STORYLINE: Scarlet, a medieval-era, sword-fighting princess on a dangerous quest to avenge the death of her father is the protagonist of this powerful, timebending animated adventure. After failing in her mission and finding herself fatally injured in a surreal world, she encounters an idealistic young man from our present day who not only helps her to heal but shows her the possibility of a future free from bitterness and rage. When confronted once more by her father’s killer, Scarlet faces her most daunting battle: can she break the cycle of hatred and find meaning in life beyond revenge? (IMDb)

“Revenge is a dish best served cold” – Klingon Proverb. 

    Revenge has been a fascination throughout films.  Revenge was the heartbeat of the Japanese masterpiece 

Lady Snowblood (1973), and the Quentin Tarantino film it inspired Kill Bill (Vol 1 – 2003, Vol 2 -2004).  Denzel Washington went on his mission of revenge in 2004’s Man on Fire.  The anime feature, Scarlet, is a new film in a long line of revenge features. 

    Scarlet follows the overall revenge story arc: the central character is wronged, then seeks justice for that wromg doing.  This anime feature adds a supernatural like element to its story.  Scarlet does this with a purgatory like setting, with chareters from multiple times in history. 

    Scarlet appears to take inspiration from two notable, yet completely different previous works. Rge first is Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and the second is samurai films.  It’s an odd combination that creates a highly entertaining movie.

    Being that Scarlet is an anime movie it seems obligatory to mention the animation.  Considering the material, in the story, I expected a film animated with dark colors.  The movie balanced the dark colors with a lot of bright colors, wgucg was nice to view.  I tend to find this true of most anime films. Studio Ghibli does this best with titles like The Boy and the Heron (2023).

   Scarlet is a revenge anime that seems to take inspiration from two completely different sources. It is an entertaining movie.

    Until next time I will see you at the movies!