The "Crimson Bat" series was Shochiku's attempt to compete with Daie's popular "Zatoichi" film's. Zatoichi, the blind swordsman is even directly parodied in this entry, (a blind massuer stumbles down the street and the bad guys kick him in the butt). Oichi is also blind but her motivation revolves a bit more around revenge. The production values and that fact that the version I saw was dubbed gave this film a real "Shaw Brothers" feel. It was kind of like watching a japanese "Dirty Ho" or "Five Venoms". Not fabulous, but entertaining.