Anime Profile: Ninja Scroll- The Series

Nearly every hardcore anime fan knows the name Jubei Kibagami, from the extremely popular anime film Ninja Scroll... well, anyone whose old enough to watch the gruesome tale, that is. Anyway, now the masterless roaming swordsman is back, and this time he finds himself in his very own TV series. Hard to imagine, but it's true, and what's more amazing is that the television series retains a lot of the adult material found in the movie, such as creepy monsters, fountains of blood, and naked flesh. I doubt you'll be seeing this on US television anytime soon, but thanks to Urban Vision you can catch this action-packed series on DVD, and this way you get it uncut, and with both an English and Japanese language track.

All poor Jubei wants is to get a good nights rest. Is that really too much to ask? Well, according to the creatures battling it out over yonder, yes, yes it is. So Jubei heads on over to politely ask the warring parties to either keep it down or take their battle elsewhere, to which the fighters gladly comply... yeah, as if. But don't worry your pretty little head about Jubei, 'cause that guys knows how to take care of himself. With one swipe of his blade, Jubei splits one of the baddies straight in half, which causes another one to flee. The only remaining warrior, a strong, masked, werewolf-like creature named Roga, attempts to hire Jubei on as a bodyguard, but Jubei refuses, saying that he doesn't trust anyone who hides their face.

The next day we meet Shigure, a woman with some serious fighting skills whose trying to train the rest of her village to become great fighters... and things don't seem to be going to well. What she wouldn't give for at least one person to finally beat her in a match! Then she hears one of her homemade alarms go off, signaling that an intruder is entering their village. She rushes to the scene in a heartbeat, only to see our Jubei easily catching and defecting the arrows shot out by her booby trap. Amazed at his talent, the villagers allows Jubei to stay for a while and rest... but of course as soon as he does trouble comes about. Can we cut this guy a break people?!

It seems the female baddie that escaped the fray last night has enlisted the help of some kind of giant cyclops creature to help in obtaining the sacred Dragon Stone, a small pendent like item. The villagers immediately rip off their work clothes to reveal karate outfits underneath and start flicking ninja stars at the giant beast like it was second nature... seems like somebody's been holding something back from Shigure! While the cyclops monster takes out the village, Jubei takes on the evil female baddie from last night, and the werewolf warrior takes off after Shigure. He catches up quick, though we then see he's there to protect her. Unfortunately, he becomes fatally injured in the process.

After Jubei finally slices his foe in two, he comes across Roga, who hands him the Dragon Stone and asks him to deliver it to the Maiden of Light... aka Shigure! Jubei makes a promise that he will, and sets off after her, Shigure... the Light Maiden, and the last survivor of her village... but really, doesn't it seem like that's always the case? Anyway, on his journey to find her, he instead comes across some kind of cat woman who is just bound and determined to take the Dragon Stone... and she has friends. Meanwhile, Shigure is fleeing for her life from that giant cyclops creature from the other night... and fleeing along with her are two guys she had just recently met, a young thief and an old priest.

Now, we all know that Jubei easily takes out all of his adversaries, but what's surprising is that Shigure and her new posse are able to take out their foe, the giant cyclops that could easily crush them all with one stomp of his foot. Good work guys! So Jubei eventually catches up to the gang and hands over the Dragon Stone to Shigure, however he continues to travel with them... more or less... as they make their way to the city of Yagyu. It makes sense, as what kind of Ninja Scroll series would this be if Jubei just left for most of the series? Of course, it's also a good thing he stuck around to protect Shigure and the Dragon Stone since all kinds of very imaginative and creatively designed monster creatures are trying to get the blasted thing.

The DVD's include a bunch of extra features, like audio commentaries, various interviews, behind-the-scenes, a trivia game, clan profiles, the top ten battles, watching the creation of the cover art, an art gallery, and storyboard to feature comparisons. And these are spread out among the four discs, not just all crammed onto the last disc. The four disc Ninja Scroll- The Series- Ultimate Collection DVD set also includes a little booklet insert that gives short summaries for each of the thirteen episodes, plus lists all the chapters for each episode as well as some art scattered around. The DVD's are all single sided, too, with some nice artwork, so all in all, it's a nice package.