Ninja to Koroshiya no Futarigurashi

Summary: I believe that ethics should not matter in watching animation, but it does sometimes. What's your opinion on characters that are designed only to be killed? Can you just enjoy in the position of a killer, or can you pity him or her if some detail comes before? Everyone will understand the difference between death of an unnamed soldier and a soldier whose name, family, and fiancé are known to the audiences. To talk about myself, CLAMP's comics RG Veda (1990~1996) - which killed all main characters except two - made me think that "in a well-written story, death of a character must impact the story by changing other characters' mind". (Especially in contrast with Tokyo Babylon, where death of Hokuto becomes big turning point.) I don't remember many now, but Claymore (2001~2014) was another example of "mannequins to break" show. Now this show becomes the worst example of "designed-to-be-killed characters" in my life. In every episode it brings a new character, shows her slice of life, and kills her in a blink. Unlike audiences who "know" her, main characters shows no emotional changes at all. Also it gives us some false hope like possibility of reincarnation from leaves, gathering in "soul society", etc. Moreover, emotional change of main characters are done by breaking a robot, leaving no space of humanity. Without considering above, it is a well-made animation. Cute characters, funny story. However, I'm never going to recommend it to anybody. Because if I'd watched this show following a recommendation, I must question the recommender's personality.

A Ninja and an Assassin Under One Roof — Hey, it's Lv1 Maou to One Room Yuusha, but better in every way! *tilts head with the Essence of Monogatari vibes* Everyday mundaneness. This is the reality that as the sorry-ass humans we are, we go about day and night and do things that sum up the everyday life that seems to repeat endlessly in a body clock's cycle. But what if there is that element that somehow gets you out of that rut and enables quite the spark to life that you can't go one step away from that premise to see life as anything but normal? This is the outcome and result with mangaka HundredBurger's lone work of Ninja to Koroshiya no Futarigurashi a.k.a A Ninja and an Assassin Under One Roof (shortened to NinKoro), which I think is the better version of Summer 2023's Lv1 Maou to One Room Yuusha a.k.a Level 1 Demon Lord and One Room Hero, in terms of both content and aesthetics. For as long as time exists, the terminology is one and the same for different settings and aspects when it comes to ninjas and assassins. And although the idea of having them both in communion will, for sure, reap commonality that's unforeseen, that's exactly the case for two rather not-so-ordinary girls, Satoko Kusagakure and Konoha Koga: a ninja who has found herself on the escape route out from her ninja village alongside a group of deserters, and an assassin who is but a rookie at best and trying to stand out amongst the crowd that's constantly executing assassinations and climbing up the regional ranks. What ensues is quite the story of a comedy that hits harder than most but also can inflict some emotional damage in the midst too. At first glance, it's not all that common to hear of ninjas deserting their villages for reasons one might think of and not. And for Satoko, she, along with the group of ninja deserters led by their leader Kuro, makes an attempt to leave the Kusagakure ninja village in the dead of night and resolves to live the lives that they wanted to live. However, while everyone has got a goal to look forward to, it's Satoko who gets left behind, being one without any money or friends in the outside world and surviving day by night until she almost starves to death. That's where the unassumed Konoha steps in as her saviour, and the two quickly form a mutually exclusive relationship where Konoha will fund Satoko's everyday life inreturn for the latter ninja deserter helping the assassin out on her execution job by turning people into piles of leaves, which sets quite the quick-and-swift comedy, plus taking care of the everyday household duties. Despite being in the vein of a CGDCT-esque setting (of which this show clearly is trying not to be), I don't know about you, but I'm thinking that how HundredBurger does things here for NinKoro is kind of genius. It's almost like Asobi Asobase, but in a classic slice-of-life setting that, while it doesn't undersell its premise, it provides just about enough "plot" to get you along and then throws you a curveball when you least expect it to happen. From the pure to the gore, and from the funny to the serious, this show will (and I mean WILL) make you feel emotions that are the culmination of teenage angst and a whack-ton of emotional damage that'll leave you baffled at how things got from point A to (not B but) C. I'm telling you, something about this show just screams "it's working" types of unexplainable ruthlessness that just leaves speechlessness hanging at the seams. To contribute to the wackiness of the premise, there are a fair few entities of note that'll shape Satoko and Konoha's "normal" life of killings, both physically and emotionally. You see, the national assassin rankings are brutal for anyone wanting to make a name for themselves, and while Konoha sits well at the "delegation zone," before Satoko would become a vital resource for her to climb the rankings, even within assassins, there'll be rivalries to beat their own kin at the game. And one of them is Marin Izutsumi, a young mad scientist who sees Konoha as her rival to spy on her and figure out her roots of success, before she'd eventually succumb to the competition and become quite the reluctant friend of the ninja and the assassin. Marin is a load of fun, despite her short-term emotionally broken fuses to hurl her frustrations, and although she can be labelled a tsundere for one (though not exactly that), it's her behaviour that eventually settles for a consensus rather than fighting to have her way. Going back to close acquaintances, you'll find Satoko's leader Kuro fleeing the Kusagakure ninja village, all in the hopes of finding love with her partner, the ordinary human Yuriko, though this relationship has its woes in terms of the former experiencing the "wealth" of the local pachinko parlour and other unnecessary things. And yes, since this fits "within" the mould of a CGDCT, or even towards Yuri territory for that matter, this show has it all, which doesn't distinguish itself as either, but it's also a distinction to not be confined towards the mould. It's been a long while, but studio Shaft is finally back into the anime scene once again, after what seems like a long drought of not being listed for projects since the failure of Summer 2022's RWBY: Ice Queendom, outside of the studio's mainstay of the Monogatari Series (which saw last year's adaptation of the Off & Monster season) and outsourced work with helping the then-new studio of Bug Films with the adaptation of Zom 100 (which, if you know, is one hell of a production crunch). But this is even more of a promise that getting your work produced by Shaft will have its own visual flair and style, and the overall production looks great, as you would expect, with the cheek to even feature the occasional Monogatari head-tilt style, it being always the undeniable telling of a Shaft-produced work. Moreover, it's the work of in-house director Yukihiro Miyamoto, for whom this show serves as his lone debut directorial series after the adaptation of the Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story series from 2020 to 2022. He's come a long way in his time being tutored and mentored at the studio itself. His narrative writing style can be seen as a vision cut from Shaft itself, which NinKoro fits perfectly into the "somewhere between comedy and despair" style, which Miyamoto is the absolute madlad for directing shows that look depressing but are also comedic in nature. On the musical stipend, the OST composed by Ryuunosuke Kasai is quite the charm that somehow fits within the eccentricity of the series in both shape and form. And to bring it one step further, both HanaKana's OP and HoneyWorks feat. HaKoniwalily's ED add every bit to the trippiness of the show's expectation-subverting trope that's just all in the name of fun. A slice-of-life setting that looks all fun and pleasant on the outside, but with unhinged features that provide the constant of unimaginable plot twists? Only in Ninja to Koroshiya no Futarigurashi a.k.a A Ninja and an Assassin Under One Roof, would you find a marriage of all things unconventional while still managing to layer with a facade so simplistic that it doesn't make you suspect anything out of the ordinary. The very definition of "hook, line, and sinker," I'll give to NinKoro for a feat that it's a damn good watch.

Ninkoro was one of the weirdest watches of the season for me because on one hand, I liked everyone in this show(besides Konoha), but on the other hand it’s an extremely disturbing story masked by cute cute girls and yuri undertones. It’s a very odd mix of cute girls doing cute things with the backdrop of them killing other cute girls, some NTR and emotional abuse. Episodes will make you laugh, but also make you feel horrible for laughing given what some characters are going through. It’s a unique viewing experience that I had a love hate relationship with. Despite that, I’d say it’s an easy recommended watch if you like CGDCT or shaft’s production style. What’s going to make or break this show for you is Konoha and Satoko’s relationship. For me, it started out really cute with some good Yuri vibes and then it slowly started to devolve into an emotionally and mentally abusive one sided relationship where Konoha took average of Satoko’s kindness every week. I hate seeing people get taken advantage of because of how nice they are and that happens a lot towards the middle of this show. Satoko’s clean up ability being crucial for Konoha’s success makes her indispensable, but for a long time Konoha only viewed her as a tool and it angered me so much. There’s even a point where it basically becomes an NTR relationship as Satoko gets replaced by a new character and Konoha doesn’t even notice the real Satoko is gone because this new character does all the same functions as Satoko. This does start to change as the season winds down with Konoha finally viewing Satoko as a human being instead of a cheat code, but man is it hard to watch at times. Some people will probably be able to laugh this off and just go on with the episodes, but for me this part was just brutal. If you cut that out the story though, it’s pretty good. I’d say it’s a much better version of NEET Otaku from earlier in the year. There’s some real morally grey situations in the story which I appreciate. It can be dull seeing characters who are just always on the right side of the tracks, BUT some of the cases in here were really hard to watch due to just how messed up they were. Innocent people getting hits placed on them, misunderstandings leading to deaths, people being turned into leaves.. this is truly one of the most aptly named “dark comedies” it’s certainly got some hilarious moments, but man there’s always some dark situation in every episode that the show kinda plays off as a joke. Sometimes you can move on from it, other times it sticks with you all day. On a happier note, I’m a huge fan of how unapologetically gay this show is. I knew it had Yuri vibes from the start, but seeing openly gay characters in this was so cool. That relationship is a big part of the story as well and it just fits in very naturally. Hasn’t quite got that far for our main couple, but it’s very clearly going that way and hopefully the manga continues to develop them as individuals and a couple. I did start to empathise with Konoha more towards the end of the show so I could see one day coming around to liking her. Production wise, Shaft have their fingerprints all over this show. It looks amazing, it’s well directed, great OST and the famous Shaft head tilt is here. It’s a very well put together and pretty looking series. Final thoughts on this one? Mixed bag. Loved Satoko and the side characters, hated the other lead and some of the edgier stuff, but I overall enjoyed watching the show and would say to give it a watch if you want something different or have a dark sense of humor. Some of the things I didn’t care for you might not have an issue with. Ninkoro gets 7 kunai out of 10

Now this is a comedy done right! Man, what a great pleasure this was. Among all the animes this season, I dare say that this was the one that best delivered the results of what it set out to do.What I value most in a work is whether it succeeds in doing what it set out to do. And in this case, it was delivered masterfully. Extremely charismatic, unique characters, full of personality, each fulfilling their role in the story in a convincing way. Animation outside the standards of anime of this genre, as well as the soundtrack and the creativity of the direction. By the way, I want to highlight the care that was put into the production of this work. The impeccable animation and Japanese dubbing that maintain the high standard of quality are just a few examples that show how everything was done with love, dedication and respect for the work, that already deserves all my respect In short, in the middle of a season that delivered so many disappointing works, it's great to have something to show us that Japan still has a lot of good things to offer. Thank you to the author, studio Shaft, seiyuus and everyone involved.

Studio Shaft’s body of work is fundamentally defined by the conceptual interplay between form and content. Remarkably, they maintain a unified vision even through adaptations: while the Monogatari series deconstructs the rules of visual storytelling, works like Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei or Maria Holic prioritize avant-garde chaos and stylistic exercises over plot, utilizing the anime medium's full toolkit. Their latest series, NinKoro, might initially seem like an outlier due to its lack of typical aesthetic maximalism and sensory overload. However, it functions on the same principles as their earlier works, drawing from genre characteristics, clichés, tropes, and specific directorial techniques. The difference lies in how the anime synthesizes them: instead of fragmented stylistic bursts, it integrates these elements organically through a "slow burn" approach. As for the concept: The clash between form and content has perhaps never been more acute. The "Under One Roof" trope has evolved from a cheap romance cliché into a fascinating subgenre over the last two decades. Whether the contrast between the characters' worlds is literal (Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid) or metaphorical (Hinamatsuri), the focus remains on their shared existence as an unusual duo. Its popularity comes from its versatility: it blends seamlessly with the "healing" iyashikei vibe, draws humor from the casual-absurd contrast, and facilitates "found family" dynamics, character growth or even romance through forced proximity. Of course, it also carries the inevitable weight of wish-fulfillment and self-insertion... NinKoro exploits every facet of this subgenre. The story follows the near-harmonious daily lives of a unique pair: Konoha, the assassin, and Satoko, the runaway ninja. They navigate the "idyll" of cohabitation, whether it’s perfecting an omelet, liquidating clan members, murdering random citizens for a lot of money - every day is a new adventure. Their symbiosis is total: Konoha does the dirty work, while Satoko acts as the crime scene cleaner, using her ninjutsu to turn non-living matter into leaves. If this is their routine, why couldn't it be slice of life? Why couldn't it be CGDCT? Don't forget how the show starts: in a dark, traditional ninja chase, Satoko is an absurd outlier. While her pursuers wear classic black uniform (they are actual ninjas), she practically glows in purple and orange with an unpractically long scarf, barely surviving the prologue through sheer clumsiness. The message is clear: Satoko doesn't belong in the shadows of the ninja world, but in the pastel-colored world of moe and CGDCT. Well, the "things" they do aren't always cute, but at least the killing happens off-screen. The essence of the show lies in this conscious, ironic incompatibility, served with devastating black humor. When a vengeful rival recites a grand shounen monologue from a script, Konoha simply stabs him mid-sentence—we’ve heard it all before. NinKoro uses aesthetics as a weapon with surgical precision. Occasionally, however, the candy-coated design gives way to dark tones and heavy silence, where brutality is no longer masked by comedy. In these moments, the anime shows its teeth, leaving a lingering "this is not right" sensation that makes it harder (though not impossible) to laugh at the next joke. This raises a fundamental question: What defines a story - the sequence of events or presentation? While most viewers focus on plot, NinKoro gives an obvious answer: the "how" is what matters. It functions as a soothing iyashikei simply because it adheres to the aesthetic and dramaturgical forms of one. The "found family" and yuri-bait work despite a total lack of genuine chemistry. Many other anime have done this, NinKoro is just the first to play with its cards face up. To understand what NinKoro is deconstructing, we must look at 2021’s famous "under one roof" anime, Hige wo Soru (HigeHiro). In many ways, it is a "synthesis" of how NOT to handle the subgenre. The only "true" thing in it is the title: After Being Rejected, I Shaved and Took in a High School Runaway. HigeHiro uses narrative framing, genre tropes to sanitize a crime. It presents a middle-aged man, unable to find a partner in his own social sphere, who secretly harbors a minor. The narrative, music, and genre tropes are all weaponized to manipulate the viewer into seeing this as a wholesome "savior" story. It reinforces incel gender roles: the girl is extremely vulnerable at many levels - emotionally, financially, she's 17 etc. - allowing the working man to indulge in a protector/breadwinner fantasy. She performs emotional laboring, cooking and cleaning to soothe him after a long day. The story demands we view the protagonist as a moral hero simply because he refuses to sleep with her when she asks — an irony that actually only serves to highlight his ego and total dominance. NinKoro takes this exact dynamic but strips away all ambiguity, resulting in comedy / satire (note: Konoha is a female so she fits CGDCT, but it doesn't change anything regarding their relationship). In HigeHiro, the "cute" and "wholesome" atmosphere can trick the viewer into ignoring the crime. In NinKoro, however, everyone knows that murder is a crime; the cute mask can no longer fully hide the reality. It forces the viewer to recognize that they are consuming something inherently wrong. As for gender roles: just like the heroine in HigeHiro, Satoko is fleeing her "family" environment (the ninja clan), becoming utterly helpless in the modern world. The financially stable but burnt-out Konoha takes her in, and Satoko immediately fills the submissive role. She disposes of the trash bags, prepares dinner, and supports Konoha as a "right hand" in the business. Her provider's needs always take precedence. Anyone searching for the missing girl is framed as an "enemy" to be eliminated, exactly like the narrative structure of HigeHiro. Where HigeHiro-like atrocities hide the objectification of women, NinKoro magnifies and exposes it. If their daily interactions weren't clear enough, consider Episode 5: when an antagonist sends a robot double of Satoko into the apartment, the tension isn't about the risk of being caught. Instead, it leads to a much more painful realization: Konoha doesn't even notice the switch. In fact, she is happier with the robot because it satisfies her needs more efficiently. The show dedicates an entire episode to the functional dehumanization that waifu culture represents.. (While Konoha's and Satoko's relationship eventually does evolve, it is due to a narrative trick I won't spoil here.) If NinKoro makes you feel uneasy because you’ve caught yourself perceiving something repulsive as "heartwarming," then the story has succeeded. It asks: how much moral bankruptcy can be shoved down a consumer's throat if it's wrapped in a gift box? According to the ending: any amount. Our only defence is media literacy - something that NinKoro teaches us brilliantly. It is often said that art should not cater to the audience's desires, "good art disturbs the peace" and so on. Well, NinKoro does both at the same time.

I was a little skeptical going into this (which is why I didn't just watch it in the Spring) because it was giving Silly Girlslop vibes but I figured I'd trust Shaft's vision, maybe it'll be like Madoka where it ends up being pretty good It turns out I was quite right to trust my gut feelings It actually starts out kind of interesting because Assassin starts the show clearly being an abusive dick to Ninja where she clearly sees Ninja as nothing more than a tool while Ninja is like a little puppy, wanting Assassin's attention And while that was kind of hard to watch at times, that combined with the dark humor actually was pretty watchable. It gives off a solid impression. However, it eventually degrades into your standard cookie cutter CGDCT with just a touch of Shaft thrown in the mix. There are some weird-ass fucking fetish episodes in this show, the whole episode about Ninja developing giant breasts from having her chest massaged by Mad Scientist's fucking Doctor Octopus backpack or whatever was just weird, ditto for the one where Assassin turns into DaBaby I will give this show credit for being more forthcoming and out in the open with its yuri. Not necessarily with Ninja and Assassin (although if this gets a season 2, maybe that'll eventually loop around) but there's a canonical lesbian couple and quite a few other characters outright have crushes on other women (speaking of which, there are like 0 male characters in this show) It's not something I'm personally into but I'm glad to see that in the big 2025 One thing I was really disappointed by and I guess it fits the comedic tone but the action scenes look pretty good when they actually try and considering they've got an assassin ranking leaderboard a la No More Heroes, they could've easily turned up the gas and cooked quite the dish. However, the vast, VAST majority of the fights are just Girlypop Monster of the Week shows off her gimmick, gets killed by Assassin, then gets turned into leaves by Ninja so Ninja and Assassin can eat takoyaki or whatever. I loved the dynamic between Assassin and Robo-Ninja, I thought that was funny, we love you, Roboko It's not terrible or anything, it can be funny even later into the series, but it's certainly far from the best work Shaft has ever put out. None of the characters are really all that well-developed or original, it has a tendency to lean on the Cute Girls more than it should, it actively shies away from showing off any cool action scenes for the most part, the dynamic kind of stops being interesting in the second half of the show and if you like the dynamic in the second half, you'll likely find the dynamic in the first half kind of hard to watch

This is a VERY FUNNY anime with two MCs: Konoha (stoic and voluptuous dark/gloomy girl) and Satoko (cute and cheerful ninja girl that can turn anything into leaves). You will find hilarious entertainment from time to time including some ecchi jokes & little fanservices. The funniest part is Satoko, along with other ninja girls, was living a long time in remote village and don't know how to live in modern world so her naive-ness causes her to do stupid and funny things. This is an ideal anime for those who want pure comedy anime with cute ninja girls. There are some Yuri moment (PS: no male characters here) where the girls develop feeling to each other and doing "something" that you might find interesting.

This anime is beside All Perfect Saint and Apocalypse Hotel one of the hidden gems of Spring 2025 Season Anime. It was a wild and disturbing ride from start to end and I love every minute of it. Animation and sound: it's studio SHAFT so expect great animation and a lot of titled heads. xD But in all seriousness animation was fluid throughout entire show, the few battle scenes we have here and there are great and I must praise for character models - each of them are excellent despite many of them having really short screen time. Music is also good, the opening and ending theme are quite memorable. Overall animation and music - top stuff as expected form studio SHAFT. Characters: this is where anime really shines as you cannot decide which character is bigger sociopath. MC's Konoha and Satoko are prime example of this. Konoha is an assassin and if you put a wall and her side by side you cannot say which one is which. While Satoko is funny and dumb to a point where she feels very innocent. The developing dynamic and relationship between them is one of the reasons that makes this show great. As both are sociopaths in their own right and seeing them clash and help eachother in various situation was so enjoyable to watch. Other than Konoha and Satoko we have Marin who is also an assassin but a bit on a dorky side, she was also a great character and her interactions with main two is what pushed show in the right way. We then have LEader and Yuri, a sesbian couple who is also occasionally present to help the main duo. Yuri is stupidly innocent while Leader is a typical good-looking scumbag, but they both work together very well and are fine addition to the main cast. Last one I would want to mention is Aiko, the only 'good' character in the show. Her story in show is so tragic and yet she gives it her best that you cannot but feel the need to protect her. Other characters are also great in design but since they appear for only 1 or 2 episodes they are not impactful enough to talk about them. Overall MC's are great and really carry the show. Story: this story is very simple: one day assassin saves a runaway ninja and they form sort of alliance. Ninja will help assassin in disposing the bodies and assassin will in turn defend ninja. From there the story is basically the two of them getting into all sort of situations and developing their relationship over the run of the show. But man... this show may seem innocent and cute but it is so dark it's on the level of Berserk and similar anime. Without spoiling too much I can say that in a single episode show will make you feel doki-doki only to make you feel 'what the f**k' in the next 5 minutes. And some of the dark elements are really dark. If you expected to watch this show just to relax and have doki-doki time then it is not for you. Enter in it prepared to be more shocked than anything, and the show is great in keeping your feelings fluxuating throughout the entire run time. Overall the story is great but it is not for the lighthearted. Overall grade: 10. It was a fun ride from start to finish. If they ever release Season 2 I will watch it. I will also recommend this show as one of the hidden gems this season. Just be warned that you will be more shocked then relaxed while watching it.

Well, this one was ... something . Honestly it's supposed to be a slice of life allright, but it just wears the tattered skin of a slice of life over a featurless corpse. Meaning it really doesn't feel like a slice of life. Cuz underground organizations and the village hidden in the leaf really doesn't categorize as that. The very premise denies it. Now, as far as a show goes, it's honestly not bad at all. Even with the lack of a story and all. Although it has it's issues. Mainly the MC . She kinda feels more like a self-insert then an actual character. And her relationship with Satoko is straight up abusive. Reminds me of those kinda "romance" anime where the FMC gets treated like a dirty rag and instead of doing the right thing and cutting off contact she's into it or something. The comedy's pretty funny tbh. Although when i was presented with this premise, i did expect to see some fights. And you really don't for like 99% of the time. And that robot episode really pissed me off. Not much of a story to hit upon so yeah..... It's all sorta out of whack, but it's still a decent watch.

Now take any expectations for how this show will play out and throw them out the window. In reality Ninkoro is an unrelentingly cruel comedy, where death is quick and meaningless. No flashy action scenes, long monologues, or tragic backstories. Instead time and time again this series shows you these people, how they lived, who they loved. Where we watch their corpses get turned to leaves, their homes empty, their jobs replaced. And then it asks you to LAUGH! And this is where you’ll know if this is a series for you or not, but if you see this and think “that’s interesting!” You’re in for a hell of a ride Now let’s start with the titular ninja and assassin. They have great comedic chemistry with the classic cynical and deadpan Konoha bouncing off of a more naive and emotional Satoko. What adds a fresh take to these tried and true dynamics is the way they’re subverted and developed over time. Satoko and Konoha’s relationship is extremely well written, what starts off cold quickly grows into something heartfelt. This development is slow and natural, it's able to reframe earlier scenes in a completely new light. Small implications throughout the series letting the viewer piece together why these characters act and think the way they do. It forces the audeience to ask a difficult question, can you still choose to empathize with these characters after everything they’ve done? Both main characters offer a surprising amount of depth, rewarding the viewer for paying attention to small details. And this mainly comes from Ninkoro’s most unique trait as a gag comedy, it’s continuity! Even the weirdest episodes have lasting emotional ramifications for its main cast. Every building that explodes, every character that dies, has consequences! Most gag comedies will push their premise to the limit for one big punchline. But in Ninkoro, nothing resets after the punchline. That crazy thing that just happened, well that did happen, and now our characters have to deal with it. Leading to genuine emotional drama stemming from the most out there premises. These consequences add to the most divisive part of Ninkoro, its tone. Ninkoro can be hilarious one second and melancholic the next. But this stark contrast is exactly what makes Ninkoro so unique, it adds a layer of emotional complexity that wouldn’t be there otherwise. This show’s comedy comes from its contrast, its hypocrisy. It shows characters who live vapid and meaningless lives, snuffing out people with promising futures. Sometimes it asks you to mourn the lives of those lost. Sometimes it asks you to laugh at the cruelty of it all. And sometimes it asks you to empathize with the people doing all this. To root for their happiness, to find meaning in their meaningless cruelty. This cynical, almost nihilistic tone is one side of Ninkoro's distinct identity. However this sense of continuity doesn’t only enrich its darker aspects. Those looking for some SOL with a hint of yuri will not be disappointed. We see Satoko learn more about the modern world, the two roommates spending more time together by going shopping, or eating good food. Seeing how they go about their daily lives and how it evolves over time, humanizing them outside of their assassin work. And makes their budding friendship feel genuine. That relationship grows to be the emotional core of the series and creates many heartwrenching moments. This show’s genuine emotional depth and empathy being the other side of Ninkoro. It’s cynicism and hope, two contrasting tones that lie at Ninkoro’s core. To talk a bit about the production. Shaft has done an absolutely incredible job with this adaptation. As a long time fan of the studio, I was extremely happy to see a new series that wasn’t a sequel and boy did they deliver. Many studio veterans helmed as episode directors. Every week I knew I was in for something fresh. Each episode brings a new directorial style to the table. This show is an absolute treat for the eyes. With dynamic shot composition, strong visual storytelling, and on point comedic timing. Shaft also did extremely well adapting the manga. Taking a much slower, more deliberate pace, focusing more on letting certain emotions sit for a while. Adding a unique contrast to the faster paced comedic segments. A lot of thought being put into how certain panels would translate best to animation. This is far from a stilted panel by panel adaptation. They even manage to slip in volume extras, and anime original scenes. Making this a fresh take while still keeping the core of what made the manga so great, even expanding on it. Overall Ninkoro is a bold gag comedy series that doesn’t take the easy way out. With consistent character progression, and a strange mix of hilarious gags with genuine melancholy. It won’t appeal to everyone and that’s the beauty of a work like this. The people who resonate with it will find it and will love it. And I implore you to find out if you’ll be one of those people.

After years without an anime, Shaft studio returns with another masterpiece. NinKoro, a slice-of-life comedy anime where we see the daily life of an assassin and a ninja on the loose. This is one of those episodes where I didn't really expect much, but from just the first episode I knew I was going to love this, to the point where it became the best anime of the season. The comedy is terrific, very well directed, very absurd, and with a good punchline. I must say that there are some rather boring episodes where it feels like they're reusing the same joke too much, but thankfully there aren't many. Honestly, there's not much more to say; highly recommended if you're looking for a good comedy anime with a slice-of-life touch. (Reseña original) Luego de años sin ningún anime, estudio Shaft vuelve con otra obra maestra. NinKoro anime de comedia y slice of life donde vemos el día a día de una asesina y una ninja prófuga. Este es de esos casos que realmente no esperaba la gran cosa, pero ya con solo el primer cap supe que esto me iba a encantar, hasta convertirse en el mejor anime de la temporada. La comedia es buenísima, muy bien dirigida, muy tirando al humor absurdo y con buen remate. Sí debo decir que hay capítulos medio aburridos, donde se siente que ya están reutilizando mucho el mismo chiste, pero por suerte son pocos. La verdad, poco más que decir, super recomendable si buscas un buen anime de comedia con un toque de slice of life.

Cute girls doing cute things but the cute thing is murder. Cute girls doing people in? Not only people though... You get the point (of a knife! I'll stop...). So this is an odd one. It's not exactly your typical CGDCT show but then again I would expect something less normal from Shaft. It's about a cute but pretty dumb ninja running away from her village (she just kinda went with the flow) and running into an assassin girl who decides to work with her due to her ability to turn inanimate things into leaves (including dead bodies, yes). Ninjas from the village come to hunt the runaway down and they all have distinct designs and hints of personality (some more so) but they often get unceremoniously killed. Some characters who have nothing to do with either ninjas or assassins get killed and... It's not exactly done in a funny way... There is no gore, just blood and I would imagine some of the deaths are there for an antiviolence message but it is something that has to be mentioned. There are also heavy yuri undertones... Or, actually, a lot of the relationships are straight up yuri. Still, it looks good the performances are good, heads get tilted, most of the characters are likeable and there is a bit more depth than usual (that would probably need another season or more to get explored properly). I'm marking the review as mixed because if you don't want murder in your cute girl shows then... Well, you are probably a fairly normal person... But you might not like it. If you REALLY like murder of cute girls then... You might be less normal and you might enjoy a game called The Citadel in different ways from me... But you might not enjoy this show either since it's neither murder p0rn nor does it glorify violence. Give it a shot and stop if you feel like you should.

This anime was okay. The premise is in the title; it's a cute girl doing cute things anime about a ninja and an assassin living in the same house. It is what you see on the tin. It kind of reminded me of In The Heart of Kunoichi Tsubaki, not in terms of the premise very much, but in terms of the comedic style. I didn't like this one as much as that one, but it was still fine. The girls are super cute, the comedy it hit or miss but when it hits it really hits, I like t heir differing personalities and how they interact with each other and bounce off of each other, and while there's not a ton of action when we do get it it's surprisingly well animated and intense.

When this show originally started airing, it wasn't on my radar (for some unknown reason cause this dumb humor is up my alley), but I'm so happy I decided to watch this series cause it was a a lot of fun. The characters themselves are so much fun. A ninja girl who is completely lost on world outside of her village. An assassin who is so deadpan and matter of fact is hilarious. Put them together and it's such a fun duo. They feed off of each other in terms of their attitudes and demeanor and It really shows as the show progresses. They themselves even get development as time goes on regarding how they feel about each other. Truly, well done 👏👏. The animation for this show is great. I mean it's SHAFT, duh. they always deliver. But especially for this, It felt extra clean. I'm also just a big fan of SHAFT's directing style with the minimal animation are more about the use of different angles. Really creates for a dynamic scene. The story itself for this series speaks for itself, in that it's truly just the 2 of them living together and going through their life. It's simple, but the humor and delivery of everything is so well done. And with the introduction of new characters, it gets even better. Only complaint (if u can even call it that), was that some episodes didn't land for me humor wise (Example episodes 3 & 4). But I feel that's more of a personal problem cause the rest of the humor in this show is top notch 👌. Overall, I loved it. It's fun, and just a cute little show about a ninja & an assassin living together ☺️ what could ever go wrong hehe

Ninkoro is a comedy CGDCT SoL with a slight twist, the twist being the two main characters are not doing cute things and are rather murderous without mercy while still being somewhat lighthearted about it. The show is filled with many shenanigans and is sprinkled with a lot of SHAFT's trademark things such as the pastel cards and the famous head tilt. It's mainly comedy focused with how the two girls go on their work and their obstacles that most of the time aren't involved in assassination. The characters design are very unique, even the ones that only appear for 20 seconds or less and the VA cast are very stacked even for those that only appear for such a short time. Personality wise the main 2 characters are the typical straight/funny man duo while the other side characters have personalities with decent enough depth and not just one note characters(apart from one, no spoilers). Some people say the shortly lived ninjas felt like a waste but I think that's part of the charm, make them look very cool just to murk them instantly. The animation also goes wild especially with some of their big fights, the SoL ones are fairly basic but they put a LOT of effort in making the fights very dynamic even though it only applies for only 3-4 people, still very sick. My main complaints are about how long it took for the two main girls to receive proper character development, and the show's attempt to make the killings far deeper than it is. The two main characters for 7-8 episodes felt like textbook psychopaths/leeches and thank god there were one episode where Satoko showed true compassion. And for the other complaint the show's attempt at making things darker than it actually is felt like a brain aneurysm of a tone change, dark comedy is one thing but this was just SHAFT overcooking stuff while the manga showed a much better pace at it. Overall It's a fairly good anime, would've hated it if it wasn't for one very needed episode and logic pretty much gets thrown out of the window(while SHAFT tries to put it back in really hard) but it's still just a silly watch, I'd give it a 7.4/10.

Ninjas and assassins are a powerful combination for a slice-of-life anime with comedic elements. The frequent deaths, while showing how easy it is to die in this world, also highlight the consequences of murder. The protagonists' daily lives constantly lead to comedic situations, creating an entertaining balance between humor and action. The series focuses more on character development than on battles. We get to see the characters' successes, struggles, relationships, and personal growth. It also explores how they deal with being constantly pursued by enemies and what they want to do with their lives in the future. However, this may disappoint some viewers who were expecting more fights between assassins and ninjas, considering that most of the antagonists are ninjas, while the assassins who appear often end up becoming allies or friends. I really liked the personalities of the characters. Without them, the plot would fall apart. The main duo, Satoko Kusagakure and Konoha Koga, carry the series, especially Konoha. Her strong and principled personality is one of the anime's greatest strengths. She learns from others but does not allow herself to be easily swayed, remaining faithful to her convictions and determined to carry out her duties without hesitation. This gives her character a clear sense of purpose and direction. As for the animation, Shaft Studio is proving that it still has the creativity to experiment with different visual styles and animation techniques. It is encouraging to see the studio gradually moving away from the repetitive visual approach that many people associate with the Monogatari series while still maintaining its distinctive artistic identity.

NiNja Population Is In Steep Decline A Ninja and an Assassin Under One Roof is what happens when a professional assassin picks op a lousy ninja And makes her, her cleaning lady and accomplish in crime. The ninja and assassin just work of each other very well. There different personality makes so many hilarious and cute moments and to see the cold harder assassin slowly warm op, to this lousy ninja is just oh, it's a Heart warming thing. You would think this just a slice of live show which it's is. but it goes in so many fun directions and actually has a conclusion in the ending, which is more than I can see for many like slice of live shows. It is comfy. It is funny. It is very cute, and it has some very dark moments but oh my god. It's a fun time. The animation looks good, both in action and comedic, it has a good balance some scenes are smooth as butter, The character design is really cute. female characters has the perfect line between sexy and cute. and the ninja designs are really expressive. I did not think that this premise would work out as well as it did, but it was a big surprise and I would recommend it