Ninja Slayer From Animation

Episode 2

True ninja cinema understands the deadliness of shuriken. Ninja Slayer From Animation authors Bradley Bond and Philip Ninj@ Morzez understand true ninja cinema's understanding of the deadliness of shuriken. And Trigger, as is clearly demonstrated in this episode, understand Bond and Moretz' understanding of true ninja cinema's depiction of shuriken. Shuriken, sometimes known as “ninja stars,” are so dangerous that they are banned by law in the state of California. These prized and ancient weapons are, in fact, so deadly that they were historically very rarely used as a killing weapon at all, because let's face it, how the hell are you actually going to kill someone by throwing a tiny bladed wheel at them?

It flies in the face of all logic, which is why it's the perfect weapon of the Ninja Slayer himself, Kenji Fujikido. There's an awesome part in Revenge of the Ninja where the protagonist, a retired ninja named Cho Osaki, is attacked by a bunch of hoodlums. When one of them draws a gun, he reacts as only a true ninja can—by taking the shuriken hidden in his belt buckle (hint: it basically is his belt buckle) and using it to disarm the enemy. So it is in Ninja Slayer, in which Kenji maims and kills wave after wave of bad guys using the unassuming projectile weapons. Trailing behind him is his ninja scarf, which is amazing and seemingly endless, kinda like Batman's cape on a comic cover drawn by Todd McFarlane.

This episode sees Kenji square off against fire ninja Arson, whose violent, flame-based attacks bring to mind Scorpion from the Mortal Kombat games. As he's overwhelmed by his opponent's dedication to killing all ninja, the bad guy makes an astute observation: just like the fighting game character, his flame technique is useless if it doesn't connect. The viewer soon meets the boss of the Soukai Ninja Syndicate, Laomoto, who expresses his burning anger at the guy murdering his ninja henchmen by eating two pieces of maguro at once. Later, Kenji will face a ninja equipped with a jet pack, who looks like he washed out of the G.I. Joe Ninja Force. But not before the proceeding are interrupted by an anti-ninja blimp.

I'm still all in on Ninja Slayer, which wears its fine sense of its own absurdity, and of the absurd in general, on its sleeve. Its adroit visual whiplash, the way it caroms between dope action scenes and barely-animated bits of detailed sprites flipping around listlessly, is slightly less obvious here, but only very slightly. This episode brims with disguises, chase scenes, and violent action, and through it all, the Ninja Slayer himself glares with bloodlust and proclaims, “How do you do? I'm Ninja Slayer,” before launching himself at the enemy with a distinctive and repetitive cry of “Yeeart!” After all, nothing is more serious and deadly than excellent manners. Nothing!

I have one big complaint about Ninja Slayer so far: the show's opening song is great, but it's sorely in need of an original opening animation, instead of just using bits of animation from several episodes. A good opening can really elevate a series, and Ninja Slayer's isn't quite there yet. Still, it's a fun show, amazingly faithful to its novel source material (which, if you don't mind being spoiled on TV plot details, can be read legally here). This episode is also sprinkled liberally with product placement, with sponsors like Goodsmile flashed on the ninja blimp, and a large building festooned with the logo of Ultra Super Pictures, Trigger's parent company. Details like that are pretty amusing.

In a variety of online forums, notably Nico Nico itself, where the Japanese telecast of Ninja Slayer originates, some viewers have expressed disappointment in this new series. They don't think it should've been anything like a successor to Inferno Cop; its visuals need more bite, more action, more things moving. I can understand their frustration, but this show is just too damn fun for the bizarre mixture of flat, static nonsense and action-packed nonsense to really matter. Ninja Slayer is playing a long game, and right now, it looks like that game is going to pay off. It's capped with a noisy, raucous ending tune by the great Melt Banana, which serves to drive home this show's central moral message: All ninja shall perish!

Rating: B+

Ninja Slayer From Animation is currently streaming on Funimation.