Basilisk: The Ouka Ninja Scrolls - Reviews

Once when I was a quite young kid, I watched the original Basilisk on TV, a show about two ninja clans who are forced to fight each other until one is wiped out, it was violent, well animated, and f u n. It wasn't flawless, it was quite uneventful, it had some incredibly stupid and avoidable deaths, and it was quite predictable at times, and the whole way the show was structured was deeply flawed which became more obvious as the show went by, and it became slower and slower as it went by to the point the pacing of the show came to a complete halt in its second half. But regardless of these issues Basilisk still managed to be a fine piece of entertainment and some might even consider it a classic and a must-watch for a lot of anime fans.

But, given that we can never have good things, some jackass who should never be allowed to touch a pen ever again saw it and in a drug-induced rage he wrote his own manga continuation of the story, and it had the quality a terrible harry potter fanfiction, and not only did someone look at it and thought it was a good idea to get it published, but it also received an anime adaption. And as such a tragic story was ruined by a real-life tragedy. It's pretty impossible to not compare this series to the original 2005 prequel, given it's what set the standard, and boy did the sequel miss that standard.

The show is now waay more uneventful to watch, by the time the story has been set about a quarter of the show has passed, which makes it a dreadful experience. The budget is even less than that of a comedy short, the once detailed character designs which made them look realistic and menacing are now just uglier and much more lacking in detail versions of its 2005 predecessor, and there is barely any animation for most of the show, there are a lot of still frames that are placed randomly throughout it, and the battles are mostly standing around using contrived powers while explaining how they work, and when they're moving there is no choreography in battle, which was the strongest. it just goes to show how a show from 2018 is unable to match the quality of a show from over a decade ago.

Even the direction is terrible, in fact, it takes bad direction to a new level, behold, in one of the worst badly put together scenes in this show, a scene that was meant to be shocking yet came out hilarious, it had a character right after he was decapitated state out loud that he was DEAD.

*slow clapping*

Hop on to the brilliant new story that includes kids that can never seem to remember how their powers work yet can conveniently survive encounters with enemies so strong they easily beat the adult leaders of their clans, just so that we can learn how they work through a long battle sequence that feel devoid of excitement or life. Two siblings whom the adults want to make them bone so that they can create super ninjas because yay incest.

The writing for the show is so bad everything that happens in the show feels very staged. Whenever a plot point, a character, or a superpower is introduced, everything happens conveniently to introduce it as if it was written on the spot, and made exactly to fit that exact scene. And the dialogue couldn't more cheesy even if they tried it gives you the impression that you're watching a terrible soap opera with a bunch of clumsy inexperienced actors trying hard to get into their characters and failing miserably.

The characters also really enjoy explaining great detail to their enemies how their contrived powers work because this show is now a fighting shounen, not the dark campy schlock. Those self-proclaimed powerful ninjas are surprisingly very stupid, falling for the most obvious traps, underestimate clearly powerful and dangerous enemy for no reason, ignore the obvious for the sake of the previously mentioned staged scenes to work. This is a show that'll brings out your inner straight man and make you yell at the screen all the time because of how stupid everyone and everything in it.

I could go on forever, but there is no point in doing it, if you didn't watch the original, then go watch it, and if you already did watch it, then go and rewatch it, just pretend this one doesn't exist. As I said previously, the original is not completely flawless, but it's a masterpiece in comparison to this.

This sequel kinda ruin the epic ending of Basilisk as we all know it. Nevertheless, the storyline is still acceptable if you can handle a hint of incest. Anyways, i'm still glad that this new series of Basilisk exists. Makes me want to re-watch Basilisk all over again. Fyi, this new batch of ninjas reminds me of X-men. especially the guy in the wheelchair. HAHAHAXD