Ninja resurrection is based on Futaro Yamada's novel Makai Tenshō (魔界転生, 1967) Yagyū Jūbei Trilogy #2 - adapted to film in 1981, 1996 and 2003, to anime in 1997 and to various manga.(Wikipedia) A lot of people has been lucky or unlucky to be exposed to Ninja Scroll before Ninja Resurrection, for the later ones, it drives them to root for Jubei's character on those series. From my background the only precedent I had to Jubei was Samurai Shodown, where SNK does not land an absolute story to the character, and as a video game, everyone will have more flexibily adopt the character. Ninja resurrection in myopinion incorporates elements that other samurai/ninja/bushido series completely oversee:
- A "historical" intro narrative (along together with the voice actor in the english dubbing)
- The profanity element that has been present in other successful series
- Yes the bloodbath it offers stands out, it makes "Samurai X" look like an "all family" rated program
- The medieval texture of the characters, avoiding exagerated figures.
- Ninja stuff: ninja reveal, ninja run, kawarimi, and sliding without moving foot
- Adult content
- Lord Musashi

From this perspective, it adds one more flavor to the diverse list of anime characters that are based on historical character Yagyū Jūbei Mitsuyoshi.

It is definitively not the ultimate masterpiece, but i'd rather categorize it as a niche, before calling it bad anime.