I’ve seen Yojimbo and thought that it was pretty good. It was nowhere hear as good as, say, Kurosawa’s other period pieces, such as Seven Samurai or Rashomon, but it’s still a worthwhile film. However, there was something that was keeping me from completely loving it, and, to this day, I still can’t put my finger on it.

So is it such a crime that I liked and enjoyed Sanjuro a whole lot more than Yojimbo? Toshiro Mifune reprises his role as Kuwabatake Sanjuro, the wandering ronin for this sequel to Yojimbo. Mifune brings back everything that we loved about the character in the first film; Sanjuro is as witty and eccentric as ever. We see him taunt his opponents, make wry comments about his comrades and trick the opposition. Mifune has made Sanjuro as abrasive as possible, and it reminds us that only Mifune would be able to pull this off.

Sanjuro is much more lighthearted than its predecessor. There is nothing groundbreaking about this film; it’s more of a fan service than anything. Instead of ridding two gangs Sanjuro helps a bunch of doomed samurai save their innocent chamberlain and bring justice to the clan, which is now in the process of being overthrown. We see him slice and dice through other warriors, including a great finale where a humongous gush of blood shoots in the air (apparently the hose they used to shoot out the blood malfunctioned and the actor was literally straining from the force of the pressurized blood). Watching him infiltrate armies and scheming with camellias just brings a smile to my face.

If there’s one problem in Kurosawa films it’s his weak scripting for female characters. I wouldn’t say that he’s sexist, I just think that he doesn’t care, or bothers to think about them. The two female characters in this film, no matter how right and moral they may be, come off as extremely annoying. Regardless, these two characters have a rather small role compared to the other cast members, so it didn’t ruin the movie for me. The film is nowhere near as serious as Yojimbo, but this delightful follow-up is a worthy sequel that even surpasses the original.