The Fall Anime 2025 Preview Guide - Ninja vs. Gokudo

Since before the dawn of memory, one thing has defined human history: the war between ninja and yakuza. This coarse and manly manga follows two members of these warring tribes who fill the gutters of modern Tokyo with blood to determine which elemental force will reign supreme.

Ninja vs. Gokudo is based on the manga series by Shinsuke Kondō. The anime series is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

The entire time I was watching Ninja vs. Gokudo, my brain kept insisting that the art was “Initial D by way of Heat Guy J.” It's something about the noses and how they don't fit in with the rest of the faces, as well as the generally stiff character design and animation. It's not a visually appealing show by any measure, and the dominant shades of brown in the palette, combined with thick black outlines on only part of the faces (usually the nose), certainly don't help. But even the violence isn't particularly fluid or exciting. In an effort to demonstrate how incredibly fast a ninja Shinoha is, we see a streak of light or a noise meant to represent the sound barrier being broken, followed by the aftermath. Sure, a few bloody teeth are floating through the air, but even arterial spray is limited to a laughably brief burst with little remainder. I don't even like violence in my viewing, and this was disappointing.

That may be the best word for this episode. It's somehow both predictable and silly, taking as its premise the idea that ninjas and gokudō (yakuza in this case) have been at odds for centuries, with their fight carried over into the present day. Now, gokudō continue to do bad guy things, while ninja support the police from the shadows, typically by doing their jobs for them before the cops ever arrive at the crime scene or even know a crime is happening. It feels like a child's game, the kind that's awesome when you're ten and running around pretending to be sneaky and jumping on each other. It translates less well to a series for older viewers that appears to take itself at least semi-seriously.

Fortunately, it does know that it's pretty ridiculous. Shinoha bonds with Kiwami, a gokudō, over their shared love of a Precure knockoff, and Shinoha's inability to smile or laugh as a trauma response is largely played for laughs in a decent way. (Mechanical Marie did the same joke better, though.) Shinoha and Kiwami are unaware that they're on opposing sides despite spelling it out when they introduce themselves, and there's a decent chance that their budding friendship will end the feud between the two groups with the power of love and/or friendship. To pull that off, though, the show will need to do a better job of presenting itself, and that goes for the English simuldub as well, which in this episode manages to mispronounce Edo, anime, and the suffix kun. (Eddo, animi, and kunn, if you're curious.) It's not a promising start.