Under Ninja

 Under Ninja (アンダーニンジャ) is a 12 episode seinen action series based on the manga of the same name by Hanazawa Kengo.  The anime originally aired over the Fall of 2023. 

 

    Under Ninja came to my attention due to the original author, Hanazawa Kengo.  An earlier manga he wrote that I read and highly enjoyed was I Am A Hero (I should probably write up the review on that at some point) and figured, 2 for 2?  I knew what to expect for the ugly realism in his character design, which was confirmed in the previews.  I figured the story would be pretty good since I Am A Hero was solid, even if it did get strange in the end.  The world of Under Ninja, or at least the way the story is presented, is unusual.  A viewer new to the story has no idea what anything means or what is going on for many episodes.  It doesn't help that the story continues to bounce between two different time periods roughly two months apart.  This confusion will probably turn many viewer off but I took it as a sign as something new and inventive.  How often do we see a story about ninja's that is full of obfuscation?  Sure you have hidden plots and gotcha moments in dramatic moments, but nothing like purposely obscuring the actual purpose of the story being told.  We are introduced to a series of characters, with only a vague sense of what position they are in, in relation to others.  Terms and ideas are rattled off by the characters without much of the self conscious narration that works to explain things clearly to the viewer.  The story and its players do not have compassion for the viewer and don't do things in ways that would make things easy to understand.  The viewer just has to keep watching as more things begin to make sense with time instead of being taught distracting lessons.

    The struggle comes in with some of the artwork.  In general the animation is fluid enough to hide its cg nature.  There are certain segments that are quite poorly executed and almost embarrassing in the process, detracting from the story over all.  Terrible choices aside, the story ends rather abruptly with quite a bit more questions showing up that need to be answered and no word of a continuation of the story in an animated form.  The story does end, with the primary focus of the show coming to a resolution.  That resolution isn't the most satisfying by standard means.  he show also ends with a series of new characters showing up with only a vague understanding of their relation to the previously known characters.  Execution was great, for throwing everything out of the window in terms of traditional exposition.  Too many are only comfortable with being spoon fed their entertainment which only has flashy visuals as its selling point.  This is not a show for everyone and can be a hard sell to many fans not willing to break out of their comfortable norms.  I enjoyed it and will need to pick up the manga and see how much of the story was left out and if it actually carries on after the strange ending in the anime.

    Under Ninja is available on Crunchyroll in sub.