Tentacle-Free Anime: "Ninja Scroll" (1993) Review

- by Kazekun, 9 May 2016

Ninjas. Sometimes turtles, other times not turtles. But always with special abilities or unique looks about them that defy the laws of both physics and evolution (or creationism, either way). Well, in anime anyways. In reality, ninjas were still fantastical but also much more practical. However, there's something pretty appealing about seeing ninjas run about and execute superhuman abilities upon one another. Naruto immortalized it, Ninja Scroll kind of started it.

Ninja Scroll (1993)

Episodes: 1;
Director: Yoshiaki Kawajiri;
Studio: Madhouse;
Rated: R

Summary: Jubei is a wandering noble sword for hire, but when a chance meeting leads him to save a young ninja woman from rape he makes enemies with a group of demonic humans. Jubei and the woman part ways, but later a government spy forces Jubei to join up with her again and investigate the mysterious death of an entire village. The investigation reveals a conspiracy involving the demons and a man from Jubei’s past who is supposed to be dead. As they get closer to the truth the demons close in on them and pretty soon Jubei finds himself in a deadly fight with many super strong inhuman opponents. [AnimeNewsNetwork.com]

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"I hate those who think so little of their own worth..." - Kagero

Ninja Scroll probably didn't begin the trend of superhuman ninja in the medium of anime. I am more than certain there are other works that did so that I am either unfamiliar with or just can't think of at the moment, however to say Ninja Scroll didn't have an impact on later works that included these kind of characters would more than likely be an understatement.

I'm really not sure how well received this film was in Japan, but overall the movie is considered a classic in, I believe, both Japan and the U.S. Here in the U.S, the film was everywhere in rental stores in a time when all anime and cartoons were put together on a shelf with non-existent age ratings to divide them. So a lot of people saw this movie. It didn't have the massive impact that works like Akira or Ghost in the Shell did,k but it was widely seen nonetheless.

Click to enlarge

Ninja Scroll is a very, very fun movie. It has intense action, really interesting characters, but does fall flat a bit at the end. It sort of has that “what the eff” abrupt kind of ending that makes me think of Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie. A movie I love, but the final shot at the end before the credits roll just makes me scratch my head. Yeah, that happens here too, but it doesn't stop me from enjoying the film overall.

Let's talk about the action first. This is an ultra violent and somewhat sexual film set amongst a sort of Feudal Era Japan backdrop (it's probably not that era, but it's what I think of when I watch this movie). Jubei at first doesn't seem to be all that cool but soon proves his prowess up against a few bandits that try to kill him at the beginning of the film. He makes quick work of them and cements himself as a real badass. In fact the opening is eerily similar to the opening scene from another anime film about a samurai

​That story came much later in years, so obviously Ninja Scroll was a big influence on that.

Jubei isn't without his flaws though, and isn't a perfect ninja/samurai either. He makes mistakes, and it's apparent in all of his fight scenes where he goes up against many of the enemy ninja trying to kill him for killing one of their own. Both villains and heroes get hurt in this movie and each fight is choreographed in a way that can make you fear for the main characters. Which is awesome.

And every enemy ninja gets their time to shine and show how powerful they are. There's no “weakling” among them and I really appreciate that. Especially when you're telling a movie-length story and have all these different characters to balance.

Jubei is having a tough Monday

 I really enjoy the fight scenes and the blood letting that happens throughout. We get to see a myriad of different and unique fighting styles being used. Most mystical in nature, but all fascinating to watch. There's no explanation as to how any of these characters came to be as powerful as they are, but I never once felt like we needed the explanation. They exist, so let's tell the story from there. I respect that.

There's also an intense near-rape scene towards the beginning of the film, touched upon in the summary above. Kagero is the woman ninja Jubei saves from being raped, but quite a bit is done to her physically before he gets to her. Never once does Kagero feel like a true damsel in distress, I mean during this scene she's completely knocked out before having her chest sucked on and her mouth violated by the first of enemy ninja, Tessai's tongue. Tessai has the power to turn to stone and wields a double bladed sword.

But throughout the film, both before and after this scene, she does hold her own quite well. And as someone who is immune to poison, it helps during scenes where she not only gets poisoned herself by an enemy, it ends up not effecting her, but later she is able to help save Jubei's life from his own poisoning. Kagero is a really strong female character and I don't feel she is undermined once in this film.

Kagero is ready to cut somebody

All of the villains, like I said, get a chance to shine. And I'm a sucker for really well written organization storylines where our heroes have to go up against multiple super-powered enemies with vastly different and interesting abilities. Bonus points if you can make the villains relatable, which this movie really doesn't so that's a minus on its part. There are a few little things said about some of the villains that makes a haphazard attempt at character building, but ultimately they're all evil and that's just how it is.

The animation is really, really crisp as well. This movie looks damn good. The action scenes are really fluid and even the slow scenes are well animated. Everything in the world looks like it belongs together and that's great to see. My biggest qualms with this film are the lack of character building for the enemies and the abrupt ending. Otherwise though this film is genuinely solid.

The OST is definitely lacking though and there really isn't anything memorable about it. I'm listening to it now as I write this and perhaps it's because I saw InuYasha first but every track just reminds me of that series instead and so none of it stands out at all. Which is sad, because a movie like this deserves a kick-ass soundtrack.

Ninja Scroll more than likely did not actually begin the trend of giving ninjas superhuman abilities, but the fact that it is a classic and so well known and widely seen definitely lends it credibility for influencing later series like Naruto and Afro Samurai in which both would incorporate known elements seen in this film into big storylines of their respective shows.

Tessai's blade leaves blood in its wake

If you haven't seen Ninja Scroll, definitely go watch it. It isn't perfect by any means but it's truly enjoyable nonetheless. And if you end up liking it as much as I do then you're luck. There's a sequel series of 13 episodes titled Ninja Scroll: The Series that aired in 2003 – 10 years after this movie. But we'll eventually tackle that as well.

Ninja Scroll. Go watch it.

Final Score: 4.5 Beehive Ninjas out of 5


Have you seen Ninja Scroll? Let us know what you thought of this influential movie below!

Tagged: Tentacle-Free Anime, movies & TV.

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