Zatoichi's Conspiracy (1973)

Film number 25 was the end of the original, unbroken run of Zatoichi films. Shintarô Katsu stayed with the character for a subsequent 100 episode TV Series (1974-79), and he came back for one last blind farewell many years later (1989), but it's here that a line can be drawn and an emotional marker laid.
The swordsman returns to his home town, a place he's not been in over twenty years, with mixed feelings in his heart. Sadness shares space with remembered joy, and old faces with new.
All happenings point towards an inevitable and familiar ending, but it's how he gets there that's important. Being who he is means it's bloody and with the best of intentions. Other than the setting, there's no real indication that all concerned knew it was to be the last. Nevertheless, as a farewell it's decent and thankfully less bleak than the few films that preceded it.

3 trust penalties out of 5