English Dub Review: Basilisk: The Ouka Ninja Scrolls “The Massive Castle Rumbles”
Where do the Joujinshuu get these castles from, anyway?
Overview (Spoilers Below)
Murakumo is back, and no longer just a spooky snake castle, but an enormous moving fortress that the Joujinshuu have set on a course for Edo, the capital of Japan. Hibiki has been enthralled by the Joujinshuu’s mind manipulating magic and is firmly in their clutches, leaving our ninja heroes scattered, especially since they are still without the presence of Hachirou, the only real leader they have left. The Iga ninjas are not to be deterred from saving their leader, though and set out to stop Murakumo and bring Hibiki back safe and sound. Of course, things are never that easy, even with the help of some explosive land mines crafted by Gorone, but an all-too-familiar grinning serpentine monk shows his ugly head to offer his assistance. Assistance in exchange for Namenba’s love, because there’s always a catch with this goon. Nonetheless, the Iga ninjas accept his help and press their attack on Murakumo 2.0.
We also get treated to some quaint flashbacks to when Namenba and Gorone first met, as well as some sitting in on the disbelief and suspicion of the rulers of Edo when hearing about the Murakumo battle tank slowly crawling towards the capital.
And Hachirou, fresh off his victory from the last episode, is still just doing his own thing until confronted by another Joujinshuu member, Itaru Yasha, who ensnares his gaze with her captivating mirror ability. But as for how that turns out, we’ll have to stand by until next week to see what happens.
Our Take:
Well, here is a show that has a real problem learning from its mistakes. The problems of this episode are compounded upon by the troubles of the episodes before, in a cumulative effect that has basically made this show shed any pretense of objective quality. The most apparent issue here is that classic adage, “Show, don’t tell”, which is consistently discarded by Basilisk: The Ouka Ninja Scrolls with alarming consistency. I can’t really care that much about the connection the Iga ninjas have with Hibiki, because that connection has never felt real to me, and without that empathy for the characters and a desire to see them succeed, I can’t really get into the tension of what’s happening. Plot irregularities and bizarre developments abound, not the least of which is the Joujinshuu’s vaguely defined ability to summon castles from out of the blue. And let’s not forget, Hachirou has had so little interaction with the other ninjas that he is basically a non-character to me; less of a man and more of a plot device kept out of the main conflicts because his eye magic is too overpowered to hold tension.
Speaking of tension, this episode carries as much excitement as a bowl of overcooked instant ramen. There are “action” scenes, yes, sprinkled throughout, but they’re constantly undercut by these slow, meandering dialogue scenes that are just so, so bad. The pacing can’t seem to find its groove here and is constantly undercut by droning, atmospheric music that doesn’t exactly help instill a sense of urgency in the events onscreen. Its filler time, ladies and gentlemen; throw enough awkward dialogue pauses and scene transitions in, and you can stretch anything to 22 minutes. Though, I have to admit I did find the little flashback between Gorone and Namenba kinda cute, though it didn’t really go into enough detail to give me a strong sense of empathy for those two.
Also, if you listen closely, you can hear the show’s flimsy animation buckling even more under the pressure of action-necessary climaxes and fight scenes. A keen eye (Actually, let’s be honest, a regular one will do) will notice the many animation errors and sketchy drawings that lurk around every corner. Save for a few scenes where the level of detail completely shifts, most of the main sequences are just ugly as hell, and that’s coming from someone who has nothing but empathy for the poor souls making this show. In essence, it’s just another week on Basilisk: The Ouka Ninja Scrolls, which chugs along dutifully to its plot’s completion, no matter how unpleasant a ride that may be for its viewers.
Hi Ashley, thank you so much for reading and we love the feedback. Note that on that day we had 14th posts go up and only ten posts show on the front page, so it's possible the preview had already been archived by the time you got to it. One recommendation would be to add our RSS feed to your favorite news aggregator service like Feedly, this way you get all of the latest posts!