Ninja and an Assassin Under One Roof

Episode 8

I shouldn't be surprised by it anymore. While everything about the tone of this screams that it is a gag anime with your typical magic reset button—where the status quo never changes, and past episodes don't really matter—it's clear by now that it's anything but. By this point, this show is basically screaming at us that continuity is everything—and I appreciate that.

Last week, Satoko—you know, the runaway ninja girl who's supposed to be in hiding—started posting pictures on social media. At the same time, she learned the toxic catharsis that comes from insulting people from behind a wall of anonymity. Of course, being a newbie to the internet, Satoko has no idea how even the smallest bit of personal data online can lead to people figuring out where you live—much less that who she insulted was both net savvy and a ninja more than happy to kill her. Let's just call it a learning experience.

Now homeless, our assassin and ninja pair (along with Marin because she's clearly lonely without Satoko around) move into a new house that has conveniently come onto the market fully furnished—you know, because it belonged to one of the ninjas that Konoha killed previously. Of course, the pair don't piece this together, and before long, they're left questioning why the ghosts haunting the house seem out to get them.

What we get from this is a great lampooning of horror movies. You see, the trick of horror is the fear of the unknown. You don't know what the monster is, what it can do, why it's coming after, and if it's possible to stop it. Our heroes are seemingly at its mercy.

Of course, Satoko and Honoka are anything but helpless. One is a top assassin in Japan. And while Satoko may have been one of the lowest-ranked ninjas, she still is one. While she may be scared and panicky, time and again, we've seen her dodge lethal attacks without any problem at all. So while at first they're creeped out and sleep deprived—calling in everyone possible for help and considering moving—once they learn A) the source of the haunting and B) that Satoko can even turn incorporeal spirits into leaves, the fear simply evaporates. And so we get the great scene of the two dodging levitating objects and living their normal lives in the midst of a class 5 paranormal event.

The whole episode is freaking hilarious. It was a much-needed laugh after the downer of last week's episode. And while I'm sure we'll get back to that whole storyline soon enough, it's nice to see that the creators of A Ninja and an Assassin Under One Roof know when to give us a break.

Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• Of course Satoko never put her money in the bank and lost it all in the fire.

• When you think about it, Satoko can destroy anything (living, dead, or inanimate) with a single touch. That's a scary thought—not just because of the powers but because of who holds them.

• Kuro is so often the butt of the joke that it's easy to forget that she, too, is a ninja—one powerful enough that she was chosen to be the leader of the escaping ninjas.

• I'm happy to see the dead ninja brigade doing well in the afterlife. It's nice to know that something was waiting for them after being so unceremoniously turned to leaves.

Ninja and an Assassin Under One Roof is currently streaming on Crunchyroll on Thursdays.

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