![]() ![]() ![]() Like Ieyasu, Hattori Hanzo and Yagyu Munenori, who also witness the fight, were both real people, and the provinces of Iga and Kouga are real places. ![]() Historical figures and references abound in the story. The opening of the story has Tokugawa Ieyasu witnessing a demonstration by two members of the rival clans of their ninja skills. The two clans have hated each other for 400 years, but are forbidden to fight by an ancient treaty. The main story revolves around two feuding ninja clans, one from the province of Iga, the other from the province of Kouga. If you’re familiar with Shinobi, or some of the other works inspired by Yamada’s novel, you’ll already know the plot. If Kurosawa had done a story about ninjas, this is probably what it would have looked like. Ninja stories often suffer a campy treatment (think masked guys running around in black pajamas sporting headbands that read “NINJA†in English – just in case we had any doubt) but Masaki Segawa’s adaptation elevates the genre to the same level as the high samurai dramas that get so much attention. ![]() There’s always room for another retelling of a really classic story, provided it’s done really well, and Basilisk is done REALLY well. But hey, Shakespeare didn’t exactly invent most of his stories, either. Seasoned ninja fans won’t find much that is genuinely new – the show is an adaptation of Futaro Yamada’s novel “The Kouga Ninja Scrollsâ€, which also inspired the classic live action “Shinobiâ€. I bought volume 1, and tore through it, reading in every spare moment I could get. So hooked, that I started searching the web for all the nifty Basilisk fan stuff I could find (there wasn’t much, although Funimation’s site for the show is quite cool, especially the little “Watch Them Die†section). It was a little slow for me at first, and hard to follow – the club room is noisy, and this is one show where you definitely need to pay close attention to see all the nuances of what is going on – but after a few episodes, I was hooked. I stumbled onto Basilisk through our local anime club. ![]()
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