Borserie it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

Whitech It is not only a funny movie, but it allows a great amount of joy for anyone who watches it.

Brainsbell The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

Frances Chung Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

CurtHerzstark I haven't read the original manga series that this film is based on so I don't know how close the film is to its original source.The story is simple, young Jirô gets his family killed, falsely accused of the murders and starts investigating into who and why his family was murdered.He quickly realizes that he is a foundling and the people responsible for the killings has very dangerous agenda.This film is basically a action melodrama where the director/screenwriter tries to fit in as much storyline as possible in the shortest amount of time.Therefore the viewer served a very long, confusing, erratic storyline that sometimes doesn't make any sense at all. Political intrigues that hardly gets explained(yes I saw the 132 min with original audio), characters that comes and goes without explanation.Something must have been edited out, is there a TV -series version somewhere? Who knows.....But the action sequences are very visually striking and surreal, as if the animators wants to capture the fleeting moment of combat(or if they all were high on drugs which would explain the bad storyline) that split second when you enter a duel and only one can survive.Personally I prefer Jûbê ninpûchô/Ninja Scroll (1993), Rurouni Kenshin (2000), Samurai chanpurû/Samurai Champloo(2004–2005) etc but this should be seen by future viewers because of the amazing fighting sequences.Remember that this film was made in 1985, and the animation in some cases still holds up.

bbally81 This was a great anime. True the animation is old but its still worth watching and has a better plot than Ninja Scroll, the problem that it was kinda long.Japanese movie star Hiroyuki Sanada who played Ujio from Last Samurai played the main character Jiro and it was directed by Rintaro who did Galaxy Express 999 and Metropolis.The anime has some good animation for an old anime, interesting characters like the main villain Tenkai and Ando Shouzan and of course lets not forget the beautiful musical scores in the film.All in all this movie is worth watching for fans of anime, animation in general, action, and Samurai/Ninja flicks. Despite the lows in the film that didn't the film from being a great film to watch.Don't miss this film.

Casey-52 When I saw this movie at age 6, it was in the CHILDRENS' section at Erols Video because it was animation. We watched it and it was a whole different ball game! A very violent story and graphic deaths are VERY entertaining and compelling, but not for children. Avoid for family viewing, my mom nearly had a heart attack and ripped the video apart!

Chad-12 What can be said about a movie that makes two hours seem like three weeks? The hero starts out in ninjaville, Japan, goes through an identity crisis (saving a shinobi), makes a voyage to America (saving a slave named Sam) engages in a little wild west action (saving a French/japanese native american named Julie), goes hunting pirate's gold, and then heads back to Japan to fight a war. The film obviously has no clue where it's going at any point in time; I think the director modeled each scene after the last movie he'd watched. If you're going to watch this film, I suggest renting the subtitled so you and your peers can openly discuss how dumb the movie is without speaking over the movie, potentially missing another dumb plot twist.Movies the director was watching during the making of this movie - An American Tail, Fievel Goes West, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, The Goonies, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Kung Fu, Vampire Hunter D, The Ten Commandments.Notes of Interests - Most fear inspiring line of all time. About 90 minutes (or 19 days) into the movie, the lead character has just bested an American villain, and just as one heads to the vcr to end the pain the hero proclaims "Let's go back to Japan", and the agony continues for another week.