Yoju Kitan Ninja vs Shark

"Pearls have hidden powers"

With a title like Ninja vs Shark, there was no way I was not going to watch this bloody camp fest. It was more creepy ninjas and horrid townspeople than malevolent sharks, but there were a few key scenes with some really bad CGI sharks and a shark ninja (sorta).

After female pearl divers have repeatedly been found chewed up and handsome male villagers have disappeared, the villagers blame beautiful “cursed” Sayo. Only Shinsuke who loves her stands up for her. In reality, the village chief knows that their problems are caused by the Crimson Devil Clan. He goes to a sword for hire, Kotaro, to have the lone swordsman protect the village for a price. Kotaro saves Sayo from a shark, and she in return saves him from a vengeful female ninja. Lurking in a nearby cave lives the Crimson Devil Clan whose leader has special, gruesome powers given to him by magic and pearls.

This is one of those movies that’s so bad it’s almost good. Almost. Introducing the village savior or at least Sayo’s in the aftermath of him having raped a woman was not a great start. Then brutally murdering the woman’s husband was the rotting cherry on top. After that Kotaro was a ninja pussycat. The villager, Shinsuke, adored Sayo in a second lead clingy sort of manner. Poor “cursed” Sayo is what happens when someone breaks society’s rigid norms and is used as a scapegoat for everything that goes wrong and loses all protection. She was nearly gang raped twice and close to being murdered at least twice more.

The crazy elements of this film made it interesting. The jealous, unhinged female ninja, Kikuma, had magical powers and the ability to command corpses. The leader of the Crimson Devil Clan could change form and had a shark mouth when he needed it. He also had a special chant that called in a shark to sic on the villagers when they ventured into the water. And in the last 15 minutes he summoned the big daddy megalodon that had supernatural abilities. The CGI was abysmal for the shark and the nearly continual spraying of blood. Heads and body parts flew everywhere with people living long enough afterwards to talk. Lol

I would have rated Ninja vs Shark slightly higher if they had refrained from the sexual assaults. No matter how good-looking Kotaro was and how much he sacrificed for Sayo, he was forever tainted by his actions in the opening minutes. Too bad, because this was a ridiculous ride that got sillier by the minute without trying to be funny. There were just too many ick factors that they could have avoided.

6 October 2025
Trigger warnings: Numerous spewing beheadings, arms, legs flying about, chewed up body parts, spewing blood, vomiting, and one post sexual assault and at least two other attempted sexual assaults.

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