Score: 10 out of 10 (Assuming I rated it from the first time I saw it.)
I don't remember when I first watched this movie. My cousin, Joey, suggested it to me a LONG time ago, maybe it was while I was in High School or Junior High. He said something like:
Joey: "Have you seen Ninja Squirrel?"
And I was like, "What's Ninja Squirrel?"
Turns out, he actually said 'Ninja Scroll', but I didn't really understand it until I rented the movie from an Anime Rental / Arcade store at the Mira Mesa Mall.
Why do I bring this up?
Netflix has it on the instant queue, and I've been watching it in chunks of 20 minutes here and there for the last couple of days. I hadn't realized how long it had been since last I saw it, so it was nice to experience that 90's Japanese Anime which was a beacon for higher quality animations from the land of the rising sun. Personally, once movies like Ninja Scroll came out, the quality of animation just kept getting better.
Anyways, ever since I saw it that first time, I have often seen the movie pop up in random places. It was one of those ubiqutous animes that are a staple in any movie rental store, and DVD sales place. Back when Anime was making the transition from underground nerdy to mainstream (nerdy), Ninja Scroll was one of the anime that gave you street cred. (Among the nerdy) When talking about what Anime you've already seen, Ninja Scroll had to be on the list. That list included 'Akira, Fist of the North Star, and Vampire Hunter D'.
The movie was great to watch as a kid, because it had Ninjas, Gore, badass supernatural fighting, and a bunch of good FAP scenes.
Guys who have watched this will know what I mean.
The ivory skinned kurenai 'Kagero' wore that too-too short Ninja Girl outfit which was peeled off like a banana by the rock monster dude. For many young men, that shot of her bewbz was pause-&-fap worthy. (At least it was for me.) Once you got past that, it was memorable battle after battle.
The one my cousin likes to recall is the blind-swordsman in the bamboo forest. I remember as a joke, me and him would face each other, and run sideways. As if this was a normal thing that ninja-swordsmen had to do.
Super buff rock guys, shadow chain ninjas, gay electric wire guys, gun powder chicks, wasp-nest-in-the-back guy, poison-blood girl, ancient midget monk, blind-swordsman, regenerating demon ninja, political intrigue, sex, nudity, ninja-delivery-birds, sword-slash wind decapitation techniques, slow-diagonal-falling bamboo chutes, this movie had it all.
I came across one thought as I finished the movie.
Sometime in the fictituious future of Jyubei Kibagami, the hero of Ninja Scroll, he might have made it to becoming an old man. His sword hung up, and perhaps living peacefully as a blacksmith, or carpenter. And he might have a beautiful wife, who bore him a son Maybe when his son is still too young to learn swordfighting, he'll be exploring his dad's workshop, and stumble upon a decapitated, and gold-plated arm, that looks like it's grasping tightly at something the size of a leg. He will ask his dad if this was a sculpture. His father will reach down and feel the scar on his leg and wonder how he can explain to his son what exactly happened.
"Well son, I was poisoned by a midget government monk spy to help him track down demon gang leader whose head I cut off years ago from a gold mine I was protecting. Well he came back to life, and stole the gold and was about to use it to become the new Shadow Shogun, so I had to stop him. The midget monk told me I had to sleep with a girl whose body is filled to the brim with poison in order to counterbalance the poison, but I didn't want to treat the girl like that. Instead, she ended up getting killed by that Demon Gang Leader, who posed as her Clan Head, who she had alerted with a Ninja-Bird. So as she died in my arms, I kissed her, which removed the poison, and then riled me to jump on the gold-transport ship. The only way to blow up the transport ship, was to ignite this other demon chick who is chock-full of gunpowder. Once she blew up a hole in the ship, it started to sink. But then I attacked the demon gang leader, who I cut up a billion times, but he just kept regenerating and coming back to life. Thankfully the boat fire made from igniting the gunpowder chick somehow melted all the gold and turned it into a raging river of molten gold, which washed over him (Demon Gang Leader). I thought all was good, but then he jumped out of the molten gold river, and grabbed at me. So I cut off his arm, and watched him fall into the ocean and become hardened gold instantly, knowing he would forever be alive encased in gold, deep at the bottom of the ocean. AND THAT IS WHY I have sold gold arm that appears to be grabbing tightly at my leg."
By the way, I don't even remember an actual Ninja 'Scroll' that was particularly important in that movie.
