Tweekums 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.

Morbius Fitzgerald I am a huge fan of Yoshiaki Kawajiri. Anyone that knows me will tell you that watching Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust is like being with a little kid about to jump into a pool "Watch this, watch this, watch this, you're not looking!" Naturally I would eventually find Kawajiri's most respected work in time, Ninja Scroll.The animation is fantastic, even by today's standards. If you keep in mind that everything was hand-drawn (including the endless number of killer bees and snakes), anyone will be most impressed.The plot is that a ninja for hire named Jubei is forced into doing a mission for a secret government spy after taking down one of the members of the Shogun Of The Dark, which happens to be led by his old enemy, Genma Himuro.The story is a mindless action/fantasy film but obviously still enjoyable. It has a few scenes that aren't for the squeamish (the most well known is the rape scene) but if you've seen Wicked City, that film has more sexual content.Overall this is an anime that is obviously well worth a buy, if you know what you're in for but personally, I prefer Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust.

WakenPayne Am I missing something here? Why is this considered Kawajiri's best? If anything it is his worst. You enter the world with no explanation to the weird giant rock men or snake women or beehive men, Seriously what the hell is going on in this movie? I got as far as the guy is killing somebody he thinks is already dead who ends up being an immortal cyborg in 15th Century Japan (seriously - gimme a break).All of the movies that I have seen - if they're weird then they have some kind of "we're breaking it slow" here you have a lot of weird $h!t with no cause or explanation.Watch Kawajiri's other stuff instead.

poe426 WICKED CITY was among the bootleg anime that was circulated in this country before AKIRA came along and proved, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that American audiences were ready for adult animation. ("Adult" in the approach to animated storytelling.) I caught AKIRA during its initial theatrical run and it was satisfying, indeed, to not only see it on the big screen, but to also finally see it dubbed in English. While most anime doesn't make it to the big screens hereabout (curious, indeed, when one considers the fact that Animego is based here), there's anime aplenty at the local retail outlets. It's expensive, but there are several titles worth their weight in cost: WICKED CITY, VAMPIRE HUNTER D, VAMPIRE HUNTER D: BLOODLUST, ROBOT CARNIVAL, GENOCYBER, TETSUJIN 28, any ASTRO BOY (the original black and white series being the best), DEVIL MAN, GILGAMESH, FULL METAL ALCHEMIST, YU YU HAKASHO, NARUTO, KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE, GOLGO 13, GHOST IN THE SHELL (any), PRINCESS MONONOKE, METROPOLIS, GACHAMAN (any), PROJECT ARMS, WOLF'S RAIN, WITCH HUNTER ROBIN, BAOH, and NINJA SCROLL, to name but a few. NINJA SCROLL, with its seemingly endless invention, is probably my all-time favorite. The animation is about as good (great) as it gets. Kawajiri's direction is to be envied (even WICKED CITY and VAMPIRE HUNTER D: BLOODLUST, as nigh perfect as they are, can't beat NINJA SCROLL). If you're tired (as am I) of the lackluster Americanimation being cranked out by the studios, switch gears and check out some of the aforementioned anime.