What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

I watched this film because it is an anime very well known outside of Japan and considered very important, "the founder of anime ninja in the world".in my opinion is much less interesting than other anime like "Ghost in the Shell" and "Akira" (to name two well known abroad)the story is fairly trivial , the hero, the girl, the love between them, the old Japanese wise, the (supernatural) enemies. the images are very beautiful, very raw and shocking, the most important part of the movie.In conclusion I would say a lot less than its reputation. 6/10

"Ninja Scroll" is an action/anime made in 1993 by Yoshiyaki Kawajiri. This film is set in the feudal Japan.Basic plot: A wandering samurai named Jubei Kipagami, who originally served the Yamashiro clan for years ago, is traveling on the land alone. People in a small village have died by a mystical plague, so a team of ninjas is sent to investigate the case, only to get brutally killed one by one by a rock creature named Tessai. The only survivor, the beautiful Kagero, gets raped and blood poisoned by Tessai. But Jubei saves her and kills Tessai, and sets out to annihilate a group called the Eight Devils of Kimon lead by the demonic Gemma Himuro.Throughout this film, there are lots of sword violence and several supernatural violence, which often get bloody result. This is enough to keep the mature fans of Japanese animation and ninjas interested. The soundtrack fits well in many of these scenes, especially during Tessai's attack and the ending scenes. The animation and the graphics itself are beautifully made, and so are the scenes with Jubei and Kagero together.This film is the fourth 18-rated anime I've seen after "Shadow Skill", "Venus Wars" and "Akira", well this film was at least rated 18 in Norway when released on VHS by Polygram Video. Like the other three anime movies I mentioned, this film was also English dubbed, but not subbed in Norwegian. On the Norwegian DVD copy I have, this film has been heavily toned down from being 18 to being rated 10 (!), something I just didn't like because of the fact all the nudity and the gory violence are intact on this DVD edition. In my opinion this film should have gotten at least a 15-rating.Are you a fan of ninjas and anime in general but haven't seen "Ninja Scroll", I suggest you to check out this film at least once. Honestly, this have to be one of the better ninja anime I've seen, together with the "Naruto" franchise. My overall rating for this film is therefore 9/10.Some of the other movies from Yoshiyaki Kawajiri to be mentioned include: "Wicked City" (1987), "Demon City Shinjuku" (1988) and "Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust" (2000).

Am I missing something here? Why is this considered Kawajiri's best? If anything it is his worst. You enter the world with no explanation to the weird giant rock men or snake women or beehive men, Seriously what the hell is going on in this movie? I got as far as the guy is killing somebody he thinks is already dead who ends up being an immortal cyborg in 15th Century Japan (seriously - gimme a break).All of the movies that I have seen - if they're weird then they have some kind of "we're breaking it slow" here you have a lot of weird $h!t with no cause or explanation.Watch Kawajiri's other stuff instead.

WICKED CITY was among the bootleg anime that was circulated in this country before AKIRA came along and proved, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that American audiences were ready for adult animation. ("Adult" in the approach to animated storytelling.) I caught AKIRA during its initial theatrical run and it was satisfying, indeed, to not only see it on the big screen, but to also finally see it dubbed in English. While most anime doesn't make it to the big screens hereabout (curious, indeed, when one considers the fact that Animego is based here), there's anime aplenty at the local retail outlets. It's expensive, but there are several titles worth their weight in cost: WICKED CITY, VAMPIRE HUNTER D, VAMPIRE HUNTER D: BLOODLUST, ROBOT CARNIVAL, GENOCYBER, TETSUJIN 28, any ASTRO BOY (the original black and white series being the best), DEVIL MAN, GILGAMESH, FULL METAL ALCHEMIST, YU YU HAKASHO, NARUTO, KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE, GOLGO 13, GHOST IN THE SHELL (any), PRINCESS MONONOKE, METROPOLIS, GACHAMAN (any), PROJECT ARMS, WOLF'S RAIN, WITCH HUNTER ROBIN, BAOH, and NINJA SCROLL, to name but a few. NINJA SCROLL, with its seemingly endless invention, is probably my all-time favorite. The animation is about as good (great) as it gets. Kawajiri's direction is to be envied (even WICKED CITY and VAMPIRE HUNTER D: BLOODLUST, as nigh perfect as they are, can't beat NINJA SCROLL). If you're tired (as am I) of the lackluster Americanimation being cranked out by the studios, switch gears and check out some of the aforementioned anime.