Seemingly an average man, Joe Logan leads a peaceful life in the countryside with his wife and child. However, the Logan family have actually assumed false identities to escape from Joe's past as a fearsome ninja assassin. Despite a string of high-profile murders of his former peers, Joe is sure that his new life is secure—but his tranquil bliss is soon shattered when his family is slaughtered by members of his former clan.
Left for dead, Joe wakes up in a hospital, unsure of how he survived the wounds that should have killed him. Police detectives Emma Samanda and Mike Moriss, assigned to investigate the Logan family's deaths, witness another attempt on Joe's life. However, this time Joe is prepared. Unleashing secret techniques, he easily dispatches his enemies, shedding his new identity in the process.
Embracing his old ways, Joe shrouds himself in his former persona, cutting through the organization he once served in the name of cold-blooded revenge. Assisted in his hunt by the detective duo, Joe will stop at nothing to kill his past and the demons hailing from it.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Comentários
Kamushii
Ninja Kamui is a good anime, at least it was for the first 3 episodes. It was really fun to watch with beautiful flowing animation, amazingly choreographed fight scenes, a cool revenge story, and a simple but fun futuristic ninja concept. However, it seems all of the budget and thought process went towards those first 3 episodes. The animation was getting lazy, the plot started getting explained, but it sounded like a toddler wrote it (I'll get to this later), the whole anime just started to get boring because it was spouting meaningless exposition which was occasionally broken up by a short well animated fight,or a lazily animated CGI mecha fight. This had so much potential to become a great anime, and it's sad to see something like this fall apart.
Story: [4/10]
The story follows our protagonist "Higan." Higan is a ninja on a mission to take vengeance on rogue corporate ninjas. Moving on.
Premise/Plot: [2/10]
A quick rundown of the premise is pretty simple, and would go something like this - Some futuristic ninjas rebelled against their clan because for whatever reason they wanted to "rule the world." To enact this great big plan, they decided that their best option is to join a bunch of greedy corpos. The corpos thought that ninjas were outdated, and so they made them mecha suits. They use these suits to threaten politicians to let them build energy factories. - Corpo-Mecha-Ninjas trying to dominate the world by building factories? Seriously, whoever wrote this needs to be fired immediately.
Characters: [3/10]
The characters in Ninja Kamui don't develop. Like... at all. Sure, they have a story to tell and that is all well and good, but that isn't character development. The only change in character I have seen in this anime, was Higan growing noticeably more complacent, and way less bloodthirsty, which does not make any sense for his character, because it's as if his "unbridled rage" just fizzled out. Furthermore, Emma, Mari, and Mike all felt like they were written using a character guideline. Mike is a chill, fun, honest cop who is too focused on cracking cases, Emma is a cool, pretty, tech-savvy side-kick, and Mari is a loving mother and wife who would do anything to keep her husband and son safe. That's it though, that is all of their characters summed up. Nothing changes, and nothing develops. Every other character I didn't mention is just a throw-away to serve the plot.
Art/Animation: [5/10]
It's kind of hard to rate something that is this inconsistent. As I previously mentioned, it was beautiful seeing the animation flow during the action in this anime. However, once the ninjas started to fight in the mecha suits, not even the fights were good anymore. If they had kept up the same pace they had in those first few episodes, I would've given this category a High 8 to a Medium 9, but alas, they did not.
Audio: [7.5/10]
The voice acting was fairly good, and with some familiar faces making an appearance, most notably our beloved Kenjirou Tsuda. So no complaints there. The soundtrack and ending were both okay, nothing really too special, but the opening song was phenomenal... and I mean PHENOMENAL. Definitely a playlist worthy song.
Conclusion:
If you only want to see incredible action and animation, go for it. It's probably worth it. Just make sure to stop watching when mecha suits get introduced. If you're in it for anything else I wouldn't even bother, but if you decide to, you do you.
Critical Rating: High-Medium 3/10
(If you're curious to see how I rate, check "My Rating Criteria" on my MAL.)
Enjoyment points: 0
(A 0 does not mean that I didn't enjoy the anime, it means it deserves it's critical rating. More about this on my MAL.)
Scarlet_wolf96
Since I followed episode 1 to episode 13, I never got bored. The story is so interesting that it makes me curious like a roller coaster. Dark. Emotions. Everything is combined well. Every fight that shows up can make me hype. I really like fights that are full of gore. What I like the most is when Higan-san uses ninpo or ougi. (I forgot what it's called). It gives me goosebump. Even though in the end it uses the mecha concept, I don't feel bored. Because I feel that it has become a distinctive feature in this anime. (Besides, I still listen to the songs Vengeance and Legend begin.) Eventhough it was complete, I felt very satisfied. Moreover, because I get a lot of inspiration as a writer.
IzanaSolos
Ninja Kamui, the latest offering from action animation extraordinaire, Sunghoo Park, promises intense, gritty close-quarters combat to the forefront. This comes as no surprise, as action of this nature is Park's forte. You may know Park as the director of both the first season and movie of Jujutsu Kaisen, as well as God of Highschool and Garo: Vanishing Line. Action runs in his veins, alongside the immense drugs he must be taking, because he seemingly shoulders single-handedly for almost every episode of this show. Produced by E&H Productions, a studio founded by Park himself, the core team appears relatively small, with Park at the creativehelm. Park's contribution to this show is mind boggling to me, as he's responsible for most of the action from both a directorial and animation perspective, in the ENTIRE SHOW. Remember those jaw dropping fights from episode one? Yep, all him. I could sing praises of the animation from just that episode alone all day, but there are numerous issues with the show, including the fights, which I'm about to get into.
The first few episodes, let's be clear, showcase some of the finest sakuga I've seen, but therein lies the problem. "The first few episodes"... so, what about the others? Well... Episode one boasted a high level of polish that gradually diminished. What went wrong? Well, to answer that, Ninja Kamui, an action anime, suffers from a lack of action animators. There was essentially one besides the 3D team and Park himself. Ninja Kamui essentially became a test to see how much one man could handle, and while Park can produce an astonishing amount in such little time, it's not without its drawbacks. There's a clear discrepancy in quality between the storyboard and animation departments. Meanwhile the level of polish steadily decreased, as is often the case with modern anime.
In short, Ninja Kamui went from being a spectacle of action animation to an average-looking show with above-average action. You may wonder if the mechs, which shifted the show from a sakuga fest to a CGI fest, eventually disappeared. Well, sort of... Near the end of one of the final episodes the mechs finally broke, leaving our two characters to engage in a fully 2D fight. What could wrong you ask? The execution was severely lacking, with rough rotoscoping and inconsistent character designs. The choreography was present, but the implementation fell short, added on by the obnoxious motion blurring. As well as, the show blatantly stealing an impact frame from One Piece, which made no sense in the context of the fight itself.
At this point, you might be thinking, "What about the story?" Well let me tell you, there is no story to Ninja Kamui. And if there is one, it's the most generic, boring revenge story ever. Half the time, our protagonist doesn't even seem to pursue his revenge, which is, you know, THE WHOLE POINT OF THE SHOW. As for the terrible dub, if you didn't know, this show airs on Toonami, known for pioneering dubs in the past. Yeah no, this dub doesn't live up to that legacy; it's subpar and unnecessarily adds content.
All in all, what began as a showcase for sakuga and Park's unrestricted creativity devolved into one of the most lackluster shows I've seen in recent memory. If E&H were to produce another show in the future, count me out. Sunghoo Park's involvement isn't enough to draw me in anymore, especially if the man fails to show his full potential.
captainkid-tr
I understand why the score started at 8 and then dropped to 7 and will drop even further. Because this anime just a scam. In the first 2-3 episodes: the action, art drawing, animation, fight choreography is excellent. But after that... The story starts as a nice revenge job, but as continues the episodes progress, the mediocre side characters, the empty story that just bad filled, and most importantly, the animation becomes terrible. The anime suddenly turns into mecha after 3-4 episodes and the animation art drawing, fighting, etc. are also very poorly done. All the money was spent on the first 2-3 episodes,the rest is bad and unwatchable. I finished it thanks to the forward button. my overall score is 4/10
TheEtherea
What a weird show, what a weird story, what a weird conflict. So much effort was wasted on this show, and it feels so boring. We have ninjas who moved from Japan to join up with some evil global elites in order to help them to achieve global domination (because who really cares why), and they produce high tech equipment for their "ninjas" including mecha armor, while doing random corpo political bs in the background. OG ninjas had a beef with new ninjas, so new ninjas want to kill OG ninjas who are exiles. MC is one of these OG ninjas, and he wants revenge, becausefamily.
Apparently being a ninja means being in the open, double jumping in the air with a sword, blowing stuff up while wearing a NEON (I kid you not) bright armor. Also being a ninja means being not capable to overcome even a single f-ing obstacle without tripping alarms. Ninjas is when you crowd up with 20 other ninjas in a hallway visible to your enemy.
But really, once you figure it out, it's just a gore version of Naruto, but without any of the fun parts Naruto had.
All the "special" skills you see in the beginning disappear from the show half way in, getting replaced by mecha fighting and more generic bad guys being one shot in the background. Clarity gives way to lots of smoke, probably to draw fewer scenes and backgrounds. The evil guys do their pointless one liners that don't affect the flow of the show or the story and disappear. MC growls about revenge, and his sidekicks discuss another stupid plan that will, of course, FAIL, because their opponents always beat them to it.
Let's crack into their servers because if we have EVIDENCE and.... Ehm.. Upload it somewhere? Surely it will bring down the large corporation that controls politicians globally and influences Agencies of countries. It's such naive nonsense honestly. It feels like half the story and events are only there to bloat the show to fill it to the whole length of a season. Otherwise it could be an average watchable 1.5 hour movie if we drop the rest of bs.
It's so boring to watch. Incredible how all this production was wasted on this half-assed sad excuse of a story. Maybe I should start doing goddamn scripts for shows as it feels like the overall media industry is filled with hacks who can't write to save their lives. But wtf do I expect, The guy was involved with Jujutsu Kaisen, which is also braindead in terms of story telling.
erinxia
This is my first ever review, I felt like I needed to write one as Ninja Kamui was said to be on the same par as Solo Levelling in terms of the Winter 2024 season. It is important to note I did NOT weekly watch this, I watched the first 12 episodes all at once in a binge and the last one I waited for. I think that's important, as I feel it may be harder to be as immersed and to keep in with the understanding of the show if you're weekly watching (since you're watching other shows alongside). Overall, it's a 6/10, and hadthe potential to be a 9/10 for me but I'm now being kind with a 6/10, as I believe it probably could be lower. There were certain really good aspects of this show, but on a whole I don't think it was that good. It just really didn't live up to expectations and the hype of what was being said - which obviously I didn't pay mind to when watching and went in with an open mind.
For example, I really enjoy the soundtracks, especially the opening I think it's a total banger (even added to my Spotify playlist).
I have mixed feelings about Ninja Kamui, I've watched near to 150 animes now over the space of 2 years and I can't really seem to get this one, I am not sure if I missed the whole prospect. The first 5-ish episodes are great, I was really into it from the get go and the concept I really enjoyed. I remember telling my friend this anime absolutely bangs. Like, I haven't watched any animes previously about ninjas so this was a new concept to me and the first episode really hooked me in - I really liked the idea of a ninja whose family had died tragically and him on a revenge arc essentially. Now, the ninja part was great, the code and the secret techniques I really liked.
The mecha part however, I just didn't really get. I didn't have an issue with the mechs as enemies in Ep5, but from that point on I didn't expect them to have the main character have a mecha suit too. I just didn't really understand where that was necessary for the plot, and I feel like in a way it defeated the ninja part of the story, and it just became... just a mecha anime. Like sure, the suits were cool for MAYBE 2 episodes but then I just felt it defeated the entire point of the concept. It really kind of ruined the show for me. Then, the plot also didn't start to make sense at all - it felt like it had sped up and I had no clue what was happening between characters, why things were the case.
Now don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed the past arc and the ninja aspect, as well as the animation and soundtracks. I also really liked the characters but the plot was severely lacking, and it strayed away from it's original concept which just made me feel disappointed in the way it ended, since I didn't really understand what was going on. Don't watch Ninja Kamui if you want to be disappointed overall, unless I've missed the whole ending and last few episodes, it was poor execution of a great concept that had so much potential.
Though if you like a good bit of cinematography, decent animation and banging soundtracks, absolutely give it a chance.
vihnyan
man... how can a anime start with amazing fights, cool aniamtions and a pretty brutal revenge plot and then turn out to be almost too boring to finish? It is incredible how the bad pacing and the Fcking CGI armours could turn a pretty badass anime into a unbearable experience, there isnt much to say tbh... just bad decisions i guess and its a shame cuz the hype was very high. the characters are charismatic and unique, the fighting scenes are dope with a lot of criativity the plot is about revenge at first then turns out there is a big conspiracy and from this point itgoes down hill.
Overall its a pretty MID show with a lot of wasted potential, if you ever watch this you'll be hyped but the disappointment will come.
KakashiInfinite
Ninja Kamui is an action & fighting anime and it's damn good at it. Action/fights - that's what promises and it delivers. As simple as that. Lore - good and interesting enough for such a show; you have some drama, some love, some high-tech bs and some ancient belief system bs. Perfect to explain why people fight. Philosophy - surprisingly, the show portrays very well the dumb idea that peace & prosperity can be brought by beating the shit out of anyone you don't like and intimidating the rest. It is this kind of stupid ideology that drives the 'alpha male' and dictator types to commit atrocities. Notthat violence isn't necessary sometimes, mind you. We need it precisely as a last resort to fight off such assholes.
If a democratic and peaceful country produces lots of such brain-dead morons, it means that something is not going well. When you cure cancer, it is not enough to just cut it away, you also need to change the way you live, so you don't get it again.
Irony - some of the elements of the show remind of real world. Amza could easily be Uber or any other big corporation who wants to ruin the world for the rest of us. The rich owner of the company is more endearing than Elon Musk would ever dream of being, but still has a god-complex and a face asking to be punched.
Anyway, came for some simple action - got that, some decent animation and even a bit of philosophy on top.
Worth the time.
ChinnyGamingYT
Ok so for a start the current reviews l feel are way too harsh for what this anime was. It was really good if you could turn your brain off and watch the beautiful scenes unfold with a semi decent plot for the story. The only big let down was the pacing, since they only had 13 episodes for such a massive project the ending did feel quite rushed but apart from that everything else was pretty good. This is also the reason lm calling out those that left a review 3 eps in cos how the f word are you going to give ita negative when it did really well to hook the audience in and have an exciting start.
Story:6.5/10
Semi decent plot, nothing to make you fall head over heels for it but worked well enough and gives enough time to set it up. I would've liked a little bit more at the start and the end but apart from that for an anime original this is pretty good.
Art:9/10
The art is really good my only complaint is 3d mechs but name me more than like 5 current mech shows that are all 2d. Fight scenes are pretty fuckin sick especially at the start.
Sound: 8.5/10
Kinda self explanatory. The soundtrack is a decent listen by itself. Voice acting goes pretty hard.
Characters:7/10
The main characters do get built quite well and the emotions are pretty cool to watch plus edgey a little bit. Only complaint is i wouldve liked more episodes to build a little more and help with the main issue for pacing.
Overall:8/10
While yes lt does have it's faults for an original anime and the story it had the anime was pretty solid. It is way batter than what people are rating and reviewing it for. Thanks guys for reading this review.
whiteflame55
This series left me frustrated, but I should probably have seen the writing on the wall early on. It's a series that is built on the "style over substance" paradigm, and at least early on, it largely succeeds in that regard. The fight choreography, particularly in the first episode, is pretty incredible and the animation is generally great. Even as we got into later episodes and the fights became more chaotic, making the choreography harder to discern, I could still appreciate some of what they were doing. Then, several episodes in, we're presented with CGI mech suits. I was initially hesitant about it, since none ofthem looked that great, but it was still interesting to see how these contributed a new layer to the fights, adding new abilities and fighting styles into the mix (one guy just fights with his legs in his suit), as well as the need to recharge them. Not bad.
Then, we're introduced to another set of mech suits and... yeah, this is where my enjoyment of the fights truly falls apart. I don't so much mind seeing the first one in action, particularly since we get a very good idea of the speed and gravity of its attacks, but after that, their inclusion in the series largely serves to make it easier for the animators at the expense of audience enjoyment. You don't feel that speed and gravity in many of the future episodes (until they get souped up again at the end, at least), the aforementioned diverse mechs become virtually useless, and the fight choreography becomes stiff and lifeless, especially by comparison to the series' 2D fights.
Unfortunately, that's the direction the series' best aspect took over its run. I'm not going to do a deep dive into its narrative because, frankly, it's too shallow for that. It's a basic revenge story that also shows signs of weakness early on, as Higan seems to be incredibly badass only when it serves the plot. We get some background to try and invest us in the life of Higan and his wife and child, but much of that comes too late to give us any meaningful connection that makes the opening scene feel impactful. It doesn't help that Higan seems to just get assistance whenever he needs it to keep the plot moving - it's a surprisingly passive way to generate literal and figurative plot armor for him throughout.
And then there's the larger narrative. I think the world itself is potentially interesting, but they squander it by focusing on a few key plots among its characters. AUZA being this tech giant who has an uneasy alliance with the central ninja group seems like it could be rife with opportunities, but that plot goes from too basic to needlessly convoluted to incredibly frustrating over its run as alliances are made and broken. The same holds true with the ninja organization: the more we learn about them, the more frustrated I get with all the various motives at play and even the way we got to this point. Couple that with the number of fake out deaths and real deaths that feel manipulative and you get... something, I guess.
The plot just feels strangely weightless in the end. Maybe that's because I'd lost interest, or maybe it's because the series seems so incredibly cliche in how it wraps. I won't spoil it here, but I predicted virtually every beat in the final episode before it aired. Every reveal felt incredibly obvious, even though several required substantial character assassination, and the number of contrivances for that final fight left me entirely disinterested in the outcome. Couple that with some lines that feel right out of Peacemaker without the tongue-in-cheek delivery or humor and this series ends with a dull thud.
A pretty big waste of time and potential to just give us a few strong fight scenes and a threadbare plot, all of which makes me wish they'd just put this effort towards a better project. It's too simple to be bad, but it lacks anything to elevate it above an exceedingly average series with little to recommend it.
Jeeusee
Very good anime until chapter 4. From this point: - Mech armor ruins combat. Less blood, less impact, less possibility of complicated strategies, less development of shinobi skills. - The animation begins to deteriorate. It's not a bad CGI, but it's very poorly implemented. The mecha battles are simply slashes and sparks, unlike the first combats, where the movements and choreography were better. - The story stops being interesting. The "villain" turns out to be an idiot. And the Organization, which the exiles fear so much, only the first 4 episodes are really scary. Then they mostly become NPCs waiting to be killed.- Some plotstwist come from nowhere. They have no impact or logical explanation. And I'm not just talking about the story, but there are even scenes that don't make sense (For example, at one point X character uses a hook to fight and, literally 5 seconds later, falls into the void thinking "oh no, I'm dead".. .i mean, use your hook dude)
Anyway. Didn't like it.
Excelent animation and great potential at the beginning, all thrown away in chapter 4 when that whole feeling of human fragility and "every little decision counts" was lost.
The anime proposed rules that later became irrelevant.
Ulthos
A young man trains to become a ninja in a secret clan hidden in the mountains of Japan. The clan turns out to be evil, and the young man considers running away with a female colleague. The organization then kills his love interest, giving him cause for revenge. Thus, the protagonist has to use his skills against his malevolent mentors. This is the premise of a 2009 movie called Ninja Assassin, but it can also work for this anime. The movie, at least, was somewhat entertaining, despite not being memorable. Ninja Kamui can only manage that for the first few episodes, and that is because ofthe well-made fight scenes alone. The plot is as generic as they come, the basic revenge story we've all seen before (and done better) a thousand times. It doesn't take long before the animation quality — the only thing this anime has going for it — starts to fade. Then the anime decides to introduce CGI mecha fights, and not even the action is good anymore. By this point, any goodwill from the first few episodes is gone, but it keeps getting worse.
The characters are bland, boring caricatures that you'll forget in a few moments. There isn't a single interesting character in the whole cast. The anime then tries to use these cardboard characters in dramatic moments, and it feels cheap and unearned.
Even the soundtrack is mostly forgettable, there are a couple of decent tracks in there, but that's it.
I recommend this anime to anyone suffering from insomnia. If you want to watch a bloody revenge story with ninjas, go watch Ninja Assassin instead.
ACEOFGODS
First few episodes promise cool ninjas, with excellent and interesting ninja techniques, fighting each other in the shadows of a modern-day city setting. The middle episodes fill in the plot in a way that nobody really asked for, retcons the ninja techniques and turns it into a quasi-mecha anti-corporate battle and the later episodes sees the main character imitating a 'secret ninja art' that he saw once by just repeating the words his opponent said like it's a magic spell instead of a jutsu. Main character gets progressively weaker with each episode for no other reason than moving the plot forward, I guess? My suggestion: Avoid watching theanime, maybe watch the action scenes on youtube. There's no coherence between the world's rules, the plot's antics and the combat anyways.
Genossan01
Ninja Kamui initially starts off as a typical runaway ninja story, yet it managed to captivate me despite its clichés. Particularly, the performance of my favorite voice actor, Kenjirou Tsuda, adds an enjoyable layer to the experience. The richness of the story and characters was also something I appreciated. However, when it comes to the turning point, like many others have complained, the anime shifts to the mecha genre halfway through, which also bothered me. I never quite got accustomed to this genre and found myself watching the remaining battle scenes with a sense of boredom. This transition somewhat contradicted the atmosphere initially established and leftme somewhat disappointed as a viewer.
Nevertheless, Ninja Kamui's later episodes were filled with character developments and unexpected plot twists. Overall, while there are valid reasons to watch the anime, the unexpected genre change might disappoint some viewers.
Hartm12
Ninja Kamui a Hack and Slash, Ninja show in this season of Winter 2024. From what I see. its a great Action flick-anime with amazing visual and good audio. The downside is the story/writing of the show. Animation: Animation is Great from the fighting sequence, visual effects and filmography of the fight scene. TBH I can see the resemblance of John Wick. TBH its more like both AOT and John Wick. Camera angles are dynamic it enhances the fights so good and have a bit more impact. Its a good sight to see. - 9/10 Story/Writing: Now for the Story/writing. Its generic but not in a bad way. Characters and story lineare good. I love a good revenge plot but it just lack impact for the characters and their relation with one another and the story itself. This is the only thing that's been bothering me when I watch this anime. If they flesh out or make the audience invest in the character. I would definitely enjoy it. All in all, The story/writing is pretty much fine.
- 6/10
Audio:
Sound Design is pretty good in this anime. Blade clashing, Impact of the punches, explosion and VA are pretty good.
- 7/10
Score 7.6/10
Mal Score: 7/10
Q. Did I enjoy the anime?
A. Yes, I did enjoy the anime it was fun.
Q. Will I watch it again?
A. Maybe, if I got nothing to watch.
Q. Will I recommend this anime?
A. Yes, but only if you like a good action flick to watch on a weekend. Turn off your brain, just sit back and relax
MeanEYE
It's a mystery. No, no the show itself, but how can first few episodes be so captivating and well done, only the rest of the show to disappoint. It started very strong, with mysterious story, promising characters, good pacing and damn right awesome choreography only for it to turn into mecha CGI ninja robots and revenge. When artists bother, animation and drawing style is great. Rich backgrounds, animated perspective shifts, flying cameras and what not. But it seems at one point all of the animators collectively gave up. About half of the episodes in it's all about CGI, shortcuts, repeated shots and the like. Characters areno better either. They start really strong with mature approach, emotion, good acting only to end up being "me kill all" kind of thing.
Story is the most disappointing part to me. It simply goes nowhere. World building is not the best and setup is not all that creative either, but it's enough to hold interest and push the narrative. But then, you guess it, it goes nowhere. Writers it seems had no clue how to finish this story and all the hype they generated with first few episodes just fizzled out.
Am torn on this one. Initial episodes were great but later every thing went to average hell. Even choreography.
MrX867
This had a really strong start but unfortunately it swayed away from what I originally thought this series would be. When I watched the first 4 or 5 episodes I was super excited thinking that I finally ended up finding a Ninja themed anime series that takes place in a modern time. Unfortunately the series ends up with a big focus on Mecha armor which is used heavily by both antagonists and protagonists. I suppose some folks might not be bothered by this but once the sci-fi armor action began it really started feeling like I was watching action scenes from a completely different series. Ipersonally enjoyed the action a whole lot more when it was folks battling each other without fancy Iron Man-esque suits. I'd also like to mention that these suits are CGI drawn which, in my opinion, doesn't look or move as great as the hand drawn animation in this series.
The only other nitpick that kept coming to my mind is that after the first 2 or 3 episodes we only seem to see the supporting cast speak about what to do next or what they should do against an opponent. They barely gave any attention to the main character when it comes to suggesting a plan or even share his thoughts about the situations. Thankfully we do get to see a lot more from him in the flashbacks we see throughout. Though I will admit a lot of the other characters we see are super charismatic and felt very unique.
While I found the story a bit entertaining I must admit that it wasn't exactly anything out of this world. It starts off as a normal revenge story but unfortunately the longer it went the more it seemed like the creators were trying to cram way too many different concepts into 1 package. I actually found myself enjoying the flashbacks more than what was occurring in the present.
If you wish to see 'turn-off your mind' action I'd say give it a chance, the action in the first half of the series is great in my opinion. If you're expecting regular ninjas without Iron Man suits then you may end up disappointed once the Sci-Fi kicks in. I honestly would've rated this higher if it didn't shift from 'Modern day Ninjas' to 'Mecha-Ninjas'.
Aspiring-Creator
One of the lyrics of the fantastic OP "Vengeance" features the line "Rain, rain, come wash away this goddamn pain!". That line starting ringing through my head as I got to the end of what I firmly believe to be the worst of the Toonami originals which so far aside from one stroke of luck in Housing Complex C have all ranged from meh to terrible, thus leaving me under the impression that any future one of these is just gonna suck and that it's easier to go into them with that feeling to experience at least some form of enjoyment. Which is a real shamebecause the first episode shows real promise. The plot is of course nothing special. If you've seen any revenge plot or even just the first John Wick, you'll know what you're getting into but where the first episode shines is in its fantastic action and direction which shouldn't surprise anyone who even has a passing familiarity with the work of Sunghoo Park. Once that was finished? There was genuine feeling of excitement for what was expected to be a fun hacking and slashing time where a ninja takes vengeance after his former clan took something from him.
What was instead presented for the next twelve episodes was a plot that was incredibly boring, so many unnecessary twists and turns that make the universe feel tiny as well as stupid and contrived, some appallingly bad acting from at least the dub cast and writing that is on the level of Shyamalan's The Last Airbender with how overloaded with exposition it is. It feels like it's almost a throwback to the days of those old hyper-violent OVAs that would be rented in the worst ways because it hinges its entire appeal on how brutal its fights are which to be fair it does succeed in, especially in the first episode. But brutality isn't all that a show should have. This is not a situation ala Mortal Kombat where you can come for the gore and stay for the lore, this show is really, REALLY hoping that there's only a desire for gore and yet it also wants care for its story and characters which are PAPER thin. Higan is as dull as they come for leads with no real connection or emotional anchor beyond having a family slaughtered by ninjas, detective Mike seems to exist strictly to be the quirky grizzled detective with linereads and writing where you get the sense they wanted all his lines to be catchphrases people would get stuck in their head. Emma is painfully boring and she has a connection to the lead and his backstory in a way that's so forced that it's genuinely baffling. This anime believes in development by way of bad fanfiction where it's not about the characters, it's about how many hamfisted connections get crammed in, like the sheer idea that characters are connected is all that's needed to make the plot interesting.
At a certain point? One will see every single twist coming from miles away and even the one thing that people will hopefully be coming to this to see, the action, will get taken over by mechsuits with exposed fingers and toes in a move that feels marketing driven above all. Whatever you do? Don't bother watching this anime. If you want a good vengeance based ninja story? Track down the movie Ninja Assassin. It will give you far more entertainment than this.
gabu_rieru
What a huge waste this anime was. Waste of quality and time. Ninja Kamui had an overwhelming start to his story. Very good and exciting, but it soon began to demonstrate certain narrative "vices", starting with the more Americanized story. Unfortunately here it didn't work at all and soon the anime started to look more like a trashy North American film. The script is also something. I believe that anyone with 20 hours of action films watched could reproduce something similar. However, until its first half, even its vices, Ninja Kamui still showed itself to be an anime that succeeded in the art of entertaining, butin its second half, not even that happened. Everything got worse, it became uninteresting, predictable, meaningless plot twists and terribly boring flashbacks.
Technically, the anime did well, especially in the sound aspects (great opening and soundtrack... the Americanization was good in this regard) and the animation delivered something good. There were action moments that used a lot of CGI but I particularly liked the use of it here. Fight choreography also pleased me. However, it stops there as the direction of this anime was catastrophic in carrying out the work.
It's even difficult to recommend it or not because it's an anime that's actually entertaining, but with addictive and clichéd content, even though there are some traces of quality. It hurts me a lot because I really value an anime that starts bad and ends good and I abhor an anime that starts good and ends bad. Ninja Kamui is the second case.
Furthermore, if you have nothing to watch, maybe you can give it a try. If not, enjoy your time with something else.
