Zatoichi and the Chest of Gold is one of the most exciting - and exasperating - installments in the series.
The plot is rich in incident and characters. After rural farmers pay their taxes, a corrupt magistrate and his cronies steal the gold, and leave the farmers desperate for a solution. Zatoichi finds himself in the middle of the problem. On one hand, he's pressured by the farmers, who suspect Zatoichi might have participated in the heist...and on the other, the burglary is pinned onto a cadre of honorable yakuza in a secluded hideout.
The story has a few "firsts" for the Zatoichi series. Earlier installments were bloodless, but ZATCOG shows violence for the first time - mostly with a sprinkling of fake blood. It's also the first chance for Zatoichi to develop a truly comic incident - when a smelly, less-than-competent masseuse serves him - then overcharges him.
The most problematic "first" relates to the filmmaking style. Instead of the restrained style of the first few Zatoichi films, ZATCOG uses looser editing and sound than before. Visual edits use slapdash jump cuts that are closer in spirit to the LONE WOLF AND CUB series. Faked visual and sound effects marred less several extended sequences. The most embarrassing sequence has Zatoichi carrying a little boy - clearly a dummy - on his shoulders as he slides down a ridge.
At the least, ZATCOG comes up a bunch of new situations and characters to invigorate the series - even if the director, Kazuo Ikehiro, is less than proficient at this job.
