Jûbê ninpûchô: Ryûhôgyoku-hen

This series is set in a feudal Japan where demonic beings are common; in this land Jubei Kibagami, a mercenary ninja is given the task of delivering something called The Dragon Stone to a woman known as The Light Maiden. Meanwhile a village is attacked and the sole survivor is Shigure, who many believe is The Light Maiden. The two of them meet up fairly soon and travel together along with elderly monk Dakuan and a young thief named Tsubute. As they travel together they meet numerous Ninja clans who are desperate to get their hands on the Dragon Stone and the Light Maiden so they can get their hands on the treasure they are rumoured to be able to access.

Having not seen the Ninja Scroll movie I can't say how this compares but as a stand-alone series I found it surprisingly enjoyable. There is a decent plot arc along with monster of the week side plots. This means that there is a fair amount of action in every episode; this is well animated and rather violent… expect to see plenty of blood. Away from the action there are some laughs; mostly provided by sidekicks Dakuan and Tsubute, there are also a few poignant moments as some of the bad guys aren't entirely unsympathetic. There are of course some clichés and we never for a moment believe Jubei could lose a fight; still these scenes are handled well so it doesn't really matter. The characters were pretty good for the most part although the main antagonist was a bit over the top.

These Comments are based on watching the series in Japanese with English subtitles.

I had seen Ninja Scroll, the Movie first before I watched the series version. The gap was about a year and a half apart, and I thoroughly enjoyed the movie despite its mature content.

The series takes place after the movie's storyline, obviously. But I'm disappointed in its lack of strong structure or character. Two rival clans compete for total power as they try to capture a girl and a magic stone necessary for the task, and Jubei and friends are caught in the middle. That's just what it's all about, really.

Especially after seeing the breathtaking action sequences of the movie, the series has a little rusty version of those that left me a bit jaded to be honest. The characters aren't that well developed, Jubei also lacks a lot of character, the animation is not as vibrant and alive as the movie. The bottom-line is that I don't think there is anything new or interesting to be seen here, regretfully speaking. It just tries to parrot the movie : violence, "sexiness" and stuff; and is doing a bad job at it.

Word of advice : if you have seen the movie first and are about to see the series now, I told you so; and if you have seen the series, but haven't yet seen the movie, go see it NOW!! Thirdly, if you haven't seen either of them yet, definitely go for the movie, trust me!!

The animation is good, but the music (an instrumental combination of techno and traditional Japanese) made it feel like a video game. The ideas are original, but then again, completely bogus: electric ninjas, mutant ninjas, surgeon ninjas, undead ninjas, huge ninjas, parasitic ninjas... you get the idea.

The movie was a great thing, not only as animation is concerned, but also as the plot unraveled. This one is mostly "Jubei is cool". True enough, he kills just about everything that moves, and strong and weird opponents they are: electric ninjas, mutant ninjas... :)

The end is just as pointless as the rest of the series, but you feel good looking at it. It has the feel of Might and Magic (1 to 5) and you half expect to find out in the end that the entire land magic has the source in an extraterrestrial spaceship. Fun.

This Tv show is okay, but nowhere near as good as the movie. After watching the 1st 4 episodes, I was not very entertained. The characters are nowhere near as cool and innovative as the movie, but try too hard to be, and the story is pretty mediocre. Jubei has this new power where all he has to do is draw his sword and people are sliced in half. And theres all these pointless duels by characters who have lame powers (tree girl, girl with long hair that can control her hair, translucent glowing guy who controls moths, cat girl etc.) They even have robots and all this other crap that shouldn't be in Ninja Scroll. Every villain in the movie was really cool. Sadly everyone on the show is lame.

I read some mixed reviews of this anime so I was hesitant to watch it, in the end I ended up getting what I expected, not better or worse than what I expected. What I'd like to say is, firstly, if you haven't watched the full Ninja Scroll movie please watch it, its one of the best animes there is. Secondly, if you have seen the full movie, I would recommend you rent this rather than buy it.

One of the main things I didn't like about this anime was the animation itself, I don't know why but it seemed as if it was animated for a Saturday morning kids show. Don't get me wrong, if you're expected blood and gore don't worry you will not be let down, there's plenty of it. If you can imagine the different in animation from the early 90's X-Men cartoon to the new X-Men Evolution cartoon, that is sort of the change the animation has undertaken from the Ninja Scroll movie to the series. Another letdown is the bland and basic story. Its not like I can spoil the story for you much but don't expect any twists and turns here, it basically Jubei protecting an important princess having to face a more deadlier enemy every episode, easily defeating every one of them.

I suppose this review sounds negative so far, but please don't take it that way, I did enjoy this anime somewhat and thats mainly because I love the Ninja Scroll type anime action, and in the series there is a LOT of it. Not one episode has a lack of fighting, and you get to see Jubei use some of his cool signature moves from the movie quite a few times and it just looks really cool. So to sum it all up, I'd say rent this series if you can, if you can't borrow it from a friend and buy it if you like it.