Ninja Nonsense: The Legend of Shinobu, Volume One

Ninjas. The elusive deadly assassins of feudal Japan. These stealthy characters with their mystic depictions in popular culture, have inspired many a young person to take up some form of martial arts. In anime, where fantasy rules, ninja are showcased as godlike in their ninpo skills.

Well, not every anime depicts ninja to be godlike. In Ninja Nonsense, poor ninja-in-training, Shinobu, is having a difficult time learning even the basics of ninpo:

plot summary

Shinobu is a hardworking, if not very bright ninja-in-training. She’s wanted to be a ninja ever since she first learned of them (erroneously) from period dramas, anime and manga. But her reasons for becoming a kunoichi (female ninja) are pure and righteous. If only the ninja headmaster had such ideals!

For her first ninja exam, the Headmaster gives Shinobu her choice of tasks to successfully complete. Shinobu has chosen the dreaded task #412: Stealing high school girls’ underwear!

During her panty pilfering, Shinobu is detected by one of her pilfering victims, Kaede. Kaede demands Shinobu cease and desist her undie robbery. Shinobu calls on her raunchy ninja partner, Onsokumaru, to help her finish her panty-thieving, but to no avail. Kaede eventually just gives a pair of her underwear to Shinobu to calm her down after the NIT (ninja-in-training) collapses in a heap of tears and despair when she thinks she’ll fail her exam.

Kaede and Shinobu become good, and I mean good (nudge, nudge, wink, wink) friends after that. Now Shinobu has someone who believes in her ninja abilities, kind of, and someone who she can call a friend. Shinobu wants to become a ninja so much it hurts, but with Kaede around, it doesn’t feel so bad!

review

Ninja Nonsense, Volume One had me rolling on the couch in a constant fit of giggles. This is not a comedy for the young ‘uns, however. From the start, this anime was filled with naughty jokes and innuendo. Among other things which ranks this anime as “adult”, the Headmaster, who’s just a giant yellow head, is a certified pervo and Shinobu has a lustful heart towards a certain someone.

The series pokes fun at itself and other anime by acknowledging the overuse of fanservice rampant in the medium. There are many instances and mentions of cat maids, yuri, boobs, and the like. All done with tongue firmly planted in cheek.

Character Development

There hasn’t been any character development so far in Ninja Nonsense and I doubt there’ll be much. This anime is a full-on, random comedy. It spends so much time jumping around and poking fun at itself and other anime, it doesn’t focus too much on rounding out pasts and backgrounds. And it really doesn’t need to.

Shinobu (a play on Shinobi) is adorable in her lack of ninja abilities and common sense. She can’t do even the basics of ninpo, but she really truly tries. She even goes as far as saying “Ninja Technique” before she does something, in the hopes that by saying it it’ll work. For all her vapid cluelessness, Shinobu isn’t all that moe. She’s not even annoying, and the reason for that is Kaede.

Kaede is a regular high school girl who’s the (not so) random victim of the Headmaster’s panty lust. She’s more down-to-earth than Shinobu, light years smarter too, and has a good heart. She’s able to see through Onsokumaru’s ruses and is able to outwit him. Often. Shinobu and Kaede play off each other beautifully.

Onsokumaru is the outrageous mascot/ ninja partner/ pervert who’s always looking for ways to disturb, disgust, or disrobe Shinobu. He’s nothing more than a giant, morphing yellow ball with extremities and wings. When Kaede demands to know what the heck Onsokumaru is, he claims he’s a hawk, and Shinobu believes him. D’oh!

Character Design

Designs for Ninja Nonsense have achieved a good, but weird, balance of quasi-realistic (the crocodile is brilliant), hilarious and fantastic. The happy, rosy colors give the anime a sense of innocence out of character with the “adult” feel of the series.

Shinobu and Kaede have been drawn like pretty anime dolls. Which is to say, they’re bright, shiny and plump. The two remind me of sexy versions of the Kewpie mayonnaise mascot.

The Sasuke Army, i.e. the black-clad, stereotypical ninja extras, are exact duplicates of each other. Their glowing red eyes, black hoods and matching attire is very intimidating, that is until the ninja open their mouths.

Onsokumaru is hilarious as the yellow anthropomorphic sidekick. We’re not supposed to take this guy seriously, but Kaede does. She can’t understand why everyone doesn’t scream and run away when they see him. He’s just a frick’n yellow head with arms and wings, after all. I believe his character design may be a commentary on other anime sidekick/ animal mascot thingies and their easy acceptance by other characters.

Animation

Ufotable, the studio responsible for animating Ninja Nonsense, did a good job with the animation. Not great, good. There aren’t many detail shots, but they’re some in the anime. Most shots, however, are simple and clean. The action moves fairly well; I’m not distracted by obviously bad mistakes. The style of the animation suits the subject matter, anything more detailed would be a distraction in itself.

Music

Ninja Nonsense has a great OP and a fantastic ED. “Shinobu Sanjou!”, the OP by Kumano Kiyomi is a good example of an apropos opening theme.

The ED, “Kuru Kururin” by kaoru, accompanies a stop motion end scene. I love the upbeat, cheerleader-esque feel of the song. It’s an all round fantastic ending; one of the best I’ve seen and heard in a long, long time. I could actually listen to the song by itself, I like it that much.

Voice Acting

The English voice cast for Ninja Nonsense is pretty decent. I liked Onsokumaru’s voice actor, Sean Schemmel the best out of the English cast. He captured the essence of the little yellow pervert nicely.

While the English voice cast is good, the Japanese voice cast is terrific. I really liked all the actors from the Japanese cast.

In Conclusion…

Ninja Nonsense, Volume One made me laugh like I haven’t in a long, long time. The series doesn’t take itself seriously, and steps back from time to time to better poke fun at itself and established anime stereotypes. This is a random series which so far has been consistently funny through every episode so far.

Rating

Ninja Nonsense, Volume One gets 3.5 outta 4 Hammies!

Retail Info

• Publisher: Right Stuf
• Release Date: July 25, 2006
• Retail Price: $29.99
• Number of discs:1
• Run Time:80 minutes
• Rating: 15+
• Language: English, Japanese
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Format: Animated, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled