C&C - Ninja Kamui Talkback Thread [2/10-5/4]

[Yojimbo]

Guy got what he deserved.

Backstory time.

She was Mari's protege. Nope, she was a plant. Starting to sound familiar.

Hm, so it seemed Mari was supposed to take over. Makes sense combined with her assessment of Higan and Zai, really just two children, lol. But 'ol Yajima wanted to be the one.

Looks like Yajima's secret art is basically Shikamaru's Kagemane no Jutsu. You could see the shadow of Yajima's hands on the throats of those two before he bisected them.

I guess in his head Yajima decided ninja protect their home, wherever it is at the time.

Master plan? Yeah, no way there was any time left to explain it after that long of a flashback.

 

[PicardMan]

Okay, obligatory flashback episode. Not too surprising, but after getting good marks for it's first few episodes, Anime News Network hates this title just as it hates all other Toonami originals, Ninja Kamui ‒ Episode 6. General audiences seem to still like the series and grading on a curve for Toonami originals, this is still the first competently produced one with nothing fundamentally wrong with it. I do know that ANN is biased against Western co-productions be they Toonami, Crunchyroll, Netflix, or whoever and they also hate stuff that is more spectacle driven than plot driven. Doesn't seem like any other major site is doing weekly coverage so there's no second opinion. I admit this was a slower episode, but so far I feel like the show can be considered the first decent/good Toonami original.

 

[CNFan1995]

Episode 8

Saturday at 12:00 AM (EST) (Dub)/Saturday at 3:00 AM (EST) (Sub)
OPENING: Vengeance by coldrain
ENDING: Eye Openers by Jessica Gelinas

Synopsis: The CEO of AUZA dreams of taking total control of the country's energy infrastructure using Yamaji's ninja organization. Emma makes it her personal goal to stop them with Higan's help. Meanwhile, Jason and Mike are still on the run.​

 

[Kitschensyngk]

Last time: Uhh...never mind calling HR.

"Imagine waking up one day and the whole world's gone to hell."
2016 feels so long ago and yet so recent...

 

[Nobodyman]

Previously on Ninja Kamui: How Emma got her groove back.

Zom 100 promo from TOM and SARA!

"You can trust me. See? I have a bunch of children around me, so that means you can trust me."

 

[Kitschensyngk]

Reinventing the world of tomorrow, one defective Cybertruck at a time.

They didn't know what they were signing, did they?

"Now then, could I interest any of you in my 500-page manifesto on why the Avengers were really the bad guys?"

You should have known what you were getting into when you greenlighted this show.

 

[Nobodyman]

"Who's that Emma person?"
Uh, we just spent a whole episode explaining that.

Lotta pauses in the dialogue tonight. What is this, the early 2000's?

 

[Kitschensyngk]

Doesn't it just suck when the wifi goes down?

Don't make him enraged. You won't like him when he's enraged.

So long as it doesn't look like the Batmobile with all the bits sanded off.

Fear my neon scorpions!

Man, you come right out of a Western-funded anime.

 

[Nobodyman]

She's a Judas, so he's gonna get biblical on her ass. And just in time for Easter too.

No arms and a potbelly. Truly the perfect design for a robotic power suit.

Of course he grabbed her in the one spot that would allow for a good cleavage shot.

 

[Kitschensyngk]

ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA!


Well, aren't you a sportsman.

Live on and prosper. Wait, that's not right...

 

[Nobodyman]

"Why do you go out of your way to protect me?"
Again, we explained all this last episode.

"I don't expect you to understand. Because this is an anime and everything is indecipherable."

Pink cheeks of drunkenness.

Well, at least he's not murdering a real song.

 

[Kitschensyngk]

"I act on my own because I'm a professional."
Note she never said what she was a professional IN.

We're not family. I got all my partners and me.

And suddenly it's karaoke night.

LEEROY JENKIIIIIIIIIIIINS!

 

[Nobodyman]

Firecrackers. The ultimate weapon.

Come to think of it, does he always carry firecrackers around?

Well, as long as we're reiterating things that were explained in previous episodes...

When they say "small hiccup", that generally means "colossal screw-up".

 

[Kitschensyngk]

Do firecrackers go off when some step on them?

Most cops show pictures of their family when they're about to die. What if your family's dead?

It's not because you're a ninja infiltrating the FBI...it's because you LIED about it.

 

[Grenzer]

I have to give this show credit, it is doing a really solid job of developing its characters while keeping its unique Tarantino-esque tone as established in episodes 1-3. Still the best Adult Swim original anime by a very wide margin.

 

[Kitschensyngk]

So he's hired some ninja to help him monopolize the energy industry.

Well, at least it keeps him off social media.

 

[Yojimbo]

I liked the parallelism. both he and Emma are driven by a promise to a deceased loved one.

So the plan to take power is to... take power.

 

[PicardMan]

Looks like the robot suits will replace the traditional ninja stuff for the rest of the show's run. Feels like another Toonami original bait and switch, but it isn't like Fena's switch to whatever the hell it became after the first few episodes suggested it would be a Pirates of the Caribbean esque show. The mecha action is cool in its own right even if it's different from the ninja stuff from the first few episodes, but then again, ninja weapons do seem pretty outdated in the 21st century. It seems ANN gave episode 7 high marks after trashing the last several episodes and it's getting harder to predict how the reviewer is going to react to each individual episode, Ninja Kamui ‒ Episode 7.

 

[Grenzer]

To further expand on my earlier post, I want to give credit to how the villains have been developed in this show. One of the major issues with all of the previous AS original anime like Fena, Blade Runner, and Housing Complex C is that the villains were poorly defined and did not come off as imposing threats to the protagonists. In Ninja Kamui we have the figure of Yamaji, who while not a super deep character has a very clear if twisted goal: the survival of the ninja organization at any cost even if it strips them of all tradition and honor. That he may have very well doomed it by provoking Higen into an all-out war with his former comrades is an irony that the show has not been shying away from. How it sticks the ending in the next few episodes will determine if the show has any long-term re-watch value.

Joseph the Auza executive is... there. But at least he is a recognizable archetype. He is a greedy corporate executive who thinks working with ninja is the fastest way of achieving his goal of taking over the world by merging their fighting power with his advanced technology. It makes sense, which is something you do not always see in a lot of pulp action stories like this. I also want to mention that it was cool to see that Big D is more than just some lackey who is always talking about how cool his hair is. His acknowledgement of Higen as a true ninja and wanting to fight on equal terms with him in the future helped expand a rather flat character into something more nuanced.

 

[CNFan1995]

Episode 9

Saturday at 12:00 AM (EST) (Dub)/Saturday at 3:00 AM (EST) (Sub)
OPENING: Vengeance by coldrain
ENDING: Eye Openers by Jessica Gelinas

Synopsis: Emma and Jason combine their efforts to launch a hacking attack on AUZA which results in them obtaining top-secret information. Meanwhile, Mike and Higan fend off a squadron of mercenaries sent by AUZA to stop them.​