Ninja Scroll: The Series
獣兵衛忍風帖「龍宝玉篇」Fourteen years after defeating the immortal warrior Himuro Genma and thwarting the Shogun of the Dark's evil plans, Kibagami Jubei continues to roam all over Japan as a masterless swordsman. During his journey, he meets Shigure, a priestess who has never seen the world outside her village. But when a group of demons destroys the village and kills everyone, Jubei becomes a prime target after acquiring the Dragon Jewel—a stone with an unknown origin. Meanwhile, Shigure—along with the monk Dakuan and a young thief named Tsubute—travels to the village of Yagyu. And with two demon clans now hunting down Shigure, Dakuan must once again acquire the services of Jubei to protect the Priestess of Light. (Source: ANN)
Reviews
xkiehn - 2013-07-25 06:58:13
It had me lost at 'Sacred Dragon Stone' and 'The Light Maiden'. Juubee Ninpuuchou seemed like it had been written by a young child, interesting bad guys and fights but a story that is absolutely horrible.
There's a repetitiveness in JN which made the series feel like a filler. While the fights had interesting foes and skills, it could only go so far before it felt like 'another fight'.
Boiled Down: The main character kills a bunch of baddies who want to obtain a stone and a girl that will allow them access to legendary treasures.
JN is very episodic, like Samurai Champloo, but there is no development in the episodes. You could easily watch the first few episodes and the last few, not much happens in-between that other than fighting. There are 4 characters who are constant through the series and their depth is shocking. If I had to summarise it'd be "some dudes who do stuff for the fun of it." There is little revealed in the way of background or motivation of the characters and it results in a very shallow story.
The one thing I loved about JN and it was the music. Don't get me wrong, it's not good music. Apparently the series was made in 2003 but the music sounds like early 70s super cheesy electronic drama music. The opening made me laugh the first time I saw it and the music in general made me cringe.
Enjoy the opening.
JN delivered blow after blow of "wow, this is really badly made moments" and you have a gigantic one to look forward to in the final episode. It's not only that the story was so badly written, it's that there are clear attempts to evoke an emotion or response through 'plot twist' (if you could even call it that) and deaths but it's so obvious that it was simply put there to get a couple of feels, it's below bad.
TL;DR - I regret finishing the series.