Release Information:
Studio: Bandai Visuals

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen anamorphic - 1.78:1

Edition Details:
• Original Japanese Teaser (0:59)
• Original Japanese Trailer (1:24)
• TV Spot (0:15)
• TV Spot (0:30)
• Making of 'Zatoichi' (42:28)
• Behind the scenes (58:34)
• Turn your phone off infomercial (0:29)
• Gag reel (3:31)

DVD Release Date: March 11, 2004
White amaray dual disc case

Chapters 14

ADDITION: Seville Pictures - (CANADA) - Region 1- NTSC - An identical image to the US Miramax. Same colour scheme and same high contrast. The Seville is microscopically better, but only by zoom 500%. Far better is the extra material, which is the full production interviews, the making of and the French master class. It is still no match to the Artificial Eye CE, but it is a great DVD set.

*****

ADDITION: Artificial Eye - Collectors Edition (Dec -04) The image is completely identical to the former AE DVD, so no comments here.

The first difference is in the sound department. AE has removed the documentary from Disc 1 to give space to the DTS track. While the sound mix of “Zatoichi” is impressive, the DTS track is superior. It is more precise, has more “oomph” and is simply more dynamic than the 5.1 DD.

AE has kept the 40 minute documentary, which starts the additional material on Disc 2.

Prior not available to them, they have now added the 48 minute interview reel. Where Miramax both reduced the interviews from 8 to 4, and further edited the remaining, here are the complete 8 interviews for the first time with English subtitles.

Continuing, AE has added two recently made interviews with Kitano, one of them not previously released. Running a total of 40 minutes, the two interviews, while overlapping somewhat, are highly informative and Kitano at his best. The 27-minute interview was previously released on the French “Edition Collector” from Wild Side Video.

Also from Wild Side Video and previously released on the “Edition Collector” is part of the Kitano Master class, which was held in Paris, October 14, 2003. It is at times like this I regret not going, as I was invited. There is some perverse enjoyment of me appearing on an extra, but anyways… It is a great Q/A, where Kitano talks about his style, techniques and past.

The DVD comes in a black metal box in relief pressing. It is a limited edition. Apart from the 2 DVDs, three postcards, a 35mm strip from the film (containing the limited number) and a 12 page booklet is added. The booklet contains the same text as the press booklet, but here with a specially written introduction by Kitano himself.

This is the definitive DVD release of “Zatoichi”. A beautiful picture, true to the original colour scheme, the superior DTS track and carefully chosen additional material.

*****

ADDITION: MIRAMAX (November -03) - Where all other editions of "Zatoichi" have the neutral colour composition of the original, Miramax has changed it to a more 'realistic" colour scheme, where fleshtones are more 'fleshy'. All in all the colours of the Miramax DVD are incredible vivid and looks stunning. It just isn't the way the film looked originally or elsewhere.

The Miramax DVD is also the edition which is sharpest in details, but also suffers badly from edge enhancements.

As additional material, Miramax has added the standard 40 minute Making of featurette in a dubbed form. This was expected and is indeed a great featurette. But then Miramax lives up to its nickname: MiramAXE. Following are four interviews. On all other DVDs this feature has 8 interviews running 48 minutes. On Miramax, there are only 4 (producer, sound, music and choreographer are missing). If that isn't bad enough, Miramax has also edited the interviews (read: Cut them in duration). For instance Nikamoto's interview runs 7:46 originally, on the Miramax DVD only 4:25. All in all, 8 interviews have been reduced to 4, and 25:57 minutes have been reduced by 4:28 to 21:29 minutes.

If edge enhancements and miramAX'ed interviews wasn't bad enough, Miramax also included a 5.1 Dolby Digital English dubbed track, which is nothing less than horrible. The dub's are uninvolved and the entire mood of the film is destroyed. To put an English dub on a film like this is quiet an insult.

**********

ADDITION (AE - July 04):

The "Making of" documentary is the same as on the Bandai, only shorter in duration due to PAL Speed-Up. Here with English subtitles, we finally, as English speaking audience, get to know what was said and done. For a documentary about Kitano, this is quiet informative.

The AE picture is lesser detailed, is darker, is more "yellowish" and has more contrast than the Bandai. It also is slighty cropped from 1.78:1 to 1.85:1. The cropping and the contrast most likely is due to this being a theatrical print. The sound is the same as on the Bandai and it really was a good decision to keep the 5.1 track, where AE normally are 2.0 only.

Finally the cover is a flipper, which means, that it on the one side has the black "Zatoichi" look and if you turn it, you get the AE look cover. That was a great idea.

********

Where Bandai originally announced, that their initial 2-Disc SE would be replaced by a 1-Disc Film Only (see below), Panorama has simply chosen to release two different versions: A 2-Disc SE and a 1-Disc Film Only.

One would expect the presentation of the film to be identical, it is not. First of all, the Film Only is a DVD5 versus the SE DVD9. This means less storage and the film is compressed by 40%, reflected by the 40% lower bitrate, which is visible. The Film Only is less detailed than the SE and has added contrast and brightness. This is a poor DVD.

The 2-Disc SE has two significant things. The first is the eight interviews with the production crew running almost an hour. The same interviews will be found on the French 2-Disc SE from Wild Side Video in July. The downside is that they are in Japanese and only with Chinese subtitles. The other thing, which most can enjoy, is the DTS track. While the entire Japanese mix is awesome, even in DD 2.0, the DTS just is more "umph" and richer in definition, especially in the rears.

********

The Bandai:

This is the 2 Disc Special Edition of "Zatoichi" (First Print). Once it is sold out, only single discs editions will be available (identical with Disc 1 on this set).

The picture is spot on: great contrasts, great colors (NOTE: it is 1.78:1 and not the theatrical ratio of 1.85:1). The sound is very impressive for a period piece, as both the rears and LFE working for a living.

The only negative remark this DVD set will get, is the lack of English subtitles on Disc 2, which makes the 'making of' documentaries less attractive and comprehensive for non Japanese speaking viewers.

- Henrik Sylow of kitanotakeshi.com

According to Geoffrey Wong of Panorama Entertainment, the high contrast on the DVD5 version of "Zatoichi" is due to a problem on the master: ”When we receive the master tape, the high contrast problem already exist, and this is the best quality available.”