Sleepy Eyes of Death 12: Castle Menagerie (1969)

Director: Kazuo Ikehiro

Notable Cast: Raizo Ichikawa, Naoko Kubo, Shiho Fujimura, Kayo Matsuo, Saburo Date, Shinjiro Ehara, Hideko Yoshida, Asao Koike, Atsumi Uda, Machiko Hasegawa

Raizo Ichikawa made the Sleepy Eyes of Death films. His performance, even when the scripts were patchy or the direction uneven, kept these films afloat throughout this portion of the series. He embodied the anti-hero characteristics and the razor-sharp expressions that betrayed his almost nonchalant, devil-may-care attitude. It’s because of his brilliant work that this twelfth entry, Castle Menagerie, has a tragic aura to it. There is a lot in this film about death and finding oneself face to face with a mirror image of one’s own flaws, a reflection that is both the same and inherently different. Sleepy Eyes of Death 12 is also Ichikawa's last portrayal of Kyoshiro before his unfortunate passing. Knowing this and considering the themes and visual styling of the film, the haunting aura of this film along with some of its bolder choices with the narrative and plot make it one of the best films of the franchise. A sad reminder of just how fantastic Ichikawa is as an actor and how quickly ones flaws can bring about their passing.

Sleepy Eyes of Death 9: A Trail of Traps (1967)

Director: Kazuo Ikehiro

Notable Cast: Raizo Ichikawa, Nobuo Kaneko, Toshio Kimura, Haruko Wanibuchi, Mikio Narita, Naoko Kubo, Kayo Mikimoto

One of the things that keeps rising to my attention, at least while I am working my way through the rest of the Sleepy Eyes of Death series, is that often my opinion of individual films goes against the popular one. I found that Sleepy Eyes of Death 8 was surprisingly effective and cinematic, despite it being one that was generally unpopular with fans, and for the ninth entry, A Trail of Traps, my opinion once again swung the opposite direction.  Where fans tend to find this one massively entertaining and above the usual quality of the series, as the film rolled to a close, there was a feeling that the potential of the concept did not equal the film that was delivered. Despite some fantastic moments, a strong visual approach by director Kazuo Ikehiro, and another set of really strong performances from the cast, A Trail of Traps is a film where the meandering script has no real sense of purpose and seemingly strings together a half dozen plot threads in an attempt to layer a film that doesn't have the nuance and momentum to make it work. It is entertaining, for sure, but the fun concept isn’t enough to keep the film from floating off on its own trail of narrative traps.

Sleepy Eyes of Death 4: Sword of Seduction (1964)

Director: Kazuo Ikehiro

Notable Cast: Raizo Ichikawa, Michiko Ai, Shinjiro Asano, Jyo Kenzaburo, Katsuhiko Kobayashi, Naoko Kubo, Ichiro Nakatani, Akemi Negishi, Shihio Fujimura, Jun Hamamura, Masumi Harukawa, Yoshio Inaba, Saburo Date

Also known as: Sleepy Eyes of Death: Sword of Seduction

After back to back entries that more than impressed, I feel like I was riding on a Sleepy Eyes of Death high, ready to consume more and see if the series could keep up its energetic and impactful run. The fourth entry, Sleepy Eyes of Death: Sword of Seduction, is a film that in concept should be ranked up there with Full Circle Killing and Sword of Adventure, but is held back by a scattered script. It’s one of those films that is overflowing with a multitude of fantastic sequences and ideas just begging for a cohesive movie to put it all together which it sadly never accomplishes. For fans of chanbara films or the series, there is plenty to adore about Sword of Seduction. The film as a whole, on the other hand, leaves something to be desired as it randomly leaps plots to be as entertaining as possible.