Fans of this film often declare Ninja Scroll to be one of the best anime films of all time. Do not listen to them. Ninja Scroll is average at best. The characters are one dimensional and so is the plot. Nothing is ever really given context. Even what many acclaim to be fantastic fight scenes and animation are at best a B-. And a B- in animation is not enough to save this film from everything it does wrong. If you want fantastically animated fight scenes, watch Sword of the Stranger. A lot of anime films are weird. The great ones use the weird in a way that drives the plot or adds another dimension to the story/characters. This is not Ninja Scroll. Ninja Scroll is one of those films that is weird for the sake of being weird and nothing else. It doesn't ever apply any context for its weirdness.All in all, if you've no other anime films to watch go ahead and watch it. If you set your expectations low enough and look past its faults you can find an enjoyable film.It has a similar feel to it as the Rurouni Kenshin TV Series.

I am a huge fan of Yoshiaki Kawajiri. Anyone that knows me will tell you that watching Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust is like being with a little kid about to jump into a pool "Watch this, watch this, watch this, you're not looking!" Naturally I would eventually find Kawajiri's most respected work in time, Ninja Scroll.The animation is fantastic, even by today's standards. If you keep in mind that everything was hand-drawn (including the endless number of killer bees and snakes), anyone will be most impressed.The plot is that a ninja for hire named Jubei is forced into doing a mission for a secret government spy after taking down one of the members of the Shogun Of The Dark, which happens to be led by his old enemy, Genma Himuro.The story is a mindless action/fantasy film but obviously still enjoyable. It has a few scenes that aren't for the squeamish (the most well known is the rape scene) but if you've seen Wicked City, that film has more sexual content.Overall this is an anime that is obviously well worth a buy, if you know what you're in for but personally, I prefer Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust.

This film is very similar to several other action films (animated or live action) in that we have a plot that resembles a video game and it has even a final boss and everything, including several sub-bosses with their own special skills! The main character is your usual good-guy who appears to be a normal fellow but in fact is the toughest of them all. However, despite feeling like a video game, this film deserves such very high rating (8/10) because it is an almost flawlessly executed pure action movie: it is perhaps the ultimate video-game film. :)If Tarkovsky is the French wine, this is the junk food for film buffs. Highly recommended for fans of action films and even for people that like films in general because this is entertainment!

WICKED CITY was among the bootleg anime that was circulated in this country before AKIRA came along and proved, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that American audiences were ready for adult animation. ("Adult" in the approach to animated storytelling.) I caught AKIRA during its initial theatrical run and it was satisfying, indeed, to not only see it on the big screen, but to also finally see it dubbed in English. While most anime doesn't make it to the big screens hereabout (curious, indeed, when one considers the fact that Animego is based here), there's anime aplenty at the local retail outlets. It's expensive, but there are several titles worth their weight in cost: WICKED CITY, VAMPIRE HUNTER D, VAMPIRE HUNTER D: BLOODLUST, ROBOT CARNIVAL, GENOCYBER, TETSUJIN 28, any ASTRO BOY (the original black and white series being the best), DEVIL MAN, GILGAMESH, FULL METAL ALCHEMIST, YU YU HAKASHO, NARUTO, KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE, GOLGO 13, GHOST IN THE SHELL (any), PRINCESS MONONOKE, METROPOLIS, GACHAMAN (any), PROJECT ARMS, WOLF'S RAIN, WITCH HUNTER ROBIN, BAOH, and NINJA SCROLL, to name but a few. NINJA SCROLL, with its seemingly endless invention, is probably my all-time favorite. The animation is about as good (great) as it gets. Kawajiri's direction is to be envied (even WICKED CITY and VAMPIRE HUNTER D: BLOODLUST, as nigh perfect as they are, can't beat NINJA SCROLL). If you're tired (as am I) of the lackluster Americanimation being cranked out by the studios, switch gears and check out some of the aforementioned anime.