Yôen dokufu-den: Okatsu kyôjô-tabi

Perhaps the honchos at Toei Studios were desperate to have a female "demon" fighter of some sort starring Junko Miyazono or how else can one explain the same film premise being redone in 3 variations within the course of two years? All the elements from "Female Demon Ohyaku" and "Quick Draw Okatsu" are here again. Is it any better? Well, that's a good question.

After a cool opening abstract action scene, we are treated to the sight of farmers being oppressed, kidnapped and murdered by the local ruling elite who are running a black market tobacco ring. Investigating this is Mr. Makebe a medium ranking samurai who writes down all the misdeeds of his compatriots and strangely attempts, on his own, to convince the leader Judayu to stop his criminal operation before the central government finds out. Judayu doesn't go along with this idea, captures Mr. Makebe and subjects him to a water wheel torture to find out where the document is hidden. When this doesn't produce results, Judayu tricks Makebe's wife and daughter, Okatsu, to his house where they are threatened with rape in front of Makebe. Mrs Makebe is thrown into a cage with grunting criminals who try to rape her but Okatsu, who we've seen perfect a special technique in sword fighting class earlier, breaks free and battles the minions of Judayu. In the mêlée Mr. Makebe kills himself and his wife but not before telling Okatsu where the document is hidden. Okatsu's sword instructor shows up and tricks her into letting her guard down then knocks her out. The evil Judayu rapes Okastu but she won't reveal where the document is hidden. Judayu then enlists the help of Okatsu's pathetic fiancé who helps Okatsu to "escape" only to see if she goes for the document. She gets it and goes on a quest for revenge against Judayu while being tailed by her fiancé.

Does the story sound a little un-thought out? Well that's because it isn't thought out very well at all. There are some big plot holes such as when Okatsu gets the document but no-one tries to get from her when she finds it. There's a scene of the bad guys feeding the farmers and suddenly killing them all. Why? Who knows, it isn't explained. Other times the bad guys just stop fighting and run away even though they seem to have the advantage. It's unfortunate since this is the best looking film in the trio. The camera and lighting are great. The actors are once again great and the fight scenes are well done at times. Junko Miyazono still seems uncomfortable with a sword but there are a few scenes where the choreography is perfect for her abilities. Of course her acting makes up for her physical limitations. As a note, Tomisaburo Wakayama wasn't involved in this film.

So we have three films where the chief villain virtually repeats the same lecherous threats against the heroine. We have virtually the same rape scene three times. We have two films where the family is tortured to death and two films with a plucky young woman in shorts/ miniskirt. This time the Rui character shows up as an orphan living in a temple but unlike "Quick-Draw Okatsu", she really has no point being in this film at all and is wasted. She kicks one guy, jumps into a tree and essentially disappears for the rest of the film.

This film isn't bad at all despite the poor plot structure, you should just watch it with some time between watching the other films otherwise the repetition might be deadly.

This third film in the trilogy begins with a group of farmers being brutally beaten and used for slave labor by samurai under the leadership of a man named "Judayu Tashiro" (Hisaya Ito). It is then revealed that the reason for this abuse is because Judayu has just created an illegal tobacco smuggling ring, and he is abusing the farmers as a means to an end. The scene then shifts to a young woman named "Okatsu" (Junko Miyazono) being happily betrothed by her father "Makabe" (Akitake Kono) to a young samurai by the name of "Shinzaburo" (Yataro Kitagami). But just prior to that, it is revealed that Makabe has become aware of the cruelty perpetuated by Judayu Tashiro to the farmers--along with the smuggling operation--and has decided to appeal directly to him to get him to stop. What he doesn't realize, however, is the lengths that Judayu is willing to go to keep his illegal business functioning, and that by revealing what he knows, Makabe has put his whole family at risk. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this film had absolutely no connection to either the first or second film in the trilogy and was--rather than being a continuation of the same story--a generally lackluster retelling of that story instead. In other words, although all three films are marketed as a trilogy, none of them actually take up where the last one left off, or even relate to one another. Although I cannot say why this is the case, what I do know is that each of these films has Junko Miyazono as the main actress, and she performs quite well in all three. That said, however, it wasn't enough to overcome what was essentially an unimaginative plot, and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly below average.

Okatsu the Fugitive is the third film in the "Ohyaku/Okatsu" series, which sees a female sword master getting revenge on people. Like the second entry in the series, this one is basically just the same idea as the first film with a different storyline. It doesn't follow on from the other two films in any way and indeed the plot line is entirely different in this film than it was in the other two and the only similarity is the lead character's name. It has to be said that this is the weakest of the three films too; as while the first two provided entertaining stories in their own rights; this one is far too muddled. The plot once again focuses on Okatsu; a "tomboy" who is good with a sword. Her father has found her a man to marry and actually she doesn't seem too upset about the situation. At the same time, a bunch of farmers are being slaughtered by a corrupt group running a tobacco smuggling ring. They're being investigated by a man who is documenting their crimes and when they find out about it, they torture him for information but get none. It's not long before he and Okatsu's mother wind up dead and she sets out for revenge.

The plot has a lot to it, although it's not really a good thing because the film feels like it doesn't really have time to get through everything. To its credit, the plot of this film is more different to the plot of the first film than the plot of the second film was, but even so; it could have done with being a bit better thought out. On the technical side of things, this is definitely a very good film however and is probably the best filmed of the lot of them. The cinematography is beautiful and the locations are all captured nicely. Director Nobuo Nakagawa also delights in showing us some great surreal shots towards the end. There's a fair amount of violence in the movie; although I would say it's not as bloodthirsty as the previous entry. Still, the blood flows and there's plenty of action. The final revenge sequence is really good and just about justifies watching the rest of the film to get there. Overall, this is still a decent film and definitely a must see for anyone that enjoyed the other two films in the series; although it is the weakest of the trilogy.

Not a particularly exciting film. Okatsu's (Junko Miyazono) parents are killed by a tobacco smuggling gangster. After Florida increases the tobacco tax a dollar on top of the dollar increase in the federal tax, we may see more of these types here.

The gang is after her because there is a Statement of Charges that her father hid. She engages in a couple of fights, but it a stranger that helps her when she is down and almost out.

The gang comes after them both and, when they have them surrounded, just leave to fight another day. It seems no one really wants this Statement.

The final battle had some excellent swordplay, but this certainly doesn't live up to the pinky violence genre.