Product Details

• Actors: Masumi Harukawa, Shintarô Katsu, Asao Koike, Yasuhiro Koume, Katsuo Nakamura
• Directors: Shintarô Katsu
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: Japanese
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: ANIMEIGO
• DVD Release Date: August 10, 2004
• Run Time: 95 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0001J0VYK
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #117,399 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Zatoichi 24 - Zatoichi in Desperation" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

ZATOICHI IN DESPERATION - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars UNIQUE ENTRY IN THE ICHI SERIES, June 10, 2004

By 

Roy Clark "rclarknv" (Edge of Toiyabe Nat'l Forest, NV) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Zatoichi 24 - Zatoichi in Desperation (DVD)

I have about 20 Zatoichi movies, and this one is quite a departure.
It's far darker and grittier than the others. Less humor, but more drama and trauma. But, fear not, the expected carnage; red geysers, flying body parts.

Starting with Ichi accidently contributing to a grandmother's death, going through torture and deaths (beatings, sex abuse, suicide) of children, vividly abused prostitutes, to Ichi's torture and subsequent violent revenge, it stands apart.

Even the music and editing seem experimental. Very 70's. I suspect actor/director/producer Katsu Shintaro was trying to be Michelangelo Antonioni (BLOW UP) or Richard Lester (HELP!).

For Z-collectors, this may be a must. For newcomers, maybe it's a bit harsh.
I knocked off a star because although it was a noble departure/experiment, it
often went a bit too far. I look forward to reading others' opinion on this one.

21 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Just read this simple review!!!, November 9, 2004

By 

Francisco Cortes "Fcortes" (San Juan, Puerto Rico USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Zatoichi 24 - Zatoichi in Desperation (DVD)

This Zatoichi movie is not THAT good!!!
because:
* No awesome moves by Shintaro Kaysu (Zatoichi).
* No action until the ending.
* Zatoichi fight with his hands tied to the swordcane all the time except in the beach scene.
* The ONLY good thing is the BEAUTIFUL colors of the movie!!!

Thank you for lisen.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Oh Ichi-san!, March 13, 2011

By 

Serotta212 "Serotta212" (NYC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Zatoichi 24 - Zatoichi in Desperation (DVD)

This fits in with another reviewers opinion. In a word, it is quite disappointing. I am a huge fan of the ZATOICHI film series. I have pretty much seen most of them, and watched them in order starting with the first one (great film) and had not seen this one, which is numbered 24 in the series, till now. "Zatoichi in Desperation" was directed by Shinataro Katsu (Zatoichi), and while I admire his work as an actor greatly, I found this film to be possibly the worst of the series I have seen. Very poorly directed I'm afraid to say. The story is incredibly weak and the characters barely sketched out. I'd have to say this is only for Zatoichi fans, who want to see every film regardless but you will likely be disappointed in this one, as I was. As people here say it is "dark" -- dark even in the literal sense; many scenes are shot quite dark with few lights which makes it hard to see. I imagine this was seen as "artistic" but its not. The very opening of the film also has a dreadful "artsy" montage of the death of a character, with every bad editing device popular in bad 70's movies, like flash frames, super fast cuts, etc. to show a characters death. This little montage is repeated again later in the film. Then a third time! As bad as it was the first time, by the third time its painful. What was Katshu-shin thinking? Oh well. In summation, only watch this film if you feel you must see EVERY film in the series just so you can say you did. Compared to the heights of the best films in the 26 film series -- take your pick -- mine might be ZATOICHI MEETS YOJIMBO, which paired Shintaro Katsu with Toshiro Mifune (!) reprising his role as "Yojimbo", this Zato film simply pales in comparison. Oh Ichi-san!