Basilisk: Ouka Ninpouchou (2018) — Story, Release Date, Rating

Synopsis:

A decade after a long-standing conflict concluded, a fragile peace exists between the Iga and Kouga ninja clans. The narrative centers on Hachirou Kouga and Hibiki Iga, heirs to their families' legacies, whose developing relationship becomes a focal point amidst simmering political unrest. However, the resolution of the previous war remains contested, with conflicting accounts of the final battle casting a shadow over the present harmony.

The story explores how historical narratives shape contemporary tensions, as old grievances threaten to reignite the divisions that once defined these clans. It examines the challenges faced by individuals striving for connection when burdened by the weight of tradition and political expectations. The anime offers a contemplative look at the complexities of peace, love, and the enduring impact of past conflicts on future generations within a meticulously crafted historical setting.

Trailer:

Streaming Platforms:

Crunchyroll

Episodes:

Episode 1: The Cherry Blossoms Have Fallen (Aired: 01/09/2018)
Episode 2: The Five Treasures Have Arrived (Aired: 01/16/2018)
Episode 3: The Kouga Must Die (Aired: 01/23/2018)
Episode 4: The Joujinshuu Appear (Aired: 01/30/2018)
Episode 5: The Cherry Blossoms Run Mad (Aired: 02/06/2018)
... and 19 more episodes

Characters:

Iga, Hibiki (Main) - Voice Actors: Minase, Inori, Harris, Jill
Kouga, Hachirou (Main) - Voice Actors: Hatanaka, Tasuku, Berry, Morgan, Fajardo, Ricco
Hachisu (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Hayami, Saori, Lauda, Brittany
Hagura, Shichigen (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Ichiki, Mitsuhiro, Reynolds, Ryan, Chapin, Clifford
Himonji, Kasou (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Yamaguchi, Ryuu, Wald, David
Iga, Oboro (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Mizuki, Nana, Bailey, Laura
Irootoroe, Itsuma (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Murai, Yuuji, Johnson, Jeff
Ishi, Saizou (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Tokuishi, Katsuhiro, Greene, Jarrod, Etheridge, Marti
Joujin (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Hashi, Takaya, Jenkins, Bill
Koura, Shikibu (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Ochiai, Fukushi, Rojas, Michelle, Rinehart, Tyson
Kujaku, Tsuibamu (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Toyonaga, Toshiyuki, McInnis, Brandon
Kusanagi, Kazuma (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Kirimoto, Takuya, Trosko, Dave
Namenba (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Nazuka, Kaori, Garrett, Morgan
Negoro, Gorone (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Miki, Shinichiro, Jewell, Jerry
Neiri, Chiou (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Sasaki, Umeji, Green, Kenny
Rinne, Magoroku (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Tsuchida, Hiroshi, Williams, Kent
Rui (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Ueda, Reina, Tirado, Jeannie
Shichito, Geiin (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Cho, Powell, Steve
Shogyou, Kareha (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Sakaki, Kousuke, Hawkins, Brad
Suiren, Shuugetsu (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Sakurai, Tooru, Stimac, Marcus D.
Tokugawa, Tadanaga (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Okano, Yuu, Shipman, Matt
Tsuta, Houetsu (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Chafurin, George, Cris
Utsutsu (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Sakura, Ayane, Saxton, Jad
Yasha, Itaru (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Horie, Yui, Connors, Amber Lee
Yusa, Tenshin (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Tou, Shouhei, Moore, Ian

Staff:

Hidaka, Isao (Producer)
Suzuki, Renta (Producer)
Nishimura, Junji (Director, Episode Director, Script, Storyboard)
Yokota, Chikako (Sound Director)
Takayama, Hideki (Episode Director)
Oonishi, Shinsuke (Script, Series Composition)
Iwahata, Gouichi (Storyboard)
Nakayama, Takehiro (Storyboard, Key Animation)
Toukairin, Shinichi (Storyboard)
Mizuki, Nana (Theme Song Performance)
Onmyo-za (Theme Song Performance)
Aohachi, Yoshinobu (Key Animation)
Fukunaga, Gen (Executive Producer)
Hagio, Keita (Key Animation)
Hashimoto, Takayoshi (Animation Director, Key Animation)
Kaizu, Toshiko (Art Director)
Kanno, Sachiko (Assistant Director)
Kitaoka, Tadashi (Director of Photography)
Kosuge, Kazuhisa (Character Design)
LAN (Key Animation)
Maki, Takao (Character Design, Chief Animation Director)
Matsushita, Takuya (Executive Producer)
Mishima, Akio (Planning)
Nakanishi, Go (Executive Producer)
Nakao, Fusako (Color Design)
Park, Chi-Man (Key Animation)
Park, Kyeong Sook (In-Between Animation)
Sakabe, Gou (Music)
Segawa, Masaki (Original Character Design)
Seki, Kazuhiko (Editing)
Tateishi, Kensuke (Executive Producer)
Tsukuma, Takenori (Key Animation)
Walker, Tyler (ADR Director)
Yamamoto, Megumi (Background Art)
Yoshiba, Osamu (Planning)

Reviews:

User Kikyou_chan (Score: 2/10):
There will be some spoilers, as I point out how stupid the story is. This is so bad. I've got a rule, which does backlash sometimes, that I do not criticise anything before seeing it to the end. A complete waste of time. I watched it because the old one is on the top of my fav list. I've heard it's bad, but if it's simmilar to the old series, it should be at least decent, right? Right? Uh, no. Let's start with storyline. So, apparently, Oboro gave birth to twins. Oboro, who was not pregnant at any time (pregnancy is only possible to hide ifthere is a single, small baby, and woman is a bit plump, not a case for twins and tiny Oboro). The story was fast-paced, there were no possibilities for a pregnancy and birth to go unnoticed. It just doesn't make any sense at all. The rest of it, how the characters are set up in obvious couples, their backstories, the current relationship between Kouga and Iga... It's like written by a 12yo. Heck, I've seen stories better than that written by schoolkids.nnCharacters? Manequins is more appropriate a word. No personalities. One one hand they are set up in relationships, on the other hand there is no chemistry at all. The ninjutsu is silly, someone lacked creativity coming up with those. A bunch of unhappy childhoods, dissapointed by adults, found friendship and wanting to die for leaders. Because. Kouga leader an emo boy hiding away, Iga leader having a tea-house to save cash (or whatever that shop was, I don't even remember). Really? One of them having a technique which resembles Hotarubi's butterflies. Actually, the only interesting technique was the floating eyeballs.nnArt is average, not awful, yet not good enough to watch it purely for aesthetics.nnTLDR; a dissapointment.
User RuroniHS (Score: 2/10):
This is quite possibly THE worst anime I've ever seen. It doesn't have the worst animation in the world, and the opening theme is kinda cool, but aside from that, this show spits on its predecessor. And just when I thought the show couldn't get any dumber, it did. The first thing that had me scratching my head was the fact that the main characters can even exist at all. Simply put, their parents never had a chance to bang in the original series. But, whatevs. They wanted a sequel so we can suspend some disbelief. However, they completely change the lore of their twotechniques, adding in the Ouka, something that didn't exist in the original series and was basically pulled out of this writer's ass. The contradictions go on and on. nnBut, all of this would be forgivable if it was used to tell a good story. Spoilers: it wasn't. The thing that made the original show so good was seeing how the shinobi utilized their bizarre techniques. In Ouka Ninja Scrolls, the abilities are so watered down and boring, and aren't even used in creative ways. In the original there was the girl who could drain blood with skin contact, so she had to use her feminine wiles to seduce and deceive her enemies. In Ouka, the equivalent girl just stands there and induces lust. Much less interesting. Essentially, all the abilities and how they are used are much less interesting, which is a shame because that's what makes ninja fighting shows good. nnBut the worst part of it all is the story. SPOILERS AHEAD... not that you should care. The main villain is a discount version of Pain from Naruto. He wants people to know suffering so they'll choose peace, need more war, blah blah blah. But apparently he needs Nobunaga to do it. Yes, THAT Nobunaga. Why can't he just be the warlord? Dunno. He's got a castle that magically appears and is moving to Edo. Why can't the castle just appear by Edo? Dunno. In order to revive Nobunaga he needs the main characters to kill each other... or bang. Doesn't matter which. I've got no words for that one. And it just goes on and on getting worse and worse.nnSeriously, this anime is like peeling the layers of the Stupid Onion. I've seen some dumb shit, and sometimes I even like dumb shit, but this is not even so bad it's good. This is just bad to the core. Save yourself 8 hours and learn how to use Microsoft Excel instead. You'll have more fun.
User Karhu (Score: 5/10):
Ever wanted an anime like Naruto except the Ninja world is ran by bunch of kids who are into incest? Well here is a little something for your specific taste. Basilisk Ouka Whatever is a pretty fun anime when it comes to ninjutsu arts and samurai swordo fights. All sort of obscure weapons are wielded, blood splat, and body count is nothing but a number in this cold ninja world. This raises the question: Why fight tho? This because the world consists of two different ninja clans and they don't like each others very much, so naturally they want to slap each others shit and kill everyonewho doesn't share their blood line. nnUnfortunately, different opinions exits even within these prideful clans, some type of romeo Et juliet level side tracking plotlines start rolling in from here and there. Could an alliance like this actually give the world piece and unite the two ninja clans? Let me put it in this way: the entirety of the story could have been told in 4 episodes, but for some reason it is 24 long.nnMost of our characters are generic and old fashioned in the typical samurai/ninja way. Rational thinking and fair judgement are only in the way when these warriors give their review. The important part is to preach your own flawless bullshit. The most original factor of our cast lies not within their personalities and characteristics, but in their ninja powers.nnThe foolish pride with the rather black'n white world create somewhat interesting settings for the main story and the lead kids who are not yet molded and influenced by it all to their very cores. I was able to enjoy this series more than I expected thanks to this factor. It's rather interesting to witness what type of decisions our kids make and what type of people they develop into. This is the biggest reason why I didn't drop the show.nnProduction wise, some interesting music choices have been made, and the art quite well captures the world the story takes place into. Other than that, not much is worth of noting.nnI.e. quite average series which can easily be seen as both: bad and fine. I enjoyed the good things in it rather than was annoyed by the bad.
... and 2 more reviews

News:

North American Anime & Manga Releases for July (07/01/2019)
North American Anime & Manga Releases for April (04/01/2019)
Winter 2018 Simulcast List [Update 1/24] (01/01/2018)
Winter 2018 Preview (12/15/2017)
Upcoming Anime 'Basilisk: Ouka Ninpouchou' Announces Additional Cast Members (11/24/2017)
TV Anime 'Basilisk: Ouka Ninpouchou' Announces Cast and Staff members (10/12/2017)
'Basilisk: Kouga Ninpouchou' Receives Sequel Series (07/19/2017)

Forum Topics:

External Links:

Related Anime/Manga:

Basilisk: Kouga Ninpou Chou (anime - Prequel)
Basilisk: Ouka Ninpouchou (manga - Adaptation)

Genres: Action, Drama, Historical, Martial Arts, Seinen
Themes: Historical, Martial Arts
Demographics: Seinen
Studios: Seven Arcs Pictures
Producers: Glovision, King Records, Kodansha, Universal Entertainment
Licensors: Funimation
Rating: 5.55 / 10
Rank: #12274
Popularity: #3851
Users Listed: 40,959
Users Scored: 11,445
NSFW: No
Last Updated: 11/05/2022
Aired: January 9, 2018 – June 19, 2018 (Winter)
Type: tv
Source: manga
Age Rating: R
Episodes: 24
Broadcast: Tuesday at 00:00 (JST)

Basilisk: Ouka Ninpouchou