AnimEigo's second Zatoichi DVD is of the first film
in the series to have fallen into Toho ownership. This
relationship should be explained before going on, as
this film was actually produced by Daiei, a great rival
of Toho's at the time, and Katsu Productions (actor
Katsu Shintaro's production company). However, Daiei
later went bankrupt in 1971 and Toho, who would collaborate
with Katsu Productions on 10 movies including three
Zatoichi films and the Lone Wolf and Cub Series, landed
the rights to all of the Zatoichi movies that were produced
by Katsu Productions. It's a long story, but one wonders
if Animeigo was aware of this as they subtitle the name
"Toho Company" in during the Daiei logo. Ignoring
this small oversight, though, AnimEigo releases another
glorious DVD which excels in both video and audio presentation,
and includes some interesting extras for the film as
well.
Video:
After witnessing several of AnimEigo's releases, I feel
confident in stating that no other company releases
region 1 Toho DVDs that are as visually stunning as
AnimEigo. Zatoichi the Outlaw's video quality
is flawless in almost every field. The movie appears
very sharp here, as artifacting is unnoticeable during
the course of the film. As with other AnimEigo releases,
the best aspect of Zatoichi the Outlaw is the
vibrant array of colors, a feat which wouldn't have
been possible using the VHS format. Like the impressive
contrast in colors, the brightness here is set at just
the right level, as no scene appears darker or lighter
than it should. The print used for the transfer, while
not flawless like the other aspects of the video presentation,
is in excellent condition considering the age of the
film. Minor scratches are present through
out, but never become bad enough to be a nuisance to
the viewer. Noise levels are also good, with just minor film grain visible that I would consider to be a natural look for the production.
The film is also presented in its original
2.35:1 aspect ratio.
Audio:
Unlike Animeigo's Lone Wolf and Cub DVDs, Zatoichi
the Outlaw is presented here in a Dolby Digital
2.0 stereo audio track. Unfortunately, this isn't the
film's original audio format, which shows in the audio
track here as it's clearly a mono track which was just
doubled to the front left and right speakers, and contains
no left and right speaker effects which are often associated
with stereo audio tracks. Despite this, though, the
actual audio presentation is excellent with no scratches
or hisses in the track. The overall audio presentation
is a little flat at times, but this has more to do with
the source material as opposed to any faults from the
encoding. The Japanese audio track here is complimented
with two forms of, removable, English subtitles. The
first subtitle set is standard, and will provide a simple
translation of dialogue and Japanese text which appears
through out the film, which, like other AnimEigo releases,
is color coded to display when more than one person
is talking on screen. The other set of subtitles will
provide background information to some of the Japanese
terms, such as "Yojimbo" for bodyguard, which appear
throughout the course of the film.
Extras:
The extras found on this disc, while numerous, don't
really stand out. The DVD contains the trailers for
two Zatoichi movies (Zatoichi the Outlaw and Zatoichi Goes to the Fire Festival) along with the
trailer to the first Lone Wolf and Cub movie: Lone
Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance. Also included
on the disc are "Linear Notes," which show
an impressive amount of research done on the background
of the time period in which the Zatoichi series takes
place; furthermore, this extra appears both in print
format (found inside the DVD Amaray case where one would
expect to find the disc's booklet) and on the DVD itself.
The disc also includes a list of credits, for the both
the film and DVD, in English, which makes for a good
resource for those who can't read Japanese.
Overview:
Bottom line, if one has a interest in Zatoichi films,
or is considering looking into the long running franchise
(beyond the first two, the films are very loosely connected
so one shouldn't let the fact that this is Zatoichi
16 sway them away from the film), Animeigo's Zatoichi
the Outlaw is a must have if one can fit the bill
for the more expensive retail prices associated with
Animeigo titles.
This disc is also featured in the box set: Zatoichi
The Blind Swordsman: DVD Collector's Edition Box.
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