Anime Review: Basilisk Complete Series

For a while, I believed ninja were like Santa Claus; an awesome figment of my imagination that I prayed were real but deep down, knew there was no such thing. My views on ninja have changed dramatically over the past year, thanks in part to a friend who imparted some of his very thorough knowledge on the subject.

I can now tell, to varying degrees, what’s make-believe (flying ninja do not exist), what people wish were fact (there’s no such thing as dojutsu, Naruto fans! Sorry…) and what was, and is fact, (ninja can, indeed, climb straight up castle walls).

So it’s always been with some degree of leeriness that I watch anything with the word “ninja” or “ninjutsu” mentioned anywhere therein. Half of me says “It’s gonna be like the Tooth Fairy and Santa making out.” and the other half says “They’re gonna get it alllll wrong.” Then, there’s a secret, hidden half, that jumps outta the shadows and smacks down both nay saying halves and forces me to watch an anime about feuding ninja clans. Hurray secret ninja Rae-half!

Plot Summary

In a time when feudal lords fought for the glory of their shogun and when intrigue was rampant in the palace, two feuding ninja clans quietly waged a war of extinction.

The Kouga and the Iga are two of Japan’s oldest and most powerful ninja clans. Tucked away in separate valleys in the scenic Japanese landscape, the two ninja ryu have fought a fierce war for over 400 years. No one remembers why the two loathe each other, but it’s a sentiment that has been passed down and nurtured through generations on both sides, just as if it were a family name or heirloom.

Now, two representatives of each clan openly duel for the pleasure of the retired shogun, Tokagawa Ieyasu. These two are no ordinary shinobi; they have special abilities that far outstrip their “normal” counterparts. They duel now so that the shogun can gauge their talents so he may best know how to wield them or dispose of them if necessary.

The elderly shogun is amazed and disturbed at the power of the two ninja clans. With his house ninja, Hanzo Hattori, by his side him, the shogun enacts a plan to deal with pressing issues; the choosing of the shogun’s successor and the elimination of what the shogun deems dangerous elements: Kouga Ryu and Iga Ryu.

The plan is simple: Kouga and Iga would each represent one of the emperor’s choices for shogun. A battle would be decreed and the next shogun would be chosen by whomever was left at the end of the ninpo war. That’s the official story. The unofficial story is the hopeful elimination of Kouga and Iga’s most fearsome fighters in a ninpou war. Kouga Danjo and Iga Oden, heads of each clan respectively, draw up a battle roster with ten names of each clan’s best fighters. The roster also represents the end of the anti-war pact that has restrained the Kouga and Iga from offing each other. The war pact now rescinded, the two ninja representatives speed away towards their valleys with news and the rosters. Unaware of any of this are the successors to the family heads: Iga Oboro and Kouga Gennosuke. The two were betrothed in the hope of unifying both clans. Although they had only met once before the betrothal, the two are now madly in love with each other and are eager to end the bitter hate between their clans.

But their love is not to be as the ninpou battle slowly unfolds in secret and then at a greater, grander pace and scale. Can they transcend the hate that has bound their two clans in bitter rivalry? Will they stay true to their love and their beliefs?

Review

First off, props to Basilisk for being a moderately accurate historical anime. I didn’t know this until recently (last week) but the Kouga and Iga were real and their hidden valleys still exist to this day in Japan as tourist attractions. Not only did the two clans exist, they did loathe each other and did fight each other whenever they could (the same could be said of all ninja clans at the time however). Another film, Shinobi: Heart Under Blade, also tells the story of the Kouga and Iga’s feud, but not nearly as well.

Secondly, I was actually shocked that Basilisk was so good. I figured ninjas flipping out= sub par storytelling and no character development. After the first volume, I was hooked and here’s why: The storytelling was absolutely amazing. I’ve watched action anime and have seen the delicate line they must walk between non-stop visuals and intellectual plot. Usually, the intellectual plot regresses and the hard hitting action takes the fore. Not so with Basilisk. The series has achieved the perfect balance of gratuitous, jaw-dropping fight scenes and thoughtful, well paced story. Basilisk has the Ying Yang of anime going on hardcore!

The concept might have been redundant if it wasn’t expressed so well. The world doesn’t need another rendition of Romeo and Juliette to bore us to tears. But Basilisk wasn’t Romeo and Juliet, it was something deeper that dealt not only with love and revenge, but redemption as well. Gennosuke and Oboro’s love was divided between each other and their clans. To whom and what should each be most loyal? Their clan, their love, or their hope of a better life?

The story progresses through a series of ninpou battles. The story is after all, centered around feuding ninja clans. One would think that with each new battle, the fighting would get ever more tedious. But the ninpou battles aren’t only visually amazing; the subtleties playing out around and during the fights aren’t too shabby themselves.

The bitter hatred Kouga and Iga hold for each other is palatable, but so is the love and affection they hold for members of their own clan. Most of the characters had fairly solid development and the ones that didn’t weren’t around all that long anyway. The character development was so subtle and so cumulative, I didn’t even notice I was pulled into the anime until it ended. How’s that for ninja stealth?

After a while, the seemingly endless parade of death gets to even the most adamant adherers to the old grudge. Some of the characters begin to question why the hell they’re out in the middle of nowhere, hacking someone up because they had the unfortunate luck to be named Iga or Kouga. I started to mourn for characters when they began to question the sanity of what they were doing. It meant they were the next to go. Only the insane and the craftiest shinobi stuck it out the longest.

And when I say insane, I mean crazy with hate. One of the characters, who I thought was a total nutjob, really rubbed me the wrong way and I cheered on his demise only to be disappointed episode after episode. When he died at the hands of the most unlikely person, I was relieved.

Character Design

I loved the character designs for Basilisk. Smooth lines, heavy shading, and dark colors helped flesh out the story along with a heaping dose of creativity. The diverse range of ninjutsu represented included shape shifting, blood fog, and gluey mucus. The attire was dead on for the time period and was a good balance for the outlandish shinobi. The detailed backgrounds helped draw me further into the Kouga and Iga’s secluded world.

Animation Production

The actual animation, done by GONZO was smooth. I wasn’t distracted by “off” moments or scenes that stuttered. Everything flowed well, just like the story. The attention to the how the characters emoted through their through facial and body expressions was impressive. So many subtleties in all aspects of Basilisk, animation included, added up to a none too subtle win for the studio.

Soundtrack

I honestly couldn’t tell you what the soundtrack was like during the anime. The op/ed did nothing for me. The riff heavy opening, Kouga Ninpouchou, by Japanese heavy metal band, Onmyo-Za didn’t really fit the anime…at all.

Voice Acting

I don’t think I even noticed the score the entire series although the quality of the Japanese voice was definitely noticeable. I thoroughly enjoyed the Japanese voice cast. All the passion, hate, and despair leaked through the speakers and blended with the visuals to make a holistic anime.

Conclusion

Basilisk is rare in the fact that it’s an intensely violent action anime and yet has a great story. Not just a great story, but great storytelling. Everything in the anime was balanced: There were equal parts of ass whooping and storytelling, love and hate, passion and sadness. It was highly visual as well as cerebral and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this action packed love story.

out of a possible four gummies.