English Dub Review: Basilisk: The Ouka Ninja Scrolls “The Cherry Blossoms Run Mad”

Oh, those cherry blossoms are at it again.

Overview (Spoilers Below)

The Joujinshuu have descended upon the ninja village, and things are looking dire. The enemy ninjas have some kind of enormous demon creature on their side, which is no doubt more than a match for the fledgling ninja defenders. Meanwhile, Hachirou wants to go help his clan members, feeling responsible as the clan leader, but Namenbo is Gorone are apprehensive. Yet, they acknowledge Hachirou’s sense of duty and agree to accompany him outside. We then cut to the ninja defenders, running away from the giant monster assaulting them. The old man, Chiou, who summoned the beast taunts them, (These ninjas love to talk smack) saying that really belongs in the “Eye of the beholder.” Then, Gorone accompanies Hachirou and Hibiki to some kind of tunnel leading into a cave, he wishes them good luck and bids them entry.

Meanwhile, the fight is on with two of the ninja defenders, Utsutsu and Saizou, taking on the old man and his magic elephant demon. The ninjas play defensive, while they try to outsmart Chiou with their unique ninja talents. Yet, they’re completely outmatched, and the old man uses his superior discipline and powerful illusion magic to plunge two of them into some kind of hallucination. Meanwhile, Chiou’s monster pursues the other two, Shibiku and Hachisu, who run away and try to return fire, wondering if this creature is real or just an illusion. They’re not sure, but it doesn’t matter. Hachisu uses his gun technique to blow up a cliff side they lured the beast two, plunging it into the ravine below. Chiou’s fight is going much better for him than his demon is. As the two ninja kids suffer under his illusion, he reveals that he has the power to turn illusions into reality. It looks like the fight is his to win, but one of the ninjas, Utsutsu, counterattacks with an illusion magic of her own. She recites a poem, and using her ninja technique, plunges Chiou into a burning fireball. Chiou is impressed, and disappears from the battle. But its not over. The wily old ninja has merely returned to the side of his elephant monster, who is still standing and chasing down Shibiku and Hachisu. It seems like he’s got them on the ropes, but seemingly from nowhere, a swarm of bugs emerges from the ground and disables his demon beast. Rui and Schichigen have come to save the day! The bugs are the work of Schichigen, but Rui adds her own ninja technique to the mix, using her seductive tears to try and coerce Chiou into doing her will. The attack is no good, however. Their enemy is simply beyond them and proceeds to give them the beatdown with his whooping stick.

All the ninja defenders have been taken out, but its not long before Hachirou arrives to put things to an end. He immediately uses his powerful eye magic to turn Chiou onto himself, but the booming voice of Joujin tells Chiou that he’s done enough, and the old man and his demon soon disappear. Hachirou ushers the other ninjas to get out of the area; a smart thing to do, because pretty soon Joujin himself shows up. Hachirou tries to use his ninja magic on the Joujin, but through his mystical ancient discipline, the ninja master is completely unaffected by the suicidal tendencies of Hachirou’s eye magic. Knocking Hachirou to the ground, Joujin is about to put the young clan leader to the sword but soon sees Hibiki dashing through the woods. With the two of them together, Joujin sees his work is done, and leaves one of his lieutenants, Itaru, to deal with the kids. She uses her despair-filled magic mirror necklace to mesmerize the two and begins to speaking to them of their destinies filled with pain and suffering. But Itaru soon begins to panic, realizing her technique isn’t working, and that Hachirou and Hibiki are seeing something else in the mirror.

Namenbo looks down on the scene from the sky, (Because she can fly, I suppose) and dives in to save the kids. But soon she’s the one who needs saving, as Hachirou and Hibiki begin emanating a magical vortex of some kind that explodes all around them. It seems Itaru is taken down, but at the last moment, Gorone jumps in to save her. As the blast recedes, we see the two safe and sound and cut to the hideout of the Joujinshuu, where Joujin tells the other ninjas that they must wait to see how Hachirou and Hibiki’s power develops.

Our Take:

While the incoherence of this show persists through this episode, this week’s edition of Ouka Ninja Scrolls fares better than its predecessors. It’s nice to finally see these ninjas in action, even if the fights feel somewhat nonsensical and completely submerged in expositional dialogue. Things felt like they were going somewhere, and in a show that has done a whole lot of faffing about this season, its somewhat refreshing to see.