Ninja Scroll (1993)
Legendary ninja battles are always cut short.
Presentation:
Likely the most legendary ninja animation involving all the supernatural ninjitsu, espionage and sword fighting that has influenced modern anime today. The film looks fantastic in 4:3 with its hand drawn aesthetic and impressively crisp animation for 1993, even though a lot of the movement is simplified. Although the story is not particularly well explained as the film only has 90 minutes, it does manage to make you invest in the characters. The brevity makes it a fun experience but it is at least an hour too short. It would feel like an epic, but every boss feels mostly anti-climatic as each fight doesn’t last very long even though they all have fantastic design. The political elements also feel like background fodder and can be very difficult to follow especially if you watch the English dub, which I don’t recommend. However, even despite a rushed and undeveloped story the film manages to captive you in just a few minutes of the ninja world with its characters, powers and plot.
Conclusion:
This is an anime you can watch over and over again. It’s crazy entertaining for anime fans and you’ll wish there was an sequel. Unfortunately there seems to be a permanent hiccup with production so this might all be what fans can get. An unbelievable action value packed 90 minutes with surprisingly a bit of heart to it as well if you can look past some of the more sexualized aspects of it. This is an anime that should leaving you wanting more, though its definitely marketed toward men with its mature themes and adult animation.
Recommendations
Stepping stone for Studio Ghibli’s greatness.