Forum - View topicUnder Ninja (TV).
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Tony K.
 SubscriberModerator  Posts: 11304 Location: Frisco, TX |
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Season 01: Under Ninja (TV) Season 02: Pending Source: Manga (ongoing @ 10 volumes, by Kengo Hanazawa) Demographic: Seinen Animation Studio: Tezuka Productions Genres: action, comedy, drama, thriller Themes: assassins, factions, gore, martial arts, ninja, school, tragedy Plot Summary: A high school loner is given the part-time job of a lifetime as a modern-day ninja tasked to perform international assassinations. After World War II, Allied Command in Japan developed a new agency to help manage terrorism and violence within the Pacific region. The agency was staffed with ninja and they were initially tasked to handle domestic affairs. Eventually that program grew to its current form, managing 20,000 ninja across a range of domestic and international affairs. One of those ninja happens to be Kurō. The seventeen-year-old high school loser is now poised to be the next line of defense against a potential surge in foreign assassins invading Tokyo. Air Date & Platform: Season 01: October 5, 2023 (Thursday) Available on: Crunchyroll Season 02: Pending Available on: (probably Crunchyroll) Episode Count / Runtime: Season 01: 12 episodes Season 02: Pending Total: 12 episodes ---------------------------------- The premise of this reminds me of an old Choose Your Own Adventure book called Master of Tae Kwan Do, which was part of martial arts anthology series. I bought it at my elementary school book fair when I was in 3rd grade because it had a young guy fighting ninja on the cover. The young guy was basically recruited by the CIA to go undercover as a tae kwan do student in South Korea to rescue an old female friend and kung fu instructor named Ling who had been brainwashed by the enemy. Being the super-ninja fan I was, the book was total wish fulfillment! Although the main character was obviously fighting with tae kwan do, instead of jujitsu, just the whole martial arts spy theme was enough to get me interested. I feel like this particular show is what I wish would've happened to me if I were still a kid obsessed with ninja. The one thing I'm nervous about, though, is the production. Tezuka Productions recently solo'd My Home Hero, and I thought it was pretty meh in terms of art and animation. So I hope they can make this apparent action series look halfway decent. Last edited by Tony K. on Tue Jan 09, 2024 2:32 pm; edited 4 times in total |
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 23813 |
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Welp, it's not like NOT sampling a ninja series is an option for me, so...
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smurky turkey
Posts: 1991 |
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Sounds like it could be interesting, though I am not sold on the look of it.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 23813 |
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Episode 1
Well, that was both entertaining and kinda weird. That foreign cityscape image in the first scene was stunningly beautiful. I can't say I've ever scene a ninja series quite like this one... |
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Edjwald
 Posts: 1158 |
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It seemed like a pretty uneven mixture of different elements to me, not quite succeeding as a comedy or a thriller. The art was a mixed success for me too. The anime was pretty well drawn, but all those drab colors got a bit depressing after a while. Beige, tan, and green...it was like most of the show was made of army camouflage colors. But I agree that the show gave off a unique vibe, and it was kind of interesting trying to figure out what was up with the slacker ninja.
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Tony K.
Subscriber Moderator Posts: 11304 Location: Frisco, TX |
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Episode 02
Well, after the first episode, I thought the show was just gonna' be a little quirky, but it got even weirder in the second. The ex-ninja-leader-turned-hobo with a breast pump (Sasama) is quite a unique twist. And then you have the Russian assassin (Alexei) trying to act like a ninja so he could cut off three dicks to prove his worth to his bosses is also something you don't see a lot of in anime. This show is positively off-beat. The art and animation still feel a little sub-par, but I actually think the quality of that helps accentuate the weirdness even more. The basic story I can understand, so far, is: all these ninja exist, but have been somewhat forsaken by the government as a legit line of defense for the country causing Sasama to leave the organization because of politics and the fact that he believes Under Ninja can do more, not just for Japan, but for the entire world. I can't really tell what Kurou's (the MC who's supposed to be 17, but looks 30) role is, yet, or if this whole thing will just be a weird, dark ninja action comedy, but I'm interested to see where any of this is going. If I had to describe this to someone, I'd say it's like a mix of John Wick and What We Do in the Shadows. Now, we just have to wait for some bodies to stack up and more unexpected urban ninja coming out of the woodwork and doing zany things. |
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 23813 |
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Sounds like we feel pretty much the same way about this show, Tony K. I'm really liking it. I also have faith that there is a real story here but the show is in no rush to spell it out yet. And yeah, the offbeat humour just cracks me up.
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ACｘS
 Posts: 891 |
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1:
WINNER! I love this show, and I can't really explain or even understand why. Maybe it's the humor: I get strong vibes of Great Teacher Onizuka and NieA_7 with its dry, deadpan WTF humor. It's a breath of fresh air in anime when other anime series' brand of humor is too predictable. There's something essentially about the way this anime presents itself, and I love it. A ragtag of ninjas who oppose the incumbent ninja establishment... did I mention how much I love this? |
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ACｘS
Posts: 891 |
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Back again...
2: 
And I'm here to tell you that you have no idea what a masterpiece this show is. |
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ACｘS
Posts: 891 |
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3:
I am still enjoying this show. A lot. It's clear that the show is using the flashbacks as its main narrative, but what appeals to me the most is the clockwork plot. A lot of events happened and the whole story boils down to "how did we get here", and it's engrossing to see how everything fell into place. And just when you learn about everything, there are still many other events left untold. I snickered at the 22 February Heisei 22 incident. That's way too much. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11392 |
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4:
Well, that certainly puts a whole new spin on the breast milk fetish...  lol that it takes a punch button code to remove.
The opening fight scene was pretty amazing too. |
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ACｘS
Posts: 891 |
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5:
GOD I LOVE THIS EPISODE. |
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camseyeview140
Posts: 229 |
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Yeah I am just not gelling with this one. I get it's meant to be this weird dry comedy, but I just don't care about the characters attached to it.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 23813 |
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As much as I am loving the wonky comedic flavour of this show, I have absolutely zero trouble imagining someone saying, "er, yeah... pass, thanks."
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ACｘS
Posts: 891 |
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8:
Hibi spitting bars was gold. I still love this show btw. Nothing makes sense and it's great. Random is gold. |
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