Ninja Scroll

release year: 1995
genre: animated martial arts/horror
viewing setting: home DVD, 1/12/22 and 1/16/05

synopsis: A female ninja, sole survivor of a deadly ambush, teams up with a wandering renegade and an abrasive old man to defeat an evil lord and his devil-minions.

impressions: The finer points of the plot escaped me, but this was good simple fun: animated hack-and-slash ninja action, pitting humans against a variety of supernatural enemies with weird powers. The basic idea was solid, as was the characterization, plus there were some plot twists.

things to watch for: Any of the battles with the evil monster-people.

something this movie has that no other movie has: "This village has a ninja bird which I'll use to relay this message to my lord." Yep, by blowing a whistle, female ninja Kagero summons a bird which has been trained to obey her ninja clan.

acting: N/A, since this was animated; however, the voices were well-done.

final word: Good, entertaining mix of martial arts and supernatural enemies.

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