DVD Review: A Tale of the Tape! Zatoichi and Shadow Warriors face off on DVD!

CHARACTERS—Advantage Hanzo!
Zatoichi—The series is only about Zatoichi and the innocent victims he would come across serve only as story motivation.
Shadow Warriors—Chiba/Hanzo had a great supporting cast with many memorable characters. Kiheiji [Junichi Haruta], Daihachi [Shohei Hino], Kishiro [Renji Ishibashi], and Okiri [Naomi Hase] were Hanzo’s faithful disciples, if you will. But probably the most memorable character was Orin [Kirin Kiki], the hairdresser with an obvious infatuation with Hanzo. She is priceless and brings excellent comic relief in each episode.

ENEMIES—Advantage Hanzo!
Zatoichi—Yakuza families. That’s pretty much it. Those darned Yakuza families, always getting in the way.
Shadow Warriors—Hanzo and his followers have to deal with ninja clans and government usurpers. Not only do Hanzo and his Iga ninjas have to deal with the Kouga clan but every other ninja clan. Some of those characters are very colorful and over the top, adding to the entertainment value. On top of that they are asked to right injustices within the government circles.

STORYLINE—Advantage Hanzo!
Zatoichi—Single episode stories. Everything is wrapped up in a bloody melee at the end of each episode. Zatoichi then saunters off to fight his next injustice.
Shadow Warriors—While there are injustices that the Shadow Warriors right each episode there are story arcs with recurring characters such as the Kouga ninja clan, sworn enemy of the Iga Clan. There is also an ongoing love interest with Oko, the Kouga traitor, who was looking to avenge the death of her father from Hanzo’s father’s hands but soon falls for him.

TRUE IDENTITIES—Draw!
Zatoichi—Zatoichi always fumbles and bumbles a bit. He adopts an unassuming persona as a Masseur and hides his skills.
Shadow Warriors—Hanzo disguises himself as Mr. Han, owner of the Kiji Bath House. He has to stay hidden because the Iga clan is being hunted by the Kouga clan and other ninja clans. Hanzo fumbles, Bumbles, and plays up the dolt factor. All of his followers hold day jobs to help stay hidden as Carpenters, Doctors, Hairdressers and such.
Is anyone else troubled that people in the health profession are the most skilled killers? Something to think about.

SWORDPLAY—Advantage Ichi!
Zatoichi—There is always a trick shot or really cool sequence halfway through each episode. And the final melee was most of the times just one against many.
Shadow Warriors—Hanzo with the two swords, the usual Katana and he would often take out his Wakizashi and wield both like a double bladed sword.

HIDDEN SWORDS—Advantage Ichi!
Zatoichi—Ichi’s sword is hidden in his cane. It is the only sword he uses. And he did it first.
Shadow Warriors—Hanzo has sword hidden in staff when incognito. He uses a regular Katana and Wakizashi when in his Ninja pajamas.

BATH HOUSES—Advantage Hanzo!
Zatoichi—Ichi in a loincloth = zoinks!
Shadow Warriors—Boobies!!! Any time you’re in the Kiji Bathhouse you are almost guaranteed gratuitous boob shots. A necessary evil. Tee hee. I almost want to give two points for this. One for each… … erm… Huzzah!

MUSIC—Advantage Ichi!
Zatoichi—The music seems more appropriate to the times.
Shadow Warriors—Disco ballads hardly seem appropriate during climactic fights. The benefit of using the same soundtrack for every episode is at least you get to know which part of the show you’re in by the music being played. Somewhere between episode 10 and 15 you become immune to it.

ENTERTAINMENT VALUE—Advantage Hanzo!
Zatoichi—More of a serious show. There are fewer laughs in Zatoichi and it is played out in a more serious tone. Still entertaining.
Shadow Warriors—There is a much bigger entertainment payoff with humorous characters and incidents, the action is explosive and, yes, there is love. And it’s okay to love. Emotion adds depth to character and you care about Hanzo and his clan. You will get total bang for your buck with this series!

INFLUENCES AND APPEARANCES—Advantage Hanzo!
Zatoichi—The Zatoichi franchise influenced Blind Fury with Rutger Hauer. Enough said.
Shadow Warriors—Hattori Hanzo in Kill Bill Vol. 1. Tarentino is such a huge fan of this show that he revived the Hattori Hanzo character for his 70s Martial Arts/Spaghetti Western love letter. Hanzo was only a sword maker in Kill Bill Vol. 1 but still freaking cool!

PRESENTATION—Draw!
Zatoichi—4 Episodes on 2 discs per volume 6 volumes for entire first season.
Shadow Warriors—27 Episodes in the entire season and Sonny Chiba interview on 7 double-sided discs in four slim cases. I’ve read in some forums that some discs were ruined in transit. I’ve had single sided discs come just the same. I don’t believe it is a reflection of the choice to compact everything on seven discs.
Both series were presented for television. And thankfully both series have been relatively well preserved over the years. Neither series was remastered so there are scratches and little burps now and then. But considering these series are from 1974 and 1980 respectively they look really good.

So there you have it. Shadow Warriors edges out Zatoichi in the Tale of the Tape but both series are so darned cool that you simply cannot pass up either. As I said earlier I deem both of these series ‘shelf-worthy’. As of this point Media Blasters only has the rights for Series One of Zatoichi. There were other series of Shadow Warriors but plans for those series are unknown.

Find the sixth volume for Zatoichi here
Format: Color, DVD-Video, Subtitled, NTSC
Language: Japanese w/ English subtitles
Region: Region 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number of discs: 2
Studio: Tokyo Shock
Run Time: 250 minutes

Find the sull series for Shadow Warriors here
Format: Box set, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC
Language: Japanese w/ English subtitles
Region: Region 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number of discs: 7
Rating UNRATED
Studio: Brentwood Home Video/Ronin Entertainment
Run Time: 1235 minutes