Product Description

Contains the entire Basilisk series…from the ill-fated start to finish.

Feudal Japan is set to bear witness to the bloody clash of titans as two fearsome ninja tribes are unleashed, one upon the other. For wretched within the Edo Castle loyalties have been severed into warring factions, as two sons struggle to inherit the title of Shogun. If this rupture goes unresolved, the Tokugawa kingdom will be torn apart. A solution must be found, one befitting a samurai family.

The Kouga and the Iga, two ninja clans with four hundred years of hostilities between them, meet at the request of Lord Ieyasu. There they learn that the peace forced upon them is to be broken by the whim of royalty, and that the outcome of this battle will determine the next Shogun. The passions of the past quickly reignite as two scrolls are sent out into the night.

Ill-fated is this event indeed, for lovers stand with hands entwined as travesty approaches on the wings of a hawk. Reared from birth as sworn enemies, Gennosuke and Oboro, each the heir of these rival clans, seek lasting peace between their peoples. But the terms have been set, and two lists seal their destinies. Two lists from which a name can only be crossed out in blood.

No mercy will be spared to the enemy...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18584 in DVD
• Brand: Funimation
• Released on: 2007-10-23
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Animated, Box set, Color, Director's Cut, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: Japanese, English
• Number of discs: 6
• Dimensions: 5.00 pounds
• Running time: 600 minutes

Customer Reviews

Hard-Core Ninja Action Anime
The brief description given from the amazon website pretty much gives for the most part the storyline of the series.The animation and audio are by far the best for most series anime the subplots are also very well done.I would like to tell most viewers about the smaller subplots but it would take to long to explain the very core of the ninja characters suffice it to say both the Kouga and Iga ninjas have personal tragedies either in past conflicts with each other or because of the current contest their now competing against each other with.This series is not for children as there is a near rape scene in one episode and a near hentai scene on another episode there is no outright nudity to much except for a few quick topless shots here and there.The dvd video comes in widescreen format and 5.1 english audio or 2.0 japanese audio.The english and japanese voice actors do a superb job with this series and the ending at the end of this though very heart-breaking is one that truly fit with the story.The price of this set is high but if you like anime like Samurai 7 or the movie Shinobi Heart Under Blade this set would be great for your collection.

Great action but clumsy story
Um...this anime was in a talk once in Japan. At first, I held a rather high expectation from it, especially the action in this anime. No doubt, the action is terrific, but only at the beginning. As you might know that the characters are killed one by one. All the people with special skills were killed earlier than the other with less special skill and less action. I think the sturcture is, first action and gradually going to a deeper and more serious issue about the story. Unfortunately, when the story goes deeper, it becomes clumsy and sort of boring....Finally, it seems to turn out to be a 'great love story' out of no where meanwhile it gives up on the other contents, like some political issue and mystery in this story. Even though it has already stated that it has something about the relationship among the characters, it just does not have 'it' to reach my heart, especially for the 2 main characters. Besides, its sudden loss of action really drags it down for some extent. Definitely, I do not want to talk about the details and the ending. In general, the story seems to be incoherent and empty.

It was good, short... but good.
I caught this Anime on the Funimation channel for those that don't know it's a 24/7 Anime Channel by Funimation that showcases some of their new releases and older works 24/7. Basilisk was one of the new shows that they had began airing. To start it off this series is extrememly short, and goes by quite quickly as some episodes are merely recaps. The artistic style and story of Basilisk is an interesting one. Years ago back in the mid 90's I watched a anime movie called "Ninja Scroll" I thought it was amazing at the time since I had never really seen anime before. Years later (12 to be exact) I forgot all about it. Somehow when I watched Basilisk I was captivated by it, but somewhere in the back of my head I kept thinking "I've seen something like this before."

Basilisk story is based around 2 clans of Ninja's that each have a signifigant amount of pride and hold on to the past way too much. Each of these clans have been at war with eachother for centuries. Finally a truce was made on the bounds of love, but once that love was broken bitter feelings between the clans reimerge. My best advice to anyone that watches Basilisk is don't pick a favorite character. Episode after episode these Ninja's fight eachother to the brutal death.

Now going back to what I was saying earlier, this anime had reminded me much of a previous one I saw called "Ninja Scroll". I actually had to find and rewatch Ninja Scroll to find out what was bugging my mind all this time. I was very suprised by my results after watching Ninja Scroll again. Basilisk almost word per word copies the fighting style and abilities of the Ninja's from Ninja Scroll. Although the plots are different there are many eliments where you can see had a heavy influence on Basilisk.

Eventhough it is understood that Ninja Scroll and Basalisk were made in the image of an even older Story called "Kouga Ninja Scrolls," I couldn't shake the fact that Basilisk stole the overall artistic style of Ninja Scroll. From the way the Ninjas fight right down to their attitudes, Basilisk really is a carbon copy. It's like lining two artist up together, and giving them asking them to paint a flower vase. One artist is going to paint the vase from his point of view using his style and his artistic eye, while the artist next to him, instead of using their own style, just looks at the other artist canvas and copies the painting that they created. Now that flower Vase could have been painted anysort of way by that second artist if they chose to use their own eyes and talents to create it, but since they copied off the artist next to them, the painting isn't their own, it's only a copy of what the first artist was seeing through his eyes. Basilisks is pretty much that second artist. It just isn't orignal and loses its credibility once you see where the ideas came from.

Even if both Anime's are based of an old story, there is no reason for them to have the same design style, character models, and artistic style. For me this is what took away from Basilisk, because in its own right it is a very nice Anime, the story is unique, it looks good, it's entertaining to watch, but I can't get passed the fact that it robs concepts from Ninja Scroll. overall I still recommend Basilisk again it's not a bad Anime, but if you've watched Ninja Scroll and are a die hard fan you may not be so in to it. For the record I give this Anime 5 stars as it is alone a great Anime, but its style reminds me too much about Ninja Scroll which is why it takes away from it.