Ninja Scroll TV: Good, Bad, or UGLY?

kearlywi · Post by **kearlywi** » Sat Oct 18, 2003 6:52 am

The Good: It really is Jubei Kibagame, and not Jubei Yagyu from that scam called Ninja Ressurection. He's still a wisecracking wiseass. Some decent (and cheesy) battles so far.

The Bad: From what I have seen in the credits Yoshiaki Kawajiri is not directly involved with this one. It seems more like he's licensing it out to a bunch of first timers. The Music: Sad to say an american did it (or at least some of it). It sounds like a cross between 80's synthesizers and old videogame music.

The Ugly: I had to blink twice when I read "Madhouse" in the credits. This is the same company that did X, Chobits, and Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust! Ninja Scroll TV's animation is so bad I almost confused it with UNDERGRADS for a second.

Ninja scroll is what got me into anime about 8 years ago, and I have been waiting for a continuation for just that long. So far I think the show is crap (I kind of expected as much from the pics I saw before seeing the show). What do you guys think? Will the show recover? (its still airing I think)

angelx03 · Post by **angelx03** » Sat Oct 18, 2003 11:04 am

Here are some images I found.

Don't tell me Madhouse is losing their touch. I have too much respect for them.

Oh yea, here's the source:

http://www.ninja-scroll.com/

Gaikotsu · Post by **Gaikotsu** » Sat Oct 18, 2003 2:14 pm

I've heard from several review sites that NS:TV isn't very good. From what I've gathered, it ends up being a "villain of the week" type show, and to make matters worse, none of them even give Jubei much of a challenge. I also heard that the character development and storyline are pretty poor.

I haven't seen it myself, so I can't comment with 100% certainty, but the info might be useful anyway.

Propyro · Post by **Propyro** » Sat Oct 18, 2003 2:26 pm

who knows ... the series might pull a "trigun" and halfway through make a total u-turn. Well ...at least the way they portrayed vash made a total u-turn.

[/|\]

El Banana · Post by **El Banana** » Sat Oct 18, 2003 6:16 pm

Y'know, I find most new anime shows follow the trend with this kind of animation. Like Airmaster and a few others, can't say I like it too much, but it's semi-decent.

Kirico · Post by **Kirico** » Sat Oct 18, 2003 9:26 pm

I've watched the first two episodes, but I can't say that it's that bad you all say it is! I myself enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to watch more....

SSJVegita0609 · Post by **SSJVegita0609** » Sat Oct 18, 2003 10:53 pm

I've yet to see the show, but I wouldn't be surprised if its one of those shows that grows on you, I almost decided never to touch Trigun after watching the first ep (thank god I didn't), and other newer shows like SDK didnt capture my attention til a good 8 eps in. So you never know.

Propyro · Post by **Propyro** » Sat Oct 18, 2003 11:02 pm

thats why i made up my "code of anime" ... simple rules i go by.

one of them is if i start watching something i finish watching something ... trigun taught me that ... i thought it was stupid for a while too, but one of my friends insisted that it was really good.

I have other rules ... but i don't feel like posting them unless you guys *really* want to hear about my personal code ...

[/|\]

kearlywi · Post by **kearlywi** » Sun Oct 19, 2003 1:00 am

Well I actually HAVE seen a lot of the show (1st nine episodes that are downloadable), and I have to say its almost completely different from kawajiri's 1993 (or was it 95'?) classic. Madhouse hasnt lost its touch, if you dissagree then go watch x-tv, chobits, or vampire hunter D: bloodlust.
(or hell, the original ninja scroll that was made a million years ago). They just have no budget for this series (why?!). The most hilariously bad thing about this series is the music. Its a good thing they had midi players, synthesizers, and cheezy 80's guitar riffs in feudal japan. I mean wtf? The ninja scroll film was loaded with beautiful japanese musical scores and a gorgeous orchestrated peice just before Jubei dons the headband (you know what happened).

Simply put NS-tv's flaws are not just in the nearly american style animation, but also in the music and writing. It is true that ninja scroll features a villian of the week theme, but that is not ALWAYS a damning thing. (Neon Genesis Evangelion, etc.) I really dislike the 2 new characters (for not looking cool or being interesting so far), and Dakuan seems like a different person, more of a buddy then the scheming old man he was in the film.

So why am I still watching the show? It may suck, but the cheesy music kinda grew on me a little and Jubei is still a wise cracking wise - ass. And he's still human and prone to mistakes (although less so now). In at least one fight so far he was wounded very badly. Some of the villians remind me of villians from previous madhouse works (like bloodlust and trigun). One villian looks like a Nebraska family relative.

I'd give this anime a D+ so far. It sorely misses Yoshiaki Kawajiri.