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Arkard
Joined: 15 Oct 2003
Posts: 677
Location: Poland
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Posted: Sat Jun 03, 2006 4:45 am
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A few days ago I finished the live action movie "Shinobi". A good action film, not exactly a masterpiece but a good work meant for entertainment when you dont have anything better to do. The thing that really surprised me is that I found alot of the movie characters to be heavily influenced by anime.
As I understand, the film is based on the book "Kouga Ninpou Cho" (by Futaro Yamada) which is also the base for the manga and anime series Basilisk, with characters bearing the same names and all. I never got around to either the manga nor the book, so please correct me if all I am writing hear is a bunch of garbage, but to me it seems the creator of the movie (or maybe the book) borrowed from really famous series.
I could swear the whole "sorta drum" music playing in the back was taken right from Naruto. But thats not really much. What really strikes me as odd are the characters. I`d like to try to trace down the sources of some of those characters to anime. But if it turns out it were the anime series that borrowed from them.. well I promise I wont make a fuss. Maybe in the end it will turn out it is only the movie that carries such similarities.
So lets try to find the "fathers and mothers" of these characters.
The Iga Clan:
Oboro
Being only an average ninjutsu user she has a sorta of "Evil Eye". It is basically a ability to see into your opponent body and attack it from the inside, by breaking bones, ripping the intenstens and what not. Is in love with Gennosuke. Could be a totally original character, though the whole "magic eyes" business... yeah, we saw it alot.
Minonenki
Is a sort of beast man with a character of a wild dog. Covered in a skinf of, what appears to be, a wolf. Dont know where he came from, but he Could be an exaggerated Kiba from Naruto, but thats only a wild guess.
Hotarubi
Seems to be an average ninjutsu user, with the ability to create sparkly butterflies to aid her in combat. A shy small girl aiming to be stronger. Absolutely nothing unique here. Maybe someone would recognize her power? Seems I didn't see it anywhere before.
Yakushiji Tenzen
First I thought "wow, this guy looks just like Inuyasha". But that was a sorta joke I told myself. The special ability of Yakushiji seems to be is immortality. In the movie you could see a bunch of "worms" repearing his body after he has been stabbed or slashed. This is clearly the same thing as in Blade of the Immortal, which could`ve been the influence in this case.
Yashamaru
Again, my first thoughts were "This is a total Orochimaru from Naruto". And this time I will stick with this choice. The guy looks really alot like Orochimaru. He is quiet, skillful, though his fighting tactics are a bit strange. He uses some kind of "ropes" coming from inside his robe, from the place his hands should be. Or is he extending his sleeves? Cant really tell. A very quiet person, almost doesnt have any lines And his name does end with -maru, like Orochimaru (I know that it doesnt mean anything but still...).
The Kouga Clan
Gennosuke
Appears to be a skilled shinobi. His special powers include yet another "magic eye" which allow him to see everything in slow motion, thus appearing to be super fast. His burning red eyes remind me alot of the sharingan from Naruto.
Chikuma Koushiro
If it werent for the beard he would look just like an older Sasuke from Naruto. No special powers. Just a good ninja.
Kagerou
Lets see. Her name is Kagerou, she is a ninja and she is a living Poison woman. Man, where did it I see that before. It couldnt have been in Ninja Scroll with the exact same idea of a poisonous ninja woman. Easy here.
Kisaragi Saemon
His special ability seems to be "borrowing faces" which makes him the master of infiltration. What he does is he "rubs" his new face all over his own. No idea where that comes from, maybe someone here does.
Muroga Hyouma
Appears to be yet another highly skilled ninja. No special powers.
So if you are bored please try and amuse yourself by looking into the possible aniem background of these characters.
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Kidder
Joined: 15 May 2006
Posts: 188
Location: Bat country! >.<
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Posted: Sat Jun 03, 2006 8:14 am
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lol that's a pretty interesting analysis of the characters in "Shinobi".
To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if there were some similarities between the characters in most ninja shows. Even the story is one that's been used time and time again, the ol' star-crossed lovers, destined to never be with each other because they were born into opposing clans ("Romeo and Juliet syndrome" as I like to call it).
I wouldn't go so far as to say Basilisk rips-off Naruto, because I'm sure the ideas behind the powers in Naruto were inspired some older manga or story as well. Frankly, while Basilisk is certainly not original, the anime is very entertaining and the movie wasn't too bad.
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Arkard
Joined: 15 Oct 2003
Posts: 677
Location: Poland
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Posted: Sat Jun 03, 2006 9:22 am
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Quote: | I wouldn't go so far as to say Basilisk rips-off Naruto, because I'm sure the ideas behind the powers in Naruto were inspired some older manga or story as well. Frankly, while Basilisk is certainly not original, the anime is very entertaining and the movie wasn't too bad.
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I never meant it this way. All I a msaying is that the movie may have borrowed something (visually wise) from certain anime. Thats also the second reason I am posting this here. Maybe people who actually read the book or have seen Basilisk would tell me just how much of the "original" story actually survived in Shinobi.
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Kidder
Joined: 15 May 2006
Posts: 188
Location: Bat country! >.<
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Posted: Sat Jun 03, 2006 2:05 pm
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Arkard wrote: |
Quote: | I wouldn't go so far as to say Basilisk rips-off Naruto, because I'm sure the ideas behind the powers in Naruto were inspired some older manga or story as well. Frankly, while Basilisk is certainly not original, the anime is very entertaining and the movie wasn't too bad.
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I never meant it this way. All I a msaying is that the movie may have borrowed something (visually wise) from certain anime. Thats also the second reason I am posting this here. Maybe people who actually read the book or have seen Basilisk would tell me just how much of the "original" story actually survived in Shinobi. |
I've not read the manga, but as far as I can tell the movie is fairly similar to the anime althought the ending is quite different In the anime all the ninja involved in the competition die including Oboro and Gennosuke. In the movie, Oboro survives and gouges out her eyes to save her village The outcome is pretty much the same.
The movie does have less characters and also in the movie the Hanzou orders the destruction of both villages, I don't think this happens in the anime.
If I remember correctly the reason for breaking the ceasefire treaty between the clans was also different I think in the anime, the clans were supposed to compete with each other to decide the heir to the throne, whereas in the movie, the Hanzou wanted to destroy both clans because he was afraid of their powers
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