Review of Ninja Scroll: Vol. 2

Introduction

1995 saw the anime phenomenon Ninja Scroll burst into video stores. The movie gave us plenty of Ninja fighting action, blood and guts wrapped up in a convoluted story set in Japan`s Tokugawa Shogunate period. With stunning character design and a truly dark humour, it rapidly became a favourite among anime fans. Eight years later, and the Ninja Scroll television series airs, and consequently comes to DVD. This is disc 2 in the series, containing four episodes that continue the adventures of Jubei Kibagami.

The demons of Kimon are once again causing trouble in their quest for power. They are pursuing the Sacred Dragon Stone that has been entrusted to Jubei`s care until he can deliver it to the Light Maiden. Accompanying him on his quest are Shigure, who may be the Light Maiden, an urchin Tsubute and the old spymaster Dakuan. The four episodes on this disc tell more of their battles with the demons of Kimon.

The Diamond Child
A young thief who steals ineptly to support his sister has strange powers. The Kimon clan see this and try and recruit him to their side to steal the Sacred Dragon Stone.

Shelter From The Rain
A malicious mummy, whose demonic eye possesses its intended victims, attacks Jubei. Poisoned by the attack, Jubei seeks shelter from the deluge and encounters a mother and child who help him. But while the demon still stalks Jubei, The mother has a secret of her own.

Blossom
The party are attacked by a plague of bats and a tree demon that steals half of the Sacred Dragon Stone.

The Fate Of Rengoku
Rengoku is a multi-limbed demon that harvests body parts from her victims. She has sworn vengeance against Jubei for the death of her brother, and has promised the Sacred Dragon Stone to the Kimon clan. When another demon clan offers her a similar deal, she is torn between her loyalties and her desire for vengeance.

Video

The picture is the usual 4:3 television ratio and the transfer is perfectly adequate. However the animation is less, well animated for want of a better word. It`s simplistic and borders on the static at times. The action is certainly well accomplished but the character designs are uninspired and often expressionless. The visual splendour of the film is certainly lacking here. For some unfathomable reason, I was strongly reminded of the Real Ghostbusters cartoon.

Audio

You get a choice between a DD 2.0 Japanese track and a DD 5.1 English dub. The dialogue is clear enough, and as per usual I chose the Japanese track. The English dub sounds quite foolish in comparison, but given the nature of Ninja Scroll the television series, it isn`t exactly a detriment. The music isn`t too special either, with the theme tunes sounding faux orchestral, as they want to be grand, but just can`t afford the extra instruments. The incidental music is rather out of place too, with the emphasis on Techno music making the show look like one of those Manga Entertainment trailers that you used to get, all that`s missing is some thrash metal.

Features

There is a smattering of extras to round off the disc, beginning with a set of four Storyboard to Feature Comparisons. 22 minutes are spent on interviews with the Director Tatsuo Sato, and Character Designer Takahiro Yoshimatsu. There is an art gallery with 20 images, 8 minutes of promotional trailers for Ninja Scroll, 3 minutes of adverts for other MVM releases and 2 minutes of accelerated footage showing the creation of the cover art. There`s one of those jacket picture thingies, and the subtitles for the show are translated, not `dubtitles`.

Conclusion

The original Ninja Scroll never really inspired me, but I was impressed by its complex story, rounded characters and very dark humour. The story also had its tragic elements that gave the film an emotional centre that many other similar films lack. It`s a shame then that Ninja Scroll the television series fails in almost every respect to live up to its namesake. Tsubute is the smart mouthed street urchin always getting into trouble, Shigure looks pretty, Dakuan varies between wisecracks and being mysterious, and Jubei saves the day every time he draws his sword. Dakuan and Jubei are pale imitations of the characters from the film, and the rest add little to the mix.

The stories are hardly taxing on the grey matter and suffer from wild leaps of illogic. In Shelter From The Rain, while still being pursued by the eyeball from hell, the main characters in the episode pause to follow another storyline, completely forgetting about their peril. Once concluded, the eyeball monster appears, having been kind enough to allow them to sort out their problems in the interim. Indeed the complex politics of the film have vanished, leaving a simple monster of the week scenario. The demons themselves are fairly run of the mill designs, and occasionally anachronistic to boot. One of them carries what looks like a gold plated Colt 45, while in the trailer, another has a third eye that with the sound of an activated Proton Pack, glows bright red like a laser about to fire. (That`s the Ghostbusters reference!) Jubei`s sword has attained magical powers too, he only has to draw it and wave, and enemies 30 yards away are smote with thunder. There are hints of a deeper conspiracy, introduced with the other demon clan, and the trailer for episode 9 hints at revelations regarding the Light Maiden, but these hints really aren`t strong enough to excite the imagination given the morbidity of the scripts.

This Ninja Scroll plays like a Saturday morning toon but with more blood and guts, and eschewing the tragic sensibilities of the film, is more often than not played straight for laughs. It`s all far too generic to stand out in a sea of similar animation, and the only thing that made me sit up and notice was the voice of Howling Mad Murdock himself, Dwight Schulz as Dakuan in the English dub. Otherwise, I was just bored.