Female Ninjas Magic Chronicles: Legend of Yagyu Part 1 (1998)

The other review hit the major points. A screaming howler of a bad movie. The version I saw was subtitled in English. I really wished I knew Japanese because I'm sure plenty of "entertainment" was lost in translation.I'm not a Ninja movie fan, and the fight sequences are poorly shot - edited - directed, so I found it funny that during fight sequences you just had to wait to the end to see who would loose body parts. The high pressure misting blood was classic! C'mon! The shear goofyness was bizarre! This was based on a story and I kept wondering who made more trips to the Opium Den? The original story writer, the one who adapted it to the screen, or the Director? In one scene a hero & heroine fall through a trap door into a slime pit rife with the remnants of others. As they think on how to escape our heroine mentions the hero will need a sharp blade upon their escape. Wouldn't you know a virgin's blood would be just the trick. Let the fornication begin! The nasty bad guy is appalled they would have the gall to have sex in his Pit O' Death and starts shooting arrows at the copulating couple. Our hero dances and parries about with his good woman still mounted. His sword slicing each arrow. Cut to an extreme close up of the shining blade deftly held for one drop of blood to sing the blade electric! Now that's "Bad Cinema" at it's best and there is plenty more.

A perfect late night cable movie. SPOILER ALERT Fetching lady ninjas, assisted by master swordsman Jubei, son of Yagyu, fight a corrupt lord and his demonic warriors. Some ladies do get killed off, but they take the bad guys out with them. This is all tied into establishing the Tokugawa shogunate in 1600s Japan, in a very roundabout way. A striking, incoherent jumble of vivid color cinematography, lightning fast edits, gory ninja fights, and supernatural revenge story. The FX laden fights are intricately choreographed, lit and shot. When the lady ninjas' tops come off, AND THEY ALWAYS DO, they fight injustice with their "nipple power pulse", and the even naughtier "returning echo". Bottom line: for jaded samurai fans who want that extra pinch of wasabi. BC

There's quite a lot to recommend in Kunoichi: Lady Ninja, but you have to be prepared for the bad that comes with the good. First, the good stuff: this film looks terrific. Media Blasters print is letterboxed and subtitled, and Shoji Ebara's cinematography is at times breathtaking, echoing the best of Japanese cinema. Action fans will also enjoy the copious amounts of bloodshed and endless fight scenes, some of them staged very imaginatively. Now the not so good: Kunoichi reflects the ambivalence toward women seen in popular Japanese culture. Our proto-feminist heroines shed their outfits with remarkable ease, use ridiculous special powers located in their nipples and nether regions (these animated sequences are particularly embarrassing), and are subjected to some rather grueling rape and torture sequences that had this viewer squirming with discomfort. There are moments of great beauty in this film, offset by the kind of childish misogyny that will set most western viewers teeth on edge. Just be prepared.

This is trash but it's somewhat entertaining. Young Lady Ninjas on a revenge trip with lots of strange special effects and cuts that make you dizzy. You guess there is a fight but you can't see what's happening until the fight ends and a huge blood fountain gushes out of one of the fighters. I only saw this movie because I was too early for the film I really wanted to see and that was the only choice. It wasn't boring but I wouldn't recommend this film to anybody.(4/10)