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Released by: Urban Vision Entertainment
Released on: 9/2/2003
Director: Tatsuo Sato
Cast: Rikiya Koyama, Houka Kuwashima, Yuzuru Fujimoto, Romi Park
Year: 2003
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The Series:
Created to capitalize on the success of the full length animated film of the same name, Ninja Scroll - The Series is a fast paced, violent, and action packed anime that should hold the attention of those into swordplay cartoons and, well, Ninjas. I fall into both of those categories, and had a reasonably good time with the first entry in the series, which compiles the first four episodes.
EPISODE 1 - TRAGEDY IN THE HIDDEN VILLAGE
Setting the stage for what is to come; in this episode we witness a Hiroku ninja stealing the Dragon Stone, a sacred artifact that should allow him to set in motion the events that will free his evil ninja clan from a lifetime of darkness.
The opposing clan, the Kimons, has other plans though, and they want the stone for themselves. And then there's Jubei Kibagami, a lone wolf of sorts who sells his services as a ninja to the highest bidder but still operates within his own code of honor. Further complicating matters is the fact that both sides need to capture the Light Maiden, as she's the only one who is actually able to control the power that the Dragon Stone contains.
EPISODE 2 - DEPARTURE
The Light Maiden, whose true name is actually Shigure, decides that since her past has made her so desirable to all these ninja clans running around, that she'd better figure out for herself what exactly makes her such a hot commodity, so she heads off on a quest to uncover her past.
Jubei, on the other hand, ends up retrieving the stone and having to deal with the two opposing ninja clans, who want the stone back and would be only too happy to kick his ass in the process if need be.
EPISODE 3 - FORBIDDEN LOVE
This episode introduces us to a few interesting characters who are involved with the opposing clans after the stone, who in turn face off against Jubei for possession of it. One of the evil doers is named Old One Eye (because, well, he only has one eye) and he gets a little too close to Shigure for comfort, so Jubei has to take him down so that he can catch up to her himself and give her back the stone that she should have been in possession of in the first place.
EPISODE 4 - BROKEN STONE
Shigure loses the stone to a band of thieves and it's up to Jubie to retrieve it once again. Unfortunately, he gets captured by them, and in the ensuing conflict, the stone gets broken into two pieces. Eventually, Jubei decides he'd better help Shigure out and takes on the duties of being her bodyguard, but it's too little too late as one of the clans captures her and is in process of securing the stone as well.
While the series isn't as well written or as intense as the Ninja Scroll movie that it follows, it's still an entertaining show with plenty of great action and some nice plot twists along the way. Hopefully, as tends to be the case with continuing series', the later episodes will be more detailed and some of the questions I was left with at the end of the first four episodes will be answered. We shall see.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The series is presented in a pretty clean fullframe transfer, which is the aspect ratio that it was composed for. Colors look pretty solid except for a few instances where deeper blacks and reds shimmer a bit too much. There is also some minor video noise noticeable in a few scenes. Overall though, this is a pretty solid transfer, thought the amount of detail doesn't even come close to matching that of the film that came before it.
Urban Vision provides us with two audio options. First off is an English dub, presented in Dolby Digital 5.1. This track sounds pretty decent with most of the channel separation and surround action reserved for the sound effects and the majority of the dialogue reserved for the front center channel. The Japanese language track is in Dolby Digital 2.0 with optional English subtitles (which don't always match up 100% with what's said on the English dub track) that can be easily removed with the help of your DVD player's remote control. It's not as lively a track as the 5.1 is, but it still gets the job done with minimal distortion and a nice level of clarity.
The main extra is an interview with renowned anime soundtrack composers, Kitaro and Peter McEvilley. Both interviewees give their thoughts on what went in to creating the music for the series and how their specific creative processes come together from the planning stages to the final product. There are also a stills gallery, storyboard to film comparison, chapter synopsis insert, and a short feature on the creation of the DVD cover art included on the disc as well.
The Final Word:
Die hard fans of the movie will want to check this out just to see what happens next, but don't go into it expecting it to be as good. It's a decent animated serial that delivers in the action and gore department but falls short on some of the characterizations and story intricacies that made the movie a fan favorite.