English Dub Review: Basilisk: The Ouka Ninja Scrolls “The Joujinshuu Appear”

Sheesh, just when I thought this show was starting to get on its feet…

Overview (Spoilers Below)

In an area near the Iga village, a mysterious tattooed lady approaches a stout man with some tremendous hair. The two exchange banter, as ninjas are ought to do, and we learn that the girl is one Itaru Yasha, and the man is one of the Five Flowers of Iga, a deadly group of Iga ninjas. Using his ability to control roots, he binds Itaru in mid-air, and for a moment, it seems he’s won the battle before its even started. But as he approaches her, he catches a glance at a mystical mirror she carries around her neck, and proceeds to freak out as he sees his entire pitiful life in the mirror. Crazy-eyed and screaming, he turns from Itaru and jumps off a nearby cliff, while Itaru explains (For the audience, of course. How generous) that whoever looks into her mirror realizes the futility of life and then tries to end it all. Easily one of the most depressing anime powers I’ve ever seen.

Meanwhile, continuing from last episode, Joujin speaks to Suruga of his life, and reveals that he’s known him since he was a child. Convincing Suruga of his brother’s eventual treachery, he decides to show the young noble what appears to be the source of his powerful knowledge. With the aid of one of his ninjas, Joujin and Suruga enter “The Adamantite Tower”, a mysterious ethereal realm existing outside of time and space.

Back at the Iga village, Schichigen and Rui are scouting around, talking about men and women in that way that only pubescent teens do. Soon, we see the other members of the Five Flowers of Iga, who run into a mysterious old man holding the head of their fallen comrade. They demand the old man’s name, which he says is Neiri Chiou. After some more taunting, its revealed that the old man is sitting on the palm of a giant demonic creature.

Suruga and pals are still drifting through “The Adamantite Tower”, and one of the ninjas, Kujaku (The time ninja from a couple episodes ago) explains that they are moving backwards through time and space, and that he has the ability to rewind time a short distance. Soon, they’re viewing one of Suruga’s childhood memories, when his brother was afflicted with a terrible illness. He watches as his younger self tries to speak to his ailing brother. But as he stares into his brother’s eyes, he’s soon brought back to the present, sitting in a room with Joujin.

Joujin explains that that time in Suruga’s history was the moment is what first inspired his brother’s traitorous feelings, a jealousy of his brother that would be the heir to the Tokugawa throne and replace him if he died. Joujin goes on to say that the bandits that attacked him earlier were sent by his brother to kill him, and Joujin begins tormenting Suruga by convincing him of his brother’s treachery. He poses to him that if he does not rebel against his brother, he will surely die. Joujin explains that Suruga’s rebellion will not fail, and that he must fulfill his destiny.

We then go back to Schichigen and Rui, nearly at the Iga village. But there they discover a shocking sight, the corpses of The Five Flowers of Iga. Back to Joujin and Suruga; Joujin presents the noble with the heads of four of the members of The Five Flowers. He uses the trophies to demonstrate his vast power, and says that there are only two more members of the Kouga and Iga they need to deal with, Hachirou and Hibiki. Then we go back to the rest of the young ninjas, sharing their fears and tensions with each other. As the episode ends, Saizou sees the approaching enemy, the giant demon from earlier riding on the back of a shadowy elephant.

Our Take:

This episode is an unfortunate mish-mash of awkward exposition mixed with sprinklings of character conversations that are too sparse to really develop anything or move the story along. At its current state, this show is barely coherent, dropping a whole heck of a lot of weird concepts, names and poorly explained plots on an unsuspecting audience. Pretty weak all around.