Tong: Ninja Scroll Review

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Yoshiaki Kawajiri's 'Ninja Scroll' is a mess of an anime film. I'm sure I'm at the lower end of the spectrum since 'Ninja Scroll' has received critical acclaim at the time of its release, and Kawajiri's been praised for his work on 'Wicked City' and 'Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust'. Having not seen any of Kawajiri's other work other than this film, I must say this isn't a great first impression.


'Ninja Scroll' takes place in Feudal Japan where a samurai-like warrior-for-hire by the name of Jubei Kibagami roams freely. When Jubei encounters Kagero as she's just about to be raped by a man seemingly made of rock, Tessai, he soon finds himself playing a larger role than initially planned. Kagero is part of a Koga ninja team for her Mochizuki clan investigating a mysterious plague that devastated an entire village. The team had just been wiped out and killed by Tessai before he spares Kagero in order to rape her. It's soon revealed that Kagero has a unique ability where her entire body is poisonous to anyone who touches her, which has its advantages and disadvantages. Jubei and Kagero's roles intertwine when they're recruited by a spy named Dakuan, who wants their help to defeat an even larger enemy.

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You see, Tessai is just the first of many supernatural and demonic ninjas, called the Devils of Kimon, who all follow the commands of the Shogun of the Dark. The members of the Devils of Kimon include a man with bees living within his body, a woman whose tattoos come to life, a blind swordsman, and a Freddy Krueger-like ninja who can hide and move through shadows. The Devils of Kimon are all interesting, and they have a lot of potential, but 'Ninja Scroll' never utilizes these interesting antagonist to the fullest. Jubei and Kagero face each of the Devils of Kimon, one by one, but just as each battle starts getting interesting, it ends. Just like that. None of the battles are engaging or well thought out because they end too quickly. It makes it seem like there's no point for any of the members of the Devils of Kimon other than to fill up the film's running time and to add variety to its characters. Sure, the Devils of Kimon are diverse and interesting, but they never amount to anything. However, I will say that the defeat of the bee-member of the team is a little bit clever. A little.

Jubei finds out he has some sort of connection with the Devils of Kimon when Gemma, a man Jubei shares a dark past with and whom he thought was dead, shows up and reveals plans of his own, separate from the Shogun of the Dark's. Gemma is basically an invincible villain because he can repair his wounds and regenerate lost body parts. How Gemma gains the ability to reincarnate himself is never explained.

The fearsome Tessai.
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Some of the problems I have with 'Ninja Scroll' is its lack of well-thought out characters or plot. Gemma wants to use gold to raise the largest ninja army ever in order to take over the world - a standard villainy plan. But if Gemma is invincible, cannot die, and can easily repair any flesh wounds or lost limbs, why would he need an army? Not only is Gemma a one-note villain, but all of the other characters in the film are one-note and flat. The Devils of Kimon don't have enough screen time to have fleshed-out characteristics, and the whole feud between two of its members is random and never explained. Jubei is an honorable hero, Kagero is skillful but distant because of her poisonous attributes, and Dakuan is just a random and weird character who provides the film with comedic relief. The love story between Jubei and Kagero isn't believable because not enough focus went into their relationship for a romance to even form. And Kagero claims she fell in love with Jubei because he treated her as a woman, not a warrior. This bothers me, because I feel like women like Kagero should take pride in being treated as a warrior instead of just a woman. Women don't generally like being treated specially or differently from men just because they're women. That's a lesson learned from 'Mulan'. And as for the "cure" to a poison Jubei is infected with, it doesn't make sense. According to Dakuan the cure is having sex with Kagero. Why would Jubei have to engage in sex with Kagero to cure himself of his poison when all he could do - and which he does do - is just kiss her, or at least just touch her skin? Stating that Jubei must have sex with Kagero to live conflicts with earlier facts regarding Kagero's poison, and is a low attempt at adding tension to Jubei and Kagero's romance.

Jubei's fight with the blind samurai.
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I'm sorry if this seems more like a rant about why I dislike 'Ninja Scroll' and less like a review for the film, but I'm just writing down everything I feel about the film. 'Ninja Scroll' offers potentially great ideas, but its lack of character or plot development eventually ties the film down. And it doesn't help that the dub for the film is awful.

Extra Notes:

• The use of Oni's is common in anime. An Oni is an ogre or demon-like creature, usually with horns, and they tend to rape and eat human beings. The character Tessai in 'Ninja Scroll' has some qualities of an Oni, especially the whole "raping" aspect. It's sad the film doesn't explore Tessai in depth to allow a better understanding of his character. The same goes for the rest of the demons in the Devils of Kimon team.
• 'Ninja Scroll' involves a lot of magic and supernatural elements, especially with the abilities of the members of the Devils of Kimon, and with the strange poison form Kagero. The magical/supernatural elements of the film are interesting, but it's a shame it's never explained how these abilities came into being, especially with Kagero's mysterious poison and Gemma's invincibility.
• The animation style of 'Ninja Scroll' is okay for the its time, but it fails in comparison to an anime film released just five years before, called 'Akira'. Where 'Akira' had scenes with smooth character movements and detailed settings, 'Ninja Scroll' offers simple backdrops and more stiff character movements. The animation in 'Ninja Scroll' isn't terrible, it just isn't engaging or great.
• Guys, this isn't an anime film you'd want to watch on the date. It's a little heavy on graphic nudity and sex, most of which is totally useless to the overall plot of the film.
• What the heck does the 'scroll' in 'Ninja Scroll' have to do with the film?