Under Ninja

It's really refreshing to see and lives up to the seinen catagory because of the amount of literal engagement with the audience. The show was formatted well and feels watching a certain period in history but diggs deep into the characters and events that tells you what you really need to know in order to understand the story to the point where its willing to cut in-between the story. And without doing this there would be plot holes that would leave the audience confused and unsatisfied. Overall the show was great but had choppy animation that lead me to rate this a 8.75/10!

It's like The Room, except it's done on purpose, and an edgy ninja show. That's it. There is no comedic timing, or witty lines to indicate when you're expected to laugh. Under Ninja just throws the most absurd concepts and cliches at you, while remaining dead serious for the entire runtime. And the worst part is that all of it starts to make sense the longer you watch. I saw another review call it "an anime watcher's anime" and that might be the best way to describe it. Someone without extensive background knowledge would have a difficult time seeing the irony in this show.

Underninja is an unusual spectacle of violence and political intrigue; it was like the plot itself was obscured from the viewer, as a ninja would. To some, this could be an obtuse and arbitrary series of events, but with a different outlook the story becomes a sort of puzzle box. The characters are both wacky and mysterious in ways that are not often seen, but it can be difficult to appreciate them while trying to decipher who is betraying who. Since this story is only beginning, the payoff may feel a little unfulfilled, but is not without satisfaction. The show certainly offers quality, but it may not land with all viewers - this is more geared toward experienced watchers.

​I don't tend to write reviews on this website, because taste is so subjective. But I really enjoyed this anime and it seems to have a pretty small audience that paid attention to it, so if additional praise gets one or two more people to watch this then great. Story:9 The general plot is that there is a hidden world of ninjas in modern Japan that were cultivated as a result of WWII. The reality though is that at some point there was schism in the ninja organization​ leading to factions who are in conflict with one another, ​how this conflict​ unfolds is the main drive of the whole show. Because this show is narratively unique, the first half is spent introducing you to most of the main characters (as well as some red herrings) while revealing their motivations, and their skills as ninjas. The show chooses to do this with a non-linear narrative. It made the first two episodes a bit of a confusing slog, but once you understand what is happening it works really well to propel the action as you focus on a conflict occurring that will cut back to actions taken in prior days or weeks that led to the predicament the characters now find themselves in, or to foreshadow how a conflict will likely end based on previously unseen actions. However, after the stakes have mostly been set, the non-linear storytelling is replaced with a mostly normal linear style that still winks at the previous non-linear style from time to time when needed. I don't want to spoil all the twists and turns that occur, but I will state that this show purposefully obscures the "good" guys and the "bad" guys. It seems the goal is for each character to be a mix of good and bad, with messy sides and motivations that have you questioning who is working with whom. It kept me at the edge of my seat as I tried to puzzle out the possible implications of the choices that everyone was making, and the very dire consequences that resulted from some decisions (people definitely die in this show). While the plot is unfolding the tone of the show flips back and forth between a very dry absurdist humor and drama. Terrible things will happen and be immediately undercut with humor. So many ridiculous moments are played straight by characters, including hand waving away a ninja who has been body-swapped into a cat that people seem to sometimes understand??. That last sentence sounds ridiculous, but it actually becomes an important plot point that makes the motivations of the mostly unseen leaders of ninja society murkier. The story is by far the strongest part of this anime for me, the only let down is the way it ends. So many new questions are created in the final five minutes, and it is unclear whether this show will get a second season to answer them. Characters:8 The characters in this show are not the most complex, but they are clear and well thought out. Their behavior makes sense for how they are portrayed, and they don't make decisions simply because the plot needs them to. However, they are not that multi-faceted, and we get very little back story on what makes them tick. There are flashbacks to pieces of some characters' past, but those mostly occur to explain a character's current motivation, not to flesh out who they truly are. Kurou is a standout as the protagonist, and I loved all of his interactions especially with his neighbors​, who are mostly loveable simpletons. He comes across as apathetic and lethargic, but​ it becomes clear very quickly that he is a pretty clever fighter. He isn't too flashy or overly powerful, but he is good at playing to his strengths and using whatever the situation gives him to his advantage. This is an ensemble cast so the story jumps around to follow the many ninjas and civilians caught up in the central conflict of the schism, but for the most part I was just rooting for Kurou​. Art:5 As much as I loved this show the art is the weakest part, there is some really trash CG in the beginning that nearly had me turning the show off, but it's a 2-minute segment and then it goes away, so aside from that moment nothing else was as egregious. Even so, it was clear that there was not endless money put into animating the many fight scenes in this show, meaning there are a lot of cuts and still images. However, I would say that they manage to mostly be clever in how they depict action regardless of the lower production value of the show, it did not end up ruining my enjoyment of the fight scenes. Sound:7 I loved the opening for this show. It was a banger so I never skipped it. The ending was fine, but not as loved. The music in the show was appropriate for the scenes it was in, but it didn't stand much otherwise which I think is fine for a show like this. Overall:8 This was one of my favorite watches from the fall season, I started it, watched one episode, then put it on the shelf for months only to circle back and love it. I watched the 11 episodes in one sitting, once the plot got going, I just had to keep watching to see what would happen next. This is a show for people who need a plot to keep them invested, but who don't mind eccentric humor and some mildly unconventional storytelling at the same time. Definitely an underrated gem.

Do you like Ninjas? Then you will probably like this. This one was a rather sudden watch on my end when I decided to pick this up in the fall 2023 season but it managed to pique my curiosity a bit, atleast the first episode did. This anime was a jumbled bag of sorts. While at one hand it portrays a sort of a modern Ninja group who are living day to day lives and are hiding in plain sight doing what needs to be done but the execution left much to be desired. The premise was interesting no doubt but the execution is where I have issues with this. Let's start with the main issue I have with this anime, I really think this anime should not have opted for the piece by piece storytelling style. I don't know if this was in the manga or this is just the Director's personal flair but it definitely can get really confusing really fast. Things are shown from the past and present perspective, events shown out of order to later be assembled for the wow factor (Something like Baccano you can say). But this does not work in the favour of the anime at all. In fact, at one point I thought stuff was happening in the present but it was infact the last. I have no issue with the pacing or animation and think those were done really well. The only thing detracting from my enjoyment of this kind of weirdly unique anime was the out of order storytelling which Iam not a fan of. Don't get me wrong, it works in several other shows where mystery is the driving force or in supernatural shows but in a realism dipped show like this it actually doesn't work in my opinion. It's something done for the shock value and wow factor but it has no impact. Now let's talk about the characters, The MC is one of the most bland characters I've had the displeasure of seeing lol. Like he seriously cannot be bothered to do something. His lack of enthusiasm or even remotely any interest in stuff really makes me not like his character at all. Character wise, I don't think there was even one standout character here. They are all wacky and do wacky stuff and that's about it. Nothing to write home about. Now let's start with the positives of this show aswell The animation and artstyle is oozing style, definitely think it's perfect for this sort of anime and atmosphere. The opening and ending are absolute bangers aswell. Soundtrack was good and nicely placed. The ending for this was generally one of the most out of nowhere stuff I've seen recently and that increased my overall thoughts about this anime. The ending is such a big plottwist. All in all, definitely one of the most unheard of anime of the fall 2023 season and it definitely was interesting and tried to do something different which is appreciated. It did some bold stuff and the author used really unconventional ideas. It definitely deserves another season since it was enjoyable and I would love to watch more of it. I'll rate this an honest to goodness 7/10. Thanks for reading!