Shinobi no Ittoki

Sajonji Nov 17, 2022

3

This anime is at the lower most spectrum of average. Or already in the quite bad range, depending wether you're generous. The biggest issue with this show is: it is flat out boring. It has a MC who is boring and doesn't do much. It has lots of plot holes / plot conviniencies. The story jumps from episode to episode and is overall incoherent. Even the animation doesn't look good. The overall artstyle looks like something pre 2015, definitely not state of the art in 2022. I cannot recommend this show when there are so many better shows out there. Taking a nice walk outside is a better use of your time than watching Shinobi no Ittoki.

Helbaworshipper Dec 21, 2022

6.6

Shinobi No Ittoki promises a story of revenge.  Ninja's using technology with lots of potential enemies and allies.  Even the existence of a ninja police force!  The problem is... it is basically a standard anime with many issues and very forgettable along the way. Story Ittoki, a man who lives with his single parent mother, doesn't have much of a social life.  He spends most of his time taking classes and being offered things he can never have.  A good example being a Girlfriend.  This is where we are in episode 1, and it only goes downhill from here. You see, his first attempt to date a girl turns into a revenge tell tale about how he is an ninja.  His father was killed by an unknown ninja.  And a rival ninja clan is convinced that the clan he's a part of is the assassin of their ninja clan leader.  From there we get the trials and tribulations of Ninja world politics, CSI ninja style, and a lot of loopholes leading to evidence just kind of sitting where it is. However, it does what it set out to do.  And while it's a nice idea, it doesn't cover enough and a lot of the twists are not just worth it. A few examples: There is a whole entire supposed arc where Ittoki attends a ninja school.  However this Ninja school only lasts for a max of four episodes.  Its only purpose is to introduce us to ninja tools and to possibly introduce us to the clues that we may or may not use to figure out this whole conspiracy business.  There is a point where evidence is given after years of "supposed" uncertainty about the death of the Koga leader.  Yet somehow another character has better evidence only after some plot twist event.  Notably somehow during all this time that one character never thought to expose it. Overall, the story is okay, just not worth the actual payoff. Animation The anime being an action show, it has a really pretty animation.  Not on par with something like Attack on Titan or such, but a fairly well done job.  Granted, I felt it was just something I didn't have to think about more than necessary. Sound I felt like I was watching a usual show back when I was a kid.  Nothing was particularly bad, but nothing stood out.  The ending almost completely is Kousetsu doing... I guess thinking about Ittoki?  Either way, it wasn't really anything I wanted to hear again, but it was something I didn't have to worry about. Characters For a story about a character becoming or potentially proving his ninja skills, Ittoki sure doesn't do a lot.  I mean, he has skills and he does eventually be a full on "ninja" in his own way.  Here's a summary of most of the characters: Ittoki's mother who somehow never told him about being a ninja clan head and basically kept him out of having friends or girlfriends because... she expects him to inherit?  Also plot twists with her are kind of confusing and seem to have come out of nowhere. Ittoki himself does a sort of coming of age journey.  However, it takes far too long and I never felt convinced. Kousetsu is a walking plot device disguises as an also potential love interests. Ninja tool girl basically exists to know ninja tools and be the one friend who is not a potential traitor. Blonde girl who basically is friends with Ittoki and is evenless useful as plot device than Kousetsu. Uncle/Family friend who is the most badass ninja of the entire show. Rival Koga guy who thinks he's right until plot twist tells him no. Koga clan head who has some rather supposed sad backstory, but he's too evil in my opinion to matter.  He basically exists to be the main conflict of the entire story. That one girl in the ninja police force that kind of exists to potentially like the uncle guy. Anyone else is basically kind of there to be part of the plot to the point I kind of forget why we flesh them out.  No one is particularly useless, but more that they are just there for some part of the plot.  Otherwise, hard to be invested in most of them. Conclusion Is this a bad anime?  No, I've seen far worse.  The problem is the anime is forgettable.  While not being bad is a good thing, being forgettable sometimes feels worse.  A few seasons from now I might remember a thing or two.  To be fair, I would say episode 1 is probably the best. Episode one has probably the best Truck-kun moment and is a very good opening.  It started well, it just couldn't keep the landing with the progress after episode 1.

MidnightLace Jan 13, 2023

3.5

This seemed like it was going to be a great anime, from the poster and synopsis; but it was a huge disappointment, and extremely ridiculous. The MC is dumb, but also he isn't; it's hard to explain. He's dumb in the sense that he's his average teenage boy who has three things on his mind 1.) girls 2.) hanging out with his friends 3.) having a good time. But he's academically intelligent. He doesn't notice how he's been training all his life to do something, which is obviously to become a ninja. But it's fair cause everyone hid it, pretty well, from him, yet he still he should have suspected something was up. From the cryptic meaning behinds his mother's words to the the way dodged a car the way no average person can, especially the way he did. I also blame is lack of competence and critical thinking skills when it comes to ninja situations on his family and village. They basically coddle him, yet simultaneously put him in danger. Having him go to an exam that is supposed to "safe" yet not taking any steps or precautions and letting the about the incident. The MC doesn't tell the exam proctor, "hey the person I'm supposed to catch/tag is someone that tried to kill me the other day idk the reason, can I have someone else." Nope he just goes along with it, knowing she's probably not the only one out there to kill him. Ya know since she wasn't last time. Then his uncle and childhood friend proceed to protect him from getting killed/borderline break the rules of the exam. Then he draws attention to himself, which should have disqualified him from the exam, let alone passing him; yet he passes. Which shows the blatant corruption in the ninja society/school system; and the mother still lets her son go to the school when she knows it's dangerous.  But I did enjoy the animation, the world building and technology of the story. It was really interesting and honestly a few years ago I would've watched it despite not the issues with the MC and his family.  The MC is dumb, incompetence, and gets by with sheer luck; and the people around him make dumb decisions knowing the danger.  All this BS is just the first 2 eps. I'm Done. I don't normally drop animes, but I can't watch anymore.