Zatoichi: The Last

Plot

The films starts with young Ichi's wife (Satomi Ishihara) being murdered by Toraji (Sosuke Takaoka), the cowardly art loving son of a yakuza boss. Following her death, Zatoichi (Shingo Katori) returns to his hometown, where he hopes to resume a normal life under the guise of farmer with his friend Ryuji (Takashi Sorimachi). However, the same group of yakuza plan to change Ichi's hometown into a harbor, and start exploiting local peasants for money. Ryuji's land deeds are taken and ransomed at a high price, so Ichi uses his gambling skills to win the money for the deeds. This unveils his identity as the infamous Zato Ichi which the Yakuza don't like and burn down the house. The villagers draft a Tanran scroll to present to a passing official asking for assistance. However having Zato Ichi, a wanted criminal, in the village would not work in their favor so they devise a plan to dispose of him. They give him a blank scroll to "deliver" to the officials and lead him on a dangerous path sending the yakuza after him. However, he realizes it is the wrong path and makes it to the officials. His betrayal is revealed when he shows the blank scroll to the officials and they are insulted and leave. Ichi takes the responsibility of getting rid of the yakuza on himself, going to the yakuza headquarters and killing the boss. However he is shot by Toraji and stabbed by one of the Yakuza minions. Crawling on hands and feet he goes to the beach where he presumably dies reuniting with his wife in the next life.

Cast

Reception

Mark Schilling of The Japan Times criticized Zatoichi: The Last, noting that the film is "ultimately chanbara (sword-fighting) entertainment, similar to The Dark Knight and other Hollywood comic book movies that try for darkness and depth but still have CG action at their center."