Ichi Review

Check out my updated review! http://thevagrantrises.blogspot.com/2016/11/updated-review-15-ichi.html

Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

Plot Summary: A blind swordswoman seeks out her mentor and must fight a group of bandits along the way.

Review: First, please don't mistake this for the movie "Ichi-the Killer" or think it has anything to do with that. For those who may not be all that familiar, this is a loose interpretation of the "Zatoichi" story, about a blind swordsman, but obviously this film has the protagonist as a woman. Speaking of Ichi herself, she is played by the unbelievably sexy Haruka Ayase; I have watched a few other movies with Ms. Ayase (which I will get to some time soon I hope), and you should know she's an incredible actress/singer and, despite how she looks in this film especially, she is quite the voluptuous woman! Oh the curves that lurk beneath that tattered outfit! Sorry, so distracted! Ms. Ayase does a fantastic job in bringing some tortured depth to the character as she is torn between helping people with her skills and coping with the fact that she doesn't have a real reason to carry on living. Essentially, Ichi is searching for her master (it is not entirely clear if he's also her father or not) since he's pretty much the only person she cares about and that cared about her; she was a part of a traveling group of blind performers, called goze, until she was exiled after being raped (yeah, I know, what the fuck, right?). Along her journey she meets a cowardly warrior, named Toma, that thinks he is saving her only to discover her remarkable abilities. Toma can be annoying especially since he is presented as Ichi's love interest, but for the most part he is a nice guy with a convenient story as to why he refuses to fight. Toma was being trained as a great fighter until he accidentally blinded his mother who then died a few years later as the only person who loved him. Although there is a connection made with their romance, I couldn't help but find Toma's attraction a little creepy since he is basically seeing Ichi as an extension of his mother; there is even a point where Toma is comparing the two indirectly and Ichi responds "I am who I am" to counter Toma. The other people helping Ichi are Kotaro, a boy who takes a liking to Ichi, and Kotaro's father; these two characters claim that they have heard of a blind swordsman who will be coming to the area which entices Ichi to stick around. Amidst this searching, Ichi and her crew become caught up in a local struggle with some bandits called the Banki-to and their leader Banki. Since arriving on the scene, Ichi has been leaving a trail of these idiots' bodies on the wayside, but Toma takes the credit for it since he is actually a great fighter when he's not too wimpy to do it; in fact, they seriously dragged out this "too scared to fight" plot line way too long which is probably why Toma annoyed me more than he should have. Eventually, Ichi decides to fight this Banki guy believing he may know what happened to her mentor only for Ichi to get her ass handed to her and learning her master is dead. Defeated, wounded, and without hope, this is when Ichi realizes she can't give up and that there are things in life worth fighting for. After being rescued by her crew, Ichi recuperates while Toma and the townspeople decide to fight Banki and his legions of rejects. This final battle is when the budget limits of the film showed, but it was still entertaining. There was something anticlimactic to it all though as Toma dies thinking he killed Banki followed by Banki easily being beaten by Ichi since he was barely alive; the film even emphasizes this fact by showing Banki stumbling due to the wounds given by Toma. I would have liked it much better if it was implied Ichi lost the first fight because she had nothing to fight for and that she was able to defeat Banki the second time because she was fighting for a cause...but nope. Overall, this is a well acted and excellent film despite some noticeable flaws. I definitely recommend giving this one a go especially if you liked a film such as "Azumi." Although this may not be that easy to track down, Ms. Ayase is reason enough to watch this!

Notable Moment: When Ichi and her friends are attacked in the woods at night. Ichi swiftly slices a lantern in half so it's dark and then dispatches of five goons all at once. Talk about epic!

Final Rating: 7/10

I don't know about you, but that "I'm going to kill you" look is really doing it for me!