 According to Quentin Tarantino (qv), Sonny Chiba (qv)s  character, Hattori Hanzo, is meant to be the most recent descendant  of his character(s) from  _"Hattori Hanzô: Kage no Gundan" (1980)_ (qv). The series was done  in multiple various installments, in which Chiba would play Hanzo a  generation removed from the previous installment.