Smith Ninja Scroll Smith Smith

*DISCLAIMER*

     

Judging by the definition of the muscles in his mastoid
region, this horse had years and years of labor
and love to look forward to. 

     The absolute low point of Ninja Scroll occurs when Jubei, the supposedly morally upright hero of the film, murders a perfectly innocent and lovely horse and disguises it as a plague host in an attempt to scare a few townspeople away from certain death. Nice try, Japan, but the fact of the matter is that the majority of equestrian diseases pose no threat to mankind. If you know me personally or follow my blog, you are well aware of my affinity for horses. There is absolutely no circumstance under which I am willing to tolerate the slightest of transgressions against these marvelous acts of nature. It amazes me to see how comprehensively Ninja Scroll's perverted development team was willing to bastardize the art of animated film making with this indiscriminately violent smut.

That's right, folks. He can fit an entire boob in his mouth.
Just one of his many helpful demonic attributes.

     Otherwise, I felt that the film was generally agreeable and downright entertaining. The writers did a splendid job of combining super human combat sequences with a modest dash of romance. I enjoyed seeing the more personal sides of characters which could easily have been overlooked in lieu of additional action or more expedited plot advancement. Nearly every character in the story is driven by a cocktail of terribly weakening vices and grave moral defects which often contribute to his or her demise. Among these vices are greed, pride, substance abuse, and a rather hefty appetite for rape. The film does not, however, exempt morally sound characters from nature induced misfortune. The savior of Ninja Scroll's universe, Jubei, nearly meets his end when he refuses to have sexual relations with Kagero, a girl whose bodily fluids are guaranteed to quell the life-threatening poison within his veins.

That's a pretty ghetto lookin' booty. 

     A fairly prominent theme of Ninja Scroll is the poisonous nature of women. It is certainly no coincidence that the film's two sexiest broads are genetically designed to seduce lustful males and infuse them with poison. The film's heroine/sidekick, Kagero, controls (or lacks control of) poison as a defense mechanism against the tyranny of physically superior males. Anyone with whom Kagero has sexual contact-- consensually or otherwise-- is affected by her poison. Kagero's demonic counterpart, Benisato, possesses the acutely malicious abilities of hypnosis and an army of uniquely poisonous snakes which disguise themselves as tattoo's on her attractive, often naked body. Pretty hot stuff. As rough as the women of Ninja Scroll may sound, they aren't entirely bad. Jubei's dependency on Kagero's sexual inhibition suggests that there is, perhaps, a proper poison out there for all of us. <3.