Review of Ninja Scroll (1993) by Jon T — 22 Sep 2012

At the risk of being flamed for rating NINJA SCROLL only two stars, hear me out. I am not against the use of violence in animation unless it is done in a powerful, meaningful way (PRINCESS MONONOKE, although gory at times, was not excessively so); but I consider violence presented for shock value as a serious detriment to entertainment.

The same thing is true for sexual situations; anything used for shock value with no substance is just bad filmmaking, especially if there is no genuineness behind the use of such scenes. NINJA SCROLL, helmed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri (also responsible for the reprehensible WICKED CITY -- as well as the much more watchable VAMPIRE HUNTER D: BLOODLUST) goes extremely heavy with violence from the start; the opening battle in which thousands of warriors are cut in half and/or have their limbs ripped off gave me a sick stomach within seconds.

There is also a similarly distasteful rape scene between a monster and a girl, presented just as explicitly. With such distasteful content plaguing a film, it's up to the characters, story, and artwork to save the day.

But NINJA SCROLL falls short in all three areas. The plot is basically a typical ninja-for-hire out for revenge populated with characters who are either unpleasant or just plain dull; I just couldn't care about the stoic ninja or the heroine, a poisonous female warrior whose dangerous "venom" kills anyone who tries to take advantage of her (she could have been the most interesting, but her breakdown at the end is totally out of character, diluting the effect).

The artwork is mostly richly detailed and executed with skill and flair (to Kawajiri's credit, the action scenes are arguably the highlight of NINJA SCROLL), but even then there is a rather drab feel to the whole picture, contributing a needlessly gloomy atmosphere.

I personally found NINJA SCROLL disappointing and needlessly grisly. There are far better examples of effective "adult" Anime than this.