The story of the 1993 Ninja Scroll is simple enough, and predictable at the most significant moments, but it pulls you in with well-developed characters-- formidable enough to make you root for them until the very end.
The main characters are studies in contrast, but they are similar in that they are individuals not searching for their place in the ninja world, but seek to find purpose, knowing they do not belong to it. Belonging to neither the government or any ninja clan, Kibagami Jubei is a hero of sorts, his services paid for by people who cannot afford the services of ninja clans. This is apparent from the very beginning of his tale, when a bandit he just defeated questions his way of living. He lives only within his means, even if his strength and skills can afford him so much more. With Jubei there are no wasted movements, no unnecessary words, no unncessary actions, no unnecessary deaths. He takes life only when necessary, and, as he himself declared, hates those who throw away their life so easily.
Kagero is Koga clan's poison-taster, a position dangerous for anyone but Kagero. This position is important, because it is indelibly tied to her suicidal character, in stark contrast with Jubei's. Kagero is a kunoichi who, as Dakuan accurately describes, "is made perfectly for this hellish world." She is beautiful, a fact remarked upon not only once or twice by different male characters in the movie and she has a unique power: any man who makes love to her, or even kisses her lips, will be killed instantly. Her entire body is seeped with poison. This is her tragedy, one of her clansmen claims. Such statement is interesting, not in the least because the tragedy lies not in her power, but in the fact that no one sees her apart from her sexual value, or lack of it. And they, her clansmen no less, think it tragic that she can never enjoy a man's penis.
Still, Kagero works with the clan, and even despite them. She shows her steel will at her very first appearance, where she cuts off her topknot to show her resolve to be one with her clan in such a dangerous mission, the only woman to do so. Her womanhood itself, it seems, is her ammunition, but she does not content herself with that. She is a well-rounded kunoichi, skilled in the art of shuriken, or swords, and can hold her ow n against enemy ninjas. In an attack by the Devils of Kimon, she survives, the only one to do so. Having nothing else, no clan, no identity, she bravely carries on the will of the clan's lord though it is apparent he cares little for the clan's welfare. She makes it her mission, though it may end in death, to find information about the dark shogun. As the story progresses one would think she has resigned herself to her death, and it is the way everybody else sees her fate. Dakuan later verbalizes Kagero's predicament, albeit harshly:"It's just a ninja woman lost, who cares?" After all she is beseeched by several problems, and all at once: she is Without a clan, without a real master, and she can never marry because of her body. In fact this is the way even Kagero sees herself, who often does acts either brave or suicidal. The only one who does not seem to think so, is Jubei.
Jubei and Kagero meet under the direst of circumstances: Kagero is rendered unconscious, and is raped, when Jubei saves her. His personality is immediately appealing: he wittly quips, "your body can't be hard as rock everywhere", incapacitates Tessai, and runs off with Kagero. Their first conversation occurs later in the marshes, when they were sure they were no longer being pursued. This scene is significant, not only because of its romantic signifiers (fireflies), but because of the way Jubei treats her: not as a damsel in distress, not as a kunoichi, but as a comrade and a woman. He inquires about the rapist, as though they were teammates. He acknowledges her and calls her by her name, something no other outsider would do, not even Dakuan, not the lord Kagero serves. Jubei later asks her politely, after their introductions, "are you alright?" but Kagero merely thanks him, then goes the opposite direction. He leaves it at that. When she was sure he was no longer within earshot, she breaks down. Reality finally bears down on Kagero, and her facade crumbles in the shadows.
The two meet again when Kagero saves Jubei, but it is clear at this point that she is interested in his character. They save each other several times more, despite Kagero asking Jubei once, while hanging at the edge of a cliff, to let her die. She shows unease when he hands her food to eat, as she wakes up. They become the most unlikely of friends, something Kagero is surprised at, and something Jubei declares easily when he saves her at one point. He articulates what is obvious from the start: "You are my comrade, my precious friend." She later offers herself to him, when she learns that the antidote to Jubei's poisoned body is another poison, Kagero's. He refuses, and does it out of love, the emotions clear on his face. He would not make love to her just to use her, even if it meant healing himself. Jubei responds to Kagero's needs this way, and it is not sexual, nor is it cliched. After all the hero is far from perfect: he hesitates before refusing her offer. When she taunted him once, telling him to sleep with her to find out if he will die from the act, he pulls her to him, as if in retaliation. In the same scene, when she declares no man can touch her, he responds, not merely to her statement, but to a fate she unwittingly resigned herself to: "is your heart steeped in poison as well?" This prompts her to self-examination, and by the end of her life, she finds her answer.
It is problematic that the fact that Jubei refuses to cheapen sex and use Kagero makes him something of a hero, and this highlights the overall misogynistic undercurrents in the movie. This, and the fact that he barely defeats some of the Eight Devils of Kimon (and with sheer luck) subverts the whole hero theory about Jubei. Jubei's flaws in fact do not make him a great hero or a great human being, but they complete him as a character. Likewise Kagero is imperfect, but her growth in just an entire day with Jubei is tremendous, and she finds where she belongs. Their parallels to each other are revealed in the poignant scene where she offers herself to him. Kagero loathed being used as commodity, and not being acknowledged as an independent kunoichi in her own right and a comrade, but she was willing to stoop low enough for Jubei, asking him to use her and take her to heal himself. Jubei declared once that he hated meaningless death, but he was unwillling to cure himself by using Kagero's poison, just to prove a point. And his point is clear: he would rather die than treat her like comodity. To him, a man who once was loyal to no one, she is worth dying for.
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