A bland Ninja Scroll copycat or something with actual substance?

I was surprised when I came across this. I’ve been looking for more stuff like Ninja Scroll for a while and this was never mentioned. Granted it is not exactly like it but the same tropes are here.

We have a young ninja who upon finding out that his closest friend has aligned himself with the yoma (demons from hell). After looking for him for a while, he comes across a village with an all too cheerful group of inhabitants who are more than happy to take him in. There he notices that not everyting is as it should be and upon further investigation he finds a spider monster who is feeding upon the villagers which serves a mysterious figure called Kikuga no Miko.

The anime is divided into two OVAs, both standing at around 30-40 minutes. One, focusing on the village, and the other on our protagonist’s search for his former friend. It’s a long and bloody journey with a decent conclusion that I do not want to spoil which kept me interested throughout.

Now of course it was not without it’s faults. There are some scenes which just generally  make no sense and a lot of the characters are just bland, one dimensional and just seem to be there so that they can check all the checkmarks  of the usual demon filled ninja anime but somehow I did mind it. Perhaps I was a sucker for the music and decent atmosphere. But then again who doesn’t love ninjas and demons?

Final verdict: 7/10