This series is definitely a LOT more mature with pretty gruesome murders/other mature scenes, lots of blood, etc. I'm not that squeamish and I had to turn off the sounds or turn away sometimes because it was kind of graphic and shocking, but that just means the creators did THAT good of a job with making you empathize with the characters.
The story follows two lovers, Gennosuke and Oboro who are the leaders of the Kouga and Iga ninja clans. The two clans have a bitter history and were ruled by an anti-war pact that was suddenly lifted along with an order to commence a ninpou competition, giving the ninjas of both clans an opportunity of a lifetime to start going at each others' throats. Ten ninjas from each clan have been chosen to take part in the competition and must fight to the death. For the lovers Gennosuke and Oboro, they are torn between their love and their duty to their respective clans.
This anime is about CHARACTERS. I must say that some of the characters in this anime are very unique and some have amazing depth and quality to them that make them more than just blood-thirsty superhuman ninjas. I've been told that these characters are much colder in the manga, and I'm so glad that in the anime, they have some depth.
There are so many beautiful scenes in this anime, not necessarily because it's well drawn or super detailed, but because they provide a moment of stillness and a time for reminiscence among the numerous bloodthirsty-action packed scenes. That's why I LOVE the flashbacks in this anime because they are absolutely beautiful and tells the backstory of these characters.
That being said, my opinion is that the character depth was not extremely well distributed among the two clans, as one clan just seems to have more straightforward bloodthirsty members than the other.
But watch this anime. It's so beautiful and tragic and..gahhh...just great!
