Hey everybody! Have yall recovered from the gory, action-packed, confusing-as-hell Akira? Whether you did or not, it really doesn't matter, because this week I'm going to be talking about Ninja Scroll, which, while certainly less confusing, is certainly action-packed and filled with lots of gory, limb ripping, and blood-gushing goodness.
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| image taken from bloodsprayer.com |
There are also sexy nude women.
Well, technically, only one of them is nude the whole time she is on screen, but that's not really what I came here to talk about. Rather, I'd prefer to talk about one of these women, Kagero.
She is the heroine of the film, and the only female ninja of the Koga clan (to my knowledge). Why, in ancient Japan, does she have such high, or rather unusual, rank in society? The truth is that she is poisonous....literally. Any one that she sleeps with....well, to put it simply, just dies. While possessing this ability, she however remains a noble, loyal character, and it is this that makes her the most tragic character in this film.
This poison that lives in her is both a curse and a blessing; she cannot have any sort of intimate relationship with any other person...without that person dying of course. However, this poison also prevents others from raping her, or at least exacts some unpleasant revenge on those who try. For example, there is a scene where an oni made of rock, named Tessai, has captured her and proceeded to rape her, but he only gets so far before Jubei, the hero of the film, interrupts.
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| image taken from 4.bp.blogspot.com |
Jubei and Tessai proceed to fight, during which Tessai's rocky exoskeleton begins to crumble. While Jubei thinks that this is his own doing, he does not realize that the effects of Kagero's poison are starting to take. This ability is especially important considering the time period in which this movie takes place, the Tokugawa shogunate, in which women were not valued much, and men were free to do with them whatever they wanted. And in this time of increasing immorality, she was a sort of gem, or so to speak, because of her poison.
However, throughout the course of the film, she and Jubei grow close. Really close. The same ability that protects her, actually hurts and limits her in this case. She cannot get physically intimate with him, or else, as we all know already, he will die. Here is the thing though: he is already poisoned, and her poison would actually save him. She soon figures this out, but then, of course, in a peak moment of tragic-ness,- she is killed. She does share one kiss with him before passing away, and this proves to be a bittersweet ending to her character.
I like how you said that Kagero is a gem in this movie due to the time period this movie was set in. I totally agree with that statement and I'd want to point out that even Dakuan said something similar. He said "Anyone who makes love to her dies. So you see, she's perfect in this amoral world. " She was an eye opener for people of her time period that there's a point where you should stop, and the point her existence made was that you have to stop when it gets physical. I'm not saying that people shouldn't be physical with each other when in love, but it must be consensual to mean anything. Her power was known well enough if her own village that she had a high rank, but even so, outside of the village people didn't know. The demons obviously didn't know, but her ability exacted its bittersweet revenge on them. She was indeed restricted by this power too because when she finally found someone who she loved, she couldn't even give him a kiss without harming him. Luckily for her Jubei needed the poison, but in the end he respected her enough to say no and she ultimately died with only a kiss.
ReplyDeleteI think everything you said brought up a really good point. To me, her character is one of the most interesting in the story in my opinion. She comes off as a beautiful woman who is deadly at the same time. For me when I think of her it's almost like a poison flower or something because her image does not show how powerful she really is on the inside. I agree when you say she can use this to her advantage because if she wanted to she could use it as not only a trap, but it is an automatic type of defense. She kind of represents a succubus in a way, which is another type of character used in Anime pretty often I believe haha, crazy movie though..
ReplyDeleteAnd to add to my last comment, I also think that the attributes they gave her make her stand out more than anyone else in the story. She also is able to use the whole poison thing multiple times, and the creators also did a good job on making her be able to be a cure as well, and not only something like a killer disease. And they did it in a way to where it wasn't cliche either haha.
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