Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. What’s up with the poor interpretation of ninjas in animes as of lately? I mean ninjas are badass characters who stick to the shadows, assassinate people without leaving evidence, and know awesome jitsu. So why is it that animes these days like Naruto do a poor job at making their ninjas seem awesome? Maybe they just don’t know how to make them badass or they just wanna use them to sell sex like today’s anime Senran Kagura. Okay, a little backstory about this series, and I do mean little because the series is only 2 years old. Senran Kagura is an action beat-em up game that came out in 2011. It was developed by Tamsoft and published by Marvelous Entertainment; there are 3 games as of right now, the first two are side-scrolling games that came out on the 3DS in Japan only and the third was a 3D fighting game that came out for the Vita this past February for Japan only. I haven’t played the games but I looked up some gameplay of the Vita game online and to the game’s credit it looks pretty good, it reminds me of the One Piece Pirate Warriors game that was pretty good. In the game you play as high school girls who are secretly ninjas in training who go on missions and fight their rivals. There’s really not that much to say about the game other then it’s well-known for its big-breasted females who lose clothes everytime they get hit and lots and lots of fanservice that perverts enjoy. Because of the games popularity and 5 manga adaptions the anime studio Artland (the guys who produced Demon King Daimao and Katekyō Hitman REBORN!) decided to make an anime of the series that started this year and ended in March. So let’s see just how ecchi ninjas can be and take a look at Senran Kagura.
Opening/Ending theme
Our opening for this anime is “Break your world” sung by Sayaka Sasaki. I’m kinda in the neutral zone on this song. I don’t really care for this opening. The singer doesn’t really sound all that into it, it doesn’t get you pumped or excited for the anime, and it’s kinda forgettable. For this anime we have 3 endings. The first is Fighting Dreamers which isn’t the same song as the 4th Naruto opening or as catching as that song. The song is sung by our 5 heroines in the series and for the most part they’re pretty good and the song is quite lively and catchy. It almost reminds of K-ON if they were all big-breasted ninjas. The second ending is Yamiyo wa Otome wo Hana ni Suru (translation: The Flowers of the Girls of the Night) sung by the 5 antagonist of the series. Unlike the Fighting Dreamer which was bright and lively this ending is a little darker and calmer and matches up with the antagonist well. The song is good but the only problem I have is that there aren’t that many individual parts like in the first ending it’s always 2 or more people singing. The final ending is Shissōron (translation: Theory Sprint) sung by Hitomi Harada which was hands down the best ending in the anime. It’s lively, upbeat, well sung and fits perfectly with the anime. If the song was a little more fast-paced I could definitely see this as the opening for the anime.
Episodes 1-4
So we start the anime off right with a good ninja chase where one of our main heroines in the show Asuka voiced by Hitomi Harada (Himeji from Baka from Test) is protecting a scroll (which is tuck away nicely in her big breast) from ninjas trying to get it. They corner her on a building but she uses the substitution jutsu to fool them followed by flash bomb and escape by hanging on to a helicopter to get away (alright so far the anime has my attention). We cut to the next day where Asuka is returning to her school called Hanzo Academy which is an academy for regular students and is secretly a ninja academy where our 5 ninjas go to school in secret. She returns the base where we meet the other heroines of the show. We have Ikaruga voiced by Asami Imai (Chihaya from Idolm@ster) a 3rd year student who is the leader of the group and takes her role as ninja seriously (no different from Chihaya. Now sing a song for me), Katsuragi simply called Katsu voiced by Yu Kobayashi (Ruka from Steins;Gate) a tomboyish 3rd year who fights first and thinks later and enjoys groping the breast of her comrades (clearly she is a lesbian and I’m okay with that), a 1st year named Hibari voiced by Yuka Iguchi (Maho from Ro-Kyu-Bu) a childish and clumsy girl who is the weakest, useless and most annoying character in this anime that she makes Sakura from Naruto look useful. No, I’m serious, this girl annoyed me to no end, how the hell did she become a ninja is beyond me and what the fuck is wrong with her eyes? It looks like someone replace her pupils with a pink plus shape and no, it’s not like AKB0048 where everyone has a heart in their eyes it’s just her, none of the other characters have this eye problem so why just her, it’s a little disturbing and creepy. The final ninja is another 1st year named Yagyuu voiced by Kaori Mizuhashi (Minami from Baka and Test) who is considered a ninja prodigy, wears an eye patch for some reason, carries an umbrella around everywhere (what is she the child of The Penguin) and is very protected of Hibari (well, that’s two lesbians so far. We’re not even 10 minutes into this anime and we already have two leasbians and no boys. *goes to grab a tissue box and returns*. . . my allergies are acting up you sickos). Oh, and the one thing these girls all have in common is ginormous breast that make the women in Sekirei look subtle. As they all gather to welcome back Asuka their sensei named Kiriya voiced Keiji Fujiwara (Hughes from FMA: Brotherhood) who likes to appear and disappear via smoke bomb to deliver Asuka’s report scroll on her mission we saw at the beginning. It turns out that the mission was actually a test that Asuka barely passed to test her ninja skills.After a little bit of ninja training the girls are given a mission to go into town and beat some delinquents who have been causing trouble in the shopping district. When they reach the shopping district they split up to search for the delinquents (alright gang, let’s split up and search for clues). Yagyuu and Hibari find the delinquents and signal for the others to come using a ninja flare she hid between her breasts (I’m sure that’s not the only thing she’s got hidden in those melons). The others show up except for Asuka who is helping a foreign student named Homura voiced by Eri Kitamura (Yui from Angel Beats) find her class but she’s really a ninja trying to assassinate her but fails when Asuka trips and falls into the river (klutzy girl no jutsu). While that’s going on the others beat the delinquents but they get back up under the control of some other ninja who puts up what’s known as a battle sphere a pocket dimension used for ninja battles (yeah, because ninjas could TOTALLY~ do that. I guess Naruto and the gang just aren’t trying hard enough). Realizing that something is up they *laugh* okay you guys are gonna love this *laugh* they do what’s known as a ninja morph which gives them battle gear and a transformation scene where their clothes dissolve and new and more revealing clothes appear *laughs*. Okay, no, these guys clearly have no idea how a ninja works. You can’t just make up this bullshit of making pocket dimensions and ninja morphs like something out of Power Rangers or Sailor Moon. You can’t just be like Twilight and make up your own shit about ninjas to suit the anime you have to show proper respect and knowledge for the source material and stay true to it. So they fight the delinquents which turn out to be marionettes (the delinquent is a lie). We end the episode with the silhouettes of the 5 antagonists of the series discussing how weak the girls are (oh, you have no idea).
In episode 2 the girls are training to summon their animal spirits. Ikaruga, Katsu, Yagyuu summon theirs with ease but Asuka and Hibari have trouble summoning theirs (https://youtu.be/5Ptuzx_aHkM?t=2s). Hibari summons her which turns out to be a giant realistic pink rabbit (scene here: https://youtu.be/86xl89LLkUw. Behold, the powerful shinobi riding a pink rabbit. *Starts crying*). Asuka on the other hand has no luck at summoning hers. After their training Kiriya tells them to stay out of sight and not be seen by anyone because of the attack on them (Kiriya is starting to sound like Splinter from the Ninja Turtles). That night, Asuka is studying in her cat pajamas (what the hell is she wearing!? Are we sure she’s a high school girl) looking up animals to find the one she wants to summon (summon a 3- dimensional boy. I normally don’t say that but this anime can really benefit with one. Trust me). The next day Asuka’s grandfather Hanzou a legendary shinobi who is respected and admired by all shows up and makes them some sushi rolls which they eat in an erotic fashion (SYBOLISM! WTFOMGFTWLMFAO!). After that scene Hanzou tells Asuka that her summoning animal is a frog which doesn’t sit well with her because she’s afraid of them for their webbed-feet and wet bodies (are you sure it’s not tentacles you’re afraid of). The girls decide to help Asuka get over her fear of frogs by searching for them and having her sit in a pool with them but that backfires on them greatly (hey~ watch me pull a frog out of Ikaruga’s breasts). While that’s going on Hanzou informs Kiriya that the dark shinobi have begun to move and that it was them who attacked the girls yesterday (ohh, I’m sure it was just a high school prank nothing too series). Later on Asuka and Ikaruga go out to buy food to prepare a welcome party for Hanzou where they end the episode with them getting attacked by a dark shinobi named Yomi voiced by Ai Kayano who likes to talk about bean sprouts (seriously, she talks about them every chance she gets. I wouldn’t be surprise if she gets off on them) and hates rich people (and yes, just like Homura and all the other girls in this anime she has large breasts built for motor boating, https://youtu.be/DC2teMi1nZg).
Picking up where episode 2 left off, Yomi creates a shinobi barrier (*laughs* ridiculous I swear) and chooses to fight Ikaruga because she comes from a rich family (more on that in a few minutes). Ikaruga and Yomi get into a sword fight where Yomi overpowers her completely destroying her clothes and leaving her in her underwear (oh come on, you guys are still holding back. If this was a real ecchi anime she would have been completely naked by the end of the fight. Come on, go To Love Ru in this bitch). After the fight Ikaruga’s school clothes magically return (how? No idea. Magic clothes no jutsu I assume) and they return to the hideout where Ikaruga demands to be punished for disobeying orders (lady, she attacked you first you had no choice. Are you by any chance a masochist because my S is really starting to become attractive to your M). Hanzou decides to punish her by making her give him a massage while wearing a revealing outfit (Dude! . . . nice, https://youtu.be/VL4xRwl1f3A). After that scene Kiriya comes in and tells Ikaruga that her older brother has gone missing which doesn’t seem to faze her all that much (a heart of ice that girl has). While in the bath we get a short flashback where we see that Ikaruga was adopted by a noble ninja family that runs a large zaibatsu to replace their son who had no talent as a ninja and because of this came to despise her. We also see her receive the family treasure, a sword called Hien (translation: Flying Swallow). She returns to her room where she finds her brother Murasame trying to steal Hien. She quickly gets it back and uses a trap door to send him on his merry way (wow, he really does suck at the whole shinobi thing; I can see why they adopted her). The next day Ikaruga gives Asuka some extra lessons in summoning where she pretends to drop a large rock on a frog but Asuka willingly saves it and through this overcomes her fears of frogs (Frogger could of used someone like her in his games).
In episode 4 the girls go to Shinobi Island for some seaside training. When they get there they clean the house, get firewood, Kiriya gets into a fishing contest with Yagyuu where he loses, and they have a pillow fight at night. The next day they start to train and we get introduced to another shinobi move called Mortal Combat (???: Mortal Combaaaaaaat~) a mode where shinobi’s voluntarily remove their clothes leaving them defenseless but at the same time their speed and power increases (I would call bullshit on this but if we go by anime logic this is all very true. The fewer clothes you wear the stronger you become, its anime logic 101. And it’s also a good excuse to squeeze in some fanservice). Later that day, two dark shinobis come to the island and attack Katsu and Yagyuu. The first one is Hikage voiced by Ryoko Shiraishi (Takamina from AKB0048) a snake-like emotionless girl who fights using various knives but tries to avoid fights because she has no motivation for them. The other is Mirai voiced by Saori Goto who is the smallest of the girls that uses an array of firearms that she hides in her dress along with an umbrella she uses as a sword like Yagyuu. She’s also flat-chested (*slams desk* Objection! I was told that every girl in this anime had humungous breasts. You lied~). Yagyuu holds her own against Mirai who retreats via jet plane that comes out from her dress (*gets up, goes to kitchen to get a glass of water, returns and drinks glass of water, squishes it around in mouth, and spits it out* WHAT! Yeah! I’m not making this up; she pulls a small jet plane out of her dress and flies off! How did she fit that in her dress? Is her vagina some kind of alternate dimension where she can pull whatever she has stored in it out or something? This really makes no sense. Give Tenten from Naruto credit, she uses a variety of weapons but at least we know where they come from, weapon scrolls that she carries around with her. Okay, we never learn how she puts the weapons in the scrolls but at least we know where they’re coming from. This, on the other hand doesn’t make a lick of sense. I have a better a chance at explaining the timeline of the Legend of Zelda than explaining this). Katsu on the other hand is overwhelmed by her opponents strength and Hikage walks away after knocking her to the ground (you know, these dark shinobis really need to up their game. Your opponent is down finish them. Stop being such cliché bad guys it’s gonna come back to haunt you later). Later that night when everyone returns to the house Kiriya tells them that the dark shinobi come from Serpent Academy for girls (yes, because there’s no room for male shinobi in this anime) an academy that trains dark shinobi to fight shinobi of the light faction. The episode ends with them vowing to become stronger and a silhouette overlooking the house the gang is staying in.
Episodes 5-9
Episodes 5 and 6 are just one big 2 part fight episodes. We get the setup for it in episode 5 where the dark shinobis infiltrate Hanzo Academy where they hope to find the Scroll of Light called Yang. They find the secret base of our heroines, lure Kiriya out of the base and create a barrier preventing him from getting in, and they each create a linked shinobi barrier where they separate everyone and force them into a one on one battle (gotta admit this was a good plan. This is like Ocean’s Eleven planning right here. This is probably the only real ninja thing this anime has done so far). Asuka takes on Homura where she loses and gets insulted by her, Ikaruga takes on Yomi again where she’s able to hold her own this time, Katsu takes on Hikage again and loses but manages to strip her down to her underwear (which looks look like swimwear if you ask me but hey, don’t all female underwear look like bikinis), Yagyuu takes on the loli-bitch Mirai where she actually wins, and Hibari takes on Haruka voiced by Megumi Toyoguchi (Chifuyu from Infinite Stratos) who is a puppeteer user that likes to treat her enemies as toys, enjoys picking on the weak, and seems to have an interest in Hibari (woah 3 lesbians and no boys in this anime so far, anymore and we’ll be approaching Strawberry Panic territory). In their fight I’m not gonna sugarcoat it Hibari gets her ass kicked; she barely puts on a fight, she only got one hit in and after that gets destroyed by Haruka. I give Katsu and Asuka credit, they may have lost but at least they put up a fight and manage to get a couple of shots in. Seriously, why is she a ninja in the first place, this girl is making Sakura from Naruto look useful. Yes, she is that useless. Yagyuu manages to escape the barrier and make her way outside but breaks through the barrier to reach Hibari where she’s too weak to fight because breaking through the barrier almost killed her. Haruka is about to kill her but Hibari begs her to spare Yagyuu to which she agrees if Hibari becomes her friend (she’s starting things off slow. Become her friend first than do the scissors dance second). Hibari agrees and Haruka gives her an earring as a sign of their friendship (which I’m sure won’t come back to haunt her) and she retreats along with the other dark shinobi after they learn Mirai was defeated. After their gone Yagyuu is rushed to the hospital (a secret shinobi hospital mind you) where they treat and save her life. A few days past, Yangyuu returns, and Kiriya and Hanzou tell them about super-secret ninja art (the forbidden jutsu in this anime) that only one of them can learn and they end the episode with all of them vowing to become stronger so that they can learn the secret ninja arts (I can already tell who it’s gonna be). During these episodes we also get a little backstory into Katsu and Yagyuu. For Katsu we learn why she’s obsessed with becoming stronger. It turns out her parents (who are also shinobi) took the blame for a crime they didn’t commit and were told to commit suicide but instead fled and went on the run leaving Katsu behind. Katsu gets the idea in her head that if she becomes a strong shinobi she’ll be able to redeem her family’s honor and her parents will come back. For Yagyuu we learn why she’s so obsessed with protecting Hibari so much to the point that it seems like she has a lesbian crush on her. It turns out that Yagyuu had a younger sister who tragically lost her life in a car accident and when she started high school she met Hibari who bears a striking resemblance to her younger sister thus she feels the need to protect Hibari no matter what. That’s . . . crazy. I’m sorry she lost her sister but she can’t replace her with some random girl that bears a strong resemblance to her that’s just creepy and disturbing at the same time. It’s also wrong to keep on protecting Hibari, she has to learn to defend and fight for herself or she’ll never get stronger. She’ll just remain a spoiled and whining girl who keeps running to her friends for help and not handle the problem herself.
In episode 7 Kiriya sends the group on a training exercise known as HIKING a 2 day trek full of obstacles and traps for the students to overcome (how is this different from regular hiking again). Their goal is to reach the top of the mountain and retrieve the scroll at the top while competing against each other. They each land in a different part of the area. Asuka lands in a rainforest environment where she gets attacked by leeches and a giant loach (Loach: Tentacle rape ain’t got shit on me). Ikaruga lands in the mountains where she gets caught by a snake (Snake: Ha! Loach is gonna be so pissed when he finds out what I got). Katsu lands in the snowy region where she fights a polar bear (Polar bear: I. . .just. . .wanted to. . .give you. . .some cola *faints*). And Yagyuu takes the river where she gets attacked by some piranhas (Piranhas: Now there’s a river we wouldn’t mind swimming through) and is saved by Hibari who rides what looks like what would happen if the nimbus cloud from Dragonball Z fucked a bunny and had a child. The next day they all reach the top where they meet Daidouji a legendary 3rd year shinobi who even though passed her finals continues to repeat classes at the academy (I’m sure this violates some rules but I imagine everyone’s afraid to tell her to leave) because she’s waiting for her rival Rin another shinobi who trained with her and was her rival in school to return for a rematch. The problem is Rin is believed to be dead but Daidouji believes she’s still alive. She tells the girls that she has the scroll and if they want it they have to beat her. They all attack her but she keeps blowing them away. Asuka takes her on by herself and loses (this was totally expected). However Daidouji hands the scroll over to Asuka for having the balls (or breast in this case) to attack by herself and perform an attack that almost took her by surprise. Asuka is declared the winner and she opens the scroll which reads “Power is both shield and strength” (and Trolling is both annoying and stupid).
Throughout the majority of episode 8 all we see is flashbacks of when each of the girls joined the academy. We see how Ikaruga was closed off and kept to herself but with the help of Katsu learned to open up and become friends with Katsu. We then cut to 1 year later when Asuka joined them and how she started off as an amateur and began to show potential for becoming a fine shinobi like her grandfather. We finally cut to Spring when Yagyuu and Hibari joined and see how Yagyuu was an arrogant bitch who showed no respect to her seniors and kept to herself but eventually became friends with everyone. After all the flashbacks we go to Serpent Academy where Suzune the teacher of the dark shinobis is talking with the leader of the academy about going behind her back and ordering one of her students to get the Yang scroll. She talks about how they haven’t even found a worthy student for their scroll yet and tells him to remain patient and let the light faction train a chosen one and force them over to their side (yeah, that’s a pretty good strategy, I can see why her students are so smart clever, they had a great teacher). But no, he decides to be a dick and ignore her completely and says that they’ll steal the scroll and train their own ninja to use the scrolls power (no! That’s just causing more time and trouble on your part! Step down man clearly Suzune should be in charge, she’s got the right idea). The episode ends with Haruka activating the earring she gave to Hibari which turns out to be a mind control technique and she takes control of Hibari.
Continuing where episode 8 left off in episode 9 Hibari steals the scroll of Yang and gives it to Haruka who convinces Hibari that she’s a traitor and should join Serpent Academy to which she decides to go (okay I know she plans to steal back the scroll by infiltrating the academy but still YOU HAVE AN ACTUAL MAP TO THEIR ACADEMY! SHOW THE OTHERS, COME UP WITH A PLAN AS A TEAM, DON’T GO INTO ENEMY TERRITORY ALONE THAT’S JUST ASKING TO BE KILLED!). Yagyuu rushes off in a fit of rage to try and find her but Asuka calms her down and the group brings her back to come up with a plan. We then cut back to Hibari who enters Serpent Academy via bondage style to Haruka’s room (it figures she’s a masochist). After Haruka has her moment with the tied-up Hibari (which we never get to see unfortunately) she gives her a tour of the academy which unlike Hanzou the whole academy is full of ninjas instead of just 5, is located in the mountains, the sky is always dark, students go through intense training, are encouraged to fight each other, and are punished severely if they mess up in class or on lessons (geez, this place makes public school look like paradise). During the tour Haruka tells Hibari the tragic backstory of the dark shinobis. Homura came from a family of the light faction but killed someone so the dark path was the only way to go, Mirai was bullied by others, Yomi grew up in the slums and watched her parents die from poverty, and Hikage was raised as a child soldier to become a killing machine (False! According to the games Hikage was a street orphan abandoned by her parents and taken in by the leader of a gang of thieves where she was influenced by the leader’s lifestyle and fighting style. I guess the anime wanted to make her past a bit more dramatic and hurtful but if you ask me I think they should have kept the original. It adds more to her character and makes her seem complex). As for Haruka, it’s jumping ahead a little but in her past we find out that her father was a well-respected doctor who was really a horrible person and her mother treated her like a doll instead of a human being and doted her with abnormal love (starting to see where the doll obsession comes from now). One day, she finally snapped and was about to burn her house down but Rin stopped her and bought her to Serpent Academy. Later on, Kiriya goes outside where’s he attacked by Suzune and destroys her mask to reveal that she’s really Rin, Kiriya’s former student (and one hot teacher. Please tell me she does private tutoring I need help controlling my boner no jutsu).
Episodes 10-12
In episode 10 Rin gives Kiriya a map to Serpent Academy and leaves. The girls want to go but Kiriya is hesistant because he doesn’t want to risk an all-out war between the two factions but Hanzou comes in (where does he keep coming from? He just comes and goes as he pleases) and tells him that this is just a dispute between students and should be settled between students without adult intervention (right on man, right on). While this is going Hibari tries to steal back the Yang scroll but after overhearing a conversation between the principal and Rin and Rin being called a traitor she retreats. The others arrive at the academy and decide to wait until nightfall to attack (we gonna burn this place to the ground). Hibari finds out that the others are coming and tries to get scroll back before the others show up but she gets captured and thrown prison (why am I not surprise, she’s failed at pretty much everything else so far so why did I think she would succeed here). Nightfall comes and the girls attack the academy (tonight we dine on snakes) where they beat up some of the students and make their way inside (ninjas in house bitches) where they’re confronted by Yomi.
Picking up where episode 10 left off Ikaruga takes on Yomi herself while the others advance to the top of the castle. Katsu and Yagyuu fall into a trap door where they each face Mirai and Hikage leaving Asuka to advance alone where she eventually meets Homura and the two fight. While this is all going on Rin breaks out of prison and leaves and Hibari tries to escape but Haruka catches her and the two fight as well. Once inside the battle sphere Hibari beats Haruka by summoning a cartoon bunny (Oh my God she won! Is the world ending) and uses telepathy (I’m not gonna question the jutsu anymore in this anime. We have girls pulling guns out of their vaginas I believe anything is possible at this point) where she informs them that the dark shinobis have what’s known as an entity crest on them, a crest in which they have to carry out the orders of the caster’s request and if they fail they die (it’s FF13 all over again. Huh? Suddenly the jutsu in this anime is starting to make sense). After telling everyone this she tries to meet back up with them but Haruka regains consciousness and takes her down (okay, I give up. It’s official; she is the most useless ninja I have ever seen. Congratulations Sakura you are now free. She couldn’t even beat her own rival in the anime. Sure Sakura didn’t beat Ino but at least she tied with her. From now on if you’re watching a ninja theme anime and the ninja sucks just know that it could have been worst, it could have been Hibari). After hearing this, the others (besides Asuka) beat their rivals. We end with Yagyuu heading towards the basement to save Hibari (No! Its time she learned to save herself) and Ikaruga tells Yomi that she was adopted into a rich society not born into it, knows nothing or was treated to the luxury of rich people that Yomi kept going on about, and that the only reason she was adopted was to take the place of a no talented son. This in turns shocks Yomi and she begins to cry because now she has no reason to hate her anymore (ask how she feels about beansprouts).
In the final episode we see Asuka and Homura fighting where Asuka sees Homura’s past and how she fell in love with her teacher but it turns out he was an asshole working for the dark faction who’s mission was to seek potential ninjas of the light faction and eliminate them (Wow! I. . . don’t know what to call this guy. He makes assholes, douchbags, and scum look good). He played with the emotions of Homura and tries to kill her but she picks up a kunai and kills him instead (hell hath no fury like a female shinobi scorned). After the flashback Asuka deactivates the battle sphere and continues to the top, Katsu and Ikaruga meet back up and head to the top after ditching Hikage and Yomi, and Hibari and Yagyuu combine their techniques to drill their way towards the top while running away from Mirai and Haruka (and this is all being done in their underwear. I guess Magic clothes no jutsu only works when the writers want it to work. Inconsistency thy name is Senran Kagura nice to meet ya). Asuka and Homura reach the top where the principal whose name is Dougen reveals that his plan is to use the chosen ones as vessels to combine Yin and Yang (which is a taboo in the ninja world. Don’t know why), obtain their power and betray the dark faction to achieve his own goals (way to sellout your own faction).He drags Asuka and Homura into his battle sphere while the others fight mechanical ninjas. Inside the sphere the two fight against Dougen’s orochi ((Isis): Ewwwww! (Nitsuj): The snake! The snake! (Chibi-Isis): Nii-chan is ecchi! (Nitsuj): Oh for godsake! The eight-headed snake-like creature you see in Japanese mythology! (Isis): Oh okay. (Nitsuj): You knew exactly what I was talking about didn’t you? (Isis): Maybe. You mad, bro? (Nitsuj): ARRGH!). They attack the beast but their attacks aren’t hurting it (of course not. We need to summon Amateratsu Okami and have her paint a full moon in the clear sky). With the spirits of their friends they get the scrolls back, master the super-secret ninja arts and defeat Dougen (I still say my plan would have been better and more epic. But I guess we all live in our little world). Dougen tries to escape but the girls cut him off (he’s running from half-naked girls? Something is wrong with this picture). He activates the self-destruct sequence on the school (I told you we burn the place down), the dark shinobis go to rescue the other students and Rin realizes her mistakes and takes Dougen down with her to atone for her actions. The next day comes and they receive a report that the dark shinobi girls weren’t found in the rumble (which means they’re still alive) and the group goes their own separate ways for summer vacation to end the anime.
Final Thoughts
So what’s there to say about Senran Kagura? Well it’s not bad, it’s kinda funny if just for how ridiculous they get in the anime it’s just an anime that fails at everything it’s trying to do. The story isn’t really there until the last episodes, throughout a majority of the anime there’s no story, and all we do is see them train or fight the dark shinobis. We never get the chance to see them go on any real missions or see how they work in a squad when out in the field. The story starts to get interesting and good near the end but at this point it’s too late in the game. You gotta come out swinging hard and getting the viewer interested and excited, don’t keep them waiting. It fails on the characters. The main characters are kinda blend, aren’t all that interesting, and are kinda cliché characters. Asuka’s the happy-go lucky girl who brings everyone together, Ikagura the responsible one, Katsu the troublemaker, Yagyuu the loner, and Hibari the annoying one who always needs rescuing. If anything I liked the dark shinobis more. Yeah, the villains of the anime had more character and better backstories than the main characters. I found myself more interested and intrigued by them then the main characters. Even the fanservice is a failure. Okay, it’s alright but it’s really not that ecchi as compared to other ecchi animes that I’ve seen and this series is notorious for its over the top fanservice. All we really see is the occasional panty shot, breast groping, revealing outfits, and big breast that won’t stop jiggling (what were they called again? Jello breast? Yeah, jello breast). That’s standard fanservice, they never went over the top or even attempted to go over the top, there was nothing that made me say “woah”. If I had to rank the ecchiness in this anime I give it a 5/10.
Some of the ninja arts are good, cool even but a lot of them are ridiculous like all of Hibari’sninja arts is just her summoning bunnies, the ninja morph is just an excuse to put them in cosplay outfits that look nothing like ninja outfits (hell, Asuka, Katsu, and Yagyuu’s outfits barely change from their normal outfit), I’ve already talked about how ridiculous Mirai’s ninja arts are, and while the battle sphere is somewhat cool (I like how they reflect the character of the person who activated them) it just feels unnecessary (yeah, I know it’s an excuse to have them go all out but I think they could have worked around that). The action and animation are alright they’re enough to keep the anime good and I did like the music throughout the anime, it’s very heavy on the drums while sounding like Edo period music and adding modern day rock into the mix. The side characters don’t really do that much although I will say Kiriya was kinda funny and I am interested in learning a little more about Daidouji.
Final Score
The final score for Senran Kagura is a 3.5/10. While not bad it does fail on a lot of things or have things that are too ridiculous even for a series like this. If it had made the main characters more interesting, worked on getting a story out sooner, worked on a few of the ridiculous factors a little and had more over the top fanservice that the series is known for it would been at least a 6. I haven’t heard of a second season yet but chances are there’s most likely gonna be one because there are a lot of characters the anime left out so hopefully we’ll have a better story, characters, and much more over the top fanservice. And I’m quite surprised that some people consider this to be a very ecchi anime. If you wanna see an ecchi anime come back here next week. I will show what a real ecchi anime is. Until then thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
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