Started out good, but dropped the ball at the end. (Spoilers)

It would have been better than the original if they hadn't dropped the ball at the end. Sakuramaru was a cool character and the relationship (or lack thereof) with Anju was well done. The part where the film fell flat was the fight with Dougan. In the first film, Kibakichi was nearly defeated by the man throwing grenades and him, but recovered and decapitated him in dramatic fashion. In the sequel, he and Anju dodged a few fireballs and then slashed Dougan for the kill. Since he turned into a demon anyway, they should have gone ahead and given him equal or greater physical strength and have it come down to hand to hand combat. The Kibakichi/Anju wolf fight was poorly executed as well. Dougan had potential. They just didn't see it through to the end to give him a good fight. As for Sakuramaru, I would have let he and Kibakichi finish their fight before Dougan's troops interfered.