A job only for a female ninja, Tsubame must transport the seed of a local lord to a proper destination where it can be properly administered.
What They Say:
They are masters of sword, bow, shuriken, and poison, but for a female ninja, sex is the deadliest weapon of all. Torn between her love for one man and her duty to the clan, one Kunoichi must make a terrible choice: sacrifice her lover and use her body as her masters’ command, or forsake her vows and be outcast forever! And the perils of the flesh become even more lethal when a second female ninja arrives with her own seductive agenda!
The Review:
Audio:
Switchblade Pictures has decided not to dub their releases at this time so this feature is presented in its original Japanese stereo language form only. Encoded at 224kbps, it’s pretty standard material when it comes to the audio department as it’s a basic stereo channel mix without anything really resembling strong directionality. Without too much in the way of depth, there’s nothing that stands out strongly here but it’s conveyed well and it rather does suit the material. We didn’t have any problems with dropouts or distortions during regular playback of the presentation.
Video:
Originally released in 2006, the transfer for this feature is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and is enhanced for anamorphic playback. Done on video rather than film, the feature looks decent but is hampered by source issues. Part of the same production series as Twin Blades of the Ninja, this release features the same kinds of issues as that one since they’re done the same way. The first is that there’s a fair bit of cross coloration throughout it. It’s very apparent in the backgrounds but it also creeps into the swords’ at times which is actually rather amusing. The outdoor background scenes with all the trees tend to have a lot of mosquito noise to it which is fairly distracting. This isn’t exactly a budgeted movie of any sort really so it’s not surprising that it has a low quality feel. The bitrates look to work with the source material as much as possible but there’s only so far that it can go. It’s not a travesty or anything, but if you’re looking for a clean and pristine film here, you won’t get it.
Packaging:
The packaging design for this release, through the front and back cover, let you know exactly what to expect. The front cover artwork is very nicely framed with dark purples and blacks with a simple logo along the top for Switchblade Pictures and a larger red piece on the bottom saying that it’s the Unrated Limited Edition. The central focus of course is the image of Kaede Matsushima with her in her ninja uniform as she brandishes her short sword. It’s a fairly dark cover, but the black background with the purple hued sky against the moon just draws more attention to Kaede herself. The back cover is nicely done as well as the left half is done up as a naked woman posing that’s shadowed in reds and purples. Across her back and posterior is the summary from the show and the production credits. To her right are several shots from the show, both action and sexual of nature, which lets you see more of the cast. The bottom portion runs through a fairly standard technical grid which is also clear about what kind of material it is. No inserts are included nor is there a reversible cover.
Menu:
None.
Extras:
None.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Ah, the “Voluptuous Ninja” series continues on with another entry from Switchblade Pictures to delight and dazzle. I have to admit that I do find these features amusing in a way since it’s almost the kind of bad soft core material I’d expect from a shoestring budge US producer who would be making movies based on a Japanese concept. In fact, I’m sure I’ve seen a few like that in the past. That said, this is very much like the other movies in the franchise so you can know what to expect if you’ve see those releases from Switchblade. On the plus side to this one, the lead actress is actually pretty hot so it was fun watching her.
Ninja She-Devil is a fairly amusing little release as it focuses around the rather skilled Tsubame, a kunoichi who has been assigned a mission that only a female ninja can accomplish. And that’s to have her seduce the local lord and take his seed into her which she can then properly store in her womb for seven days. During that time, she has to make her way to another woman who will take the seed and use it to properly continue on the family line that will give them power in the future. It’s all fun little dynastic style politics and intrigue that’s really just a meager piece of setup for having Tsubame sleep with the big guy and then go on the run as she tries to get to her destination in time. Where things get tripped up is when a competing ninja comes after her and ends up killing her brother which then gets her all shades of upset for a few minutes. On the run and trying to reach her destination, Tsubame finds herself wounded and full of seed. That’s just fun to write.
Of course, there are those that are after her in addition to this male ninja but she runs into a spot of help in the form of another female ninja, or former female ninja as the case may be, who takes her in after she finds her wounded. It turns out that she left the employ of her lord some time ago after she ran into issues with a rival ninja from another clan that she had fallen hard for. Of course, it turns out to be Tsubame’s brother that she was in love with and that brings in all sorts of complications to the situation. But, there’s always time for a dip in the hot springs – a rarity in the live action films I’ve seen so far! – before some manipulation is brought into play to try and get the seed out of Tsubame before she can reach it’s final destination of another womb.
Yumi Asami makes for quite the attractive Tsubame, though of course she doesn’t have all that much to offer when it comes to actual martial arts skills. The feature has a number of adult scenes to it, more than it seems like some of the other ones have had during this period of releases. Tsubame has her way with the local lord first and she makes her way across a few other targets as well, including a local friend that she has an interest in. With the other kunoichi in the film there’s the obvious angle of the two of them getting together to some extent, but it was the seed transference scene that really worked the best since they mixed in a man into it as well, though he wasn’t really there. It was an interesting… creative choice for the scene.
In Summary:
The slate of releases from Swtichblade Pictures was all over the map to be sure when this came out. They’ve had some fun titles and some not so fun titles. What I’ve found after the first several months of releases is that the Voluptuous Ninja series really doesn’t do a thing for me beyond being comically bad at times. It’s amateurish and simple with nothing that really is redeeming. The only thing that makes some of them good is a decent enough basic setup and the chance for a really attractive actress or two. They don’t always score on either of those points though. Ninja She-Devil has an amusing story setup (Ninja Transporter: Seed Edition) and a very attractive lead actress as well as the other women as well. But it is just more of the same in that it’s all kind of basic and, well, silly. Fans of the shows will like what they get here as it’s one of the better from the series, but it’s still not anything I can really bring myself to recommend other than for a lark on a Saturday night with drunken friends.
Features
Japanese 2.0 Language, English Subtitles
Content Grade: C
Audio Grade: B
Video Grade: C+
Packaging Grade: B
Menu Grade: N/A
Extras Grade: N/A
Released By: Switchblade Pictures
Release Date: February 3rd, 2009
MSRP: $19.99
Running Time: 75 Minutes
Video Encoding: 480i/p MPEG-2
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Sony PlayStation3 Blu-ray player via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.