Infamy, looking up the word gives you the definition of "the state of being well known for some bad quality or deed." This can apply to people, places and of course media. Considering Sentai has been airing non-stop for nearly 42 years at the time of this writing (technically it is 45 this year but their was no season in 1978 following the failure of JAKQ) their is destine to be some seasons that people generally don't like. Their are some popular picks for what people consider the worst season of the franchise, Kousoku Sentai Turboranger, Chikyu Sentai Fiveman, Chouriki Sentai Ohranger, or maybe you have a season that others find great or average that you can't stand. But of course in 2015 a new canidate for worst season rose up to tell you he was fired up. Shuriken Sentai Ninninger quickly became the new punching bag of insults and jokes and is often sited as the new low point for the franchise, in america it seems. In Japan it may be a different story, in a popularity poll it did take second only being beaten out by its predecessor season Toqger and beating out the likes of Kyoryuger which was the best selling sentai of the 2010's and Kamen Rider Den-o. Unfortunately I couldn't find this poll so I could be completely talking out of my ass but it made me wonder, was the season as bad as so many say it was. But before we get to the review a bit of background. Ninninger was the third sentai to make use of ninja's as a motif following 1994's Ninja Sentai Kakuranger and 2002's Ninpuu Sentai Hurricanger. But Ninninger was sort of going to be a departure from the previous ninja sentai's, where the Kakuranger's Hid among the people to Slash at evil, the ninninger's were Shinobi who didn't bother hiding whatsoever, which kind of breaks the point of ninja's, the entire point is that they are sneaky though considering how they are often dressed in bright spandex it probably is pretty hard to hide. Anywho, producers stated that the series would be very similar to a hollywood movie with its unthinkable ninja concept, and you'd be suprised by what was going into this, the mecha were going to represent many previous mecha's like humanoids and animals. there was new blood in the stunt crew and they stated they were focusing heavily on the choreography for this show. So was this different take on ninja were coming out of the shadows for, or were they better off hiding.
SYNOPSIS
Long ago during the Sengoku period, a warlord was within grasping of controlling all of Japan. He was Gengetsu Kibaoni, But before he was able to rule the country with fear, he was stopped by the ninja's of Igasaki clan who killed him. But before he died he claimed that in 444 years, he would return to destroy humanity (for people wondering why 444, in japan, its their version of 666 to us). When that time comes and Gengetsu comes back as a youkai with his army, the Igasaki's once again stand against him, more specifically Yoshitaka Igasaki who after a grueling battle sealed him away with 47 sealing shuriken's and earning himself the title the last ninja. Which I don't get why he is called the last ninja, he isn't the last ninja in existence, we know since their were two season's that focused on ninja's who became warriors prior to this, if it was to sound cool its more confusing than anything else. Any who, apparently the calendar keeper of the Igasaki clan screwed up and the date Kibaoni claimed that he would return on is in the year 2015. In order to combat this failure in calendar keeping, Yoshitaka's son Tsumuji brings together the next generation of igasaki ninja's to fight against the returning Kibaoni Army and to potentially become the next last ninja. They are Takaharu Igasaki, who becomes Akaninger (A little more japanese trivia for people, Aka is red in japan and this season was the first time since the original Gorenger to use the Japanese word for the colors rather than the english word for the color.)he is the eldest of the 5 who is a hardcore fan of his grandfather and desires to become the next last ninja, he's also probably the most immature of them, easily excitable and rather hot blooded. Yakumo Katou, Aoninger, is the cool headed, cocky kid who prior to returning to japan was also practicing magic in england, and not the parlor trick variety of magic as in actual magic that can make people say what you want or shapeshift. Nagi Matsuo, Kininger, is the baby of the bunch and is constantly seeking out certifications and licenses to make use of them in his life. Fuuka Igasaki, Shironinger, is Takaharu's more responsible and serious of the two siblings but also has a bit of a butt monkey streak throughout the series. Lastly there is Kasumi Momochi, Momoninger, a college student studying scientist who becomes the team's smart girl and is often inventing new equipment to help them. Of course as a sentai post 1992 this team is not complete without their 6th ranger, in this case Kinji Takigawa, an American born youkai hunter who is also a fan of the last ninja, who used Yoshitaka's own book to make his own equipment and become Starninger, hoping to become a student of the last ninja in hopes of avenging his brother and father who were killed by a youkai. Assisting them is Takaharu and Fuuka's father Tsumuji and the surprisingly still alive Yoshitaka who was believed to have died following his battle with Gengetsu.
Initially, the plot does offer some good tidbits, the fact team is also competing against one another to become the successor and their relationship and they all have distinct initial personality, even if some of them are not good initial impressions. The problems arrive as we go through to the middle as nothing really happens, mostly being episodic adventures that do very little to advance the main plot, and really the whole competetion aspect of the team doesn't matter at all, it really doesn't go really far and its just good guys vs bad guys. If it was an attempt to have more fun with a simpler story with good characters, that would be fine butttttttt.
CHARARCTERS
All right, let's get the big red elephant in the room out of the way first. Yeah Takaharu, our big loud, annoying and spotlight hog leader for the season. Yeah if you haven't been around the sentai community, Takaharu is a very annoying character, he is too loud, kind of stupid in the wrong ways and constantly screaming his catchphrase whenever he can, though I would call it less screaming and more being as loud as possible without waking up your family or roommates when its 2 AM in the morning. To put in perspective just how much Takaharu is in the spotlight of ninninger, let me give you examples from the first five episodes. Episode 1, the rest of team is not too willing to fight the youkai because they are scared, but Takaharu is able to give them to courage to step up to fight the bad guys. Episode 2, a Yakumo focused episode, the group begins their ninjutsu training but Yakumo is being a bit rather smug of his ability as he quickly masters techniques, but Takaharu reveals that he is much better on the field rather than learning, and I need to state how much I hate the trope of the person who can completely struggle with something when practicing but when he is doing it for real, he's amazing, yes, some people are better when they are doing it for real rather than practicing but it gets aggravating when a majority of characters seem to do this, oh, yeah and Yakumo apparently has an inferiority complex to Takaharu because he is just that awesome. Episode 3, A Nagi episode, Nagi is so caught up in his book that he is incapable of being able to fight a monster well until he decides to be closer to Takaharu and Yakumo, heck, he doesn't even kill the monster of the week, as he is trapped on a runaway truck as he saves himself and the driver. Episode 4 is a Takaharu focused episode so there is less to talk about, but I do have issue with the lesson, not what he learns working together brings about stronger results, if he didn't have to relearn to same lesson a couple episodes later, making this point futile. Episode 5 is probably the least egregious of the Taka fest to focus a bit on Kasumi, but he does have some extreme moments of idiocy, like helping the monster hand out balloons and still finds his way to help in the fight.
The worst of this has to be at the end of the first arc, where despite being heavily injured from a battle from the general who Takaharu has a rivalry with seems to be out of it for the rest of the fight, and when Kinji comes to stop him he claims that his family is waiting for him because they know they cannot win without him...and they say that they were waiting for him, and despite struggling with said general thanks to the power of family, he is able to now defeat the general in technically a worse state, in this case it was not that Takaharu was stronger, it was the writers simply making it so that Takaharu could win and continue to confirm that Takaharu is the lynchpin of the whole team that's the problem, this is a team show, not a single ranger and his back-up dancers. Yeah, there's also his own power up he gets for the initial portion before it becomes more a team thing, but I am less annoyed with that, though the laugh he does in episode 4 may just be the worst 3 seconds of the entire series. I will at least give some credit in the way they try to tone him down in the second half, giving him a bit of a chill pill and having less in the spotlight, in a way that in the latter half of the show he really has, no episodes dedicated to him. Which depending on how you feel about him may or may not be a bad thing.
Unfortunately, Yakumo is not any better. While Gaku Matsumoto does fine enough with the material and portrays the cool, snarky second in command, he has some issues with over acting in certain situations and playing up the English gentleman stuff, most egregiously in the show worst episodes. Yakumo also has an issue of plot specific convince with his magic, yeah there are some simple spells, a shield, fire magic, cyclone magic, levitation, a spell that makes your foe literally tell you everything, yeah, no rules like, the person can't know your casting or it doesn't work, just say the magic word and bam their leakier than an old faucet. Of course he also has spells that turn all of them into toys so they can use it to sneak into a daycare center, because when I want to learn magic, I wanna become a toy! Yes he is a perfectly fine character but it's those small things that add up to him being just as bad as Takaharu as a character even he is not a spotlight stealer like him.
Of the rangers the show gives us, Nagi is probably the most forgettable one, he is rather friendly young man, but is shown to be rather street smart and observant that allows him to think on the fly as the series goes on and that's kind of it. Though you can tell that they kept trying to give something to this kid, he gets a good chunk of focus episodes, whether shared, singular or helping someone, he's the first of the team sans Takaharu or Kinji to use the Chouzetsu form but its a case of too little too late.
The same can also be said about Fuuka, not bad just kind of forgettable. She is the more serious sibling/child to her father and elder brother but despite that, she is sort of the team's butt monkey as she constantly screws up in regards to ninjutsu. Probably the one major thing I remember, and not for the right reasons, was episode 24 where the group takes a day off from training and decide to go to an amusement park (originally they were going to a ninja museum but Fuuka wasn't feeling it, though this is more or the dad because why would you recommend a day off just to learn more about the stuff you constantly train to be.) and the group plans around her for a good time and when a Youkai shows up, the rest try to leave her out of it so it doesn't ruin her day off. Which for one, I will get into the family aspect in the end but two, oh you spoiled little brat, you can't let her take five minutes out of your vacation to fight a monster, considering how easy it ends up being, it is more aggravating because of that, yes the others didn't want to ruin her day off but their is a point where that kind of thing needs to go out the window.
So far, the cast has not been very good but right at the end two ningers come in two make the experience bett-tolera-less bad, less bad. Kasumi was easily the best of the base five. Of the character's, she alongside Kinji rarely ever feel like they are overshadowed by Takaharu whenever she is part of or the focus of an episode. Serving as the smart one of the group, she is constantly inventing and coming up with plan's in regards to certain aspects when combatting the foes. This also applies to how she handles the chouzetsu powerup, rather than simply using the armor (which spoilers, I am not a fan of) she instead combines it with the strongest Ninja sword Ninja Gekiatsuto... you know, I think a name change should've been told to whoever named this. Now while I do like Kasumi a lot, she stands out a lot, she can be funny at times and can be quite clever. She really doesn't have much of a story. A good chunk of her development as a character is near the end with Mangetsu's introduction, prior to this all of her schemes work out how she knew it would, only to be completely humiliated by him and causing her to have some confidence issues going into the following episode, it's not much but its really the only major development that I really remember. Sometimes a story can be the one thing that pushes a character to heights beyond being just good, though then again a story could also lower what I think about the character.
While I did come to like Kinji, we did have a bit of an uphill battle, he's not initially part of the team upon his full introduction, he's rather a rogue element who is tasked by Yoshitaka to defeat one of his grandchildren if he wants to become one of his student. It seems to be offering a different perspective on a sixth, though he can feel a bit wishy washy on the whole thing as he goes from I want to be friends to noooooo, I have to beat one of you. It doesn't last long as he ends up suffering one of the more ridiculous Deus exit Machina's by the fact that he was locked on American time rather than the extra day he would have had in japan. This doesn't last long as he is back almost immediately the next episode and the group tries to convince Yoshitaka to let him in and soon becomes a regular member like the rest. Kinji envelops a good chunk of American stereotypes, if his ranger outfit didn't already tell you this, he dresses as a cowboy even as a civilian, into hard rock and is quite hot blooded...like Takaharu, yeah one thing people point out that Kinji was similar to Takaharu in a lot of ways which got me initially concerned but thankfully those concerns were dashed pretty quickly, he's not as loud, his catchphrase is only for the roll call and unlike Takaharu the writers don't treat Kinji like he is the greatest thing in the story. Being the only ninger in the show to have anything of a story in it, as he grows from youkai hunter seeking vengeance for his family to a true ninja makes up the initial part of his story that soon evolves to his relationship with Kyuemon, demon's from his past and the relationship he has with the Igasaki's. It's not the greatest story, its good because it initially feels like it ends after the werewolf Youkai is defeated and only near the end do they do some of that stuff and in the in between, he is a fun character all around like Kasumi.
Okay now back to some negativity, really can't remember much about the dad, he's a bit of a bumbling doofus who does mean well and cares about his kids. That is something I do feel that this series does sort of get right, the family dynamic between the igasaki family. They get annoyed with one another, care about one another's safety and feelings, always are their for one another. While I may not like most of the team, they do come off as a legitimate family rather than a bunch of actors. Oh yeah I was talking about Tsumuji wasn't I, ummmm... I think his episodes that focus on his past ninja training are fine...yeah that's it.
That leaves with Yoshitaka who I really can't stand in the slightest. Okay its less the near perfect god the series makes him out to be which I didn't hate considering how he is build up to be so amazing during his time. Its more his means of teaching methods and how he never seems to give anyone any kind of positive reception without being a bit of a snarky. That's even if he is being a mentor as he is more of a viewer on the outside which makes certain decisions like refusing Kinji initially more frustrating since it's not like he is doing much for them, granted he sort of has a good reason, but it would be a better one if he was around a bit more than just coming in and leaving as soon as he was done with whatever lesson he had to teach. All in all, the cast is more bad than good in this case, even I like certain aspects of dynamic and they sort of improve as the story goes on. Which is something I can't say for the...
VILLAINS
Okay, I will start out by saying that Kyuemon is alright, compared to the rest of the villains he's like an S+, okay maybe A-. Unlike some of the later villains, he is always the one working the most to defeat the ninningers and collect fear to revive members and shows his loyalty despite the the initial mistrust with later members as the newest general of Kibaoni's forces. He also (and yes, even though the character is voiced by a woman and it has a somewhat androgynous appearance, the character is male.) has the most involvement in the story compared to the rest of the villains, being his relationship with the elder Igasaki's and his relationship with fellow outsider student Kinji make up a couple of the more interesting aspect's of the backstory of ninningers and he is shown to be quite the cunning threat manipulating both sides when he needs to, and honestly the backstory for why he did what he did is actually pretty sad in not forced way. Frankly the big issue is that...he's not the main villain. Here's the thing, the series constantly builds up Kibaoni as the final villain of the series the problem is that he is not around enough to give us anything, were told how much of a threat he is but we don't see much of it, instead he is more a background thing that becomes our final boss. Had Kyuemon been the main villain throughout, it would make a lot more sense thematically since he is Zangetsu's son (something that does feel like it was pulled out of the writer's ass as it really had no build up to my memory). Granted yes, most of the series is the ninningers fighting Kyuemon who serves as the leader until he is ousted by the two leaders, but it would've fit better for Kyuemon to be billed as the main villain rather than dear old daddy showing up as a puddle a couple of times and not being around enough.
The first general to be revived, Gabi Raizou is...fine. He's a blood thristy warrior with a code of honor you've probably seen this before, he and Takaharu have something of rivalry because we just need to show just how amazing Takaharu is that he is able to fight decently well against a general when his siblings can't. Gabi and to extent the rest of the villains suffers a similar issue, they really don't do much, they will do some things but after a bit its mostly Kyuemon using Shurikens to summon monsters and the others kind of lounge around. Gabi gets of the least because he's initally killed by episode 20 and in his case it makes sense, he mostly wants a good battle and if he can cause fear and chaos, the better.
The next general, Masakage Tsugomori, is the brains of the army. Focusing on weakening the team with the youkai of the week, but suffers the same issues of most evil genius', mainly the incompetency of his minions or his own ego. His real issues is after his big push in the middle of the show with the first advanced youkai of the season, he doesn't really have any big plans afterwards or any kind of major story involvement sans the feud he has with Kyuemon. He's also mediocre, he serves his purpose well as tactician but not much else.
Ariake no Kata on the other hand I wasn't a big fan of. A literal millstone that adds almost nothing to the villains in any meaningful way. Most of her time is spent complaining and just trying to make herself beautiful in a way that essential prolongs reviving her husband, which lady I'm sorry, but nothing can do anything to fix those teeth, and near the 3/4's marks she starts to act even more bitchy and as if she was pregnant, well about that last bit.
So it turns out Ariake is pregant with Gangetsu's child, named Mangetsu, he initally appeared to be a very childish and I was thinking that, oh good, another useless villain, but then almost immediately after that does he show himself be quite the tactical genuis, brutal in his approach and serious in beating ninninger. At that point I was about to congratulate them for giving a somewhat competent villain than what we have had up to this point only for Mangetsu to be gone before I could finish and at that point I took it back and went to being underwhelmed. Mangetsu is basically a slightly bigger monster of the week, he last four weeks and only 3 of those episodes have him as a threat, granted he probably had come the closest to beating the ninningers up to that point which none of the villains really had done probably since the western youkai's and after his defeat, he's killed off for big old daddy and much of the villains sans his mom really give much of damn, which I can sort of give credit for in terms of Ariake, while I might not like her, her reaction to her son's death and how she is afterwards feels natural, even if he didn't like her at all and kind of treated her like last week's garbage, she still considered him her baby boy and spends much of the rest of series mourning him.
I already made my piece about Gengetsu when I talked about Kyuemon, he not around enough to make any sort of impact and when he shows up in the final episodes, he doesn't do enough to warrant anything outside of a shrug and be a big final battle that really doesn't count as one for the ninningers but we need that final big mecha fight at end. Granted I didn't hate him, anyone who can willingly wait 444 years for something has to be given some credit of scheming but he's such non-entity in the show, he makes for one pretty weak villain, and that best describes the villains of this, weak, with the exception of Kyuemon none of the villains leave any impact with maybe the exception of Mangetsu but even he doesn't last long enough to really be considered a main villain.
AESTHETICS and MUSIC
Okay if we can go back to being a bit positive, I do like most of the aesthetics that ninninger has going for it. The suits are well balanced in the color department between the primary color and black, the sash is positioned well and suprisingly melds into the suit design as if it wasn't one and helmet visors are sharp. Really the big problem in these suits... are those white boots, with the expection of shiro ninger, it feels like these were placeholders rather than the final ones, its more an issue on blue, yellow and gold since white can compliment red and pink, but since its the only really white elements on their suits it feels of, it should have either been black or the primary color to keep with Shiro. Also this is probably a me thing than anything else, but I wish that when Yoshitaka and Tsumuji became ninningers themselves, I wish they got their own shades of reds rather than just being akaningers costume with gold or silver sash respectively. But if I can gush I really like Starningers outfit, it is so over the top american stereotype it actually works, the hat, the poncho, the belt, the electric guitar for his sword, his morpher is a burger. His morpher...is a burger, and that is just another knock against Ninja Steel, yes they use it as the counterparts phone but come on, that's the point, he is so stereotypical of what people who know American culture from the outside think it is.
Burger morpher aside, the main changer looks solid, its a sword which also doubles as the way they activate their techniques and does well to balance itself as a realistic and legitimate weapon and something marketable. Though if theirs's one thing this team does not have in short supply it's weapons, their is the sword and shuriken's, but they also get blaster modeled after frogs which look nice, like the leg detail on that, but they also have this multi tool weapon to start that can become a sword (I would say more knife than sword but whatever, a claw or a mini bow. It feels a bit unnecessary considering the team already has a solid means of both physical and ranged combat and its not the most aesthetically interesting design the series has going for it.
But on the other hand I'm not fond of either power ups. The chouzetsu form fells a bit too bulky, lining in more with the house motif the accompanying mecha has (Oh yeah, this one also has a personality of an old man who wants to act like he is still in his 20's and a blacksmith who made much of the ninningers equipment, I only mention them now because they don't get much either in episodes or characterization). I mean the bottom half looks fine buts its that top portion that really kills this form, also this was very clearly a red exclusive power up considering it's color scheme and best matches with him because I don't think it works well with the others when they use it for like their one episode, the guys get to use it, Fuuka and Kasumi... well, Fuuka gets in her civilian form as a joke while Kasumi uses it for an attack since the heavy form is not her style, which I have to give props on for how it was used. Meanwhile Kinji's Super Starninger form looks...fine. I like that he gets an actual poncho that really gives off this super star feel to him. But the problem lies in how unbelivebly under utilized this form is, its used a total of 5 in the series and never again, it doesn't show up in either versus movie ninninger does, and it doesn't show up in the return epilogue film. Considering it's extremely late introduction, introduced in episode 36 with only 11 episodes to go, this screams of hey, toy sales are lagging a lot, we need something new to sell, which yeah, did happen going from second to third quarter, this series dropped hard and even further during its last quarter.
So yeah, the mecha, this was one of the things talked about in the press release in how it was inspired by sentai's numerous mecha design's from across the franchise as being based off of the Cool japan initivtive. We have Humanoid mecha in the form of Shinobimaru, mythical creatures with Dragomaru alongside normal animals in Wanmaru and vehicles represented by dumpmaru and Byunmaru, and it... is not very good. Okay, granted I like the concept of how the main mech pilots the combined form of the remaining four as this kind of power loader idea, also the fact in their indviduals forms there controlled from the outside rather than a cockpit. But it just comes of as different mecha that have no real combined aesthetic outside of hey, look at all of these different designs coming together and that's about it, also the sword and shield don't really work the sword is just dragomaru's tail, it doesn't look threatening in the slightest. Really none of the different combinations of Shurkenjin work, the drago form looks wholy unappealing with the drago head on the tiny ninja robo body, the elephant one is body heavy rather than top heavy. The UFO looks the least bad though the gun doesn't look nice at all and the surfer mech is about the same as the base form but now its riding surf board. and they really didn't pace these extra auxiliary mecha out at all, we get the elephant mecha, paonmaru in episode 4 and immediately the following episode we get another auxiliary mecha in UFOmaru, there's at least some distance between UFo and Surfermaru but those two alongside Paon get thrown out in favor of Lion Ha-oh and much use afterwards.
Speaking of the old kitty, I don't hate the fortress look that it initially starts in, it's imposing, a bit regal looking and this is where the castle/house motif of the mecha should've been. It's Fighting form on the other hand can be described in one word. BULKY. It's so armored all over and it keeps the treadmills from its fortress mode without doing much to hide it. Also what the hell is with the placement of the cockpit, okay it is in the open like the other mech's but more often then not its immediate combined form, here he is right in the middle with the most distinct color being silver so just about any monster can just probably blast the mecha right there to kill Akaninger. Though my bigger issue here is that not even a few episodes after Lion Ha-oh introduction, we get the big ultra combination between Lion Ha-oh, Shurikenjin and the yet to be mentioned Bison king, IN THE EARLY 20's. That essentially killed all interest I had most mecha fight's because for good chunk of episodes it would just fall to this and it goes bang, bang, bang, you win, go rest our heroes. There's no tension when our heroes basically activate the disc one game breaker, or in this case disc two since they get in the second portion of the series, but you get the picture.
As for Starninger's personal mecha, I think it looks fine, it nails the cowboy aesthetic well and the white underbody goes well with the brown that is on most of the suit. Though I do feel the shoulders on it are a bit too big for my liking. Oh and it can also combine with Shurikenjin to make King Shruikenjin and I hate it. It has two sets of feet that one sits top of, the helmet's to big and the way dragomaru just extends on the right shoulder bugs me.
But if their is one giant mecha I do like, it is the last one, Gekiatsu Dai-oh, It helps that these one are centralized around mythical animals plus a panda and carp. It's not bulky, the orange accent works with the blue and white on the suit. Though this does have one of the dumber finisher's I have seen, the rangers launch themselves at their foe and someone works and they don't just splat into bloody giblets.
On the enemy side, the designs are mixed. The main family and generals give some rather demonic designs and implement samurai designs as a samurai and ninja's are enemy's. Hitokarage and it's evolved form are also solid, blue is unique for grunt's. Its the main youkai where things get a little dicey. Some look great like the Yuki-onna, all of the Western Youkai, and Kasha. Some of them look outright ugly like the Yamabiko, Otoroshi and Mokomokuren.
Musically, the series has some solid tracks, the main theme is pretty good, not one I would listen to on repeat, but it is energetic enough and I do like the singers voice, the ending I liked a lot more, having this festival kind of feel to it that really got into my head as the show went on. Some of the insert themes I did like, Starninger's theme when used is really good having this solid bass that I like and if you look up the lyrics it is just as stereotypically american as the character. Despite how much I don't like him as a character or a power up, Lion ha-oh's theme is also really good with how it pumps you up though I did initially find the singing a bit guttural but came to appreciate it. This also had a few character themes here though the one that stood at to me was Kyuemon's theme which was a more somber song compared to much of the soundtrack
The action is mixed, when it does focus on some of the more physical wire work, it does look really well but there is still a good chunk of CG used that is kind of standard to this point, and I made my issue with the mech fights known when talked about them, so instead of repeating issues, let's get into episodes I liked and didn't like.
BEST/WORST EPISODES
How most people feel about Takaharu
Worst: Episodes 18,33 and 38. So their is a reason that I have a group of episodes here because they all have very similar common points, there focused on Yakumo, Love, and are a perfect example of how the show can't manage its tone. 18 focuses on the group fighting a youkai based of a Lawn mower but Yakumo is acting rather odd around him seemingly falling under its spell, as it turns out, the youkai was made from Yakumo's lawn mower, and since he is an English gentleman, the lawn mower is just as important as anything else. 33 sees one of the Kibaoni armies ninja's poison Takaharu, Kinji and Kasumi and nearly hits Nagi, but Yakumo protects him and that singular act of selflessness causes her to fall in love on sight and hijinks because neither side understands the other, and the last one sees a classmate of Yakumo's from his school come to visit him and the magic sentai that he was lying about, so the team has to play along instead of breaking the young girl's heart by telling the truth.
What these episodes highlight are major weakness for both Yakumo as a character and the series as a whole. Gaku never feels natural in any of these situations, often over acting in situations and trying way to hard to push to comedy with character and third episode has the supposed cool and serious of the group pull the classic lying about what you are to appease peers or impress someone, yes she's a little girl nd the daughter of the headmaster of the academy so likely he didn't want to upset her, but why not have her look down ninjutsu and want to take Yakumo back to the magic academy rather than waste his talents on something she thinks is lesser and the group, primarily Yakumo shows the strengths of ninjutsu. Its not much but its better than what the episode gave us. Also the first two episodes feel they had their tone's reversed, the fight against Yakumo's lawn mower is treated like this climatic battle that is taking all of Yakumo's will to do. While the episode where three of his family members are DYING on him and much of the episode sees this weird Romeo and Juliet story play out as if the stakes are Taka, Kinji, and Kasumi are just really allergic and can't do much. It feels like the tone's are confused on whether to be silly or outright serious and that is an issue the series does struggle with from time to time.
Best: Episode 5, this episode I feel gives you most everything you need to know about Kasumi, Smart, deceitful, very snarky. Of the initial focus episodes, this the one that doesn't feel as attached to Takaharu like the others are, yeah he has some of the focus and helps take down the Youkai, but it is mostly Kasumi showing off what she as a character can do, I also kind of like the ending where they completely forget about Gabi for the zord fight, that got a bit of a chuckle out of me.
Worst: Episodes 24, 25, 27, and 28, oh yeah, there is another set of similar episodes. Okay this is more an arc that is broken up by 26 being a clip show. Ariake has brought forth three western youkai to help deal with the ninningers, based off of Frankenstein's monster, Dracula, and the wolf man. You think that these would be some of the hardest fight's up to this point in the series, pushing the ninningers than ever before, causing them to think up new strategy's. But no, Franken and Dracula last one episode and the wolf man is a two parter but that's because of his history with Kinji. Yes these feared Youkai that are brought into the country last about as long as any other monster of the week, and really they kind of feel like it, Franken shows up during that amusement park episode and only gives some troubles, Dracula lures a bunch of girls in the veil of a famous actors which gives the show an excuse for crossdressing lol... though the garlic gyoza plot was nifty, and while the wolfman two parter was a good for Kinji story, it really doesn't feel earned as he just gets Chouzetsu's to curb stomp him, its a rather disappointing use of western mythology when it could have been used for the summer months, considering how nothing happens during the summer arc.
Best: Episode 7. This episode serves as a crossover with the previous ninja sentai's, okay more specifically, just the red rangers who Yoshitaka called in to teach the ninningers. For Takaharu haters, this episode might be for you as they constantly call him an idiot for his action and call out that whole shinobi who don't bother hiding. Yeah, the whole thing about takaharu time traveling and that being the reason why they are so hard them is a bit forced, but if you have watched the previous seasons, it nice to see how far these two had come from their own beginnings as idiot ninjas and it is nice to see the older team's passing their knowledge on rather than being assholes, looking at you Kamen rider Taisen.
(Christ, I am not looking forward to that.)
and that last cameo is actually pretty neat got to give credit their.
Worst: Episode 4. This episode is primarily here just because it has easily the worst acted laugh I have ever seen in a television production, but it still is not that good. Takaharu ends up trapped inside of a youkai but is still the focus as he has to learn that working together yields better results, which granted the whole ramen analogy was kind of cute, he kind of ends up forgetting this episode a few episodes later so this kind of ends up being rather pointless.
Best: Episode 15, One of the few episodes that has some decent mech fighting seeing as how it use solo mecha and combined mecha, and the whole deal settling thing was hilarious with how terrified Yakumo is of Kasumi and how they get out of the deal, and that finisher was pretty good.
CONCLUSION
So, is Ninninger one of the worst seasons of Super Sentai... I don't know. Look this is like the second Season I watched and currently on my third with the fourth one after that one is done, do you think I can answer just of of that, no go ask someone with more sentai under their belt and come back in maybe a few years. But I can say that ninninger is not very good. The story really doesn't do much with the whole last ninja competition being completely worthless as all of the Ninningers become their own last ninja. The characters range from bad, to forgettable, to good. Some of the aesthetics are good while others are not. The action is okay and music is mostly fine. But despite that, I did find some of it enjoyable, like 10% of it enjoyable, maybe that was because my expectations were so low I was surprised when with characters like Kasumi, Kinji, and Kyuemon (writing this now I realize all of these characters start with a K) That being said, I would only recommend this if you were wanting to say you watched all of the sentai's or you were extremely curious about the series, just make sure you come in with no expectations.
FINAL GRADE: NO
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