This was...not what I expected.
I had really high hopes for this show at the beginning of the season, when I was really impressed by the first episode. Unfortunately, all the potential that I saw never materialized. Despite thinking that this show wouldn't go down the generic path, it did exactly that. That isn't enough to make me dislike the show (it's not the trope, it's how it's used), but the presentation is so confused that I'm not really sure what to make of it at the end. The pacing is horrible; the majority of the show is spent assembling the main cast with the conflict thrown on at the very end. It almost feels like the show was initially made with more episodes in mind, but by the final episode it's clear that its really just laziness since it opts for a reset ending. The show mistakes time onscreen for character development, since despite having a pretty large cast and taking its time to get them all together we hardly see any characters beyond the ones we're initially introduced to, and they never break out of their stereotypes. There's the tsundere male ninja lead, the shrine maiden who has to be constantly rescued, the yandere of ambiguous gender and sexuality...the list goes on. The political intrigue plot also ended up being nonexistant, instead deciding to make vauge references to Japanese history and what will happen in the future with some historical figures thrown in here and there. Date Masamune's portrayal in this was awesome, but frankly the show could've gone on without him.
Instead of the Sengoku Era ninja samurai fighting plot that the show advertised itself as, this anime ends up being a random cross between Hakuouki and Fushigi Yuugi, and not a good one either. Apparently the shrine maiden is the reincarnation of a barely explained goddess of death, so ten warriors of the elements have to be gathered to cancel out her power. The second part is also barely explained and seems to have been thought up after the characters were created so the logic is tenuous at best (wouldn't the water element and the ice element essentially be the same thing?). Combine this with a barely explained evil ninja organization (at least, I think that's what they are) with wacky powers straight out of Basilisk and that's our show, ladies and gentlemen! For all my complaining though, I have to admit that I don't hate this show; I did get attached to the main couple since apparently I'm a sucker for romance in all its forms. However, that's the only thing that I can say that I enjoyed about this anime now that I've finished it. I honestly wanted to like this show; it had all the elements there for me to love it, yet it just didn't come together that way. In the end, I'm indifferent about it. It wasn't the worst show that I watched this season, but if you missed it you weren't missing much. If you really really like ninjas and really really really like ninjas who also happen to be bishounen, then maybe this is your show. Otherwise, there is almost nothing here. The show left itself wide open for a sequel, but even if it does get one I'm not interested. I would accept a spin-off about the pirate guy and his panther, though.
Images from Crunchyroll.com.
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