"CATCH YOU FUCKERS AT A BAD TIME?"

Ninja Scroll

Lately, with reality increasingly losing its appeal, I’ve had more desire to lose myself in fantastical worlds of animation. Even when those places are horrible in their own right it feels like an escape, because at least they’re made of nice drawings and paintings. NINJA SCROLL transports us to a mystical past of deadly assassins, some with magic powers, others just so skilled that they might as well have ‘em. This is from 1993 and it was legendary in that decade for providing extravagant violence that seemed novel to us Americans when delivered in cartoon form. It still kinda works as that, but more importantly I think it holds up as a pretty entertaining movie.

The writer/director is Yoshiaki Kawajiri, and though I never really made the connection that it was the same guy, I’ve written about several of his works. I talked a little about VAMPIRE HUNTER D: BLOODLUST (2000) in my original BLADE II review, I covered THE ANIMATRIX (2003) when I was revisiting that whole franchise (he did the “Program” segment), I really liked his DTV/OVA HIGHLANDER: THE SEARCH FOR VENGEANCE (2007) when I did my review series Highlanderland. Also he wrote the live action AZUMI 2: DEATH OR LOVE, though unfortunately I was disappointed in that one. I do like his stories on the other stuff, but it’s obviously the drawing and movement that makes them fly (often literally).

NINJA SCROLL opens much like a LONE WOLF AND CUB, with our lead ninja Kibagami Jubei wandering from parts unknown to destination unknown, munching on a rice ball. When he strolls onto a bridge he gets jumped by two enemies, and you know what I always say – I love when a guy kicks some ass while eating (see also: SANJURO, THE BIG BOSS, DIRTY HARRY). He does have to throw the rice ball in the air at one point to commit violence, but he catches it before it hits the ground.

After he’s won, one of the attackers just has to ask if it’s true he was hired for only 20 ryos to return a stolen sword worth way more than that. Junbei says it’s because “they’re a poor, small clan” who hired him. Fights while snacking, has some honor – I like this guy.

Meanwhile, some sinister shit is going on with a shipwrecked load of gold that a bad guy called The Shogun of the Dark intends to use to overthrow the Tokugawa Shogunate. His elite ninja squad, the Eight Devils of Kimon, cover up the accident by poisoning an entire nearby village, making it seem like there’s a plague so everybody will stay away from the area.

When the Chamberlain hears stories about this he’s skeptical, but sends the Koga ninja to Shimoda Village to investigate. The one woman in the clan, Kagero, is supposed to stay behind because she’s the poison taster, but she insists since the lord is away and she has no poison to taste, she’s going, and she cuts off her hair to prepare. She’s a badass, we’re clearly on her side, but we do see that some of the men are distracted by her presence on the mission. They keep talking about how hot she is. A good argument against men in the military.

This guy is such a jerk!

It’s pretty clear that even if these dorks didn’t have boners they wouldn’t have stood a chance against the Devils who pop up in the forest to slaughter the fuck out of them. At first they don’t even see who’s killing them – just a huge twirling blade that flies around like a boomerang cutting thick trees and ninjas in half, sending heads falling, followed by showers of blood. A flurry of throwing stars pelts the area like machine gun spray, a cable swings down to electrocute people. Their primary attacker Tessai is giant, his skin seems to be made of rock, and he lifts a guy up by his arms, like a little doll, rips the arms off and pours the blood into his mouth. Show off.

He’s also a pervy rapist who carries Kagero away and starts licking her. His mouth fits around an entire boob. Our boy Jubei is an independent, has nothing to do with any of these people, but he happens to be passing through so he pretends to be oblivious and interrupts the assault to ask Tessai for directions. When they fight he realizes that this Devil’s stone skin is impenetrable, so he stabs him in the eyeball, but even that doesn’t get him. Eventually Tessai’s skin crumbles and Jubei chops him up, but Dakuan, a weird little monk who has been commenting on the fight from the trees above, tells him it was Kagero’s poison that killed him. The reason she’s the poison taster is that her body itself is toxic. “Anyone who makes love to her dies. A perfect woman for this hellish world.” She says that extends to kissing, even touching. Pretty cool.

As the sole surviver of the ninja team, Kagero reports back to the Chamberlain. Without interrupting his doggystyling of some poor concubine he tells Kagero to go back and find out who the guy was that killed them all. Okay, thanks boss, nothing but great ideas. So she goes back.

Dakuan is a Tokugawa spy, and he tries to recruit Jubei to kill the remaining seven Devils. Jubei refuses – he has to wash his hair that day or something – so Dakuan throws a poisoned throwing star at him, says he has to do the job to get the antidote. Same shit they did to Snake Plissken.

So Jubei goes around fighting the Devils and all their weird powers. There’s the lady covered in snake tattoos that come alive and leave her body. He grabs her and she shrivels up because actually he didn’t grab her, just her shedded skin. Then there’s the guy with a hornet’s nest inside his hunchback, he sends them out as spies and attackers. Kogera knows they can’t outrun the swarm so instead she throws out flower petals with sleeping potion pollen to put the bugs to sleep. Reminds me of wuxia logic. I approve.

I admit that some of this is hard for me to follow. There’s a part where Jubei almost falls off a cliff and then when he saves himself there’s some blind guy there to challenge him to a duel. I’m unclear if he’s one of the Devils or if this is just the “debate me!” of the ninja era. Either way, seems like a pain in the ass lifestyle. Fun for us to watch, though. We know who we’re rooting for to win.

Unsurprisingly there’s an attraction between Jubei and Kagero, though both play hard to get, especially her. Ultimately she realizes that her body’s toxins are the only way to cure his poison (it would cancel it out or something), and she tells him to have sex with her. He won’t do it, just walks away, thinks it would still be taking advantage of her, maybe. I felt bad for her. The one time in her life to have a somewhat healthy sexual experience, and she’s cock-blocked by ninja honor.

But Jubei lives to battle the leader of the Eight Devils, Gemma, who he has history with (short version: he cut his head off but Gemma is immortal and unlike in Highlander decapitation doesn’t stop him). The final fight is on a burning ship, Gemma has a metal arm, and when his non metal arm gets cut off he just puts it back on and brags about being immortal. Jubei tries headbutting his face all the way through the floor (it grows back) and bisecting his head (no good) but ultimately he just (spoiler) lets him drown in molten gold. A great death.

One thing: I didn’t notice any important scroll in this story, so I don’t get the title. Maybe that’s covered in the 13-episode sequel series made by other people a decade later.

NINJA SCROLL delivers on the cool shit you want from a ninja movie, including classic action tropes like someone handing over their headband just before they die so you can wear it into the final battle. A grand tradition. (See also: DRAGON BLADE.) But also the movie is peppered with oddities that I haven’t seen a million times. It’s just such an interesting world to visit, all these strange characters, factions and methods. The Shogun of the Dark somehow talks to people far away by putting a thread in his mouth. I’ve always been skeptical about the two-cups-attached-by-string method, but this takes it even further. Why doesn’t he just use messenger owls like a normal person (or at least some people in this movie)?

In the ‘90s this was probly in the top 5, maybe top 3 most popular anime movies internationally, but it wasn’t that big of a hit in Japan, or at least that’s what they said after they gave up on finding financing for the sequel developed in the 2010s. Before that Leonardo DiCaprio’s company had the rights for a live action version, screenplay by Alex Tse (SUCKER FREE CITY, WATCHMEN, SUPERFLY, Wu-Tang: An American Saga). Gary Shore (DRACULA UNTOLD) was attached long enough to make a proof of concept trailer with help from 87Eleven. That just means computer animation of drawn animation representing live action, though.

Everybody’s always up in arms about those westernized live action versions of animes on the rare occasions when they actually go through with them (FIST OF THE NORTH STAR, DRAGONBALL EVOLUTION, BLOOD: THE LAST VAMPIRE, GHOST IN THE SHELL… also SPEED RACER but people eventually came around on that one). I’m sure if it had been made it would have been a much reviled flop that I enjoyed. I like that kinda shit and I love stories like this in live action, but the animation here is the main attraction. Kawajiri is not one to waste his medium. Bodies contort, lines dance and vibrate, movements and power and our senses are exaggerated into maximum potency, achieving a feeling of un-reality that can’t really be matched with photographs. And also there’s so much nice stuff to look at, from ninja silhouettes gliding gracefully through the tree tops and across the moon, to a creek swarmed with fireflies.

But ultimately the main thing that makes me consider this One of the Good Ones is that I just like these two main characters and their tragically doomed romance. The Clint Eastwood stoicism and rock star swagger of Junbei, the fierce refusal by Kagero (and her very immune system!) to be minimized or used as a play thing by all these monstrous motherfuckers around her. I wish it could’ve worked out for those two. They deserve to hold hands and eat rice balls together.

 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 4th, 2025 at 7:22 am and is filed under Reviews, Action, Cartoons and Shit, Martial Arts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

11 Responses to “Ninja Scroll”

  1. It’s been a very long time since I watched this, but I thought the string was part of the power set for the blind ninja/Devil (I do think he was one of the Devils) and so that’s why the Shogun was communicating with him.

    This movie came out at the perfect time in my life (I was 13 when it was released and probably 14/15 when I watched it).

    I think about this move fairly often because of the Shogun’s death and how that’s one of the problems with immortality. It seems cool until you find yourself suffocating on gold in a block of gold at the bottom of the ocean. Also since he’s immortal, someday, maybe some divers would find him and I always wonder if he would have any mind left after that much time of torture.

  2. All time classic of its kind.

    Notes; the blind ronin was definitely one of the Devils of Kimon. Do the math, there’s 8 of them. Though I’ve read a theory that either Kagero or Dakuan might actually be one of the devils. We’re never shown how they came to be so who knows? But I’d say the swordsman’s senses were enough to elevate him to “supernatural powers” status.

    The communication through wire seemed explicit to me as a power of the electricity conducting guy. It’s an electric current that the unkillable Gemma could use since it wouldn’t fry him.

    It’s been awhile since I’ve thought about it but when Kagero meets with her doggy-style lord, doesn’t a later reveal show that he was Gemma skin-shifting to manipulate the deception? That’s why he was like “ just go back, whatever”. He didn’t want it investigated until the gold was recovered so he took the place of the lord who was tasked by the Shogunate to investigate. I mean, right?

  3. Vern, is your caption for the Tessai pic intentionally referencing the recurring Norm MacDonald gag? “Tessai chopped people up, raped women, even drank human blood… I mean this guy was a real jerk!” Either way, it gave me a giggle.

    Synchronicity! I was actually just thinking/writing about director Yoshiaki Kawajiri, as over the weekend I watched the 1987 anthology Neo Tokyo. kawajiri directed the middle segment, The Running Man, about a violent futuristic race (with F-Zero hovercars). That could have been the introduction to modern anime for some Americans, as that individual segment was actually aired on MTV’s Liquid Television series way back in 1992. Kawajiri’s work definitely had an outsized impact in North America. Ninja Scroll became one of those movies that basically every Western anime fan had seen, and one that held up to multiple rewatches. In addition to Ninja Scroll, his films Wicked City, Demon City Shinjuku, and to a lesser extent Neo Tokyo were all staples on video store shelves and aired on Sci-Fi channel. That is why it made perfect sense that he was tapped to direct Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, Highlander, and an Animatrix segment. The original Vampire Hunter D was another film that was more popular abroad than in Japan, and of course the other two are adaptations of American properties, so they went for the guy whose style had proven Western appeal (and they were probably bigger budgets/projects than he would have gotten based on his track record in Japan). I think in addition to the requisite sex and violence (the main anime selling point in the 90s) which he delivered in spades, his work was helped by the distinctive, angular character designs in dark settings that set it apart from the big eyes and soft curves of more typical anime. And of course, the incredible animation by Madhouse on a number of his projects. You look at a few seconds or even a frame from one of his movies and it is immediately obvious that the mood and style are miles away from Dragonball or Sailor Moon, a 13 year old is going to see it as more “adult.”

    The first time I watched Ninja Scroll is one of my favorite childhood memories. it would have been early ’98 when I was 12, I believe. My best friend and I had gotten big into anime, but it was still hard and expensive to find. He came to stay the night when I was home alone, and he brought a duped VHS tape from some fellow nerds. We were hard up enough for anime that we even watched a good chunk of Silent Moebius on that tape despite it not having a dub or subtitles! But I barely remember anything else on there except for Ninja Scroll, which blew our minds. Absurdly cool and violent and hardcore, we ate that shit up. And in another example of synchronicity, that happened to be the weekend I had rented Bushido Blade on Playstation 1, a stylized samurai/ninja fighting game with one hit kills. We immediately went from Ninja Scroll to dueling in Bushido Blade. Then we discovered “Slash Mode,” a 1 player variant where you have to chop your way through ONE HUNDRED enemies in a row without dying (I think it let you keep your progress every 20 or so kills, but I might be wrong). My friend and I thought to ourselves “WWJD, What would Jubei do? Chop a hundred ninjas up!” and we spent hours handing the controller back and forth until we finally defeated Slash mode. Shortly after that, the sun came up. My mom came home and made us pancakes before we went to bed.

    Another key childhood memory: Many of these scenes were burned into my brain further by their inclusion in the “Manga Entertainment” compilation trailer that started most of their VHS tapes, accompanied by KMFDM’s song “Ultra.” The opening industrial noises and the ninjas hopping over the roof topWatching this on youtube is concentrated nostalgia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWo5rlVO6hY

    I still love the animation and action in Kawajiri’s stuff, but as an adult the thin/half-formed narratives are more noticeable and his penchant for sexual assault scenes more disturbing (Wicked City is SO rape-y). It was also a bummer when Ninja Scroll finally got a DVD release and the monsters who made it had zoomed and cropped the original 4:3 image to make it “widescreen” for HDTVs (hate when they do this with old shows also). thankfully a few years later they released a nice blu-ray with the correct image, so I have a watchable copy and was able to share it with my nephews (I waited until each of them were 18 to watch it because they are way less warped than I was as a kid).

  4. Yes, I absolutely ripped that off from Norm Macdonald. One of my favorite Norm jokes.

  5. I am not an anime person at all (although I lightened up on real Japanimation in recent years and now focus my dislike mostly on the fake American ones, which just come across as lazy and fanbase pandering to me), but recently I realized what a big part anime was of 90s dance music culture. Probably because of the overlap of futuristic sounds and stylish visuals.
    If you follow me on social media, you’ve seen me singing praises for MTV Germany’s current programming. At night they always have themed shows. Alternative music on Tuesdays, Hip Hop and R&B on Wednesdays and my favourite: A five hour dance music stretch on Friday night. And whoever is responsible for putting the playlists together, really knows their shit. Especially the Dancefloor/Partyzone/Chill Out Zone trifecta that opens the weekend uncovers some real unknown and/or forgotten gems almost every week. And it happens surprisingly often that the older ones have some anime theme, even if they are usually just some clipshows from unrelated movies.

    The most well known was KING OF MY CASTLE by Wamdue Project. That one was a legitimate Top 10 hit in Europe, which also gave GHOST IN THE SHELL a huge populary boost.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBYv11tqi-w

    This one here actually made me try to find out what movie that was from. Apparently it was LEGEND OF THE DOG WARRIORS: THE HAKKENDEN, which according to the friend who knew it was “The last sendoff of the 80s hyperviolence era”.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpE599lWxOc

    The biggest laugh however was this one, because I knew the track, but not the video. And I guess when it came out (95 or 96?), SAILOR MOON was still obscure enough in the western world to be used to make your music video cool.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rRq3rPXrJw

  6. I remember a discussion with Kawajiri and others who had worked on NINJA SCROLL about how changes in the market would mean that several of their artistic choices wouldn’t work nowadays. Some of them were obvious, like how the film probably wouldn’t have so much gratuitous sex and violence or such a large budget. Others were more surprising, such as how they would never have included the strobe effects seen in several action sequences after the infamous POKEMON episode that caused seizures. I hope everyone made it through their viewing of NINJA SCROLL without any medical mishaps!

  7. Oh man, I forgot all about that Wamdue Project video! The fan-made AMV (anime music video) was huge online in the mid-00s, I forgot that trend was preceded by a “legitimate” AMV. I wish I had saved some of those back in the day.
    Ghost in the Shell was also the source for an AMV using “Paralyzed” by The Cardigans that made me love that song even more.
    Someone uploaded the old blurry one to: youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_WGupywMWg&t=6s
    and someone else did a nice new version with HD footage “inspired by” the old one (makes some changes in footage used/editing): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b09YiH6UW2I
    Knowing anime ultraviolence, I will wait til I leave work to check out the Hakkenden video, lol.

  8. Kevin Holsinger

    March 10th, 2025 at 9:53 am

    Good afternoon, Vern.
    1. I just thought of something. You understandably didn’t mention Shijima (shadow teleportation guy) controlling Kagero’s mind by…finding her g-spot? But now that I think about it, since he licked his fingers before doing his thing, how did he not get poisoned by her? Probably best if I don’t think any more about this than I just did.
    2. Looks like we’re coming up on the 8-year anniversary of me sending you the Blade animated series. Honestly, I’m just messing with you at this point. I don’t care if you review it or not. I just like the tradition of showing up every year or so to remind you. It’s like some weird folktale about a ghost or something.
    Best to you and your loved ones.

  9. Kevin – I have it right here! I was thinking I should watch it. But I don’t want to ruin the tradition.

  10. Kevin Holsinger

    March 11th, 2025 at 2:55 am

    Morning again, Vern.
    Don’t. One day, decades from now, when we’re both old men, I want to meet you in the afterlife and be like, “So, Blade, huh?”
    :)
    Best to you and your loved ones.

  11. Hey Vern,

    Longtime reader, never posted before. But you have talked about reviewing this one for a while.

    I’ve got to be honest I think it’s a beautiful blend of that Spielberg foreboding/tarintino mix of cutting the music to the visuals which Kawajiri never eclipsed with his future films.

    With Spielberg for example, Indy drops down inside a tomb and snakes appear. In this version a saucy sauna lady ask”what’s your destination stranger”

    “No place in particular” and a katana slowly glides into frame, before the eyes go wide and the black and red noir visuals you’ve talked about kick in with the snake phobia.

    Harrison Ford would be proud.

    I watched it again and this time I got the “wu xian” flower not working in real life but being forgivable in animation with Dakaun’s v.o, explaining the pollen, poisoning the bees.

    I do still think this could work as a big budget foreign film (i.e China) the wu xia film has been out of vogue for a while, but if you just tip your cap here and there, it would be more digestible in that context, if you didn’t follow to the “T”

    P.s I sort of felt we got the western response to this with “The Killer” by David Fincher.

    One dude, slowly ascending thru a bunch of opponents and either coping/observing/reacting to them in a similar boss level scenario.

Leave a Reply





XHTML: You can use: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>