Female Ninjas Magic Chronicles: Legend of Yagyu Part 1 (1998)

recommended

A lot of fun.

A different way of telling a story

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

There are so many movies about Ninjas out there in a day and age when obtaining them is the easiest it has ever been. There are dozens upon dozens of flicks with just the word "Ninja" in the title alone, which only makes it more of a daunting task to actually find one that is worth your time. The good news? Not only does this movie feel like you are watching a live- action anime like Ninja Scroll, with all the over- the-top sword induced blood geysers raining across your screen but Lady Ninja (1998) actually stars an eye patch rocking Jubei Yagyu, the protagonist from the anime and novels. So for all you Ninja Scroll, Samurai Reincarnation, Reborn From Hell fans, you might want to check this out for the Jubei action alone. Based on the novel,'Yagyū Ninpōchō'(1964) by Futaro Yamada, the basic plot of the movie centres around legendary real life butt-kicker Jubei (portrayed by Hitoshi Ozawa, who also directs) as he leads the seven female survivors of the Hori clan on a revenge mission against the Seven Spears, acting as their demon protector and donning a gnarly oni mask to conceal his secret identity from the bad guys like a samurai Spiderman.The quickest way to find out if this movie is for you or not is to ask yourself these three questions;"Did I like the classic 90's anime Ninja Scroll?""Do I like ninja movies in general?""Would I like to see a movie where someone has the superpower to be able to absorb a Dragonball Z type energy blast up their who-ha and regurgitate it out of their mouth?"You now have your answer. You're welcome.PROSSexy Ninja Magic!LOTS of blood (possibly the most I've ever seen in a Ninja flick since the 1983 flick Duel to the Death)Starts with the action right away (literally one of the best openers I've seen) and keeps a good pace all the way until the end credits.Some very inventive bad guys ("Eyeball Minions" Ninja was a favorite)CONSPossibly TOO SEXY Ninja Magic (a 10 on the creepy raunchy meter sometimes - so a warning to those more sensitive)Weird wound logic. Somebody will get sliced one time and multiple blood fountains will pour out from random parts of the body that couldn't possibly have been hit with one swipe of the sword. Or could it?!?Confusing subplots. At some point one of the leads starts channeling the spirit of a blind swordsman Zatoichi type character and it is never fully explained why the bad guys can't tell it's this famous person with just their eyes closed pretending to be blind. Worse than Superman simply removing his glasses and slicking his hair backFINAL SCORE 3/10 stars if you are an average movie goer but if you answered yes to all three questions like myself, Lady Ninja is an easy-7/10 stars

The other review hit the major points. A screaming howler of a bad movie. The version I saw was subtitled in English. I really wished I knew Japanese because I'm sure plenty of "entertainment" was lost in translation.I'm not a Ninja movie fan, and the fight sequences are poorly shot - edited - directed, so I found it funny that during fight sequences you just had to wait to the end to see who would loose body parts. The high pressure misting blood was classic! C'mon! The shear goofyness was bizarre! This was based on a story and I kept wondering who made more trips to the Opium Den? The original story writer, the one who adapted it to the screen, or the Director? In one scene a hero & heroine fall through a trap door into a slime pit rife with the remnants of others. As they think on how to escape our heroine mentions the hero will need a sharp blade upon their escape. Wouldn't you know a virgin's blood would be just the trick. Let the fornication begin! The nasty bad guy is appalled they would have the gall to have sex in his Pit O' Death and starts shooting arrows at the copulating couple. Our hero dances and parries about with his good woman still mounted. His sword slicing each arrow. Cut to an extreme close up of the shining blade deftly held for one drop of blood to sing the blade electric! Now that's "Bad Cinema" at it's best and there is plenty more.

There's quite a lot to recommend in Kunoichi: Lady Ninja, but you have to be prepared for the bad that comes with the good. First, the good stuff: this film looks terrific. Media Blasters print is letterboxed and subtitled, and Shoji Ebara's cinematography is at times breathtaking, echoing the best of Japanese cinema. Action fans will also enjoy the copious amounts of bloodshed and endless fight scenes, some of them staged very imaginatively. Now the not so good: Kunoichi reflects the ambivalence toward women seen in popular Japanese culture. Our proto-feminist heroines shed their outfits with remarkable ease, use ridiculous special powers located in their nipples and nether regions (these animated sequences are particularly embarrassing), and are subjected to some rather grueling rape and torture sequences that had this viewer squirming with discomfort. There are moments of great beauty in this film, offset by the kind of childish misogyny that will set most western viewers teeth on edge. Just be prepared.

The movie is kinda confusing, I couldn't keep up with all the names the first time I saw it, but I thought it was pretty entertaining. It's like a Western, but in Eastern style. I think the characters are based on the anime Ninja Scroll, and so is the action (ex., blood fountains). If you are into samurai/ninja movies this might be a good one to rent, although some of the action scenes sometimes leave it up to the audience to figure out what happened, this is probably due to their budget which is why they lacked the wiring capabilities to show in detail how acrobatic the fight scenes were supposed to have been. It gets a decent 7/10.