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Ninja Scroll Anime Review
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This was perhaps the first manga movie I ever saw. I was many years younger when I first saw it and I was amazed at the idea of a full length cartoon with realistic looking animation and mature story and characters aimed at a serious audience which not only rivaled live footage movies but superseded them.
Ninja Scroll became a legend in my mind since I did not get to see it again for years and I did not even know the name of it. Then earlier this year I saw a video catalogue and saw in it the cover of a video which looked very familiar and first found out it was called Ninja Scroll. Soon after this by total coincidence, I was at some friends' house when they brought it back from the video store. I couldn't believe my luck - I hadn't seen this movie in so many years. A friend of mine who saw it for the first time that night has now all but declared it the best movie ever and we've had many hours of discussing the story and the relationship of Jubei and Kagero. Between these two is the most amazing chemistry I have ever seen between two characters in a movie.
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People often say this is one of the most graphically violent movies they have ever seen and I guess it is fairly gory but I the movie is all about swordplay and ninjas in feudal japan and the nature of the movie, the way it is drawn, is that it portrays the scenes realistically without apologising for them. Also, every fight is very different and awesomely innovative. In particular there is a scene where Jubei takes on Tsutsu Majuro in a bamboo forest, a very skilled swordsman and the most noble of the bad guys. Tsutsu is blind, however, and relies on his hearing to sense Jubei's actions in the duel. Jubei's first move is to cut many trees down around them, starting them falling to advantage himself by distracting Tsutsu's hearing. The lightning fast duel then takes place amongst the falling trees.
Tsutsu is just one of the big bad bosses of which there are eight in total. Every time Jubei goes up against one of them you are in for an awesome experience as every fight is vastly different and improvised. Every time Jubei must pull off a brilliant surprise move to finally beat each boss. This element of strategic swordplay is one of the big features of the movie along with the great story and the relationship of Jubei and Kagero.
I take the good with the bad, and the deep story, the awesome characters and the emotion, I felt like crying in one scene the first time I saw it, more than make up for the blood. Perhaps this is the best movie I have ever seen, I'm not exactly sure but I know it definitely would be up there, and it is certainly the best manga.
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