La fureur du manchot

I haven't seen a bad Zatoichi movie yet!

This movie has the standard lost child and yakuza; however, it also has a conflict between two forces of good. It's very frustrating for those of us who like black and white battles. It also humanizes the characters (as if Zatoichi could be more humanized).

No spoilers here. If you've enjoyed other Zatoichi's, you won't be disappointed by this one.

The crossover with the Hong Kong franchise not so long after the Yojimbo crossover suggests that they were running out of ideas for Zatoichi. And yes, after watching this it does seem that they returned to the well once too often to find it as dry as dust.

I found the One-Armed Swordsman's combat scenes to be quite awkward and clumsy, affecting my ability to become absorbed by the movie. The flying jumps he does do not sit well either. However, Shintaro Katsu is still magnificent as the star and we see a more sadistic side to him here, which is intriguing.

Worth watching once, but it's one of the weakest links in the chain.

An interesting meeting of action film genres at a time when one was ebbing into the twilight and the other just starting to go. It would be only a few more years before the chambara genre peters out (but not before some more great films are made) and mostly moves to television. The wuxia (swordplay) genre (where the One Armed Swordsman comes from) split off into the kung fu genre which hits it's stride with the coming of Bruce Lee's "Big Boss" and Wang Yu's self-directed "One Armed Boxer" (no relation to the swordsman), the same year this Zatoichi film is released. The great years of kung fu cinema were just around the corner.

Wang Kong (the One-Armed Swordsman) arrives in Japan to find a temple where a Japanese monk has invited Wang Kong to live. Unable to speak Japanese at all, Wang Kong chances upon a traveling Chinese family of entertainers who have made Japan their home. A husband, wife and young boy, they like Japan better then China. Accompanying Wang Kong to the temple the four encounter a procession of samurai transporting specially prepared abalone destined for the Shogun. Everyone must get off the road and let the procession pass or suffer dire consequences. Unfortunately, the little Chinese boy runs after a kite and is set upon by a sword swinging samurai. The mother protects her child but at the cost of her life, the father is killed too. Agast at the cruelty of the samurai, Wang Kong jumps in and kills a number of them. The little boy runs off and is separated from Wang Kong who retreats from further battle. The samurai decide to kill all the innocent people who witnessed the scene and blame the carnage on the "crazed Chinaman". Zatoichi comes upon the frightened child and decides to take care of him. Later the fugitive Wang Kong meets Zatoichi but the two have a really hard time communicating and Wang Kong is very suspicious of Zatoichi's motives. Of course this being a Zatoichi film, an evil yakuza gang gets involved and you know what's going to happen to them.

The first thing that strikes me is how different the One-Armed Swordman films were from the Zatoichi films in terms of sophistication. The HK films of the time were still very stagy in look and acting where the Japanese films were well versed in film techniques and acted in a more natural manner. I am not a great fan of Chang Cheh's "One Armed Swordsman" but many people really like it and it deserves it's significance in film history. It was also apparently very popular in Japan.

This particular outing with the character is arguably the best produced One-Armed Swordsman film with actor Wang Yu as the character. There are a few issues with the film, the most serious is that the producers assumed that you already know Wang Kong is missing an arm and fights with a broken sword. Anyone unfamiliar with the backstory is going to be confused but the film will still be watchable. Second, the highly refined and excellent sword choreography for Zatoichi really makes the faithful but stagy non-weapon kung fu for Wang Kong look not so good. The kung fu sword work comes off fine however. The Japanese producers were very respectful to the One-Armed Swordman mythos and kept the character true to the original film.

The film, while not the absolute best of the Zatoichi series, is very good and touches on a number of issues. There are colorful characters the liven up the film and you will not be wasting your time watching. Recommended.

The following review is an extract from the book "Shintaro Katsu´s Zatoichi: Complete guide to all movies", which is now available on Amazon.

A family of Chinese acrobats travels through Japan performing their shows. After one of their shows a compatriot of them appears on stage; a martial artist named Wang Kang. He only has one arm, the left arm, because the other lost it in a fight. The Chinese warrior came to Japan in search of the temple of Fukuryu-ji.

Soon Wang becomes friends with the other Chinese; a couple and their little son Shaolong. They know the address of the temple and agree to take him there. On the way there is a procession of samurai carrying offerings for the shogun. "It is forbidden to cross with them, we must wait for them to pass, so is the law in Japan" says one of the Chinese. However, a gust of wind takes his son's kite to the road where the samurai parade takes place. Little Shaolong runs after it, stumbling and interrupting the sacred procession. The indignant escorts of the procession want to punish him for it, but Wang Kang quickly intervenes, thus initiating a fight between the one-armed Chinese swordsman and the Japanese samurai. The latter assassinate Shaolong's unarmed Chinese parents, as well as others bystanders, producing an authentic massacre. In the end, Wang and the child manage to escape, although separately.

The news of what has just happened spreads quickly in the region, but in a distorted way. The official version states that a dangerous mad Chinese attacked the Samurai procession, thus provoking the carnage. Now, this foreigner is wanted by provincial officials and also by yakuza clans who cooperate with the authorities and hope to receive the juicy reward offered for the head of the foreign fugitive.

(...)

This is one of the most atypical films in Zatoichi's saga, which with was approaching towards its end (it is the twenty-second film of 26). It is a crossover in which the best Japanese swordsman of film series (who is blind) and the most "dexterous" Chinese martial artist (who is actually left-handed, as he lacks a right arm) share the poster. Wang Kang's character is played by Yu Wang (who is not as popular as Bruce Lee). Wang is the protagonist of a series of films shot in Hong Kong about the fictitious figure of the "One-armed swordsman". Like Zatoichi in Japan or El Santo in Mexico, this "one-armed swordsman" is a popular character with his own series of action films, including choreographed kung-fu fights.

In "Shin Zatoichi: Yabure!" The cultural and linguistic confusions between Ichi and one-armed Wang are memorable. After the final duel between the two (which although it is done with knives has enormous aesthetic similarities with the western-genre) the two, very equal, proclaim that "If we had understood each other, we would not have had to fight...".

The soundtrack is composed by Isao Tomita (one of the fathers of ambient music, and among the first to use synthesizers), who also created the music for the second film of the trilogy "Hanzo the Razor" and the episodes of the series "Oshi samurai".

Every culture has it's own fictional world that some obsess and linger in. America has James Bond, a film series spanning over 20 films and 6 actors! Japan has Zatoichi! But, the difference is that only one actor is synonymous with Zatoichi, and that's Shintarô Katsu. And even though the series has it's share of clichés (as do all long running movie series) that are even present in this film Zatoichi has a message that resonates through all his films, and that is one of how to treat people. In this Outing he is paired with The One-Armed Swordsman (Jimmy Yu Wang), another famous Asian Swordsman who hails from Shaw Bros. of China.

This film which features amazing and thrilling action sequences also has a thoughtful side as frustrating scenes between Zatoichi and The One-Armed Swordsman take place, as neither can understand or interpret each others speech which leads to misunderstandings and eventual tragedy. Zatoichi encounters The One-Armed Swordsman with a child in hand that he has rescued from a band of Samurai. But Zatoichi follows and helps the two until he returns from getting food to only find them gone. They are wanted, and Zatoichi is forced to brutally fight to save the lives of those affected. With this film you do not come away with a fully mesmerized Summer Blockbuster mood, but it makes you go away with a sad and epic feeling that is induced by the films exciting and symbolic ending that proves the depth of this series' theme - "Treat others as you want to be treated"