Based on a game released on what was perhaps the most expensive home videogame system ever, the Neo Geo, Samurai Shodown was a slash 'em up game where you'd hack away at your opponent until one of you (or the game itself) won. Fighters were big, even then, and the game system excelled at them. The bad news is that like most shows, particularly back then, that are based on videogames, the movie was really, really bad.

The story is about a group of reincarnated warriors who seek a supremely gifted fighter in order to combat their sworn enemy. The enemy betrayed them and plunged the world into darkness for a hundred years. If the lost fighter can be found and focused, the group has a chance to end the rule of their enemy. If she recruits him, or he fights her on his own and loses, she'll remain in power.

Okay, the show looked bad and the anime style was poor. Imagine whatever budget cutting done on current Saturday morning cartoons, like where the camera is moved over still pictures, or zoomed in and out, and you'll have a glimmer of what I mean. Even the lack of the original Japanese audio track or the fact that the blood was edited out to make the show more sellable to parents.

So the technical matters were a drag but what about the acting or music? Sadly, they show how limited the then new to anime staff at ADV was at the time. Without sounding too mean, nothing about this release appealed to me and I'm an easy scorer on anime releases, even legacy anime such as this. Check out any of the newer releases at ADV to see just how much the triumvirate of ADV, Ledford, Greenfield, and Papa, have improved (we're talking galactic scale improvement comparing this crud to some of the previously mentioned releases of theirs).

For all its faults, this one is definitely a Skip It! with no redeeming values. It was obviously thrown together to cash in on a popular videogame and looks every bit as bad as it could be. I'd rather watch old episodes of Davey & Goliath (that Christian show) than see this one ever again. Wow was it bad!

Picture: The picture was presented in 1.33:1 ratio full screen as it was originally released. There were problems with the source material and the transfer wasn't optimal. That's the nicest thing I can say about it.

Sound: The sound was presented in 2.0 Dolby Digital stereo with limited separation between the channels and in English with no original Japanese track.

Extras: trailers and no insert

Final Thoughts: It pained me to watch this one after enjoying all the great releases ADV (and others) have been releasing of late. I know that this one might've been profitable enough to help get ADV off the ground and if that's the case, I can almost forgive it's weakness as a noble gesture but without a single good thing about this (except maybe that it wasn't longer-how often do I want a shorter anime releases?) to promote, I can safely say it should be skipped by any thinking anime lover.