chribren "Shadow Skill" is an Action/Anime OVA directed by Hiroshi Negishi. This anime was released in the US/UK by Manga Entertainment.Basic plot: 14-year old Gau Ban goes once again to his parents grave; his parents were killed by bandits when he was 10, while his adoptive sister Ella Ragu can martial arts. But after getting attacked by a monster called Wolfman, he is later forced to fight Ella and master Scarface. Ella wants to teach him a powerful martial art called 'Shadow Skill'...This is my story in relation to this OVA; As a little boy, the only anime I had seen was the Norwegian dub of "Panda no Daibouken (Panda's Adventures)", which was my childhood favorite film before "Toy Story (1996)" came. Where I live, bloody animations and such stuff simply didn't exist. I didn't know anything about this kind of animations until I accidentally discovered "Shadow Skill" (released by Polygram Video) year 1998. This one was rated 18 according to the Norwegian video box, and I was only 12-year old. My dad even had to pay some money to rent this, so my big sister and I got to see this anyway. No kidding here.This 50-minute long film happened to be my first time in my life to see an animated film where characters beat the crap out of each other, blood splatters everywhere, and some complicated talking go on. Despite released on Norwegian VHS, the film was the English dub version by Manga Entertainment without any subs. The same with "Venus Wars", "Akira" and "Ninja Scroll" which we saw the next three years. Anyway, my big sister and I really liked this film, and happened to be noted on big sister's wish-list.Once again, this was my first time in my life to see such violent anime OVA, and "Shadow Skill" (as well as the other three anime movies I mentioned above) will always remind me about this being the beginning of my life as an anime-interested guy. My rating for this anime is 5 of 6 points. ;-)

danterockstar Shadow skill is a poor excuse for a film, let alone an anime. From the start it throws you into the thick of plot which is complex (but hey, a lot of good animes do have complex plots) ,slightly shoddy and has been used way to many times before. Where as some films throw you in the thick of a plot and let the viewer figure out the plot for themselves to the viewer's satisfactory, Shadow Skill is just a barrage of confusion from start to the very end (if you can last that long). Shadow Skill does have one strong point though; some of the fight scenes are are very good. After all, Shadow Skill is an action/adventure anime but the fights do not save it. The plot is just so darn bad!!! If you want a good action anime, try fist of the north star and don't let Shadow Skill ruin any good anime experiences for the future.

Zombified_660 I saw Shadow Skill: The Movie early in my anime fandom, and totally loved it. It's an entertaining, exciting movie, with great action scenes and intriguing characters. Approach it expecting a new Spirited Away or Akira, and you will unfortunately be disappointed, but in honesty, over time I have watched the less weighty but more straightforward Shadow Skill 4 or 5 times, more than I can say for Spirited Away, which I've only watched a handful of times since I bought it. Great film, but doesn't repay repeat viewings the way this does. It's an easy movie to watch just purely because of the enjoyment.Basic story is as such, a teenage boy Gau is attempting to learn and master a fighting style known as the 'Shadow Skill', a skill mastered by his fiery and cocky older sister Ella, who is an arena gladiator. When their house is destroyed by a vengeful rival, Ella and Gau strike out on their own. They then have a set of adventures, eventually accumulating in a battle with a powerful wood spirit. It plays out a lot like a violent, older teens version of something like Willow.Shadow Skill's fun factor will win over the less cynical viewer, but there are some flaws and sticking points to the movie. For instance, Shadow Skill is episodic in nature, and despite being honestly designed as a movie it has the jump-starting narrative of edited-together serial episodes. This makes it a little on the awkward side.On top of this, Shadow Skill is visually polarising. As a big fan I find it's jagged art style, visual super-heroics and walls of blood quite comforting each repeat viewing. Still, it is, in comparison to more restrained anime, and in fact it's own sequel, a little cheesy and so ragged and raw it could be easily misconstrued as a badly drawn exercise in excess. This initial movie certainly veers more toward comic book affairs like FLCL and Voltage Fighter Gowcaiser than high-end stuff like Noir or Ghost in the Shell, and there's a touch of the anything goes designs of Dead Leaves in there too. Put simply, Shadow Skill is visually like Marmite, people seem to love it or hate it.Still, provided these minor flaws don't stick in your craw, Shadow Skill is highly recommended. It's a fast paced, dark fantasy/martial arts blockbuster style story that's worthy of any open-minded anime fan-boy or fan-girl's attention. Give it a chance, and if you enjoy this be sure to check out the excellent sequel (buy the UK DVD and this comes packed with it anyway) which is even better than this first instalment.

Ripe Peach Shadow Skill, both the 80 minute prequel and 50 minute sequel (is there such a thing as a "quel"?), are more style than substance.There's some decent animation, but it's marred by too many extended beauty shots and ropey translations (and idiotic scrolling subtitles for some written text). Also, the plot (such as it is) is a series of fragmented and appallingly cliched vignettes (oh look, a bar fight).In fact, Shadow Skill looks like a bunch of Playstation beat-em-up game sequences strung together with some talking head conversations.Hard to see why they bothered, really. If you must watch Shadow Skill, try the 50 minute sequel, not the inferior 80 minute prequel.