Ninja Scroll Review

Bottom-Line: Ninja Scroll is a keeper, one of those rare movies where watching it again and again brings something new to the viewing table.

The title Ninja Scroll (American title); the Japanese title is Jubei Ninpucho-has a meaning beyond the words that help lend insight into the world of an arcane-laced Feudal Japan where the story-line takes place.  The title Ninja Scroll directly relates, or so I have read, to the character of the wizened little monk with the bug eyes named Dakuan, who manages to get Jubei, our main character, into so much trouble. Dakuan records the story as he experiences it, or is going to experience it.  And once committed to the "Ninja Scroll," facts, tragic or happy, cannot be altered or changed.   

The Story

The plot of Ninja Scroll is extremely hard to follow; sufficed to say that given the setting there are plenty of Ninja, Samurai, ronin, demons and sword play to go around.  As mentioned above Jubei Ninpucho is our main character, he is a Ninja for hire, or more accurately, he is a ronin for hire; a ronin is a samurai without a master or clan.  Jubei roams the countryside hiring himself out as a master swordsman, and master he is.

My Viewpoint

Ninja Scroll is unabashed fair combined with Japanese style animation makes this movie very entertaining, and only whets my appetite for more of the same.  The movie is smartly written, though I have to admit that I do not know enough about feudal Japanese society to know the difference.  But I am a rapid fan of magic and the arcane so Ninja Scroll with its magical creatures and super human characters is just the sort of escapism needed when the weather turns cold and nasty and even the thought of going outside makes the toes curl.

Ninja Scroll is a keeper, one of those rare movies where watching it again and again brings something new to the viewing table.