Review of Basilisk: Vol 5

Introduction

All of a sudden, I`m looking forward to a volume of Basilisk. I wouldn`t have expected it on the strength of the first half of the series, which boiled down to a WWE tournament between freakishly powered ninjas. The Romeo & Juliet tagline that was used to sell the series appeared to have been forgotten, and then volume 4 turned up. All of a sudden, story and character were back in the frame, the obvious freaks had been eliminated, and the few ninja left were more human, with understandable motivations. Basilisk was finally becoming the show that it had initially promised to be, which made this volume go straight to the bottom of the to watch pile, something I do with all titles that I wish to savour. We`re getting all penultimate with volume 5 of Basilisk, and this time there were no player compatibility problems for me to fret about.

It`s 1614 and the reign of Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu is coming to an end. There are two possible heirs, but the court at Edo is split over which one. Rather than see the nation dissolve into bitter warfare once more, the Shogun decides that the successor will be decided by a proxy war. For decades the Iga and Kouga ninja families have had an uneasy external antiwar pact imposed upon them. But seeing the proficiency of the ninja on both sides, Ieyasu decides to lift the pact, and select ten ninja from each side to battle in the name of his would be successors. The last family standing will determine who will next rule Japan. This isn`t good news for Gennosuke Kouga and Oboro Iga, who have fallen in love, and whose impending wedding was expected to finally seal the peace between the two families. But there are those on either side who are all too keen to see the fighting resume and old scores settled.

In the previous volume, Gennosuke had decided to seek an audience with the Shogun, to understand why this war was demanded of them. It was a relatively uneventful journey by land for the Kouga, but for the Iga, who decided to travel by sea to cut them off, it was a more traumatic experience. First a Kouga ninja stowed away on their vessel, and then Oboro`s supposedly loyal retainer Tenzen decided that she needed to learn the ways of the world, and give up her nigh on traitorous hopes for Gennosuke.

As this volume begins, the Kouga and Iga journeys to Sunpu near their conclusions. Attrition has taken its toll on both parties, and from the initial ten combatants, each side now only has four left. The death toll is about to increase, as the Iga ambush the Kouga, and a battle of the blind commences. Deceit and misdirection are the order of the day, and both sides finally learn just why they have been made to fight each other.

Video

The 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer for Basilisk is very impressive. I`m used to NTSC-PAL transfers of anime to look a little soft, and exhibit a degree of jerkiness in the pans. This is practically absent in Basilisk, as the image is sharp and clear, and the animation is fluid and smooth. There is a hint of noise around moments of fast motion, but you would have to pause the disc to really notice. It`s filled with imaginative character designs that take a leaf out of Ninja Scroll`s book, while the less outlandish characters have a beauty and elegance to their designs that is very appealing. The show has a muted look and reduced palette that play up a very gothic feel to the show, and as you would expect from Gonzo, the animation is superb, especially in the action sequences.

Audio

It`s a dual language title as is typical for an anime disc, with DD 5.1 English and DD 2.0 Japanese accompanied by translated English subtitles and signs. The theme tunes are the sort of soft rock that would suit a group heavy on leather and lace. My usual preference as always was the Japanese track; the dialogue is clear and the stereo does a good job of conveying the action. I sampled the English track, and as you would expect the surrounds are put to work with the action scenes, giving the whole affair an extra oomph. It`s one of those tracks however, where the sound effects are much more prominent and louder than the dialogue. The English dub is pretty good though.

Features

You get the usual jacket picture, animated menus, textless songs and trailers for Black Cat and Gun Sword.

Once again there is a Behind The Scenes featurette. This collects episodes 9&10 of the Basidisk extra from the Japanese first run DVDs. This time around voice actors Yasashi Miyabayashi (Hyoma) and Misa Watanabe (Akeginu) join Kousuke Toriumi (Gennosuke) and Risa Hayamizu (Kagero). The episodes total over an hour in length and we get some insight into the characters, the VA`s choose their favourite scenes from the episodes, answer fan mail, talk about certain aspects of Basilisk, and at the end there is a wake held for the Basilisk characters that kicked the bucket in the relevant episodes. There is also a set of ongoing interviews with the members of ONMYO-ZA, the j-pop band that recorded the anime`s theme song. It all finishes with a brief poetry reading (Don`t worry, it isn`t as dry as it seems).

Conclusion

The rehabilitation of Basilisk continues, with a fifth volume that is even better than the fourth, continuing to finally deliver on the premise of tragic lovers, with more attention being paid to character and story. At this rate, the second half of the series will redeem the first, and make investing all that time worthwhile. I think the last two volumes have benefited from having the ninja freaks and weirdoes eliminated early on. The characters that remain are more human and easier to empathise with. And contrary to my previous declamations, I finally found myself developing sympathy for the characters in Basilisk, and characters from both sides of the proxy war at that. More than that, the absence of the `ninja chaff` means that the kernel of a story gets time to develop. With fewer characters in the mix, their back stories are explored to a greater extent, the character interactions get greater focus, and I finally get to know some of these people, and just what is motivating them. I`ve said it before but… If only Basilisk had started out this way…

There are just a few warriors left at this point, and while their clan loyalties mean that they are just as determined to kill the opposition as ever, they finally have time to take stock and try to understand their situations. Both sides have been manipulated by the Shogunate, ordered to fight and kill at their whim, and that`s as it should be, given their status as vassals of the Shogun. But the pure hatred that motivated the rivalry at first gave way to mutual respect in the previous volume, and now through the slaughter, both sides are beginning to understand each other. Gennosuke has his own crisis of faith, when another of his clan falls, and he starts second guessing himself. Iga warrior Koshiro has a crisis of conscience, as he tries to understand why he is fighting. Kouga warrior Saemon wavers when he has an Iga assassin in his sights, and for once I was convinced that he was going to show mercy. The tragic elements of the Romeo & Juliet adaptation are becoming apparent and the show is all the stronger for it.

With both sides` numbers whittled down even further, and a confrontation with the Shogun imminent, the question is raised that even if they can stop the war at this point, will it be worth it to do so? It`s one of the strengths of the story, in that with such a bleak and relentless darkness at its heart, it still offers a smidgen of hope. The disc ends on a rather delicious cliff-hanger, which naturally makes the wait for the final volume all the more agonising, again something I wouldn`t have said about Basilisk two volumes ago. Come to think about it, this may be a first from Gonzo, as usually their concept anime start strong and fizzle out at the end. Basilisk may be doing it the other way around.