Ninja Scroll is definetly one of the biggest gems when it comes to traditional-ninja-mythology Anime. The story isn't too complicated but gives each character enough room to unfold their very own personality and ambitions. The pacing of this movie is perfectly balanced between smashing action scenes and calm dialogues. The great combination of sound fx music dark imagery create an absolutely fantastic mystic vibe so you can click in at any time and I guarantee you'll find yourself in a beautiful piece of art. The fight scenes are to this day one of the best the Anime genre has ever produced. Since every character has their own special set of abilities, skills and tricks every fight turns out to be a unique battle between masters of their very own art. Especially the diversity of the villains give the fights a nice kind of variety. Overall this is just a fantastic classic Anime movie with big impact to this day and an absolute must see for every true Anime fan.

This week I was fortunate to watch three fantastic animes(which I love from watching the likes of Studio Ghibli) in a row, Akira, Ghost in the Shell and this, Ninja Scroll. Ninja Scroll captivated me from start to finish, with the ultra-violent scenes and gore it is perhaps not for all, but from an animation and storytelling perspective it is really one of the most engrossing animated films I have ever seen. The animation is stupendous, every action has so much detail but the backgrounds and colours have many moments of dark or ethereal beauty to them. The music is haunting and sweeping, the characters are interesting with a lot of depth and conflict in them, but other than the fast, clean and incredibly compelling action the star was the storytelling, often dark and poignant but never less than riveting. Overall, captivating from start to finish, a must see. 10/10 Bethany Cox

This anime movie follows lone ninja Jubei; he travels from village to village looking for work but now he is about to get involved in something far more serious. A group of eight demonic ninjas, the Eight Devils of Kimon, has wiped out a village along with most of those sent to investigate. Jubei helps survivor Kagero, a beautiful female ninja and is soon caught in a fight with one of the Eight Devils of Kimon. He then confronted by Dakuan who tells Jubei that he has poisoned him and if he wants the antidote he will have to help defeat the remaining Devils.

Together Jubei, Kagero and Dakuan tackle the various Devils; each of them has their own distinctive demonic power; one has skin as hard as stone; one has snake tattoos that become real snakes and another has a wasp hive in his back to describe just three of them. We also learn that Kaguro has a power/curse of her own… her body is poisonous in a way that means any man who makes love to her will die.

This is a really enjoyable film for those who love ninja action and villains with imaginative superpowers. There is a lot of action; most of it is pretty bloody so this definitely isn't a 'cartoon for kids'! This action is well animated and exciting; there is a feeling that just because somebody is a protagonist they aren't immune from real danger. The character designs are impressive and distinctive and the backgrounds look great too. There is some sexual content, including a disturbing assault against Kagero that may bother some viewers. Overall I'd recommend this to older anime fans who are looking for lots of exciting action.

These comments are based on watching the film in Japanese with English subtitles.