Hope you have read the official storyline.And you would have seen the bad 6.5 rating here at IMDb, I guess the reason for that is because: 1. The bad ending. The way the story went, we expected a different ending, and it was a big disappointment. This was the primary reason.2. The storyline leads us to believe that this is a samurai movie with great sword fights and martial arts, but the fights are just mediocre.In spite of the above things I greatly enjoyed this movie. The beauty of this movie is comparable to that of Tokyo Story or The Twilight Samurai. The beauty is mainly in the cinematography, the immaculate sets, the delicate love story, the fantastic audio, etc. And being a new movie it comes in blue-ray and that greatly intensifying the beauty.So, despite the bad rating, I would say, go see it, at the very least you won't feel that you wasted your time. :-)........Cheers!

Imagine if Zatoichi the Blind Swordsman had an adopted daughter that was also blind and that he taught his sword skills. Also imagine that he left her at goze house as he went out on his travels, and she grew up to be a skilled musician. That's basically Ichi, a satisfying spin on the long-running saga of the blind swordsman.The plot centers on Ichi's search for Zatoichi (who has been missing for quite some time), her tragic back-story, a feud between two yakuza gangs in an inn town, and a traveling warrior that eventually befriends Ichi. Haruka Ayase makes for a good (and absolutely gorgeous) Ichi, and plays her as soft-spoken, reserved and stoic while letting her determination, dangerousness, and lighter side break through when appropriate. Ayase is also great in the action scenes, which are pretty well done and bloody without crossing the line into gory. I liked Ichi. There's nothing groundbreaking about it, but I enjoyed the characters (even though the antagonists are unfortunately two dimensional) and the balance between fighting and character development/story is excellent. This isn't a pure action film by any means, it's fairly leisurely-paced outside of action scenes (Ichi doesn't play around with her enemies). There's more than enough here to make the story of the blind swordsman(woman) worth visiting again.

Ichi is supposed to be a remake of Zatoichi but for some reason I feel that its more like the 1st Crimson Bat movie.I think a lot of the negative reviews is because of its inevitable (since it claims to be a zatoichi remake) comparison to Zatoichi. The characters are of course blind but while the zatoichi characters have mannerism such as the way he acted, the facial expressions and the way he talked. This Ichi is totally devoid of all personality. Ichi's features range from wooden stoic to wooden sadness to wooden expressionless. Her speech is in monotone and her action/motion are no different from people with vision, except for the cane.However if you compare it to Crimson Bat it becomes better. The plot and character becomes almost similar, abandoned by parent and took up Goze as a living. Travelling in search of the parent. The unseeing open eyes and expressionless face (although Crimson Bat still shows more personality). Even the gambling sequence where she wins by listening to the dice.The actions scenes with Ichi are not bad, nice quick and slow motioned sequence. One cut type kills. But the action sequence are far in between. But the part where she fights the main baddie is weak.A well shot movie thats worth a watch. Just don't compare it to Zatoichi.

I hate this film, It is really one of the worst Asian films I have ever seen. Now everyone who has heard of Zatoichi or seen even some of his films or episodes,then you know how the story goes. Me personally I only saw the last movie with the original actor and the 2003 adaptation so I am not biased in the least. Now some people are either giving it flack or praise for casting a female lead. To me I don't care in the slightest. Haruka Ayase is really good in this role as Ichi and she comes in and slices and dices her foes as expected.Then comes in the secondary character, the buffoon Fujihara who likes to run to the rescue, but can't draw his sword because when he was little he swung his sword, broke the tip of said sword, which flew across the court yard while his mother who happened to be passing through who gets slashed across the eyes blinding her. This is which in turn makes him unable to draw his sword. You honestly would think you were watching a Final Destination film. And you know what it didn't bother me until he starts lecturing Ichi on stepping up and saving lives and that is when he the film goes down hill. This man claimed he stepped in to help, yet if Ichi wasn't around he would have been killed along with the hooker.Now I don't know if the director is a chauvinist, but if you have movie, named Ichi, and the lead actress is named Ichi and if her picture is posted on covers, trailers and posters, then why doesn't she play second fiddle to the buffoon? I mean seriously, the girl is badass, she's tough and you like her, but after one confrontation with the big boss (another problem with this movie) the buffoon suddenly realizes he is an ass and takes out the bad guy in a few strokes? Isn't she the star, shouldn't she have the chance to redeem herself as so many other characters do in movies like this? Instead they make her contemplate life and gets saved by a man and cry! This is the kinda crap that gets me with movies and shows in general. They build up these characters and make them larger than life, but for reasons that defy me, they add a little dose of "realism" and make the character fall into a generic stereotype. Its like making The Bride in Kill Bill find her daughter midway through the film and she spends the rest of the film dodging assassins and panicking like a concerned mother. Didn't this character mow down dozens of bad guys in the previous films? It doesn't follow the same tone.If you want to watch this movie for Haruka Ayase's looks and acting ability, just remember; there are two little things called youtube and google and you can watch her anytime you want instead of shelling out twenty dollars on this movie. Skip this movie!