Ninja Slayer From Animation

Episode 4

The combatants square off. A hulking giant wearing a Hawaiian shirt, an absurd pompadour, and a metal grill declares his name-- Sonic Boom-- and how his total mastery of karate makes him an unbeatable ninja fighter. “Greetings,” responds his red-clad opponent, as he finishes his bowl of ramen. “How do you do? I am Ninja Slayer.” The fighters awkwardly bow to each other.

No matter how many times this exchange, this shining example of the show's bizarre reverse-Japonisme plays out, it's always giggle-inducing. Ninja Slayer: From Animation episode four returns to this schtick as predictably as a criminal ninja returns to the crime scene. But before this epic battle can play out, we must first learn a little more about Koki Yamoto, the mysterious female “shi” ninja. She's abruptly confronted by her newly-minted adversary, Suicide, but just as abruptly, there's a betrayal, a battle, and a death. But Koki has an ace up her sleeve: she's actually a psychic ninja (she even has the special Ishinomori Scarf, just like noted psychic heroine Francoise Arnoul), empowered to battle her opponent with super-powered origami weapons! She's swarmed by an army of yakuza clones, which are the same character model stamped out over and over, not even attempting to disguise the dangerously cheap visual trick, which is exactly what makes it good.

Ninja Slayer episode 4 breaks its brief period of contemplation with some flashy action scenes, including a great bit where the title character and Sonic Boom do that thing where they punch each other's fist. Sonic Boom lives up to the name, too, dishing up a projectile attack that makes me think of Street Fighter's Guile. But the real question, the one that bedevils children all around the world, is this: which member of the G.I. Joe Ninja Force is Ninja Slayer himself most similar to?

I think it's Slice, and not just because of the red outfit. Like Slice, Ninja Slayer overwhelms his opponents with the sheer, brutal strength of his attacks. Slice is also a renegade, who broke away from his ninja clan that includes all of the good guy ninjas from G.I. Joe, including guys with names like Nunchuk and Dojo. And when he needs to drive around, Slice prefers the Parasite, a lime-green ATV. Couldn't you just picture Ninja Slayer using that as his ride? I could.

At some point, it's easy to think that Ninja Slayer: From Animation's goofy refracted weeaboism is going to get stale. But it's here where one of the real strokes of genius about the show takes form-- its running time. We all whined a little about it at first, but hey: every time the jokes start to lose their zaniness, Ninja Slayer deploys a smoke bomb and ninjas out of there. In the meantime, most of the jokes really hit their mark, be it the bad guy's karate expertise (only a true karate expert can be a ninja, despite them being separate martial disciplines. All combat arts should be used more or less interchangably, be they ninjitsu, wing chun, arnis, or krav maga!) or Yamoto's true power of friendship, manifested in her best buddy letting out a delighted, blood-curdling “AIEEE!” when they see each other. The subplot with Shogo, aka Suicide, does feel a bit half baked-- I get that, like the other stuff, it's supposed to be really cliche'd, but it's not very well executed. However, the bad guys are well-executed… executed by Ninja Slayer, that is!

Ninja Slayer hasn't lost its ninja magic yet. I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but once again the show really hits it out of the park with the soundtrack-- when all of the ED songs are collected, it's going to make one awesome album. Here, we get 8otto's “SKREEN”, a sweet, danceable, Duran Duran-esque counterpoint to Boom Boom Satellites' driving opening. I once again look forward to next week's adventure, where we'll once again see Ninja Slayer struggle with the ultimate question: do even good-guy ninjas deserve to die?!

Grade: B

Ninja Slayer From Animation is currently streaming on Funimation.