Kibakichi’s lone travels are interrupted when he becomes
the target of not one but two opponents.
A wild warrior named Sakuramaru is killing indiscriminately, looking for
the strongest of opponents and he thinks Kibakichi is his man. Meanwhile, the beautiful Anju continues to
seek revenge against Kibakichi for the destruction of their home village. This trio of lost souls doesn’t realize that
they are falling into the trap of a powerful demon who is determined to
exterminate monsters. As the night
falls, Kibakichi, Anju and Sakuramaru will have to battle themselves and a new
breed of enemy if man and beast are to have a chance at survival.
Now here is a tough one.
As I said in the previous review, it was going to be interesting to
gauge whether or not Kibakichi 2 would be better or worse than it’s predecessor
based on the low set bar. In some ways,
Kibakichi 2 is an improvement over the first.
But at the same time manages to fail just as spectacularly in many
respects. Mixed reactions indeed.
The best addition to the (short lived) mythos, is Sakuramaru. Played very much in the style of Kikuchiyo
from Seven Samurai, only a lot more violent, Sakuramaru is a beast of a man who
loves to kill but is also a bit of a loveable oaf at the same time. I loved how, during his first fight with
Kibakichi, he broke his sword and immediately called a “time out” to get
another one (and a better one at that).
There’s a lot more depth that explored through a tragic backstory. It wouldn’t have been a bad move to just make
the movie about him all the way and ignore Kibakichi all together. I was never bored with Sakuramaru and wish a
little more had been done with him.
Kibakichi and Anju are about the same as we last saw
them. Anju’s just scowling and Kibakichi
is saying very little while looking bad ass.
Kibakichi got a little bit of an upgrade (in my opinion) in the make up
department when he begins to “wolf out” in the final battle. Seeing him just a bit more grizzly and not in
full blown Werewolf form is a better Werewolf look for him in general, or at least
doesn’t look as cheesy. What’s funny is
that we actually see fewer monsters in this film that we do in the last
one. We get glimpses of some of the
monsters of Onizo’s village who died and there are a couple in that God awful
finale (more on that in a sec, a rant is coming). But for a series about monsters hiding in
plain sight as humans, the monster side is horribly downplayed.
One thing I do have to give credit to the first Kibakichi
for, at least the villains plot was an actual plot. Yamagi and his clan needed Onizo and his clan
to kill for them to attain power and then Yamagi and his team set out to
destroy them to cover up evidence.
Dougan in Kibakichi 2…has no plan.
He talks about ugly monsters when he in fact is one and never gives a
reason for his hatred of Yokai. Why does
he have followers? Why do THEY hate
monsters? There’s hints that theyre
being controlled by a spell of Dougans but it’s never really talked about. Dougan
looks and talks terrifying…at least in his human form (those eyes man). But when he reveals his “true form” Man…SUCH
A FREAKING LET DOWN!!! Dougan would have done well just to keep his creepy
eyed, black hooded form throughout the entire movie. Seeing that he is actually a very poor Sentai
villain underneath it all is as bad as discovering Hayden Christiensen is the
man behind Darth Vader (you omit that a little easier knowing Vader is a bad
ass so long as he’s voiced by James Earl Jones though).
Ok, I said I rant was incoming and Dougan and his poorly
developed crew were just the primer. While
there is a lot more action in this film than the last Kibakichi, there’s still
the fact that the final battle feels incredibly underwhelming once the
“monsters” come out to play. Again,
Kibakichi seems more deadly with a sword than in his true Werewolf form, and
Sakuramaru’s action scenes are not bad at all.
But…when Kibakichi and Anju both transform to settle an old score…I
don’t know what the hell we witness but it isn’t a fight. Not only is Anju’s Werewolf make up just
terrible, not only does this look like it was shot on a soundstage instead of
in the outdoors (though given how bad this is, I can see why youd tape it
behind a tightly locked door), but ITS NOT A FIGHT!!! It’s a slow motion mating
dance…I think. There’s no blood, there’s
no tension, there’s just two people in fur suits putting on a very elaborate
dance number mixed to some of Kenji Kawaii’s reused music from the last film
(though the Kibakichi main theme itself is pretty epic). And it even ends with a flying kick duel in
front of a full moon. I’d say it’s so
bad you have to see it but even I wouldn’t want to see it again and every time
I do, I cringe hard.
Kibakichi 2 may have better action (as far as swords are
concerned anyway) and has an outstanding new cast member to keep things
entertaining and fresh. I cant say the
rest of it is any better though.
Terrible villains and a so bad it’s unwatchable finale kill any further
hopes of a continuation of this series (if any existed at all). Kibakichi was supposed to be an old school
samurai/horror series. But it’s neither
scary nor does it have a lot of the promised Samurai bloodbath action. Like I said, it’s hard to say if this was
worse or better than the first film. I
guess I can tie it, seeing as how both films have equally bad moments as well
as good. But Kibakichi 2 has that mating
dance, so bad you might as well slap on “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” and laugh at
how serious the moment tries to take itself.
So I’ll take it down a peg.
4/10
Well with that special double feature out of the way…go
scare yourself with some fun cosplay or Halloween costumes and attain all the
candy you wish. I’ll see you guys
tomorrow with the debut of the next series for review, the TV adaptation of
CLAMP’s apocalyptic showdown, X.
