Ninja Kamui

Episode 4

I was hoping that the show would get back into the swing of things this week, but unfortunately, this week's episode was even slower than the last. Without the dazzle of cool ninja fights to distract from it, all of the issues with the show's writing are laid bare. So, in terms of what happens, Higan gets a call from a mysterious benefactor who claims to be an ex-ninja like himself and offers to help him break through the security system for Auza City. Meanwhile, Mike catches more flack from his superiors about continuing his investigation, and Emma gets sent back to HQ, leaving him on his own. We also get a flashback to Higan's days as a ninja, where he went on missions alongside his future wife Mari and another ninja named Zai, who seems more dedicated to the ninja creed. When Higan attempts to break through Auza's security, he is cut short by Zai, who seems to have a strong grudge against him for leaving the organization.

On paper, that sounds like a pretty solid amount of development for this episode, but somehow, it feels like very little happened. We learn early in the episode that Mike has some family troubles of his own, as his daughter was killed in retaliation during one of his assignments, and his wife left him afterward. While it helps to explain why he's willing to team up with Higan on his one-man crusade, it does feel cheap for this show to have not one but two kids who got stuffed in the fridge for some sad dad angst. There is at least the implication that his family circumstances might have been a little different than Higan's as he comments about being envious of him for getting to choose his partner, but that could potentially be interesting later down the line.

Even the flashback to Higan's ninja days doesn't have much going for it, which feels like an even bigger letdown, considering how much of his motivation hinges on it. While ninjas are taught not to have attachments and to put the mission above all else, Higan, Mari, and Zai value each other as comrades. When Higan goes out of his way to help Mari after one of their missions goes poorly, they fall in love. Again, it sounds serviceable enough in concept, but the problem here is this flashback only goes on for about four minutes, and we learn nothing that better affects our understanding of these characters. We don't know why these three somehow managed to obtain a sense of camaraderie when they were supposedly raised not to think that way or why Higan felt so strongly about Mari. I've got nothing against cliches so long as they're executed well, and just like with Mike's story, it's always possible that more could be added to this. Still, I'm much less optimistic about this being much more than what was already shown, and what we got feels pretty paper-thin.

All of that disappointment would be easier to swallow if a stylish ninja fight at least followed it up, but alas, we didn't get one this week, and that is perhaps the biggest letdown of all. We do get some decent parkour with Higan's attempts to break past Auza's security system, but it's just not the same as watching ninjas punch and stab each other, and my heart is left sad and empty. With any luck, all of this could at least pay off with a good ninja smackdown between Higan and Zai next week, but if the show's going to be sparse with its fights, I'd like to have something a bit better to chew on during the intermission than what we've been getting so far.

Rating:

Random Notes

• I adore the number of convenient labels for some of the English text, like a website on the Dark Web having "Dark Web" hung up right over it or the top secret government file that is directly stamped as such. I wish the rest of the show could be that silly

• While the ninjas take a backseat this week in their pursuit of Higan, we get a snippet of them sitting around a table discussing how to deal with him and get a look at some of his future opponents, including a guy named Big D with some incredible hair, and a masked woman named Aska. With this show's penchant for action movie cliches, I would be shocked if she doesn't turn out to be Mari in disguise and she turns out to have faked her getting fridged, but that also sounds like it could get more convoluted than a show this straightforward could reasonably handle, so I'm not sure if such a twist would be to its benefit

Ninja Kamui airs on Adult Swim and streams on Max.