Movies - Ninja Scroll

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	Movies - Ninja Scroll

is a Japanese action thriller anime, set in feudal Japan, by critically acclaimed director/writer Yoshiaki Kawajiri who was best known for his previous thriller Wicked City
(Yōjū Toshi).

The movie was released on June 5, 1993 and received a Western release on December 6, 1996. The movie was also released in some regions as Jubei Ninpocho: The Wind Ninja Chronicles. The Japanese title could be translated at "Jubei the Wind Ninja", although this is subject to debate as it does not account for the last part of the title. Ninja Scroll won the Citizen's Award at the 1993 Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival. Ninja Scroll is among the most popular anime movies outside of Japan, along with such movies as Akira
and Ghost in the Shell
. It is well-received in its depiction of the samurai and Japanese mythological creatures such the Stone Golem, Blind Assassin and so on.

The main character, Jubei Kibagami is a homage to the famed Japanese samurai folk hero Yagyu Jubei.

Rated: Australia: R18+, Canada: 18, UK: 18, USA: Unrated.

In 1995, the BBFC cut the UK version by approx. 52 seconds. This included a rape scene and images of imitable weaponry. The UK and Australian DVDs were affected by these cuts -- it was not censored in Australia but the Australian DVD was an exact copy of the UK disc. In 2004 the footage was reinstated and the movie in both countries was released uncut.

The film was initially given an MA15+ rating in Australia. In 1996, following an uncut screening of the film on free-to-air television, the Federal Attorney General lodged an application to review the classification of the film. As a result of this, the film's classification was upgraded to an R18+ rating, meaning television airings must be censored as R18+ material cannot be screened. Confusion often occurs due to the re-rating as well as the BBFC cut -- someone could purchase the BBFC-cut R18+ DVD thinking it contained more graphic material than an MA15+ VHS copy, only to discover it contained less.

Story

A team of Koga Ninja is sent to investigate a plague in Shimoda village, but on their way, they are violently slaughtered by a man; the only survivor is Kagero, their lord's poison-taster. Their attacker is a giant man with stone skin and a colossal double-bladed sword, which can be thrown like a boomerang.

The giant takes Kagero to his hut and proceeds to rape her; when he is interrupted by an interloper who does not seem terrified of the fact that he can turn his skin to stone. Rather, the interloper, a ninja vagabond named Jubei, puts out one of his eyes with a dart and escapes with Kagero.

The giant ambushes Jubei and proceeds to beat him bloody. Although he has the clear advantage (Jubei cannot even scratch his stony hide), he begins to fall apart. The giant throws his sword, but cannot catch it when Jubei manages to cut his fingers off, and the blade drives into the giant's skull. An old monk that had witnessed the battle congratulates Jubei, but he remarks that though Jubei's triumph over the demonic warrior was impressive, it benefited from outside help. He calls the monster one of "the Eight Devils of Kimon."

Several other strange characters are concerned with the stone man's death: the well-dressed man Yurimaru, who calls the giant Tessai, and the scarred Zakuro, who lusts for Yurimaru, even though Yurimaru is gay and sleeping with their bisexual master, Gemma.

Jubei rests his battered body in a hot spring, but is entranced by a female bather and her snake tattoos. She identifies him as the man who killed Tessai (the giant had copied Jubei's face in his palm), and her tattoos begin to move. This hypnotizes Jubei, and the snakes leave her body and approach him. A shuriken strikes Jubei, which wakes him up in time to cut the snakes down. He grabs the woman, but she sheds her skin like a snake and escapes. The old monk appears again. Jubei learns his name is Dakuan, and that the star was poisoned. Jubei must work for Dakuan, a Tokugawa Shogunate operative, in order to receive the antidote, or he will surely die within two days.

As they boat down a river, Dakuan asks Jubei if he killed the chief retainers to the Yamashiro clan five years before, and leader of the Yamashiro ninja, Himuro Gemma, who were getting rich off a hidden and undisclosed gold mine. Dakuan claims that Gemma is still alive, despite Jubei's insistence (and flashback) to the contrary; Jubei claims to have decapitated Gemma.

Once they land they're separated. A shadow attacks Dakuan with a mechanical claw, apparently impaling him against a tree, but the old monk escaped into the branches, camouflaging himself. A man rises out of the shadow, muses that nobody could escape "Shijima's claw," and sinks back down.

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Movies - Ninja Scroll

Story

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