It’s kind of a strange time to debut a new series in the middle of the season, but here we are…
The big name attached to this project is director and animator Sunghoo Park/Seong-Hu Park, who previously directed God Of High School, Jujutsu Kaisen TV, and the Jujutsu Kaisen 0 movie.
If you watched any of GoHS or JJK, you’ll notice some similarities in the higher end action sequences in those productions to those sequences in Ninja Kamui.
Seemingly endless hordes of literally faceless ninjas hurl needles and themselves at our nigh-invincible protagonist, and there is delight in dispatching them in artful ways for the camera.
Also similar, unfortunately, is the nice action sequences at the expense of a better written plot to make us care about the characters.
Not to say they don’t try. There’s a lot of sequences showing the protagonist at home with his family, and it’s well animated, but the foreshadowing is laid on thick, and they might as well have stuck “dead meat” labels on… well you don’t really need to guess.
You know what the direction reminds me of? Rintaro, who directed stylistically notable shows and movies in the 70s and 80s such as Harmageddon movie, Dagger Of Kamui movie, and Space Captain Harlock TV.
Rintaro was also a noted stylist, whose stories tended to fall flat, but that didn’t really hurt his career.
I’ll have to check it out.
Question (if you have seen those, shame on you if you didn’t!): for me the standard for fights are always those from Cowboy Bebop and the very first episode of Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress. How does it compare?
Both of those aired when I was wandering in the anime-less desert, and I never went back to watch them.
As for the fight sequences in this first episode of Ninja Kamui: They’re pretty good, but there are better, like the final battle in Demon Slayer’s Red Light District arc, with Tengen, Tanjiro and Gyutaro.
But I’ll admit it’s not a fair comparison: These shouldn’t be the best fights in Ninja Kamui because it’s just the first episode.
Just the way I’ve seen this director do his thing before, the plot itself lacks dramatic tension, i.e. there’s no “Who will win?” or “That’s a surprise!” or “That was funny!” that kind of thing, if you know what I’m yammering about.
Thank you for the answer. I’ll check it out and see if I fancy it enough to keep on watching.
