A classic!
After talking to my bud about anime we decided to give each other some recommendations. He’s not into it as much as I am but he still managed to school me on the classic Ninja Scroll. It’s an action/thriller animated film set in Feudal Japan written and directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri with a 94 minute duration time, and you’ll be surprised at how fast the time goes.
Let me just say Ninja Scroll is a true testament to 80’s/90’s anime. It’s an example of why I don’t really watch new school anime and only stick to series created from the 80’s to the early 00’s. Not only was the voice acting in Ninja Scroll superb but the animation style rich and detailed. The way the characters moved as well as scene transitions was extremely smooth, too. That kind of meticulous attention to detail is seriously lacking in anime nowadays, and it’s a pity. To be honest it’s indicative of where the world is today, same applies to music. There was a time when art was filled with honest creativity, innovation, intelligence and sincerity. Ninja Scroll was created during an era where true artistry was a necessity.
The story line was great, a total man’s tale; noble, heroic, fierce, “wins the girl” type of plot. My only complaint is that the film was too short to really flesh everything out, like providing back stories to the characters and longer fight scenes. For example I felt the enemies the protagonist, Jubei Kibagami, fought were defeated too quickly, preventing the viewer from getting into the battles and feeling Kibigami’s struggle.
Overall Ninja Scroll was fantastic, and without a doubt a great, great representation of Japan’s animation skill!!! Definitely recommend, i’d give it an 8 out of 10!
p.s. I’m thinking of making this an actual thing on the site, like anime recommendations and reviews. If this is something you’d like to see, lemme know!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HItJ3LLLLpQ
(Source: Mandalore En)