"Yotoden"/"Wrath of the Ninja" (Anime)

[pkristen]

3 part OVA that was edited into a Movie

Originally written July 15, 2001

Summary
Based loosely on historical events of the “warlord states period” (circa 1580), this movie follows the mythical tale of three survivors of the original ninja shadow schools. These three survivors (Ayanosuke, Sakon and Ryoma) all possess magical weapons which are prophesied to be united at a time to save the world.

Review
I admit I only heard about this series because it was recommended to me by a visitor to this site (Thanks!) Otherwise, it never would have registered in my interest radar simply because I’m just not by nature a ninja/warlord/samurai kind of otaku. (The few exceptions on my review list otherwise have a definite babe factor to them.)

So with that admission being made, I don’t think it’s really fair for me to make any attempt to write a review for subject matter that had low appeal to me in general, especially since there’s a lot of historical tidbits thrown in that went right over my head. As a regular anime otaku, however, I can say that the animation is okay, with some apparently rough spots that shows a bit of datedness to it. But the three main leads and immediate supporting characters seem to have an attempt at being fleshed out, but not really much beyond still being stereotypes of sorts.

Also, this movie was made by taking the three volume OVA “Yotoden” and splicing it together with additional footage in some places, and deletions in others. This point is crucial because it makes a big difference in the lesbian analysis I’m going to write.

Lesbian Analysis
Because the cast is not that big in terms of significant characters, I’m going to blatantly focus on two of them: Ayanosuke and Kikyo, Ryoma’s little sister.

Ayanosuke: Originally named Ayame, a survivor of the Kasumi Ninja clan only because a monster destroyed her town overnight and her brother sent her away with the “magic sword” so there would be at least one survivor. She even admits she’s not the best representative of her clan having survived by default. This admission actually fits in with what I saw as her character: an overwhelmed but determined woman who sheds her femininity and her identity to fulfill a task of vengeance and prophecy.

The biggest yet most subtle difference for her characterization between the OVA and Movie is that both start off with her being mistaken for a man because she’s wearing a cloak from head to toe. She quickly sheds it during a fight with bandits but from that point on, it becomes extremely murky when other characters start to view her as a woman, which is kind of laughable if they don’t because she wears a modified mini-dress throughout the entire series and her curves aren’t hidden. (True, they’re not THAT accentuated, but she’s not that flat in her figure.)

In the first section of the movie (which equates to the first volume of the OVA), there is a specific scene ADDED right after she, Sakon and Ryoma all gather together at Ryoma’s fortress home for the first time. After everyone has the deep discussion about the threat of the enemy and the prophecy of their weapons, Ryoma leads them along with his sister outside and comments how it would be great to have a bath to clear their thoughts. Ayanosuke pauses and, obviously troubled, excuses herself to go spend some time by herself at the nearby creek instead — which is puzzling to everyone. To me, it was as if this scene was added to perpetuate the idea that she’s actually trying to impersonate a man and is afraid of revealing her gender by going bathing with everyone. Otherwise, there’s no story value to this scene, which is obvious since the OVA volume was done without it.

Now, for such an important character point of angst, one would think there would be some development in the movie where she reveals (or someone finds out) she’s really a woman, but no such scene happens. Yet everyone reacts to her as a woman from that point onward — especially since her outfit for the second section/OVA volume is definitely more curve revealing.

Given the scenes which were edited down or cut in this first section/volume, the public perception of her gender is important. So with that “let’s bathe” scene in mind, I’m moving forward with the perception that in the OVA, once revealed, Ayanosuke is perceived as a woman by everyone, whereas in the movie, she’s initially perceived as a man, especially through her scenes with Kikyo. This is especially supported by the fact that the English subtitles for the OVAs all use female pronouns and words when referring to her whereas the movie takes a neutral stance.

Kikyo: Ryoma’s little sister who sacrifices herself for Ayanosuke when the demons attack their fortress home in the first OVA volume.

Kikyo’s introduction scene in the OVA is cut from the movie, which causes two distinct differences.

# One: You don’t immediately realize she’s Ryoma’s little sister — because that’s how they greet each other upon her appearance. When I saw her in the movie (having seen it before the OVA), I thought she was his wife at first.

# Two: Camera shot shows she notices the handsome Sakon behind her brother, and then she REALLY notices Ayanosuke, who in turn notices her stare. Kikyo blushes and drops her gaze in response, but still gives a quick lingering glance over her shoulder. And she continues to stare at Ayanosuke from the background in the enemy/prophecy scene (which is also shown in the movie, and really raised my eyebrows given that I thought she was Ryoma’s wife at the time.)

The second major scene of interaction between Ayanosuke and Kikyo is when the former is sitting by the creek at night time to watch the fireflies. It’s a scene which remains intact for both versions and has some interesting things to note about it:

# When Kikyo comes up behind Ayanosuke, the latter knows its her without even turning around. Not bad for an insecure ninja who just met this person that same day.

# Lots of romantic, soft lighting because of the fireflies, and there’s even mood music.

# It’s the scene where Ayanosuke gets to confess her insecurities over her survivorship of the clan as well as missing her departed brother. She breaks down in tears as she talks, and Kikyo tears up in response. In the movie, one really has to push the envelope to think Kikyo perceives Ayanosuke as a really sensitive kind of guy, especially since “he” admitted he was such a crybaby in his youth.

The third major scene is when the demons attack the fortress and Ayanosuke attacks the leader, causing them both to drop a hundred feet to their near death.

These are the pieces that remain in both versions:

# Kikyo was horrified that Ayanosuke may have been killed, and then throws herself on the ninja in a full body hug in joy when it’s apparent Ayanosuke survived.

# She sees the dying demon attempt a final attack at Ayanosuke by firing darts so she throws herself in the way and is therefore hit instead.

# After finally killing the demon, Ayanosuke is horrified and tearful that Kikyo is dying because she saved her life.

Now, what’s cut from the movie but is in the OVA for that scene:

# During the extremely brief “I’m glad you survived the fall” celebration scene is a couple of key moments where Kikyo starts off confessing something to Ayanosuke, but she’s cutoff.

# As Kikyo’s dying, there is more romantic-type dialogue exchanged between the two of them that’s cut, and another attempt by Kikyo to confess something.

# Because the fortress battle is still going on, Ayanosuke carries the dying Kikyo around for a bit before Kikyo begs her to join the fight, which Ayanosuke does unwillingly.

# When Kikyo dies, Ayanosuke is in complete tears and wails how there was just “so much more” she wanted to say to her. (So she also had a confession? I wonder if it was the same thing. Hmmm…)

# A stoic Ryoma is standing ten feet behind Ayanosuke grieving over the dead Kikyo. I’m thinking “excuse me but isn’t that her brother, who should be a little more affected than someone who met her that day?”

The final Ayanosuke/Kikyo scene that is in the OVA but completely cut from the movie is the funeral at Kikyo’s grave:

# Ryoma just thinks a parting thought of how he’ll miss her.

# Ayanosuke on the other hand, makes a silent request for Kikyo to wait for her because she vows to return when the whole enemy/prophecy thing is over.

So, if you want the really lesbian version, get the OVA volume 1. If you want the suspiciously neutral version, get the movie. You want to do the comparison that I did, get both.

Moving on to further analysis about Ayanosuke’s general orientation I have to look at her interactions with Sakon, the other surviving ninja. I didn’t get the other two volumes of the OVA so all of the comments below are based on the movie only. Even though he keeps it “hidden” for the first half of the story, Sakon clearly has a thing for an otherwise clueless Ayanosuke. His orientation is not the one in question or for analysis. What is important is Ayanosuke’s reaction to his more obvious romantic overtures.

# When he leaves the band because he disagrees with their reasons for fighting, he asks what her female name was. She tells him. He caresses her face, calls her “Ayame” and tells her to survive. She just kind of stands there, obviously taking in a realization of his feelings for her. But she doesn’t stop him or call him back or asks to discuss this revelation further.

# She goes to see him in his new home in a cave and he kisses her. She doesn’t react at first but then slaps him before leaving. This is an interesting contrast to the intense and immediate bonding she had with Kikyo (though, it’s true she and Kikyo didn’t kiss, but one can’t help but feel the reaction wouldn’t have been the same.)

# During the final battle, Sakon saves her life several times and ends up dying for her. In his death speech he comments how he wanted so many times to talk to her as a man would talk to a woman, and she comments that it’s an okay idea. Even though she’s agreeing, she’s not showing anywhere near the emotion she displayed at Kikyo’s death.

# In the end of the movie (I don’t know if the OVA is different), she confesses she was looking for a place to die since her home was destroyed. She decides to live because Sakon sacrificed his life for her to live.

Because of the Sakon factor, I would be willing to label Ayanosuke as bisexual, but I do find it interesting that she didn’t react or bond with him as well or as intensely as she did with Kikyo (at least in the OVA version.)