Scooby-Doo! and the Samurai Sword

Scooby-Doo! and the Samurai Sword, known as Scooby-Doo! and the Sword of the Samurai in Australia, is the thirteenth of a series of direct-to-video animated films based upon the Scooby-Doo Saturday morning cartoons. It, along with Scooby-Doo and the Goblin King, was produced and completed in 2008, but the Goblin King was released first for the Halloween season. It was originally set to be released on March 31, 2009, but it was pushed back to April 7, 2009. It was produced by Warner Bros. Animation, though it featured a logo for and copyright to Hanna-Barbera Cartoons at the end. Directed by Christopher Berkeley and written by Joe Sichta. It features the Mystery Inc. team traveling to Japan.

Plot

At a Tokyo museum of ancient history, Mr. Takagawa, the curator, and Kenji, a janitor, witness the resurrection of the Black Samurai, an ancient Japanese warrior whose armor was to be the newest exhibit at the museum. The next day, the Mystery Inc. gang arrives at Tokyo, where Daphne is to participate in a martial arts tournament at a prestigious school. The gang meet Daphne’s friend Miyumi, who explains the difficulty of winning the tournament and entering the school as a student. The gang and Miyumi take a fully functioning robotic plane to the school, which is run by Miss Mirimoto. After Daphne defeats Miss Mirimoto’s bodyguard, Sojo, and almost defeats Miyumi, Mirimoto tells her she shows promise as a fighter.

Also at the tournament is Mr. Takagawa, who explains to Mirimoto that the Black Samurai has risen and will be after the Destiny Scroll, which is at the school. That night, during a feast, the Black Samurai and his Ninja warriors attack the school and steal the scroll. But Mirimoto explains the scroll was only a copy, and shows the gang the real one. Mr. Takagawa explains to the gang the legend of the Black Samurai. The Black Samurai was an ancient warrior who asked the great swordsmith Masamune to craft a powerful sword. The sword maker agreed, but told the Samurai it would take a year to make.

Masamune’s evil apprentice Muramasa offered to make a sword for the Samurai in only half the time, which the Samurai accepted. But when the Samurai took the sword, the evil of Muramasa was transferred to him, and he became the Black Samurai, wielding the Sword of Doom. When Masamune finished crafting his sword, the Sword of Fate, he presented it to the Green Dragon, who used it to defeat the Black Samurai and imprisoned him in the Sword of Doom. The Dragon then hid the sword, and put its whereabouts in a riddle on the Destiny Scroll .

Velma is able to solve the riddle, and Miss Mirimoto instructs the gang, Miyumi, and Mr. Takagawa to find the Sword of Doom before the spirit can. The gang finds the sword in a cave on an island in the Pacific Ocean, where they are attacked by the Black Samurai. During the fight the Black Samurai is revealed to be Sojo. But once the gang brings Sojo back to Miss Mirimoto, she and Miyumi capture them. Miss Mirimoto explains that she staged the tournament to bring the Mystery Inc to Japan so that they would find the Sword of Doom for her. The ninja army is revealed to be robots in which Miss Mirimoto planted the various fighting techniques of her students. She then locks Fred, Daphne, Velma, and Mr. Takagawa in the museum. Scooby and Shaggy manage to escape Miss Mirimoto but are chased by the ninja warriors. They are saved by Matsuhiro, a Samurai, who trains them as Samurai.

Matsuhiro instructs Scooby and Shaggy to pass through the gates of earth, air, fire, and water in order to find the Green Dragon and the Sword of Fate. When they do so, the Green Dragon enters the sword and takes them back to the museum to combat the Black Samurai. Kenji frees Fred, Daphne, Velma, and Mr. Takagawa, and they, plus Miyumi, who decides to fight with them, attempt to stop Sojo and Miss Mirimoto from resurrecting the Black Samurai, but are unsuccessful. After being revived Miss Mirimoto tries to make the Samurai her servant, but she is quickly entrapped and rendered unconscious. Scooby and Shaggy arrive riding the Green Dragon and, along with a little encouragement from Matsuhiro, defeat the Black Samurai by using the Sword of Fate to destroy the Sword of Doom, breaking the curse on the Samurai, who finally passes on to the afterlife. Later, the gang attends the newly renovated museum, where a statue of Scooby is erected in his honor.

Cast

• Frank Welker as Scooby-Doo and Fred Jones
• Casey Kasem as Shaggy Rogers
• Mindy Cohn as Velma Dinkley
• Grey DeLisle as Daphne Blake
• Kelly Hu as Miyumi and Miss Mirimoto
• Sab Shimono as Mr. Takagawa
• Keone Young as Matsuhiro
• Kevin Michael Richardson as Sojo and the Black Samurai
• Gedde Watanabe as Kenji
• George Takei as Old Man Samurai
• Brian Cox as the Green Dragon

Featured Villains

Miss Mirimoto, Sojo and The Black Samurai

Trivia

• This was Casey Kasem's last time voicing Shaggy for a Scooby-Doo direct-to-DVD film since his retirement in 2009 from radio and voice acting. However, it isn't the last time that Kasem voiced Shaggy, as he voiced the character for the first season production of the upcoming animated series Scooby-Doo - Mystery Inc..
• This is the final Scooby-Doo production animated in the same style as What's New, Scooby-Doo?.
• Daphne's Martial Art skills are finally displayed (similar to the first two live-action Movies), many critics said, "Scooby-Doo, and a mixture of Naruto."