Shinobi
AKA: Shinobi: Heart Under Blade
Director: Ten Shimoyama
Actors: Yukie Nakama, Jo Odagiri, Tomoko Kurotani
Year Released: 2005
Genre: Samurai, Action
See Also: Demon Spies, Shogun's Ninja
If there's one thing Americans love, it's ninjas. You know it's true. Don't deny you didn't buy shuriken (throwing stars) out of the back of Black Belt magazine and throw them around, pretending you were Sho Kosugi or Michael Dudikoff, the white guy from American Ninja. Maybe it's the outfits. Maybe it's the weapons. Or maybe it's the fact that ninjas kill a lot of people. But man, Americans love ninjas.
The Japanese too, if a search on IMDB.com for "ninja" is anything to go by. The early '80s saw a huge boom in all things ninja both in the States and across the Pacific, with plenty of studio screenwriters running to novelist Futaro Yamada's classic ninja epics for inspiration. If Shinobi feels familiar, it's because it comes from the same source material as stuff like Ninja Wars, but instead of a gruff Sonny Chiba and cheap special effects, Shinobi has the ever-so-hot Yukie Nakama and some pretty spiffy computer effects. It also has star-crossed lovers. When in doubt, go for the Bard, right?
Nakama is Oboro, heir to the Iga clan. Jo Odagiri (Princess Raccoon) is Gen-no-suke, heir to the Koga clan. One fine day they meet by a river and it's love at first sight. They're ready to live happily ever after but their respective clans are not. It seems that the Kogas and Igas are rival ninja clans, and sworn enemies. They've had a truce in place for many years, but now that Ieyasu Tokugawa has succeeded in uniting Japan and becoming shogun, he fears that the clans will use their ninja skills (and they have skills, just you wait) against him. He decrees that the best five warriors from each clan be chosen to compete in a contest, which of course—unknown to them—will be to the death. Gen-no-suke, wishing to buck tradition and just get it on with Oboro (can you blame him?) decides instead to plead with Tokugawa, leaving the village with the other four. Five Iga warriors, including Oboro (didn't see that one coming), take off in pursuit. Long story short: it's time for some hot ninja-on-ninja action.
With the whole romance thing happening, Shinobi occasionally plays like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. It has the same overwhelming sense of importance as well, a far cry from the fast-and-furious ninja films of the early '80s. That being said, Shinobi also knows how to kick ass, and kick ass it does. Each of the warriors has his or her own super-human power, ranging from camouflage and shape shifting abilities to poisonous breath and the ability to slow down time. The combination of the romance and ass-kicking makes for a pretty good movie. And, better yet, the kind of movie you could show your girlfriend and not get in trouble for it. And, did I mention, Yukie Nakama is hot?
Otaku Alert: Shinobi was based on Koga Kinpocho, a novel by Futaro Yamada. Many movies were based on works by Yamada, including the Makai Tensho films.
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