Out Like a Ninja Part 1: Black Lion

As the saying goes, March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb.  This year March will come in like a lion and go out like a ninja.  A month of ninja anime for your enjoyment.  And to keep the saying semi-accurate, we'll start this month off with the perfectly named:

Background:
Released By: ADV Films
Length: 50 minutes
Year of Production: 1992
Language: Sub and Dub both included, Dub reviewed
Available on Netflix: Yes, at least I think so.  They aren't clear on this one.

This is a title by the prolific Go Nagai.  For those of you unfamiliar with our good friend Go, he is the creator of such anime titles as Cutey Honey, Violence Jack, Devilman, Panda-Z, Mazinger, Iron Virgin Jun and Kekko Kamen (translates as Naked Mask).  He has also written more manga than you can shake a stick at.  His works tend to be full of sex and violence, so much so that he has been called an enemy of society by PTA's across Japan.  This particular title is more violence than sex.

The Ninja:
There is only one ninja worth mentioning in Black Lion, his name is Shishimaru.  Shishi being the Japanese word for "lion."  Shishimaru is a lower class ninja (genin) of the Iga clan, brash but not exceptionally skilled.  He employs a lot of trickery to make up for his otherwise below average skills. 

Doing his ninja thing

The Anti-Ninja
Ginnai Doma is the legendary ninja killer in this series.  He is seemingly invincible, recovering easily from multiple stab wounds, burnings, poisons, and even having half of his face cut off.  Ginnai hates ninja for killing his entire family.    He almost died as well but aliens intervened to rebuild his his body into the ultimate ninja killing machine.

We can rebuild him, we have the alien technology!

Story:
We open on a temple deep in Iga territory preparing for an all out assault by the forces of Nobunaga Oda.  The monks are heartened by the fact that the rain should prevent Nobunaga's forces from using their trademark firearms.  Although rain might stop traditional firearms from this era, it has little effect on robotic samurai wielding automatic weapons.  There are also robots that shoot lasers.  This is the point where the viewer comes to realize historical accuracy is not the goal of this OVA. 

Whatever it takes to get kids to study their history

In the midst of all the chaos Ginnai appears, cutting his foes down left and right.  He doesn't get far before the Iga ninja show up and attack him with Shishimaru taking the lead.  Ninja boy gets taken down embarrassingly quickly.  His would-be girlfriend Oyu attempts to save him and gets killed immediately.  The entire temple is razed in under 30 minutes with Shishimaru being the only one left barley clinging to life.

And obligatory love interest dies horribly

A flashback gives us a glimpse into how this alternate version of history came to be.  A ninja with a futuristic tracking device is combing the swamp for....well they don't say what.  Aliens I guess.  The ninja is interrupted in his ninja-ing by a snot-nosed little kid who comes wandering into the swamp like a brain damaged monkey.  The kid gets zapped by mysterious lights and gains the knowledge to produce futuristic weapons.

This is the threat to ancient Japan?

The ninja from the past has risen through the ninja ranks to become the leader of the Iga, Momoji.  He is also secretly a member of the Time Patrol and is attempting to right the wrongs inflicted by Nobunaga.  Although he has access to great technology himself, he uses it exclusively for reconnaissance purposes.  Instead of using futuristic weapons of mass destruction, he forms a ninja alliance between the Kouga and Iga clans.  If you've seen more than a couple ninja anime you'll know these are two of the major clans from the days of old. 

Momoji's advanced surveillance station

Shishimaru regains consciousness just in time to crash the strategy meeting between the heads of the ninja clans.  In his slightly delirious state he mistakes Hayabusa, one of the Kouga ninja for his now deceased lover Oyu.  He gets slapped, declares he won't work with his former enemies, and leaves to kill Ginnai and avenge Oyu. 

Either they're planning a war or playing an ancient version of Risk. 

Now another flashback, this time showing the slaughter of Ginnai's family and his subsequent rescue by the aliens.  Ginnai begs the aliens to kill him but they refuse.  Ginnai decides that as long as he is being cursed with an immortal body, he may as well kill every last ninja.  Nobunaga appears in Jedi-like fashion to recruit Ginnai to his cause.

Ginnai, you must go the the Dagobah Prefecture

Shishimaru, joined by his faithful manservant who hasn't made an appearance until now, leave to hunt Ginnai.  His master plan is to set fire to a pile of marijuana and hope the stoned Ginnai will confuse Shishimaru with a dozen scarecrows.  This works out about as well as you might expect from my description.  Plan Two is to lure Ginnai into a swamp covered in oil, which they light on fire.  This works less well than plan Mary Jane.

Ginnai gets set on fire a lot in this show.  Never seems to work

Plan Three is a direct confrontation and sword fight.  Manservant dies quickly and Shishimaru would have met the same fate if not for an old ninja who pulls him out of danger at the last minute.  While Shishimaru is recuperating, yet again, the Kouga ninja are plotting their own plan to kill Ginnai.  Their plan involves poisoning him in his sleep and then stabbing him repeatedly.

Never attend a ninja slumber party

Ginnai appears dead at first, but soon wakes up.  Shishimaru appears to offer his assistance to the Kouga  and the combined ninja forces set fire to Ginnai (again) and flee into the underground passages to regroup.  Ginnai pursues and they light him on fire (yet again), then explode him.  The result of their arson is the removal of Ginnai's head.  This doesn't kill him of course, and the body and head reattach to the horror of all the ninja present.  Old man ninja throws a net over Ginnai and then acts as a suicide bomber in order to give the others time to escape.

The Kouga don't have the best retirement plan.......

Ginnai survives (do you really need me to tell you that at this point?) and follows the ninja out of the cave and onto the mountain side.  Hayabusa and her brother set up an ambush for Ginnai and Shishimaru acts as the bait.  While the ninja killer is distracted, Hayabusa leads a rifle team to detonate explosives on the mountainside causing a massive landslide.

Something just ain't right about ninjas using guns

The landslide buries Ginnai, severing one of his arms in the process.  The ninjas are hesitantly joyful but, you guessed it, Ginnai isn't dead.  Not only is he alive but he has entered full on Terminator plagiarism mode. 

I'll be back!

The ninja killer's atomic power source begins to meltdown and he begins spewing fire from his mouth.  Shishimaru and Ginnai duel with their blades, but our protagonist's blade is too dull to harm Ginnai.  He is hopelessly outmatched by Ginnai and loses an arm in the fight.  Hayabusa and her brother spring into action and steal one of Ginnai's blades to give Shishimaru an edge, and a much sharper one at that.  Our ninja of choice cuts Ginnai in half and triggers the nuclear blast and mushroom cloud.  Our three heroes, Shishimaru, Hayabusa, and whatever her brother's name is, are mysteriously transported 50 miles away by another alien race.

Flying, limbless, peace-loving aliens.

The aliens from the dark planet explain that they are trying to right the time line that has been altered by Nobunaga and will be on hand to aid the ninjas as needed in the future.  Shishimaru is so busy screaming at the fleeing alien craft he doesn't even notice that his arm has regenerated somehow.  The end.

How dare you save my life and restore my mutilated body!

 Why watch?
1. Sci-Fi and Ninja combo - Okay so the idea of combining cyborgs, aliens, and lasers with ninja and samurai may seem kinda stupid.  That's because it is.  But it is an entertaining kind of stupid, which is the best kind you can hope for from a Go Nagai production.  The Ninja Terminator is also a lot of fun.

Three Words: Rocket Powered Heads

Samurais and tanks, together at last!

Alien surgeons altering our history

2. Gore -  As I've said countless times, I love gory anime.  This one has a few great bits, especially in the beginning.  Love the dead ninjas.

This is so over-the-top.  The tongue, the bulging eyes, I love it!

Spears through eye-socket and mouth? Love it!

Laser-charred corpses? Excellent!

Why not watch?
1. The plot - The whole plot can basically be summed up as such:  Ninjas try to kill Ginnai, it doesn't work.  They try again.  Still doesn't work.  Repeat for 40 minutes.  Ninjas kill Ginnai.

Half of the assassination attempts involve fire

2.  REVENGE!! - This is a very minor point, but it bugs me.  In this show the ninjas constantly use "revenge" as a verb.  I have almost never heard revenge used that way prior to watching Black Lion.  "Avenge" seems to be the verb of choice for vengeance in most other media with revenge being used as a noun.

No one cared about revenging the manservant

Should you be watching?
This one falls solidly in the "maybe" category.  The action segments are very entertaining, and the concept of ninjas fighting futuristic weapons is amusing.  The Terminator ripoff is also one of those things that has to be seen to be believed.  The downside is that Black Lion feels like the clumsy pilot for a show that has a decent bit of potential.  Here is the question you have to ask yourself: "Is it worth watching the pilot for a series that was never made?"  If your answer is yes, check out Black Lion.