Rating: 
-
Okay, overall, I liked this anime. However it ONLY comes in a subbed version. IE, it comes in the original japanese language, with NO English dub, only subtitles. Also, some portions of the text in Japanese are hard-coded into the video, and so the subtitles over-write it. It's usually legible, but distracting... Not much by way of special features... Has a menu, and trailers for a few other animes. That's about the extent of it. For those reasons I can only give it a 4 star rating.
The animation looks to be early or late 80's, but I do generally like the use of color and the old-school way of doing sword slice and such artwork. Rather stylized, in a good way I think? I wish they'd give it a once over with an English dub, and such... C'est la vie. As it is, it's at least decent. But, I'd say it's worth a watch...
Rating: -
For those who grew up watching the Toei animation series called Kamui, the Ninja Trader; This is not the same. Having said that, it has many similarities and in fact it symbolizes the same character as the Toei animations. But it is all about the origin of Kamui, how he grew up, how and who thought him and how he becomes a fugitive. The quality is very good and the story is clear and logical. Even Kamui's face shows similarities to the original character but they've made him younger. All by all I should say that this is a good movie of good quality and a good plot but still not the original "Toei". That's why I gave it 4 stars.
Rating: 
-
Anime like this is the reason why some people feel its more towards violence and lacks substance. I like to be challenged by a story but this contained too many plot twist and several events just didn't go together at all in which the development of the story suffered alot. For starters this is subtitled, so some of you may need your reading glasses if you sit too far from the tv. The animation is good. But I found the story hard to follow and not interesting until close to the end when they began to add events involving the feudal era. However those events were pulled off better in different shows. I'll give a few details without revealing the entire story like some people cant do. The story begins with a young boy whose adopted family were killed by some ninja and he was forced out of his village. Later on he's trained in the arts of ninja. On his quest for vengeance his origin is revealed and leads to some decent character development. Theres lots of brutal killings in this movie, to include some nudity, so this isn't for children. It also clocks in around 132 min. So get your popcorn out. I'm not saying this is a horrible movie by any means. Its just one of those movies it wont appeal to everyone, or it can grow on you with time. I say try to find this as cheap as possible, so if you hate it then you won't feel like you wasted a whole lot a cash.
Rating: -
a must watch for any anime fan. even though its an old anime it still manages to capture you and engages you for the whole movie
Rating: -
"Dagger of Kamui," like many films, is not for all taste...which can be easily discernable by the fact that it was directed by the heavily artistic Rin Taro. If you like animated films that go for an artistic mode then you will most likely enjoy this.
"Dagger of Kamui" tells the story of Jiro, a young boy who's adopted mother and sister are murdered by a ninja. Tenkai, a monk, takes Jiro to the ninja that did it and lets Jiro kill the man. Tenkai then takes Jiro to his base and trains him up to be a ninja. As a young adult, Jiro ventures off to discover his mother in the northern lands of the Ainu (the Japanese equivalent to the Native Americans). There he discovers that the ninja he killed so long ago was not the ninja that killed his stepmother and stepsister...but his own father. Things get worse: Tenkai kills off his real mother and tries to get him imprisoned, although he is hoping Jiro will help lure him to a large amount of gold so that Tenkai can help maintain the power of his prime benefactor: the Tokugawa Shogunate.
Are you following me? Good. The movie continues from this starting point on to Jiro's trip through eastern Russia to America, and then back to Japan where things get a little historical and the last of the Shogunate fight the new Japanese Imperial government. The showdown between Jiro and Tenkai takes place during the final attack by the new Japanese government on the last Shogunate stronghold in Hokaido.
Overall, this is at least worth a rental. There's a nice relief to know that the god-awful English dub this film suffered with in its first release as the heavil edited "Blade of Kamui" (the English cast sounds like it consists of four people) is no where to be seen, and it can only be watched with the original Japanese cast. Extras are...well...minimal except for Animeigo's typical piece of paper inside the DVD case, and the scene scelection lacks selection for the end credits track (although it does exist, you just need to skip to it). Overall, however, if you enjoyed this movie on video or you want to try this movie out for yourself, you should give it a shot.