REVIEW: Ninninger 15
Ughhh. Why Ninninger? Why are you doing this to me? I've tried to be kind but for every inch I give you you're taking a mile. Last week was pretty bad, this week is also pretty damn bad so buckle up. In this episodes defense it at least moves the plot forward an inch at the last minute instead of just filling out the whole episode with abstract wackiness, but don't worry there is still plenty of that to go around this week too. Another good thing about this episode is that it tells us once more that Kasumi is the best ninja ever but I've pretty much hit all the high points of this week already. I said last week things were most likely gonna stay silly for awhile and boy am I right so far, but the question is how right? Well dear readers I'll be so very happy to tell you exactly how right I am, I'm just nice like that.
So Kasumi is teaching Fuuka and Nagi how to not suck so much ass all the time since they obviously aren't gonna help themselves. Of course Kasumi notices our cowboy is hiding waiting to attack. This is a running gag that needs to stop and catch its breath for a bit honestly. Once more no one in the house really cares that he's pretty much there to take them out, only that he's being a bother to them when they are trying to study. Beyond that no one there thinks Kinji can beat Kasumi anyway so why even bother getting up? Well while I'm of the solid opinion that Kasumi would kill the cowboy no problem, Kinji isn't so sure and give it a shot, only to be stopped dead in his tracks without Kasumi so much as even trying. They tell him to go bother Taka and Yakumo, but when he finds them they are busy looking for the new ninja ally and he feels bad about attacking them when they are so busy, as opposed to attacking the other three when they were busy studying. I know they are trying to tell us he doesn't really want to do it but that one was pretty weak.
Watching our ninja is Masakage and Kyuuemon. Masakage still wants to kind of just fuck around with the team so he makes a new monster, Two Mouthed Woman Futakuchi Onna, to try to turn the ninjas robots against them. She makes the obvious point that they might want to go through the ninja first, since they control the robots anyway, but is scolded and threatened so she sticks to the dumb plan. Luckily for them dumb plans have been working very well on our team lately so when Kyuuemon summons another one of our generic giant skeletons (this time with eyebrows though, so there's that) Kinji tries to summon RodeoMaru, only to find he's being sued, for lack of a better word, by it with the Youkai as its lawyer. Just for the record, Kinji build RodeoMaru, just keep that in mind this whole episode please, because I sure did.
You see folks the Youkai found RodeoMaru and convinced it that Kinji had been treating it unfairly, making it fight without proper compensation. She had it sign a contract with its thumbprint...because robots have those I guess, and now if Kinji wants his robot back he has to agree to certain terms. I'd say Kinji was getting robbed, but I suppose it was his dumb ass who build a robot that could feel. Well not only did RodeoMaru sign a contract with a Youkai he also seems to be working for one and starts attacking the rest of the team who had been trying to take out the giant. Gotta at least give Rodeo credit for actually making good on the whole "Taking the ninjas life" thing. Well no one can stand for RodeoMaru attacking everyone else, so Kasumi and Yakumo go to help Kinji, Taka goes to take on RodeoMaru, and the two worst people are left to handle the generic monster. Everyone fits their roles nicely, Kasumi and Yakumo are the smart ones so they go handle the monster lawyer, Taka can fight and is stupid so he goes for the mindless rage puppet, and Fuuka and Nagi are basic bitches so they get the same thing we always see.
The smart team (plus Kinji) meet with the monster to work out the contract, which would include Kinji not being able to say "Yee-Haw" at meetings, limiting his selfies to one per person, you know, totally reasonable stuff. Well turns out Kinji cares more about something more then he cares about selfies because when he sees how RodeoMaru is acting he puts his thumb on the contract against the advise of both Kasumi and Yakumo because he's a cowboy and don't need none of your fancy city legal mumbo-jumbo. Well turns out the contract is a spell that makes the person dumb enough to fall for it a raving mad monster. However, the monster will totally let them free if the other two just sign a contract with her, because hey it worked twice now why not go for three?
Well it doesn't work this time because Kasumi and Yakumo are the only two not dumb-asses on the team. However the two are pretty stumped. Their isn't much hope, and the rest of the team has only been fairing so so against the monster and RodeoMaru. I gotta actually give some credit to Fuuka and Nagi and doing work controlling Shurikenjin by themselves, but as soon as they beat the monster, Kyuuemon summons another and wrecks their shit. Kasumi is left with no other choice, but to use flattery. She talks about how smart the monster is and how she must be so respected and all that, and her words inspire the monster to give up her life of evil and go to be happy as a Youkai and a woman, ripping her contracts as a sign of good will. It's actually a nice moment where a monster sees that she is a monster and tries to atone. However as I've covered before, this team doesn't like touching moments so Kasumi attacks her and kills her pretty damn fast much to the horror of the team. I'm glad they all know who is really in charge around here.
With Kinji and RodeoMaru free they are kinda pissed about getting duped by a monster lawyer, and unload on the giant monster. Both fights are fast but the episode has dragged on long enough as it is so I'm not whining about it. After both monsters are dealt with Kyuuemon finds Kinji and the two have a talk in Kyuuemon's favorite place, a very poorly lit area. Kinji actually does want to know who she betrayed Gramps, but she doesn't quite see it like that. Apparently she says Gramps would never pass down the End Shiruken to someone not in the family, so she was left with no other choice but to rebel. So from her point of view the Jedi are evil. She offers to join forces so the two of them can take the End Shuriken from Gramps, but before they can talk it over more she vanishes and the team come and say hi and all that. Kinji is not focused on that though and with his deep thought we start the dancing.
Okay so you can already guess I don't like this episode, and I said what I liked about it in the first paragraph. To recap, Kasumi good, everyone else bad. Now I'd like to talk to you about a little idea I've had about this show. This show has been trying to be a love letter to Sentai as a whole, the mecha are based on mecha from past Sentai, and they have been trying to put little bits here and there in homage to older Sentai. I think one way they are also doing this in how they handle the Youkai retainers. With Gabi we got the commander who only has eyes for Red, and all his monsters were about getting Red near him or generally causing chaos. That more serious tone is but one side of Sentai's coin. The other is the humor and silliness and that's what Masakage represents. He doesn't want to kill right now, he wants to play and toy with the ninja. With this in mind I can let the current tone of the show go because when a new commander comes around we will get a new tone shift. I do hope that happens sooner rather then later but I can suck it up for awhile I suppose if they keep inching the overall plot around. It may have not been a good week but I still have hope for the whole.
