Shuranosuke Zanmaken: Shikamamon no Otoko

Contrary to animegorey's review, I actually found this to be better than Ninja Scroll but not so much because of the quality but because it's less fantasy and therefore comes much closer to the appeal of such shows as Fist of the North Star.

The biggest disappointment is that the ending disappoints when it could have been easily continued. Certainly the protagonists while not necessarily being special aren't very annoying compared to most other samurai films.

Not annoying might be underselling the characters though. The professional assassin feel of the characters carry this movie. That is, while normally the lack of character development is a detriment ... ...maybe because it's rare for an anime to have a combination of Golgo 13 + Lone Wolf and Cub and a more silent bad ass Rurouni Kenshin's Sato meet up with a gaijin-like hand to hand grappler who just defeated a fat but seemingly veteran like Samurai but there's almost a Zen-like atmosphere to the whole movie.

Like a Zen koan though, length is one of the best and worst features of this movie.

You just don't know if the ending was intentionally there to spread a type of thought provoking message or it's merely there because the movie had no direction.

Nonetheless, in the right mood, this mediocre anime can seemingly be worth a peek and may rise as much as an 8 if you can see past through this as an adventure anime featuring a samurai and more like a Golgo 13-like side event where the events don't really hold much storytelling substance but amid the confusing scenes in the end "it's all part of the character's existence".

Cheap ass version of Ninja Scroll. That's all I could think of as I watched this and thought about the trailer I seen for this. How dare they compare this to NInja Scroll. Dub was boring and poorly cast, story is familiar at best, action and violence is cheap and generic. Don't let the trailer fool you. However, If your a fan of cheesy dubs and the horribly over-acted OVAs, this one's for you. Weak blood sprays and cheap character design really make for a low-budget looking title. Yet, as a fan of these types, I have this dvd in my collection. It's right there ... with Riding Bean, Vampire Wars and M.D Geist and can easily be rewatched due to it's short runtime. If you don't expect too much, you won't be disappointed.

Wow, what an absolute mess this is. Imagine an exploitative chanbara film from the '70s, with multiple complex plot threads, numerous warring clans, and countless opposing characters, but for some reason only given less than 50 minutes to attempt to be told. That's what watching Sword for Truth is like. It's like if Lone Wolf and Cub tried to get its point across in the runtime allowed for a pilot television episode, setting up all sorts of storylines, introducing characters, and then just ending, with nary a resolution or any sense to be made of the proceedings. Nothing here stands out, the animation isn't even ... a saving grace, looking cheap and occasionally badly animated with very few frames. I don't know why the hell this was even released, as whatever its goal was was an abject failure. It's no wonder director Osamu Dezaki had his name taken off of this.

Maybe there was a grand plan in place for multiple episodes that told a sweeping tale, but it's clearly obvious those involved in the making knew early on that this was all they were going to have to work with, seeing as how much stuff is jammed in and how rushed it all feels. Honestly, this is one of those cases where they should have shelved the damn thing and not even bothered releasing it. No one should bother wasting their time on this, as it's as hollow an experience as I've ever come across, and this is coming from a huge fan of anime from this era. I can often times even be apologetic at how lacking in resolution these '80s/'90s OVAs can sometimes be, but this is completely unremarkable in every aspect.