 | | ▪ | RELEASED BY: | | FUNIMATION ENTERTAINMENT | | | ▪ | ASPECT RATIO: | | 16:9 ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN | | | ▪ | AUDIO: | | ENGLISH DD 5.1 / 2.0 & JAPANESE DD 2.0 | | | ▪ | RUNNING TIME: | | 600 MIN | | | ▪ | RATING: | | PG | | | ▪ | RELEASE DATE: | | 1023/2007 | | | ▪ | REVIEW DATE: | | 11/23/2007 | | | ▪ | REVIEWED BY: | | DAVEY C. JONES |
SYNOPSIS:
The Kouga and the Iga, two ninja clans with four hundred years of hostilities between them, meet at the request of Lord Ieyasu. There they learn that the peace forced upon them is to be broken by the whim of royalty, and that the outcome of this battle will determine the next Shogun.
“To the one I love…prepare to die.” Ill fated is this event indeed, for lovers, stand with hands entwined as travesty approaches on the wings of a hawk. Reared from birth as sworn enemies, Gennosuke and Oboro, each the heir of these rival clans, seek lasting peace between their peoples. But the terms have been set, and two lists seal their destinies. Two lists from which a name can only be crossed out in blood. No mercy will be spared to the enemy. REVIEW:
If your heart raced at Ninja Scroll the movie, if you’re itching for something that has brutal feudal Japanese action and ninjas fighting it out with horrible death the only outcome, then Basilisk is your anime! Based on the original story by Futaro Yamada and the manga by Masaki Segawa, this is a ninja opera of death. And death never looked so cool. After the overblown evil fathead shogun gets all devious and underhanded to get rid of the two biggest and baddest ninja clans by turning it into a challenge for who will be his heir, the Kouga and the Iga have to get ten warriors on each side. Their names are on a scroll and each time one gets whacked, it’s taken out with blood. But Romeo and Juliet aka Gennosuke and Oboro are the heirs of each of the different clans. They were supposed to wed and they do love each other but now they have to kill each other. Nothing says ‘I love you’ like having to murder all your loved one’s friends and family in a clan war! Man, it’s brutal, it’s vicious, and you can’t tear yourself away from the screen. The ninja fights aren’t simple sword fights. These deadly shinobi have supernatural abilities, some creepy, all are wicked and each is deadly. As the list gets whittled down, the deaths get more and more brutal. They also get intensely personal. There’s a lot of lovelorn hearts going on, vengeance that’s got the taste of personal grudge to it. It’s hard to know who to root for at times. All these warriors are in a bad spot that’s not of their own choosing. But they have to fight due their duty and some have personal agendas to mete out to boot. This is not a happy tale, it’s harsh and it’s wicked and you’ll never forget it. The animation is awesome. It’s done by Gonzo who seems to do only the best animating ever. They’ve done Trinity Blood, Last Exile, Burst Angel, Black Cat, the list is like an endless stream of all the A-List anime out there today. It’s dark, broody, and violent. It’s ultra-violent. Basilisk isn’t about pretty, it’s about how sharp the blades are, how red the blood is, and the look in the eyes of those fallen. The animation is what I would expect to see in a movie, not a TV series, but here it is in all it’s theatrical quality animated glory. EXTRAS:
There are so many extra goodies in here it looks like it has everything except the kitchen sink! First though is the super-cool box itself. It comes with a slip case that is embossed so it feels like snake skin or something. Slide that off and then you have the actual art box which is done with this neat matte finish and images some of the main ninja characters from the two clans. Inside that is a fold-out that is tied together with a flat red ribbon that comes attached to the fold out (as if you’re unraveling a scroll with the names of the clans upon it!). Inside the fold-out are the 6 DVDs and the fold-out has interior art of what looks like the major cast of the show. There’s also a slip cover which holds 6 booklets. Each of them is about 10 pages but they fold out like a scroll sort of and each holds Japanese staff interviews, original character and background sketches, and images from the anime. DVD extras are many and have some of the typical stuff like clean opening and ending animation, trailers of other FUNimation anime shows, then they add on the fancy stuff with English cast auditions with intro from the director, History of the Ninja which is a text feature, English actor and director commentary on an episode in disc 1, and original Japanese round tale discussions with the Japanese voice actors and actresses. IN SUMMARY:
Basilisk is the ruling anime of ninja action!
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