Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12395 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-03-29
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Number of discs: 2
• Formats: Box set, Dubbed, Full Screen, PAL
• Original language: Japanese
• Subtitled in: Danish, English, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish
• Dubbed in: English, French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 100 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
A peak achievement of Japanese anime, Ninja Scroll is a propulsive mix of samurai action-adventure and supernatural fantasy from writer-director Yoshiaki Kawajiri (Supernatural Best City). This is defiantly animation for grown-ups, complete with fountains of blood, plenty of naked flesh and (in both the subtitled and dubbed versions) some decidedly strong language. (Students of Japanese language could pick up some useful expressions.) The plot sounds like a 16th-century variation on The X-Files: an entire village has been wiped out by a mysterious plague and an antigovernment conspiracy of invulnerable demons seems to be responsible. A wandering ninja, Jubei, and his female counterpart, Kagero, team up to defeat the plotters. Jubei is a classic reluctant hero, agreeing to participate in the mission only after being fed a slow-acting poison; the antidote will be supplied after he cooperates. And Kagero, a looker whose embrace is lethal, is a femme fatale with a difference that seems distinctively Japanese: sexual contact itself is poisonous, especially for a warrior with a pure soul. --David Chute

DVD Description
Amazing, beautiful and mysterious, Ninja Scroll blends the mysticism of 17th century Japan into an intensely packed tale of pulse-pounding anime action, fantasy and adventure. Directed by the revered Japanese anime veteran Yoshiaki Kawajiri and masterfully rendered by Japan's acclaimed Madhouse animation studio (Perfect Blue and X). Ninja Scroll features a wicked cast of characters and extraordinary fight scenes combined with lightning Samurai action, one of the most critically acclaimed, highly popular and best selling anime films of all time. Ninja Scroll has been digitally remastered visually and digitally reformatted with the latest in Surround Sound audio technology available. This exciting new two-disc DVD set offers a pristine presentation of the original 4x3 film plus a newly created 16x9 widescreen edition.

Special Features
Disc One:

• Digitally Remastered Original Full Screen Feature
  
• Motion Menus
  
• English Dolby Digital 6.1 DTS Surround Sound
  
• Japanese Dolby Digital 6.1 DTS Surround Sound
  
• English Dolby
  
• Digital 5.1 EX Surround Sound
  
• Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1 EX Surround Sound
  
• English Stereo 2.0 Japanese Stereo 2.0
  
• French Stereo 2.0
  
• Spanish Stereo 2.0
  
• Subtitles: English, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian and Finnish
  
• Director Interview
  
• Character Synopsis
  
• Photo Gallery
  
• History Of Jubie
  
• Character Interviews with Key English Cast members
  
• Exclusive Poster
  
• Manga Previews

Disc Two:

• Digitally Remastered Enhanced 16:9 Widescreen Feature
  
• Motion Menus
  
• English Dolby Digital 6.1 DTS Surround Sound
  
• Japanese Dolby Digital 6.1 DTS Surround Sound
  
• English Dolby Digital 5.1 EX Surround Sound
  
• Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1 EX Surround Sound
  
• English Stereo 2.0
  
• Japanese Stereo 2.0
  
• French Stereo 2.0
  
• Spanish Stereo 2.0
  
• Subtitles: English, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian and Finnish
  
• Director Interview
  
• Character Synopsis
  
• Photo Gallery
  
• History Of Jubie
  
• Character Interviews with Key English Cast members
  
• Exclusive Poster
  
• Manga Previews

Customer Reviews

Entertaining ninja romp!!
Ninja Scroll is usually one of the first anime films people see along with Akira and Ghost in the Shell, and with good reason too as it's fantastic!

I can normally take or leave most ninja anime, I love mecha and enjoy most sci-fi, horror and Miyazaki stuff, but ninjas don't normally push my buttons. Ninja Scroll though, is a pleasant exception.

This 10th anniversary edition contains two discs with different versions on each disc. Disc 1 has the 4:3 ratio pan and scan version and disc 2 the 16:9 anamorphic version.
Disc 2 also has several soundtracks including DTS 6.1 and proper DD 5.1 EX tracks. Plus a number of other interesting extras, especially the interview with the director.

I won't go into the plot as several other reviews describe it in plenty enough detail already. Although I will say that the plot is very good, it moves along at a sensible pace with a good balance between dialogue and action and unfolds cleverly, giving the viewer snippets of what's going on along the way and piecing it together thoroughly at the end.

Ninja Scroll is very Japanese, more so than a lot of other anime, and makes many cultural references throughout. This, I think, gives the story more depth and weight and makes it less fantastical (even though it's about ninjas and demons). But through this 'Japaneseness' the film fully deserves it's 18 certificate as Ninja Scroll is very violent and has many other scenes and themes of an adult nature as a warning to those who decide to watch it lightly.

Jubei and Kagero, the lead male and female, are excellent characters and they develop and interact very well and much thought has been put into them. But that's not to say the other's are bad or underdeveloped, as entire animated cast is excellent. Throughout the film there are many characters and sequences that will completely take you by surprise, these are a joy to watch even on repeated viewings.

The animation, as expected on a film like this, is superb, fluid movement and excellent detail everywhere.

The only disappointing thing I found with this DVD set was the sound. Listening through my home cinema separates I found that the DD 5.1 EX track made very little use of the extra speakers. The sub effects were pretty much non-existent and only little more came through the surround speakers. The scene at the beginning when the ninjas are jumping through the trees was good with the sound of movement all around you but other than that there isn't much to shout about.

A 13 episode TV series sequel to the film following the further exploits of Jubei was released in the late 90's and is now available on DVD and Ninja Scroll 2 is currently in pre-production.

An obvious film to watch it you're new to anime and thoroughly recommended to everyone, you'll love Ninja Scroll!

Okay, but far from the hype
First and foremost, this film presents excelent actionshots, its quite thrilling and definitly entertaining. The graphics are better than whats usual for animefilms, and the english dub is also quite good.

Thats the positive side though...the main problem is the lack of character development, it seems like you are expected to know the main characters before you see the film, and everytime they get into a tight spot they reveal a new skill thats totally unrealistic given what you know of them. They are also cold and unemotional, and you simply dont get emotionally engaged in their efforts to save feudal Japan.

It does however introduce some very interesting opponents, one guy got a beehive in his back, another one is a blind ninja that fights through his hearing, unfortunatly these ideas arent followed through -- they suddenly appear and is killed of ten seconds later, I ended up thinking that everything could have gotten so much better with some rewriting in the script..building up the suspense some more prior to the encounters, the movie doesnt last much more than 90 minutes anyway so they have room for it as animemovies are so expensive.

The film has also been censored, wich is okay at times, but this particular movie revolves strongly around being for adults, and looses some of its purity as its essence has been sliced, you get the feeling that something is missing in here, and the atmosphere gets unsufficent.

The plot features a lovestory, but this bit is seriously cut short by the lack of characters, and its not given enough priority to be emotionally engaging.. Its like putting a block of ice in the micro for ten seconds, it has the potential of getting hot, but it ends up being just as cold.

As a conclusion I would have to say that even if the movie is good slasher-entertainment its not something you will go around remembering a long time after, and this is a shame, because the movie had the potential of being a classic..

OK
This animation is very good, but definitely isn't the best out there. For instance, it's not on a par with Akira or Spirited Away.
Having said that, it is well scripted and the plot is easy to follow (you can leave on brain on 'standby' whilst digesting this anime). The main character goes from villain to villain slicing and dicing (when they're not killing each other that is).
The drawing itself is actually slightly below par wrt todays standards but still holds it's own.
Overall a decent enough manga, not rubbish, but then again not brilliant either