This one opens with your protagonist's village already burning, and it never really lets that go. Three episodes, no filler arc, no training montage: a kunoichi runs into the dark with a short sword she barely understands, and the story only starts breathing once the other two weapon-bearers, sword and spear, are standing next to her. What makes it stick is the framing of Oda Nobunaga not as a warlord but as something that stopped being human, marching unholy armies across a Japan that history says he was merely conquering. It is 1987 OVA craft at full tilt, hand-inked blood, heavy shadow, faces that look genuinely exhausted by the war they are in. Watch it for the moment the three blades finally matter, and stay for how little anyone celebrates it.

In 1580, Lord Nobunaga Oda sends unholy armies across Japan, cutting down everyone who opposes them. A young ninja escapes the destruction of her village carrying a short sword, one of three mystical weapons with the power to end Oda's rule. As her quest unfolds, two other ninjas join her, each wielding one of the remaining legendary weapons: a sacred sword and a spear. The result is a three-episode action OVA from 1987.