Zatoichi on the Road is the fifth entry in the franchise and the third movie released within one year. In my opinion, this movie is the best of the franchise since the charismatic first film that really established everything one appreciates about the blind samurai who uses his head cleverly and his hands quickly. Zatoichi is being taken to a distant town by a caring employee who wants the blind masseur to meet his boss for reasons that are still unknown to the blind masseur. However, the two men get ambushed by a group of samurai who turn out to be opponents of the boss Zatoichi is supposed to meet. The employee is killed but Zatoichi survives and meets the widow of one of the attackers who is going to become an important antagonist. Zatoichi travels on and meets a dying old man who got attacked by a group of samurai. He helped a young woman who attacked her own master who was trying to rape her. The dying man asks Zatoichi to escort the young woman back to her family in the capital. Zatoichi is unable to refuse a dying man's last wish and protects the young woman on his way towards the capital. However, the widow of the samurai Zatoichi killed and several associates want to kidnap the young woman to harm Zatoichi. Zatoichi ends up being caught in a rivalry between the clan who wanted to hire him for a fight and the clan who attempted to assassinate him. Zatoichi realizes both sides only want to use him for their own purposes and turns against both clans while his main objective remains to bring the young lady back to safety.
There are several elements that make this movie stand out. First of all, the film features less characters with clearer objectives than the confusing predecessor. Secondly, the movie includes two intriguing female characters. The first is the cool vindicative widow who wants to see Zatoichi dead. The second is the desperate and naive girl who is tracked down by her master's samurai and who really needs Zatoichi's help in order to survive. It's refreshing that the screenwriters didn't try to plug a dramatic love story here as Zatoichi treats the young lady like a caring father and even approaches the sinister widow with respect. Thirdly, the movie constantly builds up tension due to several dramatic kidnappings, short but poignant fight sequences and an epic showdown in an abandoned town that positively recalls some samurai classics like Korusawa's Yojimbo.
In the end, Zatoichi on the Road convinces with its quick pace, solid dose of tension and interesting characters, especially the two important female characters which are quite unusual for samurai flicks of that time. Fans of Asian martial arts films should be familiar with this film and collectors and followers of the Zatoichi franchise might see this film as one of the best in the series.
