Summary
Yoshiaki Kawajiri helped defineMadhouse - a studio he helped found- throughout the 80s and 90s, and for some in the West, his works helped defined anime as a medium. Ever since the early 2000s, Kawajiri and his associates have been talking about a sequel to one of his films -Ninja Scroll- yet despite no official cancelation, it’s been in limbo for over a decade.
Ninja Scrollcame out in 1993 and soon became a huge hit outside of Japan among other notable anime exports during a time when the medium was getting a lot of international attention. In the decades since, while the sexual content and treatment of women date the film severely, its action and the creativity therein have solidified it as a classic.
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Understanding Ninja Scroll
Alternatively titledJubei Ninpuchou, the film tellsthe tale of Jubei, a former ninjaof the Yamashiro clan who travels as a vagabond, uninterested in the conflicts of others. Unfortunately, after he saves a female ninja from a man made of stone, he finds himself caught up in a battle against the Eight Devils of Kimon, a rival ninja clan possessing supernatural powers.
To make matters worse, a government spy - having witnessed Jubei’s strength - poisons him and will only give him the antidote if he kills the rest of the Devils. Joined by Kagero, the ninja he saved, together they hunt the Devils and investigate a plague ravaging the land. Along the way, Jubei discovers a connection between his foes and his, giving him the incentive to stand for something bigger than himself.
Ninja Scroll’s story might read generic, but in execution, it immerses the viewer into its dark depiction of feudal Japan thanks to thethick gritty atmosphere and horror elements. What its story lacks in the originality of its individual parts, it makes up for in how it comes together. The ultraviolence is just the beginning; the imagination behind the violence is key.
The story plays out like a video game, in the sense that it is a series of unique boss fights dotting a path from one point to another. It creates a sense of constant momentum and keeps the action consistent and fresh thanks to their unique powers. Additionally, by comparison, Jubei seems like a normal person - albeit one with incredible sword skills - which makes his triumphs against the Devils much more satisfying.
Why Is There No Sequel
First and foremost,Ninja Scrolldid technically receive a sequelin the form of a 13-episode TV series in 2003, also animated by Madhouse, but directed by Tatsuo Sato. A true film sequel, however, was never made, although Kawajiri certainly wanted to create it. In 2008, it was said to still be in the works but Madhouse co-founder Masao Maruyama stated that it wouldn’t be made until it had a script that was to his and Kawajiri’s liking.
The first film was written by Kawajiri himself, much the same ashis similarly beloved workVampire Hunter D: Bloodlust. He was the storyteller and even with its dated elements, the film tells a captivating, character-focused story. It wouldn’t be surprising if the early drafts for a sequel lacked some sort of driving force to call it a proper sequel and not a retread.
If a proper script was ever settled on, it wouldn’t have necessarily changed much. In 2012, a more complicated issue would become apparent.Ninja Scrollmay have been a massive hit in the U.S., but likeDeadman WonderlandorThe Big O, it wasn’t quite as popular in Japan,so investors weren’t sold on green-lighting a sequel.
UnlikeThe Big O,Ninja Scrollwouldn’t be saved by Cartoon Network or some other outside company. In an effort to get the investment that the project needed, Kawajiri helped create a proof-of-concept trailer showing Jubei fighting a new slew of supernatural foes. While technically pitched as a 3-episode series of episodes in the trailer released by Madhouse, fans have taken to calling it the “Ninja Scroll 2” trailer in years since, as it’s the closest thing to a film sequel.
In the years since Kawajiri has directed little and mostly pops up as a storyboard artist on newer anime.Despite the strength of his few directorial works, he’s mostly not a director at all.Ninja Scrollis remembered as a classic, butNinja Scroll 2just seems like an unrealistic dream that could never come true.
But What If?
The explanation about investors not being sold makes complete sense and by 2012’s standards, that would be considered a death sentence for the property. However, Anime has seen an even bigger boom in international growth in the last decade than what occurred in the 90s, and there’s more potential than ever for anime to be made to appeal to international audiences.
“Potential” is the keyword here. As much as streaming services and production committees have hyped up the benefits of the expansion of anime as a medium, it can feel like not everything has changed for the better. Some projects which attempted to break the moldended up dead in the waterand the streaming landscape can create as many disappointments far more often than it can create huge hits.
But now and again, dreams do come true. Masao Maruyama, the same co-founder of Madhouse who was fighting for aNinja Scrollsequel, has similarly worked to see an adaptation of Naoki Urasawa’sPlutoget a faithful adaptation. Sure enough,Plutowill be hitting Netflix this Octoberafter about a decade of trying to get it made. It doesn’t seem impossible.
With all that said, there’s the matter of the story, and not just because Kawajiri and Maruyama had trouble finding a suitable script. There’s this question of whether a story likeNinja Scrollcould work today, and that’s not even referring to the sexual content and sexism. That stuff was never what made the film memorable. It was the action, creativity, pacing, and above all, the journey. And it could absolutely still work today.
With its simple formula packed with smaller complex ideas, the game-like appeal ofNinja Scrollhas always lent itself well to a sequel and would surely find an audience today. There are even video games released in the past decade that evoke that film’s gritty feudal aesthetic,most notably 2019’sSekiro: Shadows Die Twice.
There’s so much more to ponder, especially whether Kawajiri would return to direct. His last directing credit was theNinja Scroll Burstteaser; the teaser for what might have been. Some fans would no doubt be resistant to anyone but him directing, but it’s not hard to find other directors today just as qualified.
There’s a constant discourse online yearning for older styles of animation and some schools of thought act as if the medium either doesn’t wish to replicate it or cannot. But In a time when classics likeDororo,Urusei Yatsura,Pluto, and more are being adaptedwhile preserving their original art styles, a new Kawajiri project - or one inspired by his work - could be a huge hit.
