Ninja Resurrection - Reviews

Story

Before I proceed with my review of the timeless, popular classic that is Ninja Scr - I mean, Ninja Resurrection, I would like to ask a few probing questions. Don't be shy. Just answer as honestly as you can. Are you a rapist? Do you enjoy murdering children? Has Satan always held a special place in your heart? If you answered no to all of the above, then might I suggest, instead, the eye-gouging class taking place next door? If you answered yes, however, then Ninja Resurrection is exactly what you have been searching for all your wretched little life.

Opening with a narrated slideshow of ancient Japanese art, Ninja Resurrection looks like it might be another boring, snobbish political commentary on the eternal conflict between government and religion; but no need to panic, because Ninja Resurrection is just getting warmed up! Quicker than you can say the word ‘skilful', everything collapses rapidly into a random sequence of rape and violence. I mean, what could be more relaxing with your evening cup of herbal tea than a woman writhing in pain and distress, all the while the camera makes sure to capture the titillating jiggle of her boobies?!

Getting bored is physically impossible as Ninja Resurrection spews forth a series of events designed to appeal to the witless degenerate no doubt lurking in every one of us. Time and time again, I found myself on the edge of my seat, wondering whether I should go watch my paint dry some more. Then, suddenly, (despite all efforts) I'd be drawn back by the positively jubilant rape of some warrior woman who blatantly deserved it, or Jubei's epic sword-wielding against that legendary dragon-made-of-bricks.

Moreover, with a lead antagonist made famous for his penchant for eeeeeevil (let's face it, what could be scarier than the devil himself?), and with demons lifted straight out of The Evil Dead director's cut, Ninja Resurrection is clearly an innovative and genre-defining work of horror. If you weren't afraid that Satan would be resurrected in human form through the devious actions of a short, ugly old man before, then you certainly will be now! Truthfully speaking, I haven't enjoyed so many ‘wtf?!' moments in a long time; and when I think about the deep, pockmarked impression Ninja Resurrection has left upon my psyche - and quite possibly, my soul - I know I never will again.

Animation

Do you like gore? Do you like gore especially when it involves children? What about massive tits? Because, if you do, then the bland character designs, barely average action sequences, the fit-inducing repeat frames, and frequently contrived desecrations of Christian symbols will be barely noticeable!

Sound

Again, Ninja Resurrection can border on the pretentious with its uppity orchestral themes reminiscent of all those 1950s Hollywood classics. Fortunately, it manages to remember exactly what kind of anime it is, and drags us all screaming back into reality with the hackneyed voice acting of the entire cast.

Characters

All of the protagonists are easy to identify with. Unless, of course, you don't like salt-of-the-earth types who live hard, fight hard, and devil-worship according to their native Japanese traditions. I, for one, can't help but admire their ability to defy all the rules of characterisation and character development; in fact, the sheer lack of either is truly astounding.

Strong and infinitely silent, Jubei the warrior slashes his way across Japan, taking down innocent priests and monstrous apparitions alike; although his motivations are never fully explained (since Ninja Resurrection has been left heinously unfinished), I suspect that what he wants - what every humble and self-sacrificing hero wants - is to fuckin' kill shit!

On the other hand, while Shiro the priest may seem like a do-gooder plot device at first, even he doesn't escape the Ninja Resurrection treatment, and is soon causing havoc with new and delightful consequences. I cannot even begin to describe the other characters, as I feel the English language doesn't contain enough words to capture their distinctive level of complexity.

Overall

If Satan, in all his fiery majesty, paid you a personal visit and told you to watch Ninja Resurrection, then it would probably be wise to do as he says. On the other hand, if you don't get visits from metaphorical religious characters, then you're most likely not in the right frame of mind to appreciate such a masterpiece anyway - you just wouldn't get it.

This isn't so much a "review" of the series per say, as much as it is my thoughts about the constant bashing of it. Hope you enjoying reading it still.

Here is something that I have been dying to tell the world about ever since I first saw this DVD. Never in my whole life have I seen or heard about anything, be it a movie, a TV-series, a comic book or a video game that has been so utterly scorned upon, so universally hated, so inexplicably criticised as this OVA-series (or movie, which it was released as in North America & Europe).

Ninja Resurrection is probably the most frowned upon and hated of all Anime releases ever and, in my opinion, for absolutely no valid reasons. Yes, outside of Japan it was falsely marketed as a sequel to the beloved classic Ninja Scroll, but is that in any way the OVA's fault? Does this series deserve to be criticised solely based on your dissapointment about it not being a sequel to Ninja Scroll? That is entirely ADV, the company that released it outside of Japans fault, so if you feel like bashing someone, it should be them.

Even if you didn't base your entire criticism about this series on the Ninja Scroll-hoax, what was it? Is it automatically unwatchable because it contains satanism and so "offends" christian viewers? No, I won't buy that. Most people I've seen bashing this series claim that it promotes satanism even though it is plainly illustrated to us that the said satanists are the BAD GUYS. Yes, our "hero" Jubei is sent out on a mission to assassinate a christian prophet, but as the movie shows us, he regrets having to do this. He's simply been ordered to by the Shogunate that he works for, who runs the entire country. Sometimes I doubt that people even watched the damn thing, seeing as they seem to have missed even the most basic elements of the story. It never promotes violence, it never promotes satanism, and it certainly NEVER tells us that it's a good thing to prance around murdering christians. End of story.

As far as the OVA itself goes, I think it's actually pretty good. It's very dark and cruel, but that only adds to the unsettling atmosphere. The characters are well written, and the animation is fenomenal for a OVA series. The action scenes are great, and there is lots of violence, which I'll say only adds to the experience, considering the grim tone of the plot. The only real criticism I can give is that it was never finished, leaving us on a hideously painful cliffhanger. It's a shame, cause I would have loved to see more of it.

At any rate, I'd say that this series is a solid 8/10. Not everyone has to agree with me on this, of course, but I'd like to see someone actually criticise it based on its real content. Im gonna leave it at that, with a clear message to anyone of these reviewers out there who rated this a 1/10: Take a closer look at this series and try to actually understand it. Then you'd probably like it a bit more.

Based on a horror novel, this title features the epitome of the most clichéd stereotypes found in action movies. It would be very good if the producers hadn’t left it incomplete.

ART SECTION: 8/10 [Rolling heads and blood geysers.]
Generally realistic backgrounds and uniforms but with cheesy visual tricks during the splatter scenes. The animators did a good job at using shadows, insane staring eyes and natural phenomenons (rain, thunders) to build atmosphere. The fighting scenes are extreme and blood spils like a fountain but the excitement is achived, nonetheless.

SOUND SECTION: 8/10 [Drums! I hear drums! They are coming closer… closer… They are here……..]
Eerie music to scare you during revelations, strong beats to excite you during the battles. Worked for me. Voice acting was ok and the sound effects were cool.

STORY SECTION: 6/10 [The Resurrection of the Ninja Scroll!]
A Ninja Scroll variant with more characters, greater amounts of violence and sex, more story, and no conclusion.
A superhuman samurai named Jubei in the leading role? Check!
Powerful, evil, dead samurai, return from hell to plague the earth? Check!
Super-duper action / splatter / gore scenes? Check!
Pretty chicks, raped senselessly? Check!
A conspiracy that will alter the course of history? Check!
A happy ending? … I don’t know; they left us hanging to dry!

The awesome part is that the story is based on real events. Amakusa’s rebellion really occurred. All the talking about the life’s work of priests and warriors is real… Of course, when apocalyptic events and demons start to pop-up, then this is the end of history lessons!

In all, the story is plain awesome and could have easily topped Ninja Scroll if it was complete. I mean, it had it all; super samurais, super action, super atmosphere, and a good story to build upon. Yet they left it incomplete. Outrage!

CHARACTER SECTION: 5/10 [The All-Stars of Japan’s tedious history are present!]
First of all, be informed that all the leaders and the samurai in the story are based on real historical figures. Their appearances and names are based on old prints and historical reports of real historical figures. They are of course overdramatised in favor of atmosphere, but they are still real in the core.

A quick study of each character’s historical importance is enough to build a small pen & paper RPG campaign setting. Now imagine ALL of them in the same place, in the same time, fighting for their respective agendas. WOW! I won’t go to the trouble of mentioning who they are. But I will warn you that none of them develops one bit! It’s fine reading about their legendary accomplishments, but the short duration of the series leaves them completely uninteresting. I score 10 for backdrop and presence but 0 for development and catharsis, for an average of 5.

VALUE SECTION: 1/10
Nah, I saw it twise before getting over the initial exitement. And that ending is really &%$#&!!!

ENJOYMENT SECTION: 8/10 [Wooo! Slice an’ dice baby!]
As long as you dig extremely splatter scenes and amoral worldviews, this piece of animated work will excite you to the maximum. If not… well… don’t even bother.

VERDICT: 6/10
Yes! YES!!! I’m coming! I’m coming!!! I’M COMING!!!!! … What? … You are leaving???!!!

SUGGESTION LIST
Afro Samurai
Ninja Scroll
Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan – Tsuiokuhen
Samurai 7
Samurai Champloo
Samurai Showdown (the games; not those awful OVAs)

Before I get bashed for not watching the entire movie... I watched it all (both ova episodes) Completely. In fact, I watched this anime for the sole reason that it was so hated because I found one of the reviews really funny. I don't think bad reviews are nessesarily bad for publicity. I think they are a good thing in this case. For such a crappy anime... it is good to go into it with little to no expectations. That way you can see it for what it really is and not constantly compare it to what you were hoping for. So here is what I have to say about it after seeing it.

Story

The story is crap... others may disagree but I have seen nearly nothing worse. If I put it up againt the anime Dante's Inferno, I would watch that multiple times before having to suffer though this even one more time. That being said. I agree with the shows vocal admirers about something... This anime is not aimed toward satan worshipers (though there may be some who do like it, who knows) It is true that the bad guys are unoriginal cliche and satanic. However, the good guys are not satanic and although there is no real ending to the series. I assume that it would end with the protagonist's victory. 

It is hard to fit a whole story into 2 ovas so I simpathize with it's creators. However, leaving things as they were was just wrong. If they felt the need to do that, they shouldn't have even started the 2nd ova. If they just had it end with the first ova ending and the evil man being happy because things were still going according to his plans that would be a true cliffhanger. What we got at the end of the 2nd ova was not a cliffhanger. It was too open ended. It was just bad story telling.

The idea's behind the story are stale. I mean really stale. The only thing to watch this for is the extreme violence and nothing more. Although if you are looking for extreme violence there are plenty of anime out there that actually have a decent story and plot. More recent ones have better animation too. I can't even call this one a classic. Now, if they played their cards right even with a such a worn out and stale story it could have gotten a slightly better score from me if it was left on some sort of decent stopping point. It didn't have to show a ending for a better rating just some sort of idea of direction. It just left way to many unanswered questions. Especially for how simple minded the story was.

There are parts in which there is no explination for what happens or who certain people are and why they are significant. They spend entirely too much time with the opening of the second movie and little stupid insignificant scenes instead of diving into the plot more with the little time they had. For example: They show a woman who obviously has a thing for Jubei (one of 2 women) get raped and killed. She is screaming and nobody even notices. It shows nothing about how she ends up in this predicament or how she is all alone in a place that nobody can hear her. She is just there and it just happens. Thats how the whole second movie is. Things just happen... thats all. No rhyme or reason... no logic or thought behind it. The pacing is all over the place... I mean worse than anything I have ever seen before. We spend over 1/2 of the time listening to narration and seeing what Jubei was doing at that point in his life before the guy from his past is reborn and starts massively killing people while naked... the end. There is no motivations known for satan's followers. There is no information about anything at all. That is why this movie sucks.

I have said absolutely nothing about the corrilation between Ninja Scroll and this movie, because that was what the pro Ninja Resurrection people were saying is all that people could say bad about it. So I intentionally didn't say much. The only thing I will say is this. I was lucky enough to read the reviews that stated that it had nothing to do with Ninja Scroll so I already knew that going into it. 

There is a lot more I could harp on about the story. Giving off spicific issues with parts of the movies that I have. However, if I do that with all my issues then this story section would be so long that nobody in their right mind would ever read it. So I gave the story a 1.5. This is because it sucks. However, if you are looking for violence for the sake of violence then it could work for some people.

Animation

The animation is not bad for how old it is. I will say that. Put up against recent anime it obviously could never hold it's own. However, the animation is definately the best part of this anime and I would put it above average for it's age. So I gave it a 6.

Sound

The sound was a little below average if I don't put personal feelings into it. However, if I speak from a personal preference standpoint I would say it barely deserves a 3. The music isn't to my taste. The sound affects are forgivable given what they were like at the time. However, the voice acting... was pretty bad. As the voice actors spoke most of them I could see them in my head reading from a script and being told to use more feeling so they overdo the feeling in their voice at times which makes it almost comical. Amaturish voice acting to say the least. Because of the fact that some people may like the background music more than others though I will give the sound catagory a 4.5

The Characters

Other than Jubei the protagonist. All the characters are pretty flat. We know little about them and what we do know is inconsequential

Jubei - The only character kinda fleshed out in this series. Has one eye. Kicked out by his father, worked for tokagawa government until his early retirement because his conscience was eating at him. So instead he teaches people how to weild weapons instead. 2 of his female students have a thing for him. One looks more beautiful and mature. The other pretty but a tomboy. He is unkept and although a good fighter gives the air of a general slacker about the same personality as the Jubei from Ninja Scroll. Though he looks much different and seems more naive.

Girl 1 - Can't remember her name already sorry. She is the one who is raped and killed. She is pretty. She finds herself in a place in the middle of the night sleeping and unable to be heard by her traveling companions for some reason or another. She is raped and murdered. She was a skilled fighter... though she was taken out without doing anything.

Girl 2 - The one who claimed Jubei agreed to marry her when she was 8. After they leave his estate at Tokogawa's order for women nothing is said or shown about her. She was with the one who was raped and murdered yet we see nothing about this one at all. So what happens to her or why she was not with the other girl is unknown.

2nd comming of Christ turned Satan (I am not making this bull up) and i forgot his name. - This guy is killed in the first movie only to be resurected in the 2nd 1/2 way though by pulling himself out of a woman's body killing her completely in the process. Reborn to reek havoc I guess. He was a decent guy originally. If he was really the son of god couldn't he ask for the truth from god... or maybe sense evil? He seemed to get his help a awful lot to fight and show signs. Anyway, this person was good but decided to take the path of evil after some children Jubei spared were killed  by this guy's mentor who did so in order to enrage him and turn him into satan I guess. He starts off good and then goes completely bonkers.

Christ/Satan's mentor - He is a old man not much is known about this guy other than he is evil and wanted Christ to turn into satan I guess. He played like he believed in god and for some reason nobody doubted him. He cuts his finger of after Christ/Satan goes for wrongful revenge and gets his arms cut off and has the finger violate his daughter making her have sex with him while he is dying and the statue behind them crys... this guys motivations are never said so maybe he has no motivations. After all, nothing is explained well in these movies anyway, even with the time consuming narration at the beginning of both episodes.

The rest of the characters are Lackys for good/Lackys for evil. Nothing is really known about any of them so writing about them would be a waste of time.

Because of the lack of information I cannot give the characters... any of them good marks. With the exception of Jubei they are all unknown for the most part. I gave the Characters 2.5 it would have been lower if not for Jubei and the 2 women who liked him.

Overall

I would stay away from this one. I gave it a 3 and I am being generous. Even if the animation was okay. You cannot watch a story for the animation alone. If watch this one go into it with no expectations... in fact, go into it with expectations that it will be a waste of time. That way you have nothing to complain about when it is.