RAVEN TENGU KABUTO (1992)

 





PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *sociological*

I read a handful of stories from the late eighties manga KABUTO. Originated by mangaka Buichi Terasawa, the series crossed the then-popular ninja-adventure genre with some basic Japanese mythology. I wasn't exposed to the animated TV series, but this stand-alone OVA was easily circulated to American shores in the nineties. I had seen it before but had no real memory of the item.

Subtitled "The Golden Eyed Beast," the story doesn't bother to tell the audience anything about Kabuto, the ninja hero who has some special powers from his membership in the ranks of the raven (or in some translations "crow") clan-- including the ability to sprout wings from his back and fly. The script just dumps Kabuto into the middle of a feudal quarrel, in which innocent Princess Ran has been captured by the forces of an evil demon incarnate, the often nude Madame Tamamushi. Kabuto attacks the demon forces, while another group tries to rescue Ran. There's a lot of running around and explosions and not much else. The script's level of historical commitment is shown by the fact that the demon-mistress has a "gadget-making" servant who whips up such items as helicopters, a robot elephant and a giant vacuum cleaner. 

Replete with shoddy TV animation and lame references to spaghetti western visuals, this OAV is at best a timekiller, and then only if you're in the mood for magical ninja hijinks.

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