Ninja Scroll, 1993.
Written and Directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri.
Featuring the voice talents of Kōichi Yamadera, Emi Shinohara, Daisuke Gouri and Takeshi Aono.
Now, I’m not really a fan of anime and happen to think that movies such as the aforementioned Akira are incredibly overrated. But that is not to say I am set in my ways against the art form. I don’t really like romcoms, but I will watch Love Actually every year without fail. Could Ninja Scroll be the first anime movie (outside of Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie) to change my mind on the medium?
An homage to the Ninpocho series of novels, Ninja Scroll tells the story of Jubei, a ninja for hire who has to deal with his old nemesis who is also the leader of a group of superhero demons. It sounds like a pretty simple story and one you’ve heard many times before and that is part of Ninja Scroll’s problem – it doesn’t feel like anything special.
That’s not to say that it hasn’t any redeeming values – the artwork and animation for example is absolutely stunning. The level of detail each frame contains is spellbinding and it’s probably for this reason that the movie is as well revered as it is. The amount of gore and action also adds to the entertainment levels and no matter how many times you see a head get chopped off or a blood fountain, you almost never get tired of it.
But sadly the film is not all roses. Outside of the opening 10-15 minutes which I thought were ace, I very quickly lost interest in Ninja Scroll. While it looked like a lot was happening, nothing ever seemed to progress. As with a lot of anime movies, you get a scene of cool looking action followed by a long-winded scene of nothing but exposition dialogue that is there solely to set up the next set piece. It gets very old very quickly and I was baffled to see at the hour mark that I’d only watched 60 minutes of the film – it had felt like 3 hours.
Sadly, Ninja Scroll has not been the movie to turn my opinions round about anime. I’m sure die-hard Manga fans will lap up every frame and special feature of this well presented DVD which has the original Japanese soundtrack (which will save you from the horrendous dub job). But newcomers to the medium may struggle to find any redeeming features. Aside from some glorious animation and a great opening 10 minutes, Ninja Scroll is just as overrated as other anime “masterpieces”.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Luke Owen is a freelance copywriter working for Europe’s biggest golf holiday provider as their web content executive.
