House of Ninjas

[Drunk Monk]

I got Netflix screeners for a new secret show - 8 hour long episodes.

That's what I'm binging this weekend. 

I shall reveal the title soon. Then you shall understand.

[Greg]

Is it Backpack Ronin? I'll bet it's Backpack Ronin.

[Drunk Monk]

Close

[Greg]

Kewl. Mine was better.

[Drunk Monk]

Perhaps.

Ep 1 opened with a sweet ninja battle in what looked to be a container yard. Unlike cliche train fights, container yard fights are way up there with abandoned industrial factories as fight environments go. Then it gets into the family who has given up their ninja ways and are struggling to stay engaged. There’s a sneaky grandma, the stalwartly retired dad, a slacker number 2 son (number 1 was killed), the shoplifting mom, the daughter who robs museums for sport and returns the items in 3 days to make it more challenging, and the youngest son who is completely naive to the family’s ninja ways.

There are funny moments when they use their ninja skills to do mundane things. There are also good ninja fights. There’s a certain style to ninja fights - they’re acrobatic and bloody. This show captures that spirit very well. But there’s a lot of slow stuff. Ep 1 wore me out with everything it was trying to introduce. 

Got halfway into ep 2 and decided to call it a night. I’ve had a headache all day - it subsided during iaido a bit but my tinnitus is at 11. Not sure why. I popped an ibuprofen earlier. Now I think rest is best.

[Drunk Monk]

Got through e2 and half of 3. The ninja stuff - the fights, the parkour, the stealth - is really good. The rest is a bit tedious. There’s a major plot about a cult now. The grandma is the coolest character. I’m hoping it’ll pick up soon.

[Drunk Monk]

I’m in ep 6 now. Ep 3 had a good twist which I should’ve seen coming but I’ve been off my game during this binge. And ep 6 also has a good twist. 

The story is coming together but there’s still something that’s not working for me. The ninja elements are great - good fights (although dark like ninja fights should be), the trickery, the magical stunts - all good. The characters are interesting enough too although not incredibly deep. 

I really like the BNM - the Bureau of Ninja Management. It’s a govt branch that tasks ninjas, does research for them and is their clean up crew. It’s conceptually funny as it’s led by an old gumshoe-like detective, there’s a hardened veteran assistant who conducts tortures and a starry-eyed nooB ninja fanboy.

Best line so far was from the grandma “Only ignorant fools say ‘ninja’”

It’s Shinobi.

I think I might’ve enjoyed this more had it come out before The Brothers Sun. They are very different but there’s enough parallel that this is overshadowed by that.

[Drunk Monk]

The finale was awesome. Totally stuck the landing as they say. Not sure if it’s worth slogging through the whole series for that. Maybe watch e1 just to get it going and skip to the finale. Or if you have more time, squeeze e3 & 6 in too. Maybe e7 as well.

We’ll see about those interviews this week.

[Drunk Monk]

The interview went well. Dave was chatty and had a lot to say, which made up for Kento's broken English (although he had some great comments too). 

Shinobi FTW!

[Drunk Monk]

I've been using the MS word transliteration tool (only available for PC, not Mac) and it's getting better and better. But it still drop some good ones (in all fairness, it's mostly the Japanese terms that confounds it).

Shinobi no mono = synovial mono
Hattori clan = Hot 30 clam
Tampopo & A Taxing Woman = Tom Bobo and attacking Woman

Luv dat.

[Greg]

Ep01 I liked the fight at the disco during Halloween. There was a lot to unpack in the first episode. Will watch more.

[Drunk Monk]

Cool. Yes, I agree that the premiere ep had a lot to unpack. I'll be curious if you see it through. In all fairness, I was sick when I had to binge this for work so that surely tainted my review here. If you do bail, just skip to the final ep. 

It's all about the Grandma (the actress from Tampopo, the ultimate Japanese foodie flick, if you remember that) and the BNM.

[Greg]

Ep02 Not really doing it for me. The mother was weird working at the office. I think there are characters I'm supposed to recognize but don't like the leader of the cult. I'll give it another episode.

[Drunk Monk]

The finale was awesome. Totally stuck the landing as they say. Not sure if it’s worth slogging through the whole series for that. Maybe watch e1 just to get it going and skip to the finale. Or if you have more time, squeeze e3 & 6 in too. Maybe e7 as well.