It's Zatoichi with a touch of zen as he meets Jimmy Wang's titular swordsman. The blend of wuxia with Japanese swordplay action makes for a fun combination, with Tseng-Hung and Yasuda playing off of each other rather well with their respective countries' styles. The exaggerated splashes of blood have some of that sort King Hu and Chih-Hung feel to it that would be common in a lot of Hong Kong action flicks while Japanese-style splatter still happens when most appropriate. The language barrier between Zatoichi and the one-armed swordsman makes for incredibly palpable drama as well.

This film is like if Indiana Jones and James Bond met and at the end James Bond killed Indiana Jones

It's Zatoichi with a touch of zen as he meets Jimmy Wang's titular swordsman. The blend of wuxia with Japanese swordplay action makes for a fun combination, with Tseng-Hung and Yasuda playing off of each other rather well with their respective countries' styles. The exaggerated splashes of blood have some of that sort King Hu and Chih-Hung feel to it that would be common in a lot of Hong Kong action flicks while Japanese-style splatter still happens when most appropriate. The language barrier between Zatoichi and the one-armed swordsman makes for incredibly palpable drama as well.

This film is like if Indiana Jones and James Bond met and at the end James Bond killed Indiana Jones

What the HELL
This slapped SO hard 
This is one of if not THE best of the series
Maybe I’d give the edge to Chest of Gold, Outlaw and The Fire Festival stylistically and personal favouritism… but this takes the cake when it comes to just solid all round film 

Actually proper laugh out loud moments
Laughing induced by SUCH good acting and a really good script
Ichi’s presence was so powerful it was done so much justice with his interactions with the antagonists
A consistent theme of misunderstanding and it’s consequences 
All the films focus on consequences but this was it in a whole other way 

I didn’t love the one-armed swordsman, but here he’s just brilliant 
Such good direction really lets everyone shine here
Subtle zooms and just movement of the camera goes a long LONG way for the ‘filler but necessary’ scenes of these films 

Creative, fun and consistent 
This is one to remember

What the HELL
This slapped SO hard 
This is one of if not THE best of the series
Maybe I’d give the edge to Chest of Gold, Outlaw and The Fire Festival stylistically and personal favouritism… but this takes the cake when it comes to just solid all round film 

Actually proper laugh out loud moments
Laughing induced by SUCH good acting and a really good script
Ichi’s presence was so powerful it was done so much justice with his interactions with the antagonists
A consistent theme of misunderstanding and it’s consequences 
All the films focus on consequences but this was it in a whole other way 

I didn’t love the one-armed swordsman, but here he’s just brilliant 
Such good direction really lets everyone shine here
Subtle zooms and just movement of the camera goes a long LONG way for the ‘filler but necessary’ scenes of these films 

Creative, fun and consistent 
This is one to remember

How is he not dead by this point?

How is he not dead by this point?