Zatoichi Series One, Volume One Review
Though he is little known outside a small but fanatical cult here in North America there is likely no pop culture figure that looms larger in Japan than Zatoichi, the fabled blind swordsman. The subject of roughly thirty feature films, all but one of which are now available in North America. Zatoichi made an unlikely superstar of Katsu Shintaro, the portly star who played him, eventually giving Katsu the clout to launch his own production company and make the cult classic Lone Wolf And Cub and Hanzo the Razor series of films. The character was recently given new life in a revival feature directed by and starring current Japanese icon Takeshi Kitano. Is there anyone in Japan unfamiliar with Zatoichi? I very much doubt it.
On these shores it’s a different story. The films are available but haven’t made much impact outside a tight circle of Asian film geeks. And even amongst those folk many are unaware that in addition to the long running series of features Katsu also played the character in a very long running television series, a series now being brought to these shores by Media Blasters.
So what made Zatoichi so incredibly popular? First, and most importantly, is the character himself as embodied by Katsu. A mischievous, wandering loner Zatoichi is a blind masseur, roaming Japan to ply his trade. He is an unrepentant drinker, a man who never turns down the chance to gamble at dice. He is also a stunningly gifted swordsman - hiding his blade inside his cane – who inevitably finds his way into other people’s trouble and is forced to dispense his particular brand of justice. Zatoichi is the classic Japanese antihero, but while American antihero was all anger and violence Zatoichi comes across as a playful irresponsible imp, a perpetual child rebelling against corrupt authorities and always somehow coming out on top.
Second, and this may seem odd on the surface, there is a certain predictable familiarity to the series. Predictability seems an odd thing to praise a show for, but hear me out. Both the show and films follow the same simple formula – Zatoichi wanders into a new town, befriends a local, and is drawn into a conflict with the corrupt powers that be who inevitably underestimate him due to his blindness, he frees the lower classes from oppression and leaves without accepting thanks – but it is a formula that allows for endless small variations. When watching the show the question is never where you’re going to end up but how you’re going to get there. It’s an unusual way to watch a series and one that allows you to simply sit back and enjoy the obvious skill of everyone involved. Don’t get me wrong, I love my twists and turns, too, but sometimes it’s just as good to sit back and enjoy the company of a friend and that is the distinct pleasure of Zatoichi.
Third, and this may be less obvious but it is no less important, Zatoichi is loaded with sly political commentary and satire. Like all of Katsu’s best known work Zatoichi is set in a Japan on the cusp of modernization. You are constantly faced with a culture in tension, torn between the lure of modernization and the comfort and stability of tradition. Swords coexist with guns, honor competes with capitalism. And, importantly, the little guy always wins. The series got rolling during the early 1970’s, a time of enormous unrest in Japan, an era of mass political protest, student riots, and a massive backlash against the move towards western styled capitalism. Is it any wonder that this prankster everyman struck a chord?
The television shows play out like miniature versions of the feature films. Running at forty five minutes per episode the production design is just as strong as that in the features, though the stories are generally a little simpler and smaller in scale to fit into the shorter run time. The first episode is typical. Zatoichi is making his way to a remote copper mining town to ply his trade when he meets a friendly stranger on the road. The two stop to share sake and conversation and the stranger extends an invitation for Zatoichi to stay with him when he arrives in town. But all is not well in town. Yasaburo, a recent arrival to the town, and his gang of thugs have taken over control of the town and the mining operations, ruling everything with a brutal fist, backed up by the presence of a hired gunman. When Zatoichi arrives in town he learns that his anonymous friend is staying with the last daughter of the Yamagen family, a beautiful young woman trying to resist the political, financial and romantic control of Yasaburo. Zatoichi immediately decides that he must help them. Sake is drunk, dice are thrown, swords drawn, blood shed and the oppressed freed. Straightforward and predictable in plot, yes, but the point is the journey and the journey is an awful lot of fun.
Media Blaster’s first volume in the Zatoichi series contains five episodes spread over two discs. The transfer is good but it needs to be noted that they are working here with source materials over thirty years old and the source stock does show its age from time to time. Don’t be put off by the plentiful scratches and other marks in the opening minutes, the source quality quickly improves and the age of the stock never becomes a distraction. The extras are pretty much non-existent, limited to only a trailer reel for other Media Blasters titles, but the prize here is the show anyway and there’s more than enough there to earn the price of admission.
