MOVIE COMPANY: YOUMEX / MEDIA-BLASTERS / ANIME WORKS
DIRECTED BY: Directed by Eiji Suganuma
PRODUCED BY: Hiroshi Tazaki and Kinya Watanabe
RATING: This anime is rated for 13 and up
COMPANY WEBSITE: Â http://www.media-blasters.com/
TYPE OF MOVIE: Comedy
DURATION: 60 minutes
Feudal Japan – a time of warfare, where mysterious ninja magic and merciless martial arts are used by both sides in a bloody battle between the Byakuro and and the evil Kabusu clan. Now, the Kabuso are about to unleash their most devious plan yet – kidnap the infant Byakuro princess who possesses an incredible power. Alas, an honorable ninja manages to escape with the royal cherub and sends the baby off to be raised in hiding.
Years later an energetic young group of Ninja Cadets is about to be put through their final exam – to see if they possess the skills of true ninja. Their assignment: sneak into the occupied Byakuro castle and steal a secret scroll. Soon, our young Ninja cadets Sakura, Pochi, Matsuri, Hayashi, Yume and their instructor Kaoru, are split into pairs and continue with their mission.
Little do they know that the evil Kabusu Clan have hired highly skilled mercenaries to follow them, knowing that one of the young Ninja Cadets is actually the princess …but which one is she? Brought to you by Youmex, the creative team behind the popular Bubblegum Crisis series, Ninja Cadets features cute girls, non-stop ninja action and a real Ninja Scroll!
Contains both episodes on one DVD!
DVD EXTRAS:
• Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
• Color
• Dubbed in English / Japanese / English subtitles
• Never-Before-Seen Bloopers
• Art Gallery
• Trailers
KNOWN DVD SECRET(S):Â None that I know of
DVD REVIEW:
Ninja Cadets! aka “Ninja Mono” in Japan is a story that combines the sword busting of Ninja Scroll with the wackiness of Tenchi Muyou. My only problem with this DVD is that there are only two OAV’s and that there will be no more OAV’s afterwards. In other words, you are left with a storyline that begs to have more afterwards. You watch and enjoy the anime but are left saying…I want to watch more!…but for now, there are no plans for more.
As for the video, the quality is really colorful and the video, I’m guessing is only stereo because I didn’t notice anything major ala 5.1.
The extras are pretty interesting with about 11 trailers to other Media-Blasters anime releases and the outtakes are very fun to watch. Also, a 5-minute art gallery. I hope Media-Blasters adds them to all their DVD’s. My only problem is the dubbed voice when you enter each menu. It’s very childlike and it’s obviously the voice for Sakura but I felt I was going to watch a children’s animation and this anime is far from that.
I’m glad they offered the series both in dub and in original Japanese with English subtitles for us purists.
A good DVD but disappointed that the story ended like it did with no future episodes planned at this time.
THE ANIME:Â B+
THE DVD EXTRAS:Â B+
THE DVD OVERALL:Â B+