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.
