Review of Ninja Slayer from Animation

Reevothemusefan

Vampire Ninja
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/2015-12-15ninja-slayer-poster-image-01.png">

<b>Review of Ninja Slayer from Animation by Reevothemusefan</b>

Domo! Reader-san, Reevothemusefan desu.<br>

There have been plenty of great action anime this year:<em>&nbsp;Blood Blockade Battlefront</em>&nbsp;was a dazzling surprise that had so much energy and <em>One Punch Man</em> is a well-animated parody of the superhero genre that has a ton of charm.<br>

Both these shows are fantastic but it's <em>Ninja Slayer</em> that I've grown most attached to in 2015 and it's mostly thanks to this TV series;&nbsp;it's not perfect by any means but for me, it's unforgettable. &nbsp;<br>

<em>Ninja Slayer</em> is a 26 episode series animated by Studio Trigger;&nbsp;most will know them for making <em>Kill La Kill</em> and <em>Little Witch Academia</em>. The show shares a bit of that crazy high-end animation, however, most of <em>Ninja Slayer</em>'s animation is similar to&nbsp;the&nbsp;cheap static look that was used in <em>Inferno Cop</em>, which shouldn't be surprising since it's the same director, Akira Amemiya, who is in charge with the show.<br>

The plot&nbsp;starts off as a tale of revenge, when&nbsp;our&nbsp;protagonist, Fujikido Kenji is badly hurt after seeing his wife and&nbsp;son killed by the Soukai Syndicate Ninja. Thirsting for revenge, he is possessed by the Ninja soul, Naraku Ninja, allowing him to become Ninja Slayer -&nbsp;someone who will kill ninja - and&nbsp;find the killer of his family.<br>

However, not all of <em>Ninja Slayer</em> is about that, there are also other stories in the show that focus on other characters, Yamoto Koki being one of them.&nbsp;After awakening her Ninja power, she ends up meeting other Ninja, both friend and foe;&nbsp;her episodes seem to focus on the more serious side to <em>Ninja Slayer </em>and&nbsp;in some regards, it succeeds.<br>

The running time of each&nbsp;episode is around ten&nbsp;minutes long if you discount the OP and ED, which is an acceptable length for the show.&nbsp;Most episodes have enough entertainment, some being serious and&nbsp;some being silly and&nbsp;<em>Ninja Slayer</em> strikes a nice balance between&nbsp;the two. &nbsp;There are, however, some problems, the main ones&nbsp;being repetitive animation, awkward long silences and slow walking scenes and&nbsp;these aren't one-time issues, they happen almost every episode.<br>

Still (much like <em>Inferno Cop</em>), there is nothing quite like like watching this show.&nbsp;I adore the way random fight quotes&nbsp;are used in every battle like "YEEART" and "AIIEEEEE", how the battles transition&nbsp;from&nbsp;the fluid animation to the cardboard cut-out designs, and the creative&nbsp;character outfits for&nbsp;most of the Ninja that we see.&nbsp;I just had to watch every episode to find out&nbsp;what they would do next.<br>

It's also really dumb at times which might be a turn-off for some viewers;&nbsp;for example there is a episode which is basically Studio Trigger having fun with <em>Ninja Slayer</em> characters while implementing random humour, calling it a 're-cap' episode when it's not;&nbsp;for someone like me, though, it's entertaining.<br>

What I love about the series as well is the OP and ED, mainly the themes, the OP 'Boom Boom Satellite&rsquo;s - Back In Black' gets you pumped every time you watch it and almost every episode of<em> Ninja Slayer</em> had a selection of EDs from different artist and&nbsp;varied genres from Rock to Electronic music, most of them being amazing.&nbsp;I would even say that the series has some of the best ending themes of the year.<br>

<strong>In Summary</strong><br>

<em>Ninja Slayer</em> is not up there with the best anime of the year, it's flawed in many places, but I love it's overall silliness and energy which makes it worth your time.<br>

Hopefully we will see more of it in the future.<br>

YEEEEEEEEART!<br>

<em>All Ninja Slayer episodes can be watched on Viewster.com</em><br>

<b>Final score: 7 out of 10</b>

<b>Additional screencaps</b>

<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2015-12-15vlcsnap-2015-12-15-00h03m44s684.png">

<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2015-12-15vlcsnap-2015-12-15-00h22m42s117.png">

<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2015-12-15vlcsnap-2015-12-15-00h24m47s687.png">
 
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