History Franchise / Zatoichi

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* BadAss: Just about all the heroes. Ichi specifically is of the HandicappedBadass variety.

* BerserkButton: Harm the innocent, especially women and children. [[ BewareTheNiceOnes Ichi is a good person, but he is utterly without mercy to those he deems evil.]]

* BerserkButton: Harm the innocent, especially women and children. Ichi is a good person, but he is utterly without mercy to those he deems evil.

* FaceHeelTurn: boss Asagoro in ''Zatoichi the Outlaw'' starts as a seemingly benevolent Yakuza boss, but later turns to evil and corrupt. Another possible example is [[spoiler: Ichi's lost love Otane, who might well have been ready to sell him out for the bounty on him if her husband is to be believed after killing her and dueling Ichi.]]

* TheLostLenore: Ichi has left behind a lot of women, but none stick out so much as Otane, the woman he left behind in the first film. It is strongly implied later that Ichi puts her on an unhealthy pedestal later and refuses to acknowledge how much she'd changed when he encountered her again. Her husband even taunts Ichi, asking if he thinks women remain pure forever. [[spoiler: It's even indicated Otane was the one who try to lure him into a trap for a bounty.]]
* UnderestimatingBadassery: Most of the villains in the series do this in regards to Ichi. A few of them know he's dangerous, but even then, they don't quite grasp how dangerous he is.

* GenreSavvy: Ichi, frequently. In ''Zatoichi and the Doomed Man'', Ichi at first doesn't go to the hometown of the eponymous "Doomed Man" at his request, because doing that always gets him into trouble.

In 2003, Creator/TakeshiKitano played Zatoichi in a ContinuityReboot[=/=]AlternateContinuity [[Film/{{Zatoichi2003}} film]] which he also directed (for tropes specific to that film go to its [[Film/{{Zatoichi2003}} page]]. A loose sequel film to Katsu's Zatoichi with a female protagonist, ''Ichi'', was released in 2008. Another reboot called ''Zatoichi: The Last'' was released in 2010. Also, an American re-imagining called ''BlindFury'' was made in 1989, starring RutgerHauer, based off of the 17th Zatoichi film, Zatoichi Challenged.

In 2003, Creator/TakeshiKitano played Zatoichi in a ContinuityReboot[=/=]AlternateContinuity film which he also directed. A loose sequel film to Katsu's Zatoichi with a female protagonist, ''Ichi'', was released in 2008. Another reboot called ''Zatoichi: The Last'' was released in 2010. Also, an American re-imagining called ''BlindFury'' was made in 1989, starring RutgerHauer, based off of the 17th Zatoichi film, Zatoichi Challenged.

* DirectedByCastMember: Shintaro Katsu directed two of the later films and multiple episodes o
* DirtyCoward: It is very rare for the Yakuza bosses or corrupt officials to be brave or proactive men. Men of them die in terror or pleading for their lives after Ichi mows his way through their army of mooks.

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: The first movie, ''The Tale of Zatoichi'', ends with Ichi's only friend in town dead at his hand, the opposing mafia slaughtered along with many of the innocents of their half of the village, and Ichi misses the woman that loves him by virtue of walking the wrong way.]]

* FaceHeelTurn: boss Asagoro in ''Zatoichi the Outlaw'' starts as a seemingly benevolent Yakuza boss, but later turns to evil and corruption. Another possible example is [[spoiler: Ichi's lost love Otane, who might well have been ready to sell him out for the bounty on him if her husband is to be believed after killing her and dueling Ichi.]]

* {{Jidaigeki}}: The 2003 Movie though seems to take place towards the tail-end of the Edo period, just before the Meiji Restoration and the massive wave of modernization that followed.

* UnderestimatingBadassery: Most of the villains in the series do this in regards to Ichi.

* {{Yakuza}}: Ichi's enemies are often gangsters.

In 2003, TakeshiKitano played Zatoichi in a ContinuityReboot[=/=]AlternateContinuity film which he also directed. A loose sequel film to Katsu's Zatoichi with a female protagonist, ''Ichi'', was released in 2008. Another reboot called ''Zatoichi: The Last'' was released in 2010. Also, an American re-imagining called ''BlindFury'' was made in 1989, starring RutgerHauer, based off of the 17th Zatoichi film, Zatoichi Challenged.

* BloodierAndGorier: When the films began to be produced by Katsu pictures, there was a noticeable shift towards visible blood. Takeshi Kitano's 2003 remake of the series featured tons of red spraying after every stroke of the sword.

** Given the fact that the 2003 Film was directed by "Beat" Takeshi Kitano (a Comedian), every cut is intentionally BloodyHilarious.
* IAmNotLeftHanded: [[spoiler: Takeshi Kitano's Zatoichi isn't actually blind, but chooses to close his eyes as a SelfImposedChallenge.]]

The first 26 films (1962-1973, 1989) and the television series (1974-1979) all starred the same actor, Shintaro Katsu, whose portrayal endeared the character to many fans until the actor's death in 1997. Until 1971, the films were produced by Creator/{{Daiei}}.

The first 26 films (1962-1973, 1989) and the television series (1974-1979) all starred the same actor, Shintaro Katsu, whose portrayal endeared the character to many fans until the actor's death in 1997.

* CainAndAbel: Ichi and his elder brother, a [[HandicappedBadass one armed warrior]] played by Shintaro Katsu's [[spoiler: real life elder brother.]] The two had a falling out over a woman and Ichi's brother is willing to murder him for it. [[spoiler: They make their final peace after their last duel.]]

* {{Samurai}} and {{Ronin}} (Ichi himself technically does not qualify as either of them, as he's in the blind men's guild) He does kill quite a few of them in his movies, though.

* TheLostLenore: Ichi has left behind a lot of women, but none stick out so much as Otane, the woman he left behind in the first film. It is strongly implied later that Ichi puts her on an unhealthy pedestal later and refuses to acknowledge how much she'd changed when he encountered her again. [[spoiler: It's even indicated Otane was the one who try to lure him into a trap for a bounty.]]

* WorthyOpponent: The {{ronin}} Hirate in the first film. He and Ichi held great respect for each other.

* YouLookFamiliar: Quite a few mooks appear in other Zatoichi films, but Tatsuo Endo appears as the BigBad of five different Zatoichi films and as a minor character in a sixth.

* FateWorseThanDeath: In the 2003 Movie, Ichi slashes the BigBad right in the eyes. Sentencing him to live his last remaining years struggling in darkness.

* KnightErrant

* MeaningfulName: Ichi
* MysteriousPast: Ichi

* ObfuscatingStupidity: Ichi, sometimes.

* BlindWeaponmaster: Ichi.

* WorthyOpponent: The {{ronin}} Hirate in the first film. He and Ichi held great respect for each other.

* {{Jidaigeki}}

The influence of this series is hard to overestimate, at least, in terms of blind badassery, which, while certainly not the first example of a HandicappedBadass , is certainly one of the {{Trope Codifier}}s.

* ObfuscatingDisability: The Kitano version [[spoiler: Though at the end it establishes he was just bluffing.]]

* ObfuscatingDisability: The Kitano version

* {{Samurai}} and {{Ronin}} (Ichi himself technically does not qualify as either of them, as he's in the blind men's guild)