Ichi (Shintarô Katsu), who earns his living as a masseur is hired by members of the House of Kuroda as a service to their master. Although blind, Ichi can clearly see that the childlike lord suffers from a mental illness. In an effort to keep this information from leaking out, members of the house make a failed attempt to kill Ichi as he leaves. He hides with a sympathetic prostitute as more of the Kuroda men search for him. Boss Kanbei and his men are hired by House Kuroda to find and kill Ichi, but he escapes again, this time by boat. As promised in the previous adventure, Ichi returns to the grave of Hirate in the village of Iioka exactly one year after killing this noble swordsman. He visits the town's boss, a gangster named Sukegorô before going to the temple where the grave site is. Kanbei and his men catch up with him there and a vicious fight ensues. Ichi is then attacked by Yoshiro, his own brother who has been on the run from authorities for a series of crimes. The two had actually crossed paths several times before, although neither had acknowledged the other due to a feud over a shared love for a woman. Wounded by their battle and now surrounded by samurai, the two brothers escape by jumping into a nearby lake. Yoshiro dies from his wounds and Ichi gets revenge on Sukegorô, whom he blames for the death of his brother and previously for Hirate.

Episode two in this series generally follows the formula set up by the first one, where Ichi initially makes a fool of several thugs attempting to harass or take advantage of him, has a girl fall in love with him, and fights a skilled swordsman introduced early in the story. But in this case, Shintarô Katsu gets to show off more of his unique swordsmanship. We also get to see Ichi actually wounded for the first time, by his brother.

This film is not as cohesive in regards to the story and the shorter length limits the amount of character development. The second half seems rushed with Ichi going from battle to battle with little story in between. Masayo Banri returns briefly as Tane (Otane), Ichi's love interest from the previous film. Eijirô Yanagi also returns as Boss Sukegorô whose meddling incurs the wrath of Ichi. Tomisaburo Wakayama's character, Yoshiro is Ichi's main foil and introduces a back story about Ichi and a woman he apparently still loves.The most frustrating part of the film may be the very end which is cut extremely abrupt as Ichi attacks Sukegorô. Anyone who has not seen the first episode might be puzzled as to who this character is. He is clearly a bad fellow, but his role receives little attention in this film, thus diminishing the significance of this final scene.

The sword fights are much more frequent here and they continue to be fought in a "realistic" manner, which means they are short and economical in execution. At one point, Ichi makes the obvious statement that he's only able to fight so long as his opponent attacks first. Excuses for these attacks are plentiful and reasonably believable for Ichi is surrounded by prideful men who constantly underestimate his abilities. But, only Yoshiro provides any real competition and once again, its a bittersweet victory for Ichi who must endure his brother's death.

Zatoichi 2 is a solid follow up, not quite as well written, but genre fans will appreciate the action and Shintarô's likable performance.

The Tale of Zatoichi Continues (aka. The Return of Masseur Ichi, 1962): Zatoichi, blind masseur and swordsman, is hired by the wealthy, influential Kurata House to give a massage to their lord. Zatoichi soon discovers that the nobleman is quite mad, and the family is distressed because they have been trying to keep it a secret that their head has gone insane. Fearing that the blind masseur knows too much, they send out a couple of their samurai to dispatch Zatoichi, but naturally, the blind man has them outskilled and survives. Knowing he couldn't have gone far, Kurata House hires the local gangsters to do their dirty work, find Zatoichi and kill him. Zatoichi hides out in the local brothel and quickly befriends one of the strumpets. Trouble is, a mysterious one-armed swordsman, Yoshiro, appears the brothel, and both he and Zatoichi share a past, somehow, and the same affection for the prostitute, each saying she reminds them of a former loved one... As Zatoichi makes his way out of the town and goes to visit the grave of Hirate (the samurai he defeated in the first film), the gangsters are close on his heels and out for his blood, and likewise so is the crippled samurai Yoshiro, who seems to have some unfinished business with Zatoichi.

Plotwise, the preceding, first, Zatoichi film is better, more intricate, but this second installment, with familiarity on its side, is able to punch up the action a little and be brisker in its pacing. Already in this second installment the series has an episodic feel. Singular films, yes, but by sharing the same basic structure and with most of the films having an average running time of just over 80mins, and the same central star, its almost like a 25/26 episode tv series. The story here is a bit more melodramatic, and this isn't helped by Ichiro Saito's score (the first film was scored by the underrated Godzilla/rubber monster composer Akira Ifukube), which accentuates scenes by punching in a soap opera sounding organ whine. But, Zatoichi tales are melodrama, and the films were made like they went down an assembly line. It is the characterization, humor, spurts of action, and competent direction that creates a total package. Sure, it is obvious when we see the two samurai share the same past love, and we instantly assume Yoshiro's missing arm is a product of a fight with Ichi. But such obviousness is balanced out by other scenes, such as the great black humor demonstrated when Ichi fights three gangsters- he quickly drops three of them, killing two, wounding one, which sends the remaining two men running, with no care for their wounded comrade who comically stumbles after them in a panic. And, in this film, Ichi's way with the ladies gets a real chance to shine, with the films better moments being between him and the smitten prostitute.

Perhaps the most noteworthy thing in this second film is the appearance of Tomisaburo Wakayama as the one-armed fighter Yoshiro. Tomisaburo Wakayama is star Shintaro Katsu's brother, and would most notably go on to fame as rogue samurai and former executioner Ogami Itto in the fantastic Lone Wolf and Cub film series. Here we see a nice glimpse into Ichi's past, this rival that he has obviously maimed. Yet, like the first film, he does not seek out violence, one gets the feeling it always comes to him. But, since Zatoichi is obviously capable of killing, why is this particular warrior only maimed and not stone cold dead? And, the answer is as melodramatic as the first film, having Zatoichi begrudgingly battle a terminally ill swordsman that he respects, but the sheer novelty of a blind fighter and a one-armed fighter in possible combat, two very disabled but very deadly men is with my entertainment dollar.