The Kouga Ninja Scrolls

Written first in 1959, this Romeo and Juliet tale of forbidden love is set in feudal Japan when Ieyasu Tokugawa was making his last steps toward unifying the country.

The Iga and Kouga ninja clans have been at war for 400 years. Only a truce brokered by the famed Hanzo Hattori has kept the two clans from engaging in a bloody battle that would destroy one or both. Instead, they have been mixing the bloodlines of their most accomplished ninja for countless generations. The results are more mutant monsters than human.

When Tokugawa calls for an end to the truce so that he may use the two clans in a deadly battle of supernatural chess, eighteen of the twenty ninja chosen to play the game out are ready. The other two, the leaders of their respective clans, who hope to bring the clans together... are in love.

What follows is a mash of gore and corpses.

Great ninja fantasy. I took one star off because the writer spoke (albeit only very occasionally) to the audience directly from the year 1959 and make comparisons. But it was slightly annoying.