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The first installment in this new OAV series brings back the character of Jubei Yagyu, but not the artists or story line from the popular 1993 feature Ninja Scroll. A baroque mixture of samurai adventures, historic figures (Jubei and Shiro were real people), pseudo-Christian millenialism, and standard anime action, Resurrection is set at the close of the civil wars that led to the unification of Japan in the 17th century. Tokisada Shiro Amakusa is regarded as the Son of God by a group of Christians rebelling against the newly established Tokugawa Shogunate. Jubei tries to negotiate Shiro's surrender to end the rebellion, but fails. The resulting slaughter of Shiro's followers sets in motion a complicated plot involving a prophecy that if the new Savior is rejected, he will be reborn as Satan. Resurrection is exceedingly gory, even by anime standards: heads are split open, a violent rape ends in a bloodbath, a disemboweled warrior fights with his intestines flailing like tentacles, crows pick at cadavers. At a time when Hollywood films and TV shows are being blamed for youth violence in America, viewers may wonder why such bloody entertainments haven't produced real-life violence in Japan. --Charles Solomon
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