There has been talk about a sequel to 1993’s Ninja Scroll for over a decade, but why hasn’t it become a reality, and could it still?
Highlights
- Yoshiaki Kawajiri, co-founder of Madhouse, has been discussing a sequel to his iconic film Ninja Scroll for over a decade.
- Ninja Scroll, released in 1993, gained international recognition for its action and creativity, despite its dated sexual content.
- The lack of a sequel is due to a combination of factors including difficulty finding a suitable script and lack of interest from Japanese investors. However, the potential for a sequel exists given the current global popularity of anime.
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Yoshiaki Kawajiri helped define Madhouse – 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 Scroll came 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.
Understanding Ninja Scroll
Alternatively titled Jubei Ninpuchou, the film tells the tale of Jubei, a former ninja of 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 the thick 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 Scroll did technically receive a sequel in 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 as his similarly beloved work Vampire 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 Scroll may have been a massive hit in the U.S., but like Deadman Wonderland or The Big O, it wasn’t quite as popular in Japan, so investors weren’t sold on green-lighting a sequel.
Unlike The Big O, Ninja Scroll wouldn’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 Scroll is remembered as a classic, but Ninja Scroll 2 just 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 mold ended up dead in the water and 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 a Ninja Scroll sequel, has similarly worked to see an adaptation of Naoki Urasawa’s Pluto get a faithful adaptation. Sure enough, Pluto will be hitting Netflix this October after 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 like Ninja Scroll could 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 of Ninja Scroll has 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’s Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.
There’s so much more to ponder, especially whether Kawajiri would return to direct. His last directing credit was the Ninja Scroll Burst teaser; 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 like Dororo, Urusei Yatsura, Pluto, and more are being adapted while preserving their original art styles, a new Kawajiri project – or one inspired by his work – could be a huge hit.
Sources: Madhouse, Anime News Network
Fuente: successacademy.edu.vn
Categorías: Anime
