Is it necessary to watch all the Zatoichi films in order?

[Guest Bushido]

I've been dvr'ing the Zatoichi films off Fu-HD and they are not being shown in chronological order. I watched the first three in order and now have a 4 film gap. I then have the next 8 or 9 ready to watch.

So my question is, will I be confused if I skip those 4 (the fugitive, on the road, chest of gold and flashing sword) and watch Fight, Zatoichi, Fight?

I could wait and hope they finally play the missing movies or Netflix them if some major character development occurs in the 4 missing movies.

Thanks

[Tosh]

No, I think it's a good idea to watch the first 3 then go from there as there's really no time line after those films(the first 2 really), hell after you watch 20 - 30 of them you'll start getting them all mixed up anyways:D

[daisho2004]

No you really don't have to watch any of the Zatoichi movies in any order, but I do agree that you should watch the 1st. (2) then the rest anyway you feel like. To me the best one was Zatoichi 89' and the "Festival of Fire" great one's.

[Shaolindogma]

I loved "Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo" and ..."Meets the One Armed Swordsman"

I agree with Tosh. After you watch the first three watch the ones i mentioned. And festival of fire was amazing.

[Mark Pollard]

As everyone else suggested, the first few contain the series' only story arc. Thereafter, each episode was a self-contained story. Also, many of the latter episodes began to recycle stock elements. None of them were poorly done but my point is that unless you can't get enough of Zatoichi, you can miss a few episodes or watch them out of order and not miss much.

My favorites are the 4.5 star and up titles that you can find in the Reviews Index. I need to review the ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN episode still but I've seen it and agree with Shaolindogma that it's a good one.

[SlothStyleKungFu]

Agreed, I'd watch the first two or three to get your feet wet, then skipping around is okay because early on they pretty much solidified the character and the formula for the series.

In terms of the best films within the series, I'd go with Fight Zatoichi Fight, Samaritan Zatoichi, Zatoichi On the Road, Zatoichi and the Chess Expert, Zatoichi and the Fugitives, Zatoichi and the Chest of Gold, and Zatoichi's Cane Sword.

[Tosh]

I just realized it's been some time since I've watched an Zatoichi movie, maybe I'll go give one a rent after the hockey game today, which one has Tatsuya Nakadai? That one keeps escaping me for some reason, hell I need to just buy it.

[daisho2004]

Tosh the one your looking for is Zatoichi "The Festival of Fire" this is my favorite one it is the one with the Shogun of the Dark.

[Tosh]

Thanks Daisho, hmmm I thought I already saw this one, maybe I got it mixed up with another one, anyways I'm on it.

[Morgoth Bauglir]

Quick question on the Zatoichi TV show. I saw the volume 2 box set at the store but I didn't see volume 1. My question is, does it matter if I watch the episodes in order?

[Yakuza954]

From what I've seen, they're all stand-alone episodes and each one has Zatoichi in a new adventure. It's not like the Mute Samurai where you have the main character in a story arc that progresses as the show goes on. Someone may be able to clarify more through.

[daisho2004]

Morgoth: Its the same as the movies it doesn't matter which episode you watch. Or what order you watch them in.

[Morgoth Bauglir]

OK cool. Thanks for the info guys.

[Sifu]

Yeah, most of them are JUST serials. So they're not really connected in any other way, other than the main character. I wonder, were they originally meant to be like that? Did they have that formula in mind?