Werewolf Winter: Kibakichi (2004)

Oh Japan, I don't even think I can be surprised by you anymore. You've given the world cyborg-priest half-vampire vampire hunters, so why not a roaming samurai werewolf who fights demons? This is Kibakichi.

The first thing to know about Kibakichi, and honestly most of live-action Japanese cinema, is that everything looks incredibly low budget by American standards. While this film is only a decade old, the look and effects look often like a movie from the 1970s. That said, the cinematography in this movie is rather nice. In between shaky samurai sword fights that end in the Japanese-stereotypical geysers of blood, the shots of our main character, a wandering samurai, walking across vast landscapes are often gorgeous.

The movie opens with a montage of these wanderings, combined with broken flashbacks of a town being destroyed and buildings burning, and a crying Japanese woman asking, "Why did you come here, Kibakichi?" We are obviously supposed to glean that our warrior has a tragic past, but what happened we are not yet sure.

An abrupt cut and suddenly Kibakichi has arrived at an ominous looking town. The buildings look near-deserted and there is a low fog everywhere. As Kibakichi slowly crosses the bridge, he is suddenly attacked by GIANT TURTLE FROG CREATURES!

Now, this is not quite as random as it sounds. As a voice-over narrator explains, "Long ago, men and spirits called yokai lived in harmony" until the humans, fearful of the yokai's powers, tried to drive out and kill all the demons and spirits. "Some yokai turned themselves into men, women, or the elderly to hide in the human world." Now, in Japanese folklore, "yokai" is a pretty catch-all term; it applies to everything from evil demons to mischievous little trickster spirits. The giant turtle frogs are likely supposed to be Kappa, water creatures known to be tricksters and guardians in Japanese mythos.

Sadly, though the frogs are mostly kept in shadow, a smart choice for the director, it's still easy to tell that they look just mildly better than Power Ranger villains.

After Kibakichi fights them off, he goes to a sake house where he is hustled by some yakuza thugs connected with the town's local casino. Because the town is near deserted, the yakuza pressure any passer by to go to the casino, Kibakichi included. Once there, the wandering samurai does very well making large bets and he keeps winning, despite the creepy atmosphere.

After awhile, Kibakichi is called to the back room to meet "the boss," who explains: "We have been looking for a good gambler." This is because the boss will only trust people with supernaturally good luck. So far, so weird...

The film seems like it's going to follow a typical Western wandering-cowboy formula and that the Yakuza will hire Kibakichi to kill the demons. However (plot twist!) this turns out not to be the case. In fact, the Yakuza are actually the demons.

And this is what happens when you lose at their casino

This is hinted at earlier as the boss is called "Boss Oni" (Oni means demon). The demons in this story aren't entirely evil, though - they just want a home for their own and to not be run out by humans. One demon explains to Kibakichi  that they all came together as outcasts and have created their own family. Kibakichi can seemingly relate to this, and we get a slow reveal of his tragic past. We learn that Kibakichi is a sort of wolf-yokai who used to live in a these-are-clearly-supposed-to-be-Native-Americans (yes, in Japan) community that was destroyed by a group of humans who Kibakichi trusted.

Japanese Native Americans! Of course! 

Therefore, Kibakichi is torn between helping protect humans from demons, or staying away from humans because of his distrust. Kibakichi doesn't seem very pleased that the demons are still killing humans, mostly other yakuza bosses and powerful political leaders. The reason for this, it is soon revealed, is that Boss Oni has made a deal with two humans in the Japanese aristocracy, who plan to use the demons' powers for their own gain. However, after the humans gain old-fashioned machine gunners from England, it doesn't take long for the humans to double-cross the demons and say they aren't "needed" anymore in this brave new world.

Kibakichi, after only a brief hesitation, sides with the yokai, notably calling the humans "monsters" for attacking and shooting even weak and helpless yokai. Kibakichi transforms into his full werewolf form and fights the human aristocrats.

Once Kibakichi transforms, the fight scenes become incredibly silly looking; it's near impossible to take the movie seriously. The man who plays Kibakichi is clearly trained in martial arts and his form isn't bad, but martial arts + monster suits = awful and hilarious. That's just science.

Overall, Kibakichi is a strange and sometimes slow film, but one which also feels like a relatively fresh take on the werewolf genre. This movie is just very, very Japanese and tying the werewolf story to Japanese mythology is an interesting premise. However, the demon effects and costumes left much to be desired, and it was hard to both take the film seriously when it was trying to be dramatic and yet still embrace the silliness of it. I would recommend this movie if you're really interested in Japanese mythology or if you are just desperate to see a werewolf movie that is drastically different than the "norm," but for anyone else it is probably not worth the time.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 bites