Anime Away!

NINJA SCROLL- JVC/Toho Co. Ltd.-1993- This is one of my favorite Japanese animes (is that redundant?), a violent action filled story set in feudal Japan. When a mysterious plague wipes out a village, a crack team of ninjas investigates. As they near the village the entire troop (save one) is slaughtered by Tessai, a rock hard monster that drinks blood and uses a double-edged ax like boomerang. The lone survivor is the tough and agile Kagero, a female ninja and poison taster who holds a special secret. The monster takes her prisoner and rapes her. She is rescued by Jubei, a roaming ninja. They escape when Tessai is called off by his prissy boss, Yurimaru. After Kagero makes her report (to the clan head who keeps having sex while she’s reporting) Jubei and Tessai go at it again. The ninja manages to get the monster to kill itself with it’s own weapon but it is only later on that we learn the truth. Anyone who has sex with Kagero dies!

Jubei is pressed into service (with blackmail & poison) by Dakuwan, an old monk with a big hat and a staff who is a spy for the government. Eventually they kind of team up with Kagero to fight a resurrected dark lord, Gemma (who Jubei killed once already!) and his 8 Devils Of Kimon. Along with Tessai, they include a woman with living tattoos who sheds her skin to escape and a Charles Laugton look hunchback whose hump is wasp hive!

This is one kick ass anime with action, great direction, violence and of course tragedy. And it’s not for children. The blood letting and monster rape scene are pretty graphic. The screenwriter/ director of SCROLL, Yoshiaki Kawajiri also made the must see epics DEMON CITY SHINJUKU, A WIND CALLED AMNESIA, and WICKED CITY, as well as LENSMEN, based on the American sci-fi series by E.E. “Doc” Smith.