Ninja Scroll - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

is a 1993 Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese animated

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

action

Action film

Action film is a film genre where one or more heroes is thrust into a series of challenges that require physical feats, extended fights and frenetic chases...

thriller film set in feudal Japan, written and directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri

Yoshiaki Kawajiri

is a critically acclaimed writer and director of Japanese animation. He is the creator of titles such as Wicked City, Ninja Scroll, and Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust.-Career:...

who was best known for his previous thriller Wicked City
Wicked City (film)
is an animated horror neo-noir directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri, based on Hideyuki Kikuchi's novel of the same name.The story takes place towards the end of the 20th century and explores the idea that the human world secretly coexists with the demon world with a secret police force known as the Black...

(Yōjū Toshi). The character designs were done by Yutaka Minowa

Yutaka Minowa

is a character designer and animation director who works almost exclusively with Madhouse, one of the premiere Japanese animation companies. His work is most notably recognised in the Yoshiaki Kawajiri movies he has designed characters for, among them Ninja Scroll and Vampire Hunter D:...

. The movie is in homage

Homage

Homage is a show or demonstration of respect or dedication to someone or something, sometimes by simple declaration but often by some more oblique reference, artistic or poetic....

to the Ninpōchō series, ninja

Ninja

A or was a covert agent or mercenary of feudal Japan specializing in unorthodox arts of war. The functions of the ninja included espionage, sabotage, infiltration, and assassination, as well as open combat in certain situations...

novels by Futaro Yamada

Futaro Yamada

was the pen name of , a Japanese author.He was born in Yabu, Hyogo.In 1947, he wrote a mystery novel and was awarded a prize by a novel magazine .He was discovered by Edogawa Rampo and became a novelist....

. The main character, Kibagami Jubei, is an hommage to the famed Japanese folk hero Yagyū Jūbei Mitsuyoshi

Yagyū Jūbei Mitsuyoshi

Yagyū Jūbei Mitsuyoshi is one of the most famous and romanticized of the samurai in Japan's feudal era.Very little is known about the actual life of Yagyū Mitsuyoshi as the official records of his life are very sparse. Yagyū Jūbei Mitsuyoshi grew up in his family's ancestral lands, Yagyū no Sato,...

.

The film was released on June 5, 1993, and received a Western release on December 6, 1995, and was critically acclaimed.