1 files changed, 59 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/src/anime/review/ninja-scroll/document.en.rest.txt b/src/anime/review/ninja-scroll/document.en.rest.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9e8654b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/anime/review/ninja-scroll/document.en.rest.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+==============
+ Ninja Scroll
+==============
+:CreationDate: 2013-01-21 21:15:16
+:Id: anime/review/ninja-scroll
+:tags: - anime
+       - review
+:rating: 2
+:original: http://www.easternkicks.com/reviews/ninja-scroll
+
+You know I don't like action movies, and I hope nobody is surprised
+that I didn't like Ninja Scroll very much. All the positive reviews
+I've read seem to find it good mostly because it's the first anime the
+reviewer has seen. Sorry, I've been watching anime since 1982, when I
+was five, and Ninja Scroll is really nothing special.
+
+The story: the Toyotomi family hires a group of demonic ninjas to
+retrieve a large amount of gold, to be used to wrestle power back from
+the Tokugawa (which dates the action between 1600 and 1615). An
+elderly ninja working for the Tokugawa tricks the main character,
+Juubei, a mercenary, into helping him figure out the whole
+story. Super-powered fights ensue, an old enemy (presumed dead)
+resurfaces, all the plots fail spectacularly, the gold is lost, the
+power structure is untouched.
+
+Nothing particularly new there: ninja stories were very well
+established in manga and anime, a good example would be The Legend of
+Kamui (カムイ伝) by SHIRATO Sanpei (白土 三平) was published between
+1964 and 1971, and transposed into anime as Ninpuu Kamui Gaiden (忍風
+カムイ 外伝) in 1969. The supernatural, super-powered aspect is not
+very new either. The story progresses just like video games had been
+doing for decades, with the enemies attacking one by one, even when
+clearly outmatched, and the boss fight at the end. The characters are
+very stereotyped, probably to save time building them, and use it on
+the action scenes instead.
+
+I've read that many consider the animation to be very good. I'll just
+point out that Ninja Scroll was produced in 1993; Akira came out 5
+years earlier; the two Patlabor movies are from 1989 and 1993;
+Miyazaki had already directed Castle of Cagliostro ('79), Nausicaa
+('84), Laputa ('86), Totoro ('88), Kiki ('89), Porco Rosso ('92). So
+no, the animation is not above average for a movie of that time.
+
+The director, KAWAJIRI Yoshiaki (川尻 善昭) was already an old hand at
+action movies: he had directed Wicked City ('87), Demon City Shinjuku
+('88), Cyber City Oedo ('90), even a Lensmen adaptation (SF New
+Century Lensman, SF新世紀 レンズマン, '84). Interestingly, he had also
+directed the third chapter of Kadokawa's adaptation of Tezuka The
+Phoenix ('87), which is definitely not an action-based story. In Ninja
+Scroll he shows very well that he knows what he's doing, but doesn't
+really shine.
+
+One interesting details that I liked: there is at least one homosexual
+and one bisexual character (Yurimaru and Genma), and this is treated
+as completely unremarkable.
+
+In conclusion, this movie scores high on the "action packed", "gory",
+and "nostalgic (for some)" scales, and I don't doubt that many people
+really like it. It's just really not my kind of product.