The very first act we see Itto perform is the Shogun-sanctioned beheading of a very young boy, immediately suggesting that there is something deeply wrong with the order that this Official Executioner is duty-bound to uphold

Here, with no particular imagination or flair, Kenji Misumi directs a blunt melodrama accordingly.

The Lone Wolf and Cub series is an episodic melodrama in the old-fashioned sense: the characters are familiar types, good and bad are clearly differentiated, [and] action takes precedence over character development...

The fights are savage—blades slash, limbs fly, and blood spurts like geysers—but in addition to the swordplay, violence, nudity, and earthy sexuality, the film also offers a tender, loving father under the gruff exterior of the pitiless warrior.