JAINITUOS ANIME REVIEWS – Ninja Slayer From Animation – Studio Trigger Reviews

NINJA SLAYER FROM ANIMATION

Studio: Trigger

Genre: Science-Fiction, Action

Domo my friends!

I am Jaime.

Welcome to another entry of Anime Review.

And, as I promised, I am working in another entry of Studio Trigger Reviews, in this case, one that definitely has some of the most insane, hysterical, and mind-blowing ninja troupes to the maximum, becoming a worthy successor of Inferno Cop in all its glory.

I am talking about…

Forgive me, here, these lovely maidens are our protagonists.

And I am ready to juice off this series with my review. But before I continue, my friends, I must ask you the typical question, especially in these days:

Are you ok? Feeling healthy? Staying at home?

If the answer is yes, then I am very happy. And I leave you with the same words that I left before on my reviews.

DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE COVID19!!!

Remember, the coronavirus is a very dangerous disease, because its damage is unpredictable, so listen to the doctors and follow the quarantine, avoid social gatherings. I know it’s hard, but its necessary.

We will beat this together. We will!!!

With that said, let’s go with Ninja Slayer: From Animation.

PREMISE

(Featuring a cameo from Rocksteady)

Based on the novels written by Bradley Bond, Philip Ninj@ Morzez, and illustrated by Warainaku, Ninja Slayer From Animation tells the story of Kenji Fujikido, an average salaryman whose family is killed by ninjas in a turf war; seeking vengeance, Kenji was possessed by a mysterious entity, called Naraku Ninja, and both create this powerful being called Ninja Slayer, who hunts ninjas in all the fictional city of Neo-Saitama.

Sorry, can’t stop thinking of ONE-PUNCH MAN every time Neo-Saitama is mentioned

Ninja Slayer consists in 26 episodes, and since is a ONA, like Inferno Cop, each episode is 10-15 minutes long. Overall, the series is directed by Akira Amemiya, a renowned figure in Studio Trigger, animating many episodes of Little Witch Academia, Gurren Lagann and SSSS Gridman.

STORY

YEEART!

Oh boy… Where to start?

Firstly, Ninja Slayer is animated in the same ridiculous way as Inferno Cop, but with brighter colours and more facial expressions. The animation uses a single full body cut of each character and crashes it with another one. Imagine that scene of Spaceballs, in which Dark Helmet plays with dolls, but louder.

Ah!!! Childhoods!!

Finally, loyal to that insane style of animation, it features explosions out of nowhere every time an opponent is defeated, thanks to a very magical word.

(Sorry guys. I couldn’t find decent GIFS)

And like I mentioned before, Ninja Slayer wants vengeance for the murder of his family, just like The Punisher, and there some flashbacks featuring his wife and son, so you get hooked with the character because you feel his inner turmoil. And that is wonderful. The only problem? You end up forgetting about that. Why? Because you are so distracted by the absurdity of the action, the sloppy editing, the shaky camera, the bright colours, etc, that you forget there is a story.

In fact, it looks like the ONA itself forgets about that.

PURE EPICNESS!!!

Furthermore, the fights are extremely basic in terms of structure. What do I mean by this? They all follow some determined steps. The fighters introduce themselves with Domo, I am… , next

1. there is some filler dialogue,
2. fighting in the laziest fashion possible,
3. the bad guy dies,
4. the bad guys says sayonara…
5. explosion (Bakuretsu)

Again, going with the weirdest elements possible, Ninja Slayer also pays homage to those 90s ninja animes, including Ninja Scroll, Ninja Gaiden, Rurouni Kenshin, but also in a really over the top fashion that you cannot stop laughing about. In other words, the disparity between the background of our protagonist and the story-telling, if there is any, is so evident that you cannot stop enjoy it for the most ludicrous reason.

In terms of story, I even compare Ninja Slayer with…

Venom is supposed to be a faithful adaptation of the Marvel anti-hero, and it starts well, but from the second act, the movie abruptly departs from its source material, becoming a weird mix of ridiculous dialogue, unintentional comedy, messy action, awkward chemistry between Tom Hardy and Michelle Williams and parts that as logical as another entry of The Fast and The Furious.

But before this becomes a Venom review, I wanted to say that, just like with Inferno Cop, it is impossible to tell if this vision was intended for Ninja Slayer or not, but you are trying to cope with all that mess. Unless you don’t take too seriously Ninja Slayer, you will immediately think that this ONA is as bad or worse than Inferno Cop. Even after the supporting cast is slowly introduced, it happens the same.

And forgive for this.

BEHOLD NANCY LEE… THE QUEEN OF FANSERVICE

I will get there later.

But yeah. Don’t take the story too seriously. It’s basically for fun, like the rest.

CHARACTERS

And with Ninja Slayer, we got a bunch of «lively» characters, that help our hero in his quest of vengeance, including the high schooler Koki Yamoto, who gets possessed by another entity; Dragon Yukano, a well-endowed ninja, who is the daughter of Ninja Slayer’s sensei, training him to keep Naraku Ninja in check, and… Nancy Lee, a journalist and hacker that gets information for Ninja Slayer.

And, with the exception of Koki, both Nancy and Yukano have a very important purpose… Fanservice.

The supporting cast has a lot of cool scenes and great powers, and the background of Koki is one of the best elements of Ninja Slayer From Animation, but, for the most part, you see them adding more sauce to the madness of the series.

And, I want to mention to Nancy Lee and her… attributes.

With great well-endowed, comes great responsibility

But seriously, you will be surprised of the ridiculous amount of fanservice that comes from her, as well as Dragon Yukano; but, to its credit, you always enjoy it, even as some kind of guilty pleasure.

But what kind of ninja will Ninja Slayer be without rivals? We got these two.

DarkNinja

And…

Silver Karusu

Both of them really adding a lot of fun.

…

SAYONARA!!!!!

(Megumin’s wet dream)

CONCLUSION

And that was Ninja Slayer From Animation.

To be honest, it is a really bad ninja ONA, but that is part of the fun. The crazy action, the bright colours, the lazy editing, the fanservice, the over-the-top elements; all combined to make a really entertaining series that, like Venom, will always bring you with a great time, or a big laugh.

In other words, a guilty pleasure.

Definitely is better than Inferno Cop, but not a merit due to the latter also being bad. Just don’t take them seriously, and you will have a great time.

NEXT TRIGGER REVIEW

And thanks guys for being with me in another Studio Trigger review. Join me next time for another one, until we get to BNA: Brand New Animal, but before I give you a hint, here is a question.

Have you ever imagine Harry Potter combined with Magical Girl genre?

Let’s ask this lovely lady.