Makai Tenshou (Ninja Resurrection)

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Ninja Resurrection: The Revenge of Jubei, Makai Tensho

Japanese: 魔界転生

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Information

Type: OVA

Episodes: 2

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Feb 27, 1998 to Mar 27, 1998

Producers: None found, add some

Licensors: ADV Films

Studios: Phoenix Entertainment

Source: Novel

Genres: Action, Supernatural

Themes: Historical, Samurai

Duration: 40 min. per ep.

Rating: R+ - Mild Nudity

Statistics

Score: 5.27¹ (scored by 3,508 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #12270²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #7228

Members: 7,376

Favorites: 7

Resources

AniDB

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5.27

Ranked #12270Popularity #7228Members 7,376

OVAPhoenix Entertainment

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Episodes: /2

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Synopsis

Get ready for a nightmarish journey through faith and betrayal as the infamous Jubei Yagyu wields his deadly blades against the forces of good and evil alike. In an orgy of unbelievable savagery, the armies of the Shogun give no quarter as they ruthlessly slaughter their enemies. Trapped on the rocky isthmus of Amakusa, the faithful await divine aid as the demon stirs in their midst. Desperate for vengeance, a Child of Heaven becomes the emissary of Hell.

Tortured by visions of Amakusa's final hour, legendary swordsman Jubei Yagyu returns to his ancestral home seeking respite from the bloody duties of a feudal retainer. Life in the village of Yagyu possesses a serenity ill-befitting days of armed rebellion and unholy alliance. For Jubei the tranquility is far too transparent, and soon, chilling rumors reach him. Four dead heroes renew their claim to life, feeding on the fear and violence of the age. Forced to take up the sword once more, Jubei returns to the path of vengeance and damnation in Ninja Resurrection!

(Source: DVD cover)

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Background

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Related Anime

Adaptation:

Makai Tenshou

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Characters & Voice Actors

Yagyuu, Juubei

Main

Genda, Tesshou
Japanese

Amakusa Tokisada, Shirou

Main

Okiayu, Ryoutarou
Japanese

Yataro

Supporting

Mashiba, Mari
Japanese

Okyo

Supporting

Okamoto, Maya
Japanese

Mataemon, Araki

Supporting

Wakamoto, Norio
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Greenfield, Matt

Producer

Date, Kensei

Sound Director, Script

Ishikawa, Ken

Original Creator

Satou, Keiichi

Character Design

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Opening Theme

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Ending Theme

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Reviews

Aug 28, 2020

RoboKeaton

Recommended

Ninja resurrection is based on Futaro Yamada's novel Makai Tenshō (魔界転生, 1967) Yagyū Jūbei Trilogy #2 - adapted to film in 1981, 1996 and 2003, to anime in 1997 and to various manga.(Wikipedia)

A lot of people has been lucky or unlucky to be exposed to Ninja Scroll before Ninja Resurrection, for the later ones, it drives them to root for Jubei's character on those series.

From my background the only precedent I had to Jubei was Samurai Shodown, where SNK does not land an absolute story to the character, and as a video game, everyone will have more flexibily adopt the character.

Ninja resurrection in my ...

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Jan 18, 2018

Denizu

Mixed Feelings

I knew nothing about Makai Tenshou except that a lot of people who had seen it were either disappointed because they thought it was a sequel to Ninja Scroll, or disturbed by the amount of violence and gore they had to endure in just two 35 minute episodes. Given that it only comprises of two episodes, I was expecting a short, straightforward and rushed story, like Curse of the Yoma or something, and that would have been perfect if that had been the case. Seems to me like they had more episodes planned but the reception was just so bad that they didn't ... even bother to keep going.

Now, that doesn't mean Makai Tenshou, or Ninja Resurrection, is not....enjoyable. I enjoyed myself, although I admit I could have chosen something better to waste my limited free time. The story is decent, not great, but not bad, but I like cultural-religious period pieces so the base of the story revolved around the Tokugawa and the rise in Christianity appealed to me. Add some ninjas and supernatural forces and you've got a promising plot, right? Well, maybe you could have had the series not ended right when ish was about the hit the fan. I was actually interested in what might had happened between Jubei and Shiro, and wondered how other introduced problems and suspicions related the the whole.

The art was okay. If you're not accustomed to earlier anime from the mid/late 90s then the art may not appeal to you, but I grew up with 90s anime so it was all very natsukashii. The animation was smooth and the fight scenes didn't look choppy or awkward.

If you like gore and dismemberment, you'll get more than enough. I've definitely seen worse in other anime, like Genocyber and Corpse Party, but I can see why some viewers found it disturbing or uncomfortable. There are a few scenes that made me say "What the....did it have to be done that way???". If you watch it, you'll see for yourself, I don't want to ruin the surprise.....but there is rape, as a forewarning.

The music is whatever, I don't pay much attention to background music, but it was typical for a Feudal Era anime with all the brass instruments and short but quick notes. Don't expect any traditional inspired intro or outro.

I can't say much for characterization because you don't get to know anyone. You learn about Jubei a bit, you get an idea of whats going on with Shiro and his followers, and you are suddenly introduced to some new characters who seem interesting but cliche. Like I said...had there been more episodes, who knows....

Overall, I gave Makai Tenshou a 5. I expected something REALLY bad and awful, but after watching it, knowing that it is NOT related to Ninja Scroll, I was surprised that I was able to stomach it and actually wonder. It's not great, but it's not so horrible either. I suspect so many bad reviews came from high expections, and maybe because mine were so low that I found it mildly enjoyable.

So, if you like ninjas, blood, intestines, and have problems with commitment, have a good, or bad, time with this one.

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Jan 31, 2023

Inter_anime

Not Recommended

I'm going to say it right off the bat, Makai Tenshou or Ninja Resurrection is by far the worst anime I have ever seen. Sure there might be objectively worse anime out there from a visual or technical standpoint, but in terms of sheer repulsiveness Makai Tenshou by far the last anime I ever want to see again.

First things first this anime is NOT a sequel to Ninja Scroll, another gory 90s ninja anime that came out a few years before, despite the fact that the makers of Makai Tenshou intentionally styled the cover art the same way and named the main character Jubei ... after the protagonist of the other film. In short even the producers new they had to falsely market this anime in order to get anyone to watch it.

The story (if you could call it that) follows Shimabara Rebellion, an actual historic event when Christians in Japan revolted against the Shogun. Except the catch is here that being a Christian here actually gives you special powers for some reason, and our two main characters, Jubei Yagyu and Amakusa Shirō are real life historical figures except the latter has superpowers and is the reincarnation of Jesis. Shirō/Jesus offers to sacrifice himself to Jubei to save the Christians civilians, which the latter accepts, but after seeing the army massacre all the Christians anyway, Shirō/Jesus becomes enraged and turns into a monster. God then tells Shirō/Jesus that God doesn't exist (makes sense yet?) and Shirō/Jesus vows to reincarnate into Satan.

The pacing of the anime is equally bad, one moment people are getting bloody murdered, the next there's a random scene of children fishing, then a flashback, then a rape scene, than people getting murdered again. There is very little characterization, nothing flows together, and it comes off more as random stuff being thrown at you than anything coherent. The dialogue is awful, with almost every line being exposition and having no connection to the previous lines.

The animation isn't the absolute worse, but it is still incredibly ugly and only gets worse in quality as the anime goes on. The best scenes were those at the beginning of the episode and those were entirely comprised of stock footage.

To add insult to injury the anime doesn't even have a proper ending, it just abruptly ends right before the climax is supposed to start. Not that it would have made this flick any more enjoyable, but it only aids in making this feel like an even bigger waste of time.

In conclusion I cannot un-recommend this anime enough. Makai Tenshou is too stupid for anyone who has a brain, blasphemous to anyone who has even the slightest knowledge of religion, too ugly for anyone who enjoys just action anime, and too abrupt and incoherent for the fraction of people out there who actually enjoy these type of overly gory trashy shows. This anime infuriated me this much that I felt I needed to write this review dissuading people from watching it, so take my word for its worth and skip it.

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Makai Tenshou

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