Kibakichi: Bakko-yokaiden (2003)

A series of Japanese fantasy movies all directed by Tomoo Haraguchi. Sakuya and Kibakichi are more or less martial arts films with Kibakichi's twist being that its main character is a werewolf encountering various other 'yokai' creatures of Japanese folklore. Sadly, both Kibakichi films have not made it onto new releases since their initial DVDs which are in fairly poor quality, so sorry for the screnshots. This post will be updated with images/information about Sakuya and Death Kappa eventually.

Information on both Kibakichi films is very sparse to find online, but Wikizilla lists veteran Toho/Daiei sculptor Shigeaki Ito as having worked on both Kibakichi films, so that's the best I'll have to go with. Both of the Kibakichi films have a variety of practical monster effects. The titular Kibakichi (portrayed by Ryuji Harada) takes on a 'wolfman' style form in both films, with a sculpted torso and facial appliance.

The finale of the sequel film has Kibakichi run into another lone wanderer, Anju (played by Miki Tanaka) who also turns out to be a werewolf; her lupine form was also realized as a bodysuit with sculpted torso and facial appliances.

Various flashback sequences in both films show members of Kibakichi's tribe, whose werewolf forms had much more lupine faces compared to either Kibakichi's or Anju's.

Being themed on Japanese mythology and folklore, naturally there are many yokai realized, some of them being reused from Haraguchi's earlier Sakuya Yokaiden (Sakuya: Slayer of Demons) - the 'mature' kappa of Kibakichi definitely feels like it was reused from Sakuya, meaning I will have to update this entry with images from that film sometime.

A 'younger' kappa is also seen, this being realized as a full monster suit; I think this kappa suit was later reused in Haraguchi's later Death Kappa in 2020, which also had Shigeaki Ito worked on it as sculptor. That will be another film I'll have to watch and update this entry with screenshots from!

Several other yokai prosthetics are seen in both Kibakichi films (especially of oni), though the closeups and moody lighting, combined with fuzzy DVD quality, don't do them justice!