Jigen Sengokushi: Kuro no Shishi - Jinnai-hen

I like to imagine that every anime ever was started by reefer-fueled brainstorming sessions among the creative staff. In this session, Go Nagai has just finished coughing after a monstrous bong hit, and he's waving his hands around to punctuate his speech:

Uncle Go: "Okay, okay, dude, get this:... Um, like, so back during the Warring States period, like, frickin' Nobunaga contacts aliens to get special technology like mechs an-an shit, and he augments his warriors with cyborg parts and nukes and lasers and stuff. So like, these ninjas go after his most hardcore cyborgs so like... They fight and shit".

Dude: "And?"

Go: "So like, the ... main ninja dude looks like Koji Kabuto from Mazinger, down to the sideburns."

Producer: "Christ, dude. I'm puttin' money down for that."


...

So, back to reality. Remember ninjas? The silent assassins that poison people in their sleep, and wear costumes to sneak into enemy fortresses? You know, those cherished fake ninja stock characters? Black Lion has some of the best fake ninjas this side of a Scroll, and they come in spades. No "kah-ghey busshy no jootsues" or goofy furry transformations for these guys. They cut people in half, throw explosives, punch people's heads off, run really fast, and burn marijuana to confuse their enemies... in homage to the brainstorming sessions that created them.

There is no real plot. Sure, Koji- um, the main character wants REVENGE for the death of his clan by the machines, there are aliens, and it plays out sort of like Predator/Terminator (heh) but why do you care? Limbs are severed, the ground is soaked in blood, and heads fly off; it's really cool stuff. You don't need to know anything else, really. The film's strength relies in how ridiculous the whole ordeal is. Hell, it could have been called "Ninja Koji Kabuto Versus the Cyborg Samurai from Space", like all of those so-bad-it's-awesome Go Nagai crossover movies, and it wouldn't detract from the spectacle at all.

Now, the movie's real claim to fame is the copious amount of organ meat spilled and thrown around. This OVA is only 44 minutes long, but they on't spare any time at all: the first FIVE minutes has enough violence to desensitize a small colony of hippie children and Baptist ministers.
I feel like watching it again to count all of the decapitations and bisections that happen (I did. I lost count.). There are so many...inventive ways that some of the characters meet their ends that it deserves a graduate thesis. The fights are fast, brutal, and effing INTENSE. Brains gush out. Ninjas are trampled by tanks. Ninjas dash in a blur of sketchy lines over brush and reeds and rocks in high-pitched battles with absolutely no mercy.
It's a symphony of blood and guts and eyeballs and whirling intestines and fecal matter that takes off like a rocket from the first headstab and climaxes in the most royally epic bisection of all time. In other words, it's really awesome.

Now, after re-watching this with the ENGLISH DUB, and actually being able to pay attention this time, I have to say that this is one of the most profoundly awesome OVAs of all time.

No, seriously. The dubbed dialog is pretty badly-written and acted, despite some good voices. However, it just adds another layer of crunchy ridiculousness to the whole shebang. I can't help but love anything that insists on using the verb form of REVENGE at the most awkward moments.

There are also several whiplash-inducing "whut" moments near the end, and some unfulfilled sequel potential that needs to be addressed.
Whoa. I was so drained for man-freaking over the final battle that I completely glossed this over.

Come on, Dynamic Pro guys. Make this happen.

Black Lion is pretty, pretty ridiculous, has tons of gore and ninjas that don't spend half of the movie weeping about their TRAGIC PAST. I'd say it's worth a download.

Style of animation is like Puppet Princess or even Ninja Scroll. Pretty good story with decent violence and graphic gore. Nothing too outstanding, but I feel Puppet Princess was better. Rewatchability is high because of it's short runtime.

Overview:

Ladies and Gentleman...It's GO Time! It's only February, but Go Nagai's Devilman Crybaby with Yuasa at the helm looks unbeatable in its quest for Animu of the Year. As far as MAL is concerned, the only anime in its way is the New Galactic Heroes, which is highly condensed and being directed by a guy known only for Koroko no Basket. Basically, Yuasa is just going to easily cruise to victory again like a heavyweight boxer fighting against small children. However, we aren't here to talk about anime Alan Moore.

Nope, today we once again are discussing Uncle Go! Black Lion bares all the hallmarks ... of a Nagai anime. It's crazier than a rabid, shithouse rat. It's fucking retarded. Most importantly, it is GLORIOUSLY hilarious and entertaining for every single second.

Plot and characters:

The plot is that Japanese warlord Oda Nobunaga was actually an evil space alien and conquered Japan using laser guns and robots. This minor detail was somehow lost to history. The main antagonist is a samurai whose family was killed by ninjas. Alien scientists transformed him into a cyborg and gave him the order to exterminate all ninjas! Our heroes are a group of Ninja, who are fighting against Nobunaga and must figure out how to kill this unstoppable cyborg. The main male ninja is named Shishimaru and judging from his Wolverine sideburns, he is likely the ancestor of Devil-man/Violence Jack. When Shishimaru's girlfriend is killed by the cyborg samurai, he happens to find her twin sister and plans revenge! They set the samurai on fire, poison him, use explosives, and stab him dozens of times, but NOTHING will put this dude down. Eventually, they use dynamite to cause a rock slide and this somehow overloads his nuclear reactor. Cyborg Samurai goes BOOM, but our heroes are saved by a rival alien civilization that opposes the one Nobunaga is from. The anime ends with our ninja hero smiling up at a giant spaceship.

Sound:

The soundtrack is really nothing special and the English voice acting is...questionable. This was one of ADV's first licenses and they used the same crew as for Ninja Resurrection, and the infamous Tekken Movie. You can instead watch it in Japanese and laugh hard at the fact the cyborg samurai is clearly voiced by the Narrator from Galactic Heroes. Imperial Date: time to kill all Ninja!!!

Art:

The animation is brought to you by Nippon Columbia, whom you might recall for their outstanding work on that seminal classic, MD Geist. While the motion and smoothness might be sub-par, at least there is TONS of gore. Cyborg samurai likes to squeeze heads until the eyes pop out and they explode.

Overall:

This is 45 minutes of sheer, enjoyable schlock. This perfectly encapsulates that trashy, late 80s, vintage MANime that I love so much. This anime also has a special place in the hearts of American anime collectors, because ADV used the villain as their mascot. He appears at the beginning of basically EVERY ADV anime and yells at you to get the ADV Anime Network. Yes, I want to pay 10 dollars a month to a defunct Dub company to watch all 4 seasons of Ikki Tousen! Thanks ADV! God bless Go Nagai and God bless this awesomely terrible anime!

A 1990s OVA full of ninjas, over the top violence and set in feudal Japan? I’m sure plenty of people think they’ve seen the same set up plenty of times but trust me, Black Lion is very much its own beast. Within the first minute you know you’re in for something very different as the future collides with the traditional setting with enough blood splattered across the screen for even the most diehard fan of this sort of OVA to be suitably impressed, from there on out Black Lion grabs hold of your eyes and takes you on a 45 minute thrill ride without ever ... letting go.

Without wanting to spoil the plot to any great degree it is in short a vengeance tale as one young Ninja sets out to avenge the deaths of his clan at the hands of a supposedly immortal Ninja slaying swordsman all of which is set against a delightfully twisted depiction of feudal Japan where one side has access to futuristic weaponry which has no place in the time period. It is absolutely as ludicrous as it sounds and while there is some exposition of what is going on during the story there is no real in depth rational or character development offered. While that might sound like a bad thing it actually isn’t, Black Lion wears its heart very much on its sleeve and due to the relatively short running time the frankly surreal set up never out stays its welcome and that is one of the great strengths of Black Lion, it knows exactly what it wants to do and carries it off exceptionally.

The artwork works very well with a decent level of detail added throughout the environments and it comes together to provide a lovely aesthetic whether it is the futuristic or the period environments on screen. It is to Black Lions credit that despite it being a fairly low budget affair the visuals are still very enjoyable today and compare quite favourably with for example Ninja Scroll. The sound design again is good, not outstanding by any means but when something gets hacked off the feedback gets the point across. As for your viewing options the English dub is terrible as to be expected with almost any OVA of this vintage however it is fairly simple to find a subbed version of Black Lion and this is definitely the recommended way to watch unless you simply hate subbed anime.

In summary therefore Black Lion is an utterly bonkers piece of work but if you just want to sit back, switch your brain off and watch something that will take you and a crazy, exhilarating and visceral journey then I can’t recommend it highly enough. It must be said that if you do not like violent anime then this is certainly not one for you!

Really enjoyed this one,nothing spectacular but with enough flavor and style to keep it interesting.Its your typical ninja anime with your evil emperor want to take over japan by wiping out the ninja clan .Think of it as a shorter version of ninja scroll with lesser quality animation.What made this anime so unique is that one faction of the warfare is fighting with guns,tanks,bombs and laser while the other guys are using swords and throwing knifes,talk about mismatch huh.The fighting scenes were really well done showing great detail and went well with the crisp old school drawing animation .

The characters were your regular" cookie cutter" ... type,with your impulsive tough guy hero,stuck up heroine and forgettable supporting cast.Overall all a short but enjoyable anime that's worth a look.

PS:look out for the funny line about marijuana and barely lol

before i start this review i want to thank bobsamurai for his youtube video about this OVA without it i wouldn't get the chance to watch this hidden gem.
the creator of this is GO NAGAI so you should know what to expect from this anime,it is not meant to be philosophical or deep or thought provoking ,it is just a non stop action movie about ninjas , invincible robots and a mysterious alien power that work in the shadows ,yes robots and ninjas the story is one of the craziest i've seen in anime ,robots slaughtering ninjas by dozens in feudal japan,oda nobunaga ... is possessed by an alien force that give him all the meanings he needs to annihilate his opponents,it is a blend of science fiction and historical fiction,it sounds crazy but it works,all of these are background for the main story which is a manhunt that turns wrong and the hunter became the prey ,to simplify it imagine if the terminator was sent to feudal japan instead of 1980's US and suffered from an error in his program that make him view every ninja as sarah conor.

the characters aren't all that special you have the hot headed cocky teenager who thinks he is too cool for school and ends up failing miserably ,we have the ninja girl which was obnoxious towards the main hero at the beginning then she develops some feelings towards him by the end, the most memorable was ganai he is a non-stoppable killing machine ,each time they think he is killed he come again, he remind me of alucard from hellsing,or t800 from the first terminator movie, he is just too ruthless and powerfull to the point his opponts feel completely helpless after all their failing attempts to kill him,oh and the guy also has a backstory that explain his origin and motivation.

the animation is bad it isn't fluid or good at all but somehow they managed to have some good fighting scenes,the gore and violence will make for the lack of animation quality along with the terminator feeling throught the ova.
the character design is an old school style ,bushy and thick eyeborrows ,no androgynous male character,beautiful female design,i like it.
there is nothing great to mention about the soundtrack.

overall it was quite an enjoyable experience,if you like ninjas, feudal japan, crazy science fiction elements and don't mind gore and violence or you are just an old school anime fan then you will enjoy this.
i recommend this for people who enjoy ninja scroll,hellsing ultimate and the terminator.

So what happens when you adapt a manga from GO NAGAI and have Takashi Watanabe direct it, you get one of the best/worst/most insane anime OVA's I have watched to date. Oh make no mistake this an anime with many flaws in it, its just amazes me that so many bad problems can make an enjoyable mess.

I'll say this as a positive if you like blood and action, then this has a lot packed into it for 42 minutes. I'll give it this the action scenes are well done and its when the animation is at its best, but there are moments when you can ... see where they cut corners when its anything that doesn't involve the action scenes.

The English dubbed cast are fine with some decent performances throughout, its just that the characters they are voicing are not original with the generic ninja girl, the annoying main character and the over the top monster villain.

Doesn't help that the story makes no sense and it goes off the rails in the very first minute of the anime and it just keeps getting more dumb and awesome as it goes on. With plot holes forming all the way through to the end and questions never to be answered, in the sequel that never happened.

This is a dumb popcorn movie and I fully enjoyed the madness on screen. If you love dumb, violent action anime then I highly recommend that you give this a watch. And if you can gather some friends together for a bad anime night and make sure this one anime you keep on hand for those special occasions.

Terminator meets Ninja Scroll!

1580's Japan with a futuristic twist. I found the action of the movie to be enjoyable, yet the characters and the story line development was mediocre. There was not much explanation to the circumstances surrounding the characters and the technology. There was a "greater evil" that was discussed but never encountered by the main characters. I feel as though the story was rushed for the length of the movie, or the intent was to have a continuation after this movie.

Overall I enjoyed the movie, but really expected more out of it. I watched the English dubbed version and the dialogue to be ... mostly decent.