About two days ago, I finally got the chance to find a functioning download of “Ninja Scroll”. As I watched the film, looking past the mildly simplistic 1990’s animation, I realized that this movie was more than what meets the eye.
One of the things that I really enjoyed about “Ninja Scroll” was the character development. I like the way that all eight demons were given different themes and skills. Granted, this is something that almost 99% of all animes do, but “Ninja Scroll” managed to do this extremely and surprisingly well. Instead of just normal hand to hand/weapon to weapon combat, every character in the film had something unique about them that aided them in battle.
Each demon was portrayed with a distinct characteristic which made it easy to recognize the characters from one another. Gemma had the ability to reincarnate himself when injured, which made him practically indestructible. Tessai could turn his skin into solid rock when in battle or threatened, almost like a scared porcupine (which adds to his beast-like disposition). Benisato has serpentine qualities, with her ability to shed her skin and control a horde of poisonous snakes. Mushizo is a walking beehive, and Majuro Utsutsu is blind. Shijima can transport himself between shadows and control people’s minds, Yurimaru has the ability to electrocute people, and Zakuro can create explosives in living and dead organisms.
As strange as these characters may be, they are a fine example of how unique the creators of this anime got when creating the characters and successfully integrating them into the plot. This anime does a good job in taking characters and giving them distinct personalities, which can be difficult when dealing with a film with numerous main characters. The fact that there are eight different demons all on the same side, the creators had to make sure that each one was unique and completely different from one another. As difficult as it seems, the animators did a superb job of tying together all of the demons.
All in all, I think that “Ninja Scroll” was a fantastic anime and would highly recommend it to those who would like to watch an intense and high-action animated film.
Hey Ashley! I totally 100% agree with you about the characters being pretty weird. But I think that’s what ultimately makes them likeable and/or detestable in the end. And I agree with you more with the fact that with so many characters, it was probably very difficult for the animators to keep up. There could have been so many more loose ends to tie up if the 8 demons didn’t meet their ironic ends. I really enjoy the fact that so many things in anime that would logically never be so in true life, happen in this anime. When I think about the intense high-action that occurs in the film… I couldn’t help but think… “if this was real life, that person would have been dead!” But again, aspects of anime like that only make it more exciting! Finally, I just want to say that the 90’s animation, though simplistic as you said, kind of add to the ‘old and timey’–ness of the plot. When I think about it, the story of Jubei is like an old folk tale right? So to have the animation look slightly archaic in our eyes only makes sense and complements its purpose. When I thought like that, I began to embrace the old animation style. Thanks for making an awesome blog to comment on!
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I watch all the films on my t.v. in my room because i can never make it to the group streaming sessions on Monday nights. I did not see anything simplistic about the 1990's animation there was enough blood, gore, and sex to keep me satisfied all week! I found that the movie had a lot to do with gender roles. As far as character development goes with Jubei's girl she is all alone because she will never be able to become physically interment with those she loves. As far as the originality of the eight demons i think they could have done better. one of them did not even have a power; the blind samurai's power was to blind people with his sword which i am sure is nearly impossible given that knowing the angle at which the sun is in the sky and the angle of his blade do not make being blind helpful at all.
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