Ninja Scroll: The Series

I've seen hundreds of hours of anime and this is one of the dullest series around.

The animation is good, the designs are intriguing, the plot...

What plot?

The plot is basically people fighting over an object, again and again and again. Its six episodes of material stretched to 13 as we get fights and more fights and people running through the woods and more fights and not a heck of a lot more than that.

Its a step down from Dragon Ball and Pokemon.

Watch the movie instead. Watch the movie and you'll see what great animated story telling is all about.

This is on my very short list of things to avoid at all costs.

Despite a run of extremely good newer anime series (such as Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Samurai Champloo), the vast run of anime still seems to be stuck in plot less limbo. Ninja Scroll: the Series is no exception.

Despite being based on a fantastic anime feature film filled with intrigue, fascinating characters, and amazing artwork, Ninja Scroll falls astoundingly flat as a continuing series. Considering the writing and directing are done by entirely different people, this is no surprise; it is, however, vastly disappointing. Jubei devolves from a witty, sarcastic character to a poorly-written shadow of his former self, complete with bad dialogue. Where the Eight Devils of Kimon were fresh, original villains with an interesting theme, the villains in the ongoing series are just an endless list of "I have this power, and I die by the end of the episode" throwaway thugs. The plot (or lack thereof) is not at all engaging, the heroic characters aren't worth watching, and you find yourself wishing the episode was already over five minutes in.

Do yourself a favor and watch the original film, and don't bother with the pale imitation that is this series.

I had seen Ninja Scroll, the Movie first before I watched the series version. The gap was about a year and a half apart, and I thoroughly enjoyed the movie despite its mature content.

The series takes place after the movie's storyline, obviously. But I'm disappointed in its lack of strong structure or character. Two rival clans compete for total power as they try to capture a girl and a magic stone necessary for the task, and Jubei and friends are caught in the middle. That's just what it's all about, really.

Especially after seeing the breathtaking action sequences of the movie, the series has a little rusty version of those that left me a bit jaded to be honest. The characters aren't that well developed, Jubei also lacks a lot of character, the animation is not as vibrant and alive as the movie. The bottom-line is that I don't think there is anything new or interesting to be seen here, regretfully speaking. It just tries to parrot the movie : violence, "sexiness" and stuff; and is doing a bad job at it.

Word of advice : if you have seen the movie first and are about to see the series now, I told you so; and if you have seen the series, but haven't yet seen the movie, go see it NOW!! Thirdly, if you haven't seen either of them yet, definitely go for the movie, trust me!!

Ninja Scroll Is an animated, action, adventure that has raised the bar for animation. Directed by Jack Fletcher and Tatsuo Sato, and written by Toshiki Inoue it is one of the greatest animated series to ever hit the market.

Ninja Scroll follows the exploits of Jubei Kibagami as he attempts to fulfill a promise he made to a dieing man; however something always gets in the way and prevents him from fulfilling the promise.

This series was drawn out very well the action scenes didn't miss a beat everything was done excellently, the plot was outstanding, and the theme music for the series was excellent as well.

I liked this series a lot it has an awesome plot great writers and amazing artists. This series was outstanding even if you haven't watched the movie I recommend watching the series.

This Tv show is okay, but nowhere near as good as the movie. After watching the 1st 4 episodes, I was not very entertained. The characters are nowhere near as cool and innovative as the movie, but try too hard to be, and the story is pretty mediocre. Jubei has this new power where all he has to do is draw his sword and people are sliced in half. And theres all these pointless duels by characters who have lame powers (tree girl, girl with long hair that can control her hair, translucent glowing guy who controls moths, cat girl etc.) They even have robots and all this other crap that shouldn't be in Ninja Scroll. Every villain in the movie was really cool. Sadly everyone on the show is lame.