English Dub Review: Basilisk: The Ouka Ninja Scrolls “Evil Clouds Begin to Stir”

Six episodes in and its time skip time!

Overview (Spoilers Below)

It’s four years later, and Tadanaga Tokugawa is being scolded by his father for a capital offense. His crime? Hunting sacred monkeys, and though he begs for his father’s forgiveness, Tadanaga is stripped of his lands and title for his crime. Don’t poach sacred monkeys, kids.

The same year Tadanaga’s crime was punished, his father died of illness, and then Tadanaga’s punishment was delivered properly. Then, several more years later, we’re back to following the not-so-young ninja youth of the Iga and Kouga clans. Similar to the opening in episode one, we see them training against each other one-on-one. Shikibu, with his armor now much more developed, takes on Hachisu, who’s gun skills have also improved. Shikibu wins the fight, but Hachisu scolds Shikibu for being too nice.

Meanwhile, another “Exercise” is taking place. Rui and Shichigen are practicing resisting their *Ahem* “Urges”  for each other. Pretty soon, their lewd training gets all hot and steamy, as Rui disrobes and uses her pheromone powers to try and win against Shichi. Just then, we see a floating eyeball float away from the erotic scene. Returning to its origin, there’s none other than Saizou, killing time in a cave by spying on his fellow ninjas.

Later, as the sun sets, Rui and an older Utsutsu hang out by the river, talking about her progress in creating hallucinations. Now, she’s able to create detailed pictures and illusions in the water, a pretty impressive feat. But Utsutsu isn’t satisfied, apparently, there’s another kind of hallucination she wants to achieve. How mysterious.

Hachisu’s brought his gun in for Gorone to improve, complaining that it just isn’t enough in its current state. Then, we get to see more of the daily life of the ninja village, where Hibiki and the other ninja girls are running a restaurant for travelers. Rui ponders that it would be nice if they could just run the restaurant and live a peaceful life, but Hachisu is quick to remind her how things are. They need to stay prepared for the return of the Joujinshuu, and its in this monologue that we learn Hachirou has since disappeared from the village. The Kouga boys have never given up hope that he’ll return though, even though they were devastated by his departure. Hachisu thinks that if the Joujinshuu return, Hachirou will as well, to protect them, but Hibiki isn’t convinced.

Later that night, Hibiki recalls how four years ago she coalesced with Hachirou in that blazing wave of light, (From the last episode) Since then, she’s always felt a connection to him. Meanwhile, Hachirou is off in the woods, training in solitude, recalling how Joujin was immune to his ninja technique. Soon, Hachirou finds himself at a small bridge, where he runs into a blindfolded swordsman keen on taking him on. His blindfold renders him immune to Hachirou’s magic, but Hachirou deftly gets behind the attacker and puts him in a headlock. Hachirou asks why the man has come, and he reveals that “the battle is far from over”, and that his name is “Hodaibo.” He imparts to Hachirou that he has a message from Tadanaga Tokugawa: something strange is happening, and time is precious. A new castle, known only as “Marakeno” has appeared, and it bears ill portent for the future.

Our Take:

Its surprising to see a time skip so early on in this series, but not totally unwelcome. Its good to see the characters of the Iga and Kouga kids more settled into who they are as adults, but there is still a certain incoherence that follows this anime constantly weighing it down. While I’m more interested to see where all this goes, simply not enough time is being spent with each character to impart to me the importance of their struggle, and as long as this show continues to rush into things, it will continue to be inadequate.