha as well. Packed with Wabisabi (Traditional Japanese aesthetic).

Good call on Red Cliff 1 and 2. I watched it, not expecting much but it manages to pack so much character in to what are relatively short films.


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