“A Ninja and an Assassin’s Experiment”
What They Say:
Satoko takes an interest in social media while Konoha is introduced to school prodigy Aoi, who helps with her future career plans.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Based on the manga by Hamburger known as Ninja to Koroshiya no Futarigurashi, it began in 2021 and has a handful of volumes so far, and no English language pickup. The show has Yukihiro Miyamoto directing it with the series composition by Fuyashi Tou. Miyamoto has some solid credits to their name with work on a number of SHAFT projects like Hidamari Sketch, but was the series director on Ground Control to Psychoelectic Girl and also directed a handful of episodes of the Monster TV series. Tou has a smaller resume overall but did the Kizumonogatari film series and worked on both seasons of March Comes in Like a Lion, among others. SHAFT has a wide range of works with over a hundred series they’ve done production animation on, so there’s a lot to like from them in general.
With a couple of episodes that have been playing to some interesting material but also some that fell a bit short, the cold open for this certainly has its moments as we get Karin basically doing an afterlife fashion video to highlight style for the modern ninja. The dialogue between the various dead ninjas has its moments, but it’s what factors into the main story with Satoko deciding it’s time to update her outfit. That she comes up initially with mood-altering color-changing clothes is pretty comical. Having it all be a dream, however, was sad because you did want it to be reality. That it was Konoha having a dream is what’s hilarious because Satoko has definitely set up residence in there. The two of them having their own particular views on fashion cominbed with ninja work and assassinations does make for quite the discourse, however.
The best part, however, is when they decide to go and ask Kuro if they can have her outfit since she’s not wearing it anymore, but it becomes a delightful conversation about whether Yuriko is okay with that since obviously they play dress-up sexytimes with it. That she does pass it on to Satoko is significant, and it gives Satoko a chance to move forward in a way that she feels proper again. But truly, the best part for me was seeing Satoko doing some shopping for Konoha and getting an outfit that was lost before in the fire for her that she has fond memories of. With my own personal preference for that kind of outfit, well, Konoha definitely fills it out just right and the warm and fuzzy memories that Satoko has regarding it are adorable as well.
In Summary:
The outfit material takes up the first half of the episode while the back half focuses more, at least on some level, with Satoko trying to get her training back on track. It has its moments and there are fun bits to it, but it just wasn’t as strong for me since I find Satoko works better in small doses. Pairing her with Marin didn’t do much for me either, since Marin is another small-dose type of character with how over-the-top she can be. It does help that Konoha gets some amusing bits throughout it, but the first half of the episode was the strongest on a number of levels, especially with Kuro and Yurika’s bit of bedroom material. It’s the small moments that succeed. Even when it just gets totally weird, like the cold open dream of a dead ninja YouTube channel, it just clicks.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
