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Post by shinobi on Jun 11, 2010 4:01:05 GMT
 Just watched this movie out of curiosity and it also turns out to be one of the inspirations for the creation of my favorite videogame character Nakoruru. The movie itself is quite long(more than two hours) which is the complaint of some reviewers but in my case I don't really mind about it at all 'cause I enjoy everything on it, the story, animation, music, artstyle. The story is great with some twist as well, sets in pre-meiji era and tells about the half-ainu boy Jiro who was wrongfully accused of murdering his adoptive mother and sister, to avoid the punishment he escapes with a dagger called 'The dagger of Kamui' that holds the secret about his past and trained by the priest Tenkai with ninjitsu, learning about Tenkai's true intention from his biological mother, he turn against his master and travels to other countries to learn more about secrets of the dagger, also meeting with new friends and allies while he's at it, other historical figures like Geronimo and Mark Twain makes an appearance as well. The music is quite notable with the combination of rock and ethnic style, you can hear some chants or shouts especially in the chase or fight scenes. The animation is a topnotch, it really shows the fluidity of the characters movements especialy in the fight scenes, my only complaint on it is the excessive'glowing blood' that spills from any characters who were killed or injured in the movie. Artstyle of the characters is very unique and not very typical like the other animes during that time, the looks and even the faces are truly differ with each other. This movie is quite obscure despite that it's one of the greatest ninja animes like Ninja Scroll, Yotoden, Yoma, etc. this one should not be miss for fans of older anime or with ninja themes in it. |
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Post by zombi1978 on Jun 11, 2010 7:04:35 GMT
So I´d better check this out. Thanks!
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Post by shinobi on Jun 11, 2010 15:45:20 GMT
Interesting note, Jiro's VA was done by the famous actor Hiroyuki Sanada, perhaps the only anime role he ever done. The theme music was used in Godfrey Ho's movie Ninja Dragon  |
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Post by zombi1978 on Jun 11, 2010 18:24:20 GMT
Just off topic, but not only this anime got raped by Godrey Ho. He "used" also some tracks of Seijushi Bismark (=Ninja Hunt) and Armored Trooper VOTOMS (=Ninja Avengers). Every time I look at the list of his movies I have the feeling he worked more like a DJ than a director, if you´d ask me. lol |
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hellmasker
New Member
Born to murder the world.
Posts: 14 
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Post by hellmasker on Jun 22, 2010 3:43:06 GMT
So I´d better check this out. Yes. Yes you should. Without question this is not only one of the finest ninja anime of all time, but one of the finest anime films period. Everything about this one positively screams "masterpiece" and its no surprise whatsoever that this came from Rintaro, the same director who gave us the original Galaxy Express 999 film. The animation is stunning and immaculate to this day (anyone who calls it "dated" in a negative connotation is a complete moron: beautiful art is absolutely timeless and without an expiration date) and the scope of the story is breathtaking. Name another anime that you've seen recently that spans its way from Japan (on the cusp of the Meiji restoration) to frontier Western United States and back again, following a cast of characters as diverse as Ainu, Native Americans, cowboys, southern black slaves, and Mark Twain (yes THAT Mark Twain). Moreover, the pacing, tone, and direction is kept largely grounded (a couple of over the top ninja fights and an amazingly psychedelic sequence where the main character Jiro is poisoned notwithstanding) and played as deathly straight and serious as can be. The mood throughout is quiet and somber and drenched to the gills in atmosphere, and the musical score is nothing less than outstanding and one of the all time greatest anime scores you'll ever hear. This is among the best examples of anime from a time when the word “anime” carried a 100% completely different meaning than it does today: when anime was largely synonymous with truly cutting edge adult-adult animation that was out to break down all preconceived notions of what animation as a medium could do and was capable of, and not the insipid, masturbatory, Otaku-stroking fluff that’s been eating the medium alive for the better part of the last decade and sending it directly into man-child oblivion and eternal arrested development. I’ve also heard complaints that the movie is “too long” and “boring”. I can only conclude that many of those making these complaints suffer from cinematic illiteracy. Its long, but its also a full length theatrical feature film (not a quick OAV) and one that’s best described as a full blown balls to the wall historical epic at that, with a story that is grand and operatic in its scope spanning many years and several continents and featuring a fairly robust supporting cast; so some length feels more than justified to flesh everything out, lend everything proper dramatic weight, and to keep atmosphere and tension always building so that nothing feels especially rushed or glossed over. All together it clocks in at about a solid two hours. It’s definitely full, but it’s a perfectly normal runtime for a full length feature; its not exactly like this is a Lord of the Rings butt number or anything like that. And come on, how many times have we all heard people bitch and moan that so many OAVs from the same era were “too short” and “undeveloped”? We get a solid, totally fleshed out theatrical feature like this one here (with astonishingly jaw dropping production values and an original, gripping story to boot), and then all of a sudden its too long and drawn out. Too long, too short… anime fans of today bitch entirely too much about pacing for my money. Pacing is exceedingly important of course, but I often get the distinct feeling that all the harping and carping about pacing from so many younger anime fans today is something they use as a lame, paper-thin excuse for them to dodge from the fact that to so many of them have absolutely no attention span whatsoever for anything that’s not a TV series that’s stuffed to capacity with lanky, androgynous dreamboat heartthrobs, idiotically large boobs, upskirt panty shots, doe eyed squeaky voiced jail bait, French maid outfits, and the same exact recycled harem ecchi romcom or shonen action adventure plot formulas that have been long since ran into the ground ad nauseam. In any case, the pacing here in this film is perfectly fine for what its trying to accomplish. If you’re an anime fan who’s as sick to the soul of the above described tripe as I’ve been for a lot of years now and you haven’t seen this particular movie, you owe it to yourself to correct on that immediately. Seek it out, seek out the rest of Rintaro’s filmography as well (which is largely just as excellent, wildly diverse, and interesting), and seek out and demand more anime that are within real, grown up genres like this one. |
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Post by Vendaval Este on Jun 22, 2010 12:43:20 GMT
I don't think I could be anymore sold on what you've said, Hellmasker.
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Post by zombi1978 on Jun 22, 2010 14:22:46 GMT
Me either. We´re on the same level, dude.
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Post by shinobi on Jun 22, 2010 22:12:58 GMT
While watching it for more than 2 hours, I've never felt that it's too long, maybe because I enjoyed everything on it. Man well said about your view Anyway, I found that there's an adventure game for the PC based from the movie, here's the link of the screenshots: oldavg.blog.shinobi.jp/Entry/86/ |
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Post by Zach of Manime on Jun 23, 2010 4:37:29 GMT
I like this movie...To a point. The film has what should be an ending, then decides to pointlessly continue for another thirty minutes which drags the whole thing down. If you guys get a chance to see this, you'll know what I mean.
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Post by zombi1978 on Jun 23, 2010 14:06:31 GMT
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Smithee
Junior Member
watashi wa geri ga nomitai desu
Posts: 69
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Post by Smithee on Jul 1, 2010 5:31:12 GMT
People call that "dated"? I'm not even sure if I watched the same trailer as they did, but damn, that is some of the best animation I've seen!
Looks totally awesome, I'll give it a shot.
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hellmasker
New Member
Born to murder the world.
Posts: 14
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Post by hellmasker on Jul 3, 2010 7:12:34 GMT
People call that "dated"? Sadly yes. People also call anything from Robot Carnival, to Ghost in the Shell, to Patlabor, to Wings of Honneamise, to Neo-Tokyo, to Area 88, to Ninja Scroll "dated looking". People are also morons. |
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loadrunner81
Full Member
M.D. Geist (TM): He will own you!
Posts: 139
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Post by loadrunner81 on Aug 20, 2010 19:19:23 GMT
Just watched this movie out of curiosity and it also turns out to be one of the inspirations for the creation of my favorite videogame character Nakoruru. The movie itself is quite long(more than two hours) which is the complaint of some reviewers but in my case I don't really mind about it at all 'cause I enjoy everything on it, the story, animation, music, artstyle. The story is great with some twist as well, sets in pre-meiji era and tells about the half-ainu boy Jiro who was wrongfully accused of murdering his adoptive mother and sister, to avoid the punishment he escapes with a dagger called 'The dagger of Kamui' that holds the secret about his past and trained by the priest Tenkai with ninjitsu, learning about Tenkai's true intention from his biological mother, he turn against his master and travels to other countries to learn more about secrets of the dagger, also meeting with new friends and allies while he's at it, other historical figures like Geronimo and Mark Twain makes an appearance as well. The music is quite notable with the combination of rock and ethnic style, you can hear some chants or shouts especially in the chase or fight scenes. The animation is a topnotch, it really shows the fluidity of the characters movements especialy in the fight scenes, my only complaint on it is the excessive'glowing blood' that spills from any characters who were killed or injured in the movie. Artstyle of the characters is very unique and not very typical like the other animes during that time, the looks and even the faces are truly differ with each other. This movie is quite obscure despite that it's one of the greatest ninja animes like Ninja Scroll, Yotoden, Yoma, etc. this one should not be miss for fans of older anime or with ninja themes in it. If I'm not mistaken, I think it was the former U.S. Manga Corps (the house that M.D. Geist built) that originally distributed this in America as The Dagger of Kamui. I think I loosely recall seeing this one back in 1993 or 1994. |
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Post by Zach of Manime on Aug 21, 2010 23:54:58 GMT
If I'm not mistaken, I think it was the former U.S. Manga Corps (the house that M.D. Geist built) that originally distributed this in America as The Dagger of Kamui. I think I loosely recall seeing this one back in 1993 or 1994. Incorrect, it's AnimEigo, and the dvd for Dagger of Kamui can still be purchased off their official website. www.animeigo.com/products/anime/dagger-kamui |
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loadrunner81
Full Member
M.D. Geist (TM): He will own you!
Posts: 139
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Post by loadrunner81 on Aug 22, 2010 1:05:01 GMT
If I'm not mistaken, I think it was the former U.S. Manga Corps (the house that M.D. Geist built) that originally distributed this in America as The Dagger of Kamui. I think I loosely recall seeing this one back in 1993 or 1994. Incorrect, it's AnimEigo, and the dvd for Dagger of Kamui can still be purchased off their official website. www.animeigo.com/products/anime/dagger-kamuiIn that case, I stand corrected. Thanks for the info. |
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