When an actress friend of Shitaro Katsu, the original Zatoichi, asked Takeshi to take on the role, as the new Zatoichi, he hesitated to do it. Shitaro Katsu was the only one to play the character since it's creation. And he is inseparably and indelibly ingrained in Japanese culture as The One & Only Zatoichi. Takeshi agree to do it, but only if he could do it his own way. That's just what he did. With dance troupe extras, a cross-dressing geisha, and a Zatoichi who isn't completely blind, with bleached hair and a bright red sword cane. Look for Tadanobu Asano from the over-the-top gangster flick, "Ichi The Killer", again playing a Yakuza Boss, only this time from the tradition samurai period -- Though this is anything but a traditional Samurai Film. Takeshi plays it mostly for laughs with buckets of CGI blood.
Review of The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi
