ZATOICHI: THE BLIND SWORDSMAN 04: THE FUGITIVE - DVD review

"Star Trek" fans obsess over 9 (soon to be 10) theatrical films and as many as 400 TV episodes. "James Bond" fans live vicariously through the debonair spy via 19-plus movies and Ian Fleming's novels. All those tykes growing up with Harry Potter will have 7 wonderful books and 7 (hopefully as wonderful) silver screen experiences to enjoy.

Every culture and every generation offers its own mega-series of richly detailed, sharply defined fictional worlds. Beginning in the early-1960s, the Japanese created the phenomena known as Zatoichi. Zatoichi the blind swordsman (played by Shintaro Katsu) is the focus of a 26-film series and approximately 100 TV episodes. Zatoichi wanders from town to town as a masseuse. However, given his reputation as a skillful warrior, Zatoichi manages to get involved in a variety of situations that require him to bust out a can of whoopass. :-)

In "The Fugitive", the blind masseuse finds himself in a town where a bounty has been placed on his head. Our hero goes one-on-many against a brutal gang as well as a skilled ronin (master-less samurai). Usually peace-seeking, Zatoichi becomes enraged when an innocent woman is slain, and he goes on a terrible rampage through town.

The "Zatoichi" movies offer fairly straightforward stories with maybe a twist or two to reward longtime followers. Most of the delights in watching these films come from the colorful characters that populate Zatoichi's eventful life. For instance, in the first film, our blind hero deals with yakuza thugs who are really not that different from modern-day punks with little to do but leer at women and behave like drunken louts. There's an amusing scene where Zatoichi plays dice with a bunch of gamblers, and he manages to take advantage of them trying to take advantage of him! LOL.

Video:
The 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen image is still a little soft, like the transfer of the third movie. Also, it has a few more instances of source print defects than the previous discs' video. Still, the brightness of the transfer as well as the rich hues make it an easy watch.

Audio:
The Dolby Digital 2.0 mono Japanese audio track fares a little better than the video on the DVD. Music cues consistently sound rich and natural, but dynamic range is limited given the age of the audio source, and directionality effects are hardly there.

Optional English subtitles support the audio.

Extras:
The DVD offers only a gallery of original theatrical stills when it comes to bonus materials.

--Miscellaneous--
Two inserts arrive with the DVD's keep case. The first is a glossy booklet that provides liner notes about the film as well as chapter listings. The second is a piece of cardboard with perforations that splits into four mini-trading cards featuring stills from the "Zatoichi" series.

Entertainment Value:
The "Zatoichi" movies (and presumably the TV episodes) were simply meant as popular entertainment when they were made. Obviously, for a series set in the past, "Zatoichi" offers a glimpse of Japanese traditions and by-gone eras. If you're in the mood for some Asian pulp fiction, then Home Vision's DVD editions of the "Zatoichi" movies are the way to go.