RETRO MOVIE REVIEW: Ninja Scroll (1993)

While I don“t watch that much anime as a general rule, I will always make an exception for the original Ninja Scroll animated film. This film was much unlike anything that was available during the early 1990“s, and even to this day, it“s a movie with a memorable voice. Because of that, Ninja Scroll is recognized as something of a cult classic among anime films, and it“s a film that“s still well worth watching even today. At the same time, it’s worth re-evaluating this film to see how well it’s held up over the past twenty-seven years since its original release.

The basic plot of Ninja Scroll seems relatively simple, but it crosses quite a few genre barriers, which is one of the points that sets this film apart. A vagabond ninja swordsman named Jubei Kibagami and a ninja poison taster named Kagero are swept into a web of espionage by Dakuan, a Tokugawa government spy. Together, the three of them must investigate a plague-ridden town, a connection to a ship of lost gold, and their connection to ninja mercenaries called the Eight Devils of Kimon. The story is at once a historical piece set during the time of the Tokugawa shogunate (Jubei himself is loosely based on a Japanese folk hero), an adventure tale about super-powered ninja, and a spy adventure. Most of all, though, Ninja Scroll is a tragic love story centered around Jubei and Kagero, the pride that keeps them apart, and the doom that brings them together. There are numerous moving parts in this narrative, but it all holds together well, and everything is perfectly paced and executed.

Moreover, Ninja Scroll does a masterful job if introducing and making the viewer care about each of the major villains in the span of 93 minutes. Many films of this kind will mainly concern itself with the master villain (in this case, immortal ninja Himoru Gemma) and perhaps an underling. With this film, however, there are eight main antagonists, and all of them are distinct and interesting. Tessai is a monstrous, brutal thug who preys on women and drinks blood, but the movie establishes him as a fearsome presence within the first 20 minutes. However, we see the internal politics within the Eight Devils and the deaths of these villains come at the hands of each other almost as often as the heroes. Some of the Devils are killed because of romantic jealousy within the group, and at other times, they are set up to take the fall by rivals in the name of ambition. The relationships within the Eight Devils are fascinating to watch, and that“s before we truly get to know Lord Gemma, the primary villain of the piece. When he arrives, though, he establishes his threat quickly, but he also has an interesting point of view, one that contrasts with the political ambitions of the Tokugawa and the Toyotomi clans. When Gemma is defeated, it“s in a satisfying way; he gives Jubei a difficult, brutal fight and then is dispatched in a way that“s clever and convincing. This film is a master class in how to handle villainous characters, and it never once makes any real mistakes with any of them.

This is not to say that Ninja Scroll is absolutely flawless, for everything that it accomplishes. How much you“ll enjoy the film will depend on whether you prefer the subbed or dubbed version, and both have their respective strengths and weaknesses. The subtitled version probably comes closer to the original vision of writer/director Yoshiaki Kawajiri, and the exposition will likely make more sense to you when seen that way. It also offers some stronger lines in places, such as when Dakuan describes Kagero as “the perfect woman for this hellish world”. At the same time, the subbed version misses much of the wit of Jubei“s character and some of his best lines in the entire film. The classic line “Burn in your golden hell”“, for example, is not in the subbed version at all, and if you“re watching this on Hulu (which as of this writing only carries the subbed version), you“ll miss some deep character moments and one of the best climactic line readings by Dean Wein. At the same time, the dubbed version misses some of the complexity of the plot and loses important points in translation, such as why the Tokugawa government is involved in the town of Shimoda. It may be better to watch using subs and dubs to see the differences, but if so, it“ll be quickly apparent that changes were made in translation and possibly in the line readings by the English voice actors. Both versions are worth seeing, though my personal preference is the dubbed version, both because of the top-notch English performances and because of the character additions in the line changes.

Ninja Scroll is also not for the faint of heart, though Kawajiri would admit ten years after filming that teenage boys were his target audience. That shows in his execution. The action scenes are extremely visceral, though well executed, and they don“t shy away from blood and dismemberment. Moreover, the early scenes of the movie depict an act of sexual assault, for reasons related to the plot, which the movie downplays but is still present. This is likely going to be a bitter pill for many modern viewers to swallow, and if you don“t like this sort of content, you may not like this film. At the same time, without intending to condone or defend these decisions, Kawajiri was likely trying to reflect the world of medieval Japan, where attitudes towards these issues were far different than today. If you like shows like Game of Thrones and the way they convey medieval attitudes, you should be right at home with Ninja Scroll, but if not, you“ll struggle much more.

Regardless of these issues, Ninja Scroll is still a technical masterpiece in terms of 90“s anime. It“s a film that“s managed to hold fairly well over time, though the animation process has improved considerably since the movie“s release. However, what keeps this film going for so many years remains its deep insight into its varied characters, as well as a beautiful, tragic, and touching story that deserves to be experienced. This is definitely a film that you should track down if you“re an anime fan, and it“s a film worth experiencing even if you aren“t. Ninja Scroll is the kind of movie that modern audiences and filmmakers can learn from even to this day.

Score: 4.5/5

Executive Producers: Shigeru Kitayama, Masako Fukuyo, and Kasuhiko Ikeguchi

Director: Yoshiaki Kawajiri

Screenwriter: Yoshiaki Kawajiri

Cast: Dean Wein, Wendee Lee, Stephen Apostolina, Richard Epcar, Richard Cansino, Edward Mannix, Riva Spier, Kevin Seymour, J.C Henning, Milton James, Kirk Thornton

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Steve Sellers

Steve Sellers had been a fan of superheroes ever since Superman: The Movie. But it took the JSA, the Legion of Super-Heroes, Dragonlance, Lord of the Rings, Twilight Zone, and Chris Claremont's legendary run on the X-Men to make him a writer and a longtime fan of comics, fantasy, and science fiction. Steve is the co-creator of WHITE DRUID & MICHAEL NERO and GUARDIANS OF ELAYIM for Omen Comics, and he is also the creator of BLITZ and SHOCKWAVE for Revelation Comics (an imprint of Omen Comics).