Under Ninja

Under Ninja is an anime adaptation of a manga made by Kengo Hanazawa. I'm not sure how well known he is nowadays in weeb circles, but back when I was first getting into seinen manga him and like, Asano Inio, were the most recommended mangaka if you want to read wacky and 凸( ﾛ ´ )凸 edgy 凸( ﾛ ´ )凸 seinen. He's most well known for I am a Hero and Boys on the Run. I haven't read the former, and the latter I actually reached the end and at the time the last volume wasn't translated, so I sadly never finished it. I should reread it completely...

It seems people are really split on the absurd, quirky and crude humor this show has, but I honestly liked it. It's rare that a work like this gets adapted, so my expectations were pretty low. In fact, since I didn't watch any trailers or whatever beforehand, I was fully expecting a lame fully 3d cgi adaptation because it seems like that's all that action-y seinens seem to get nowadays (Ajin, Dorohedoro, Knights of Sidonia and Berserk come to mind). It's a shame it's only 13 episodes long because it's way too expansive of a plot.. Okay so the plot. The world is set in modern Japan where ninjas are still operating, but as a secret organization with gadgets and shit. There's 2 main organizations that have beef with each other and that's what the main climax of this season is about, but you don't really get a lot of insight into this until the very end. I heard that the manga is pretty similar in the sense that the worldbuilding just keeps getting... worldbuilt, while the plot just kind of goes along, but the difference is that the manga plot is more linear (allegedly) while the anime went with a different route for the first half or so. Basically, it's all a bit confusing, but I'm glad I was in for the ride.

This wasn't a masterpiece by any means but I did have fun watching it, ngl.