This 1995 animated film was originally released in Japan as JUBEI NINPOCHO. The film was created and directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri, the creative mastermind who brought us WICKED CITY, BIOHUNTER, and DEMON CITY SHINJUKU. This is another one of those supernatural shogun/ninja period films, with an emphasis on characters, plot, thrill-a-minute action, with lots of blood, gore, and sexual content. This is one animated film that’s not for the kiddies.

The story unfolds in the village of Shimoda. All the people are dead and a plague is suspected. The Koga ninja team is sent to the village to investigate. While on the way to Shimoda, the Koga Ninjas are slaughtered by Tessal, a sword wielding monster with a body of stone. Kagera, a female ninja is the only survivor. After warning the Koga clan, she returns to find out more about the mystery surrounding Shimoda village when she is captured by Tessai. When Tessai returns to his dwelling with Kagero and has his way with her a stranger appears. It is a man named Jubei who asks for directions to the town of Kaklo. Tessai is irritated by Jubei and attempts to kill him. Jubei and Kagero escape when a dart thrown by Jubei hits the monster in the eye.

Jubei and Kagero meet again later and Tessai is killed. After the fight, and old man who has been watching nearby saves Jubei when he is attacked by a snake controlling sorceress. The old man Dakuan is a spy for the Tokogawa government. The old man explains that these monster are members of the Eight Devils of Kimon, a group of supernatural beings who work for the Shogun of the Dark. Now the rest of the Eight Devils group will surely be looking for Jubei to avenge the death of Tessai. The old man offers Jubei a hundred pieces of gold to find out what the devils are up to. At first Jubei refuses Dakuans offer, but finally agrees when he finds out the old man has poisoned him. Dakuan will give him the antidote only after he has helped the old man. Otherwise, he will die the next day.

As they begin their journey, Dakuans suspicions that Jubei was the ninja who killed the retainers of the Yashimoto Clan are confirmed. He tells Jubei that the leader of the clan, Lord Gemma, is still alive and working for the Shogun of the Dark. Gemma is actually the leader of the Kimon Devils. Kagero arrives to save Jubei from the second attack of the serpent sorceress. Dakuan knowing that Kagero has the ability to poison anyone she makes love to, asks her to join them. The trio soon discover that the villagers of Shimoda were not killed by an epidemic, but by the well water poisoned by the Kimon Devils. When Jubei battles and defeats the Devil member Mushizo and his deadly wasps, he learns that Gemma has the ability of reincarnation.

The Kimon Devils are now hot on their trail. After a near escape from the Sorceress of Explosions Zakuro, Jubei and Kagero manage to defeat the blind devil Muforo Utsutsu. As they arrive at a beach cliff, they see a cargo that has drifted ashore from a ship wrecked by a recent storm. They now realize that the false epidemic was created by the devils so that no one would go near the village of Shimoda and discover the drifting cargo. Dakuan guesses that the ship was carrying gold that was on its way to the Shogun of the Dark. With the gold, the Shogun could topple the Tokogawa government and the country would plunge into another civil war. Kagero informs the Mochizuki clan of the Shogun’s plan. Then Dakuan explains to her about the antidote to Jubei’s poison.

Kagero is captured by another Kimon Devil. Shijimata. Jubei comes to Kagero’s rescue and Shijina becomes the fifth devil to be defeated. Feeling that she is indebted to him, Kagero tells Jubei how to counteract the poison. The poison must be killed by another poison. If Kagero makes love to Jubei, it cure him. Returning to the wharf, Jubei devises a plan to sink the cargo ship. However, before his plan is executed, the Mochiaki clan arrives. Kagero, seeing that her lord has arrived, goes out to greet him—too late to see that it was a trap. Kagero is stabbed by Gemma who has disguised himself as her leader. The ship is loaded with the cargo of gold that while be used to purchase weapons from other countries. This will give the House of Toyotomi the upper hand to defeat the Tokugawa goverment.

Gemma has other plans. He wants to use the gold to organize a powerful army of ninjas who will rule the country with terror. Yurimaru, who is second in command to Gemma is unwittingly trapped and defeated by the vindictive devil, Zakuro, whose amorous advances he rejected. Meanwhile, Jubei bids farewell to the dying Kagero and heads for the departing ship. He sets fire to the hull where the cargo is held and Zakuro is blown to pieces in the explosion. This leaves Jubei and the last of the Kimon devils, Gemma to battle it out. No matter what Jubei does, he cannot defeat the reincarnating Gemma. When Jubei has injured Gemma enough to slow him down the devil is covered by molten gold caused by the fire. The lava is cooled by sea water that enters the hull, leaving Gemma forever encased in a golden coffin.

The film has some bizarre images and events:

The movie tries hard to add some complexity to its story and its characters. While it’s no AKIRA, it is a very good samurai action film with very smooth and fluid animation. The animation is also used in a very stylistic way with lots of Sam Raimi-style angles and rapid editing. Director Kawajiri is a master at this stuff and this is his best work to date, both animation-wise and character-wise. The film is incredibly violent and bloody, yet the mayhem does not repulse you, instead it grabs you by the neck and draws you in to this colorful world.

The artwork is phenomenal and the character development enviable. This film shows the mature range of drama, action, and a cast of tragic characters that an animated film can present. Take the lead character Jubei, you find yourself cheering for him one minute and feeling pity for him the next. Another strong theme is the role of women in Japan's Tokogawa period and the near absurdity (at the time) of a woman ninja. By taking a man's role, Kegaro denies herself her very gender in the presence of others, as seen in her waiting for Jubei to go down the road before breaking down emotionally after being raped by the demon.

SIGHT

Manga Entertainment delivered two versions of Ninja Scroll on a single DVD-18. On one side, we have the original 4x3 full screen, which I used for my primary viewing session. For a film made ten years ago, the source material was obviously in excellent condition. I didn't notice a single scratch on the film. The transfer was beautiful all, colors were bright and clear. Cross coloration and aliasing were nearly nonexistent.

One of the big parts about the Tenth anniversary release is Manga placing a 16x9 widescreen version on the DVD for "home theatre enthusiasts". Of course, this is pure marketing speech, as someone really into home theatre would want something in its original aspect ratio. Manga doesn't even both to list the correct aspect ratio for the film. It looks to be 1:78:1 to me. In order to do this, Manga chopped off parts of the bottom and top of the picture. Sigh. It also looked grainy to me, and the colors were not as bright as the 4x3 full screen version.

SOUND

Manga went full on out with all the different sound tracks that they made available on this DVD. There are EIGHT different audio tracks on this DVD. The English and Japanese language tracks come in stereo, DD-EX, and DTS-ES, while there are also stereo tracks in French and Spanish. I'm sure if the DVD standard didn't specify just eight audio tracks, I'm sure Manga would have tried to stuff more on there.

For my primary listening session, I took advantage of the Japanese DTS-ES 6.1 track, since I did have a rear center speaker. The mix was quite well done. Directionality was very well done, and the experience was immersive. The rear center was lightly used, but that's the way it should be. Everything was easy to understand, and the music and dialogue were distortion free. Possibly the only problem was the volume level of a character's speech during one scene.

FEATURES

There is a character synopsis featuring our 3 heroes, The 8 Devils of Kimon, and Lord Gemma. Six screens include information on the real life Jubei. Two interviews are also included. One with Wendee Lee (Kagero) and Dean Elliot (Jubei), and the other is with Director Yoshiaki Kawajiri. Both are twenty minutes long each. Topics go all over the place, and Kawajiri is even asked about his Animatrix work.

CONCLUSION

NINJA SCROLL is an outstanding achievement in animation, not just in the realm of Japanese Animation. The film is technically superb, superseding anything that Disney or the Dreamworks ever came up with (or can be expected to come up with, considering their gravitation towards an 8-year old audience). The plot has more twists and turns than your average adult animated fare. Yoshiaki Kawajiri’s story comes to life through carefully constructed characters such as the silent but violent Jubei, and the female ninja with a poisonous touch, Kagero. NINJA SCROLL is indeed one of the most incredible excursions in anime we have ever been blessed with. If you see only one anime title this year, you must acquire this epic DVD. Manga Video spent a lot of time, money, and effort into this release and it really shows!

NINJA SCROLL is available at DVDEmpire

NINJA SCROLL 10th ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL EDITION is available at DVDEmpire

NINJA SCROLL THE SERIES VOLUME 1 is available at DVDEmpire

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