Ninja Scroll Anime Review

Quick Review

• Reviewer: Marc
• Review Date: 2003-08-03 (updated 2010-11-20)
• 4 stars out of 5 (?)

Ninja Scroll is everything you'd expect from a gory anime ninja action movie: lots of ninjas, a corresponding volume of blood, a big group of superpowered bad guys, a cool good guy to cut them into little pieces, a sufficient selection of strange erotic situations, and a convoluted plot. It takes all the earmarks of a tried and true formula and nails every one of them, wrapping the whole package in slick art with lots of style, seasoned with plenty of smoothly animated action.

Though it's hard to call original and it occasionally pushes the limits of good taste, Ninja Scroll has everything a fan of the ultraviolent ninja genre could wish for, and the production values are high enough that even people who don't usually go for that sort of thing might find it worth watching. It is, for all intents and purposes, the quintessential animated ninja hack-and-slash movie.

Read the full-length review...

Full Review

• Reviewer: Marc
• Review Date: 2003-08-03 (updated 2010-11-20)
• 4 stars out of 5 (?)

Ninja Scroll has everything you could ask for in ultraviolent ninja hack-and-slash anime--slick animation, lots of ninjas, a corresponding volume of blood, a big group of superpowered bad guys, a cool good guy to cut them into little pieces, a sufficient selection of strange erotic situations, and a convoluted plot. The sum is more than a ninja flick that's got it all--by taking all the earmarks of a tried and true formula and nailing every one of them, it has distinguished itself as the quintessential entry in its genre. Although its quality, depending on your definition, is debatable, one thing is certain: For lovers of violent ninja anime, Ninja Scroll is as good as it gets--a true instant classic.

To its credit, Ninja Scroll deserves its rank as an instant classic because it goes a bit farther than just rehashing the formula perfectly--the main characters aren't entirely familiar and the interplay between Kagero and Jubei is both more creative and has more emotional complexity than you might expect. Some of the bad guys also have creative powers, though that's not to say that you won't recognize a lot of things: The bug guy is straight out of Vampire Hunter D, with the spiders replaced by wasps, the big guy with rock skin is probably an ancestor of the metal giant in Fist of the North Star, and the blind swordsman feels like an old friend.

Also watch out for yet another demented Buddhist monk--this one is about three feet tall and is a government spy/assassin (must be a relative of Cherry). What is it with anime and Buddhist monks, anyway? What with Cherry, the guy in the Dagger of Kamui, and this little psycho, it's hard to take a Buddhist monk seriously these days.

Anyway, getting back on track, the plot (not that most people will care) deserves a nod for some originality, though it seems a little weird to have a bunch of demons involved in a scheme that boils down to stealing gold. No dark manipulations or demon armies from hell, just a bunch of money. Huh. Still, it's got a sufficient volume of semi-random political intrigue for a proper samurai-era story.

The story may not be the primary reason to see Ninja Scroll, but even if you're not the biggest fan of gore and too-cool-for-their-own-good ninjas, the visuals may be enough to make it worth checking out. Starting with the obvious (and most important), the action is superb: smoothly animated, well choreographed, and there are even some eye-catching little artistic touches. In particular look for the villains' supernatural powers--a guy who can literally slip into shadows, for example. In the non-action scenes, the character animation is also good, although some of the dialogue scenes are a little static. Backing the animation are a combination of slick art and rather original character designs--hard-edged but attractive and relatively realistic. The backgrounds are somewhat less memorable, but even those are quite well drawn--from detailed bamboo forests to rooms at sunset crisscrossed with hard shadows.

The well-selected Japanese cast features several big-name voice actors. I didn't notice any particular standout performances, but from Jubei's aloof, slightly bemused tone to Kagero's appropriately harsh (and dramatically well acted) voice to a whole collection of classically creepy sounding demons this is an all-around solidly voiced production. The translation in the subtitles, however, is occasionally a little... strange. Like, say, how every power is referred to as a "technique"--we have techniques for turning your skin into rock, techniques for turning yourself green and sprouting leaves (I'm not joking), and I couldn't help but laugh when they called reassembling dismembered limbs (and reattaching your own head) a "technique." As for the dub, the dialogue is awkward and much too modern sounding, more or less what you'd expect from your average kung fu movie dub (OK, not quite that bad).

In all, though it's hard to call original and it occasionally pushes the limits of good taste, Ninja Scroll has all the antisocial relationships, dismembered bodies, magical powers, building-jumping ninjas, and blood any fan of the ultraviolent ninja genre could wish for, and the production values are high enough that even people who don't usually go for that sort of thing might find it worth watching. It is, for all intents and purposes, the quintessential animated ninja hack-and-slash movie.

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Related Recommendations

Everybody seems to want to know what other movies are like Ninja Scroll, and the simple answer is none; it stands as the pinnacle of its particular genre. There is a TV series sequel, but it's not nearly as good. The closest movie in terms of style, characterization, and quality isn't a ninja movie at all, but it is very good--Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (not coincidentally, also directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri). The original Vampire Hunter D movie also has similarities to Ninja Scroll.

The other works of Kawajiri may also be of interest; Wicked City is probably the most similar of the bunch, but others such as Midnight Eye Gokuu and Cyber City Oedo 808 may be worth a look.

If you're desperate for more bloody ninja action, there is Sword for Truth (bad), and Yotoden: Wrath of the Ninja. Ninja Resurrection is absolutely not a sequel, but features another character named Jubei and is incredibly violent. If you want to try another area of the samurai/ninja genre, you might consider The Dagger of Kamui. Though they are both ninja movies and have similar convoluted political plots (and both have weird Buddhist monks), the Dagger of Kamui is an entirely realistic take on a similar idea, and is very good in its own right. Finally, the most stylistically similar anime to Ninja Scroll may be The Hakkenden, but it is also very different--it is bloody, features a lot of swordfighting and demons, and has a lot of style, but the plot is huge, convoluted, and very Japanese.