“Ninja Scroll” is a stylish and violent anime film. This is definitely not one for kids because there is blood spraying all over the place and plenty of nudity. It’s at least as violent if not more so than “Akira” and “Fist of the North Star”. “Ninja Scroll” has a real cult following and especially in the United States.

Jubei Kibagami is a mercenary ninja that unintentionally finds himself in a battle with a group of demon warriors hoping to seize control of the whole of Japan. He will need the help of a beautiful and skilled ninja girl and a crafty, old man in order to confront this deadly threat.

I like how the three main protagonists look and act very distinctively. Jubei is pretty much like Clint Eastwood’s ‘Man With No Name’. The ninja girl Kagero has a special skill that makes her particularly lethal. Even better are the eight demon warriors. One of them has the ability to transform his skin into rock, another releases hornets from his back and another electrocutes people using a steel wire. The animation on the characters throughout is very impressive. I really like the way that they are proportioned differently and the use of shadows on the characters is great.

“Ninja Scroll” contains some creative and exciting action sequences. If you liked “Fist of the North Star” then you should also like “Ninja Scroll”. The animation in this movie is great too. The most significant problem I have with the movie is with the story. It’s not particularly captivating and it seems to be made needlessly complex. Again, I must stress that this is not a film aimed at children. We see limbs sliced off, multiple women take off their clothes and there are sex scenes (including an attempted rape). If you want some mature ninja action then look no further than “Ninja Scroll”.