Still Fun, 30 Years Later

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Key Takeaways

• Iconic film Ninja Scroll recently celebrated its 30th anniversary with a limited theatrical run, showcasing its enduring influence.
• An ero-guro genre action spectacle combining the erotic and the grotesque, providing unforgettable and bold viewing experience.
• While Ninja Scroll’s narrative might be thin, its exciting action sequences, artwork, and charismatic characters have helped it achieve cult status.

Few anime studios are as storied or revered as Madhouse, and of its many notable creative leads, few are as iconic – be it for their imagination or their influence – as Yoshiaki Kawajiri. Recently, Kawajiri’s Ninja Scroll celebrated its (late) 30th anniversary with a short theatrical run in North America, and all these years later, it’s still a wild ride expertly crafted to get the blood pumping.

For three nights only, starting September 11, Iconic Events brought the film to theaters as part of Anime Expo Cinema Nights, featuring a special pre-show interview with the director. Released in Japan in 1993, Ninja Scroll is considered one of Kawajiri’s best; an action spectacle that made its rounds during the anime boom of the 90s following its Western release.

You’ll Know Why It’s A Cult Classic

Viewers with photosensitivity beware, this film has a lot of flashing lights. Even the trailer posted below contains a lot of strobe effects.

Ninja Scroll is the perfect storm of a film that is simultaneously a love letter to the director’s influences, while simultaneously becoming a heavily influential work in itself. It joins the likes of Ghost in the Shell as an anime that helped inspire creators like the Wachowskis to create The Matrix. For everyone else, it was and remains something of a tastemaker, especially for younger viewers, to whom this film’s brand of action spectacle and ultraviolence is alien.

The Story of Ninja Scroll

The film follows Jubei Kibagami, a vagabond wandering Japan as a sword for hire until a chance encounter sends him on a mission with the fate of the country in the balance. While he lacks the patience for politics, he’s given little choice but to aid the last survivor of a Ninja clan as she investigates the cause of a plague that killed a village. Along the way, he must battle the Devils of Kimon to thwart a plan to overthrow the government.

Structurally, there’s something very video-gamey about its narrative, which contributes largely to its appeal. The film is an adventure whose journey is dotted by a series of creatively constructed boss fights, where each of the Devils has a unique aesthetic, skillset, and/or power at their disposal. In contrast, Jubei – apart from his adept sword skills – comes across as comparably “normal.” It gives him the air of an underdog while making his victories feel all the more earned.

An Ero-Guro Action Spectacle

Following the opening sequence and the viewer’s introduction to Jubei, the film sets up its main plot through what is effectively a horror film. A group of ninjas whose training is blindingly apparent are slaughtered by a force unlike anything they could fathom; a man whose very skin is hard as stone. The only survivor of the surprise ambush, Kagero, watches on in horror as the leader of her clan is torn limb from limb.

“Ero-guro” is a genre that describes the intersection of the erotic and the grotesque, which could not more perfectly capture Ninja Scroll’s vibe. It is fair to call it pornographic, but the term applies just as much to the reverie of combat as it does to the sexual content throughout. The sensual and titillating become inexorably entangled with the monstrous and occult, concocting a bold and unforgettable viewing experience. You won’t forget the first time you see this movie.

A Simple Story, But Thoughtful Execution

There’s a simplicity to it all, but at its best times, it doesn’t feel simple. The execution is too adept, and the artwork too gorgeous, to be regarded as such. Its story is by all accounts thin, but the way it is told gives the film a good sense of momentum. The action is exciting, but it is also appreciably patient; there’s an emphasis on building anticipation before sparks fly. The fight between Jubei and Tessai is an excellent example.

A seemingly ordinary swordsman – barely different from the countless men the viewer has seen slaughtered – versus a lecherous monster with a body made of stone. It’s a well-paced standoff that allows tension to build organically, making the gruesome payoff that much more satisfying. Ninja Scroll always has a new trick to show the viewer, and seldom shies away from its most graphic imagery.

Spectacle Can’t Solve Everything

The pacing is solid, the characters are striking and unforgettable, and the action is unrelentingly violent in the best ways. These qualities are what have elevated this film to its cult status, yet even with that boon, anyone who has watched Ninja Scroll can likely agree on a few things. First and foremost, whenever there is exposition, the film is practically allergic to being interesting.

Granted, the historical context of the film’s setting is intriguing, but everything done with it is fairly lackluster. Such a thing might have wounded the final confrontation, but it is saved by the presentation, which is no small thing. “Aesthetic” is not the absence of narrative; it is narrative, and Ninja Scroll‘s climax is by all accounts masterful despite the weak story building to it. What wounds the narrative far more noticeably overall is sexism running throughout.

Second, the Kagero Problem

A lackluster plot could easily be forgiven in a film so centered around its characters, their journey, and their relationship. Sadly, even that is tarnished by just how lame the portrayal of Kagero is. Despite a strong introduction, she never gets the chance to do anything cool. She never even gets to kill any of the bad guys, save for the first one, Tessai, and even then, there’s a catch, and a pretty big one. Kagero’s body poisons anyone who sleeps with her.

Tessai died because he sexually assaulted Kagero before fighting Jubei. Even then, her poison is chalked up to an assist, as Jubei ends up making Tessai fall on his sword, reducing her contributions to a pittance. Meanwhile, her entire arc is about the shame of having a poisonous body. One might charitably interpret her arc as Kagero learning to see herself as more than just an object thanks to Jubei treating her like a person, but that’s giving it too much credit.

She lacks too much agency to make that message feel earnest. Plus, even if Kagero hadn’t been sexually assaulted (TWICE, I might add), it’s not as if her and Jubei’s relationship was all that interesting to begin with. This is only as big of a problem because of how important she is to the story, and thus how annoying it is that a film with so much legendary action couldn’t be bothered to give one of the main characters more to do.

There are better films than

Ninja Scroll

, but simultaneously, there’s nothing quite like it, and combined with such inspired artwork and directing, that makes all the difference.

When I went to the theater to see this again, I was prepared for things that wouldn’t age well in a film that’s 31 years old (naturally). The biggest disappointment, then, was realizing just how much those negative qualities persisted throughout the film. The title wasn’t a lie – this is still a very fun action film. It’s just not as great as I remember, and that made it harder to appreciate what it did right. Make no mistake, though: it was not impossible.

There are better films than Ninja Scroll, but simultaneously, there’s nothing quite like it, and combined with such inspired artwork and directing, that makes all the difference. So long as we aren’t pretending that its problems don’t exist, there’s no harm in celebrating what it gets right.

Ninja Scroll will be available on a Limited Edition SteelBook Blu-ray on October 22 courtesy of Sentai Filmworks.