Ninja Resurrection

In an era when Christianity has been outlawed by the Shogunate, one prophesized leader, Shiro Amakusa, emerges, leading his people to embrace the faith and belief in God.  An uprising begins and the Shogunate dispatches several armies to quell this outburst at any cost.  Among those sent into battle is Jubei Yagyu, a disgraced Swordsman with few equals.  As he crosses swords with Shiro, Jubei doesn’t realize the events he has set in motion, all playing to the designs of a madman who is determined to see Japan burn in a sea of Hellfire…and this blood drenched massacre is only just the beginning.

While I’m assuming anyone who’s a regular and a long time fan of Anime might know this, I guess I should just point out the blatantly obvious just to be safe: Ninja Resurrection IS NOT a sequel to Ninja Scroll.  And yet that is probably the most notable aspect of this OVAs existence.  When it was brought over to the States, the marketing made it look like it was just that, from the same stylized title logo to the inclusion of “The Revenge of Jubei” as a subtitle, making viewers and fans think we’d see the continuing adventures of Jubei Kibagami.  Sadly, that’s not the case here (and the Ninja Scroll sequel series we did get wasn’t much better).  And really, even without the terrible attempt at misdirection, Ninja Resurrection isn’t anything special on its own merits.  It’s pretty dull, needlessly mean spirited and bloody and, maybe worst yet (or best depending on your point of view) it’s incomplete.
 
This OVA is combined of two 40 minute episodes that do tie together beyond the inclusion of Jubei Yagyu. The first half revolves around a religious uprising that ends violently, mainly thanks to the efforts of Jubei.  The second half sees Jubei taking a back seat to the slow build up of the very bloody return of an old foe.  The first half is where you’ll find most of the advertised action from swords mowing down hordes of helpless soldiers (and some unfortunate civilians) to Jubei cleaving his way through a stone Dragon that can fly.  It’s pretty insane and lacks any kind of explanation.  Where did Shiro obtain his powers?  Is he actually chosen by God himself?  And what is the endgame of his advisor, Mori?  That last one could be explained by the end of the second episode if only because it’s a pretty generic answer, not deep at all.  The problem beyond the lack of proper explanation is that the Battle of Shimabara is so relentlessly bloody and ruthless it’s hard to feel any joy about it.  Like I said, innocent civilians are murdered in horrendous ways and Jubei own slaughter of soldiers feels so over the top I’d hardly call it stylish or fun.  Mean Spirited is the best way to sum up a lot of Ninja Resurrection and I don’t know if that’s because these first two episodes were just the start of building up a much darker story that couldve delivered a brighter finale in the end but we’ll never know that.  Even by action movie standards though, Ninja Resurrection pours on the blood like it’s a party…a very messed up and very scary party.
 
And what of our lead hero, the NOT Jubei Kibagami?  Well Jubei Yagyu is pretty generic really.  He has some of his backstory explained in the second episode, including where he got that eyepatch from.  Dude seems honorable enough but like most other things in this OVA, we don’t spend nearly enough time with him and really, Jubei is only around for about half of this OVAs total 80min runtime.  Yeah, the story diverts from him to try and explore other characters who are either just as shallow, destined to be slaughtered or just disappear without another word.  Shiro holds the most potential to be the most interesting character of the OVA, being seen as a messianic chosen one through prophecy.  Many believe him to be a legit Christ figure, a son of God, and that’s gotta be a lofty title to carry around.  I wish we could have seen more of Shiro’s rise to prominence before everything literally goes to Hell for the poor guy.  In a way, I think Ninja Resurrection is more Shiro’s tragic tale than Jubei’s action vehicle.
 
From a horror stand point, well like I said, Ninja Resurrection is certainly bloody enough for fans of gore to be pleased.  While normal soldiers and your standard Ninjas deliver some of this, most of the carnage is left to fighters who have been reborn to raise all kinds of Hell on Earth.  The OVAs cliffhanger even begins with a mass slaughter of a local festival.  And even before that, there’s a rebirth sequence that I would not recommend eating anything in advance before hand, it’s that freaking insane and stomach churning.  As a guy who has never seen either Berserk Anime, I can only imagine some of the things I’ve heard about it turned out to be just like this sequence (if not darker and ironically better).  It’s pretty unsettling to sit through and has less of a scare factor and more of a very uncomfortable factor.  It’s bloodshed for bloodshed sake, not proper horror or stylized action sake.  And, on top of all this, there’s even a couple of sequences that could have been their own short Hentai to add to the uncomfortable factor…because why not.
 
I am so glad Ninja Resurrection isn’t a sequel to Ninja Scroll because it is pretty bad.  Not only is it an incomplete production with no signs of a conclusion, but what we were given already is pretty dull, has an overabundance of ultra violence and gore, and hardly has anything about it that would amount to any kind of having fun.  And to think, someone thought they could pawn this off as a surprise sequel to one of the greatest Action Anime titles of all time…shame on them.
 
0/10
 
Well Halloween is tomorrow and that means a special Halloween movie review.  As promised, we’re coming full circle back to our old furutistc Vampire slaying bad ass D for his feature film follow up from our other old pal, Yoshikayaki Kawajiri.  It’s Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, right here tomorrow over at the Gundam Anime Corner.