Ninja Cadets! Anime Review

Quick Review

• Reviewer: Marc
• Review Date: 2006-06-23 (updated 2011-02-02)
• 2.5 stars out of 5 (?)

Ninja Cadets is very much like a cross between Ninja Scroll and Battle Athletes--it has the theme and (despite appearances) violence of Ninja Scroll, and it has the cute characters and youthful determination of a series like Battle Athletes. The odd combo makes for a fun romp, and there's potential in the characters and quality visuals--in particular some slick ninja swordfighting and shuriken throwing. But, it's marred by harried pacing, silly action whenever the opponent isn't another ninja, and straight-from-a-bad-video-game monster design. It's also, perhaps not surprisingly, cut short after two episodes.

Might be fun as a rental with friends, but not worth much attention otherwise unless it sounds outrageously appealing.

Read the full-length review...

Full Review

• Reviewer: Marc
• Review Date: 2006-06-23 (updated 2011-02-02)
• 2.5 stars out of 5 (?)

Ninja Cadets is essentially a cross between Ninja Scroll and Battle Athletes. In fact, that's a disturbingly accurate analogy--it has the theme and (despite appearances) violence of Ninja Scroll, and the cute characters and youthful determination of a series like Battle Athletes. The odd combo makes for a fun romp, but it fails to live up to its potential and is yet another OAV attempt that died after two episodes.

Story-wise, Ninja Cadets has a decent start--there are cute (but quite capable) heroes, some freaky villains, and a mystical plan for world domination. The series strikes a good balance of heroism, humor, and action, with the emphasis on the action. There's a fair amount of restraint shown in the humor--when it's funny, it's definitely funny, but it doesn't go overboard with extended gags. (On an unrelated note, unlike the misnamed Ninja Scroll, there are actually a lot of scrolls in this one.)

The characters are the series' strength. Although they aren't original, I definitely liked them: A pair of hotheaded women, a sweet, out-of-her-element flower, the studly-ish Pochi (a hero to be sure, but I'm not exactly sure where he fits in), and a kinda cool (in both senses) gunpowder guy with a big collar. The bad guys, likewise, look interesting, have some personality, and do lots of machinating.

There are, however, two problems dragging the whole thing down (aside from having no conclusion).

First, it's too short--things move along a little too quickly, and there isn't enough time to get aquatinted with the characters. The pacing in the second part is particularly bad--things bounce around the castle randomly, never giving the viewer enough time to settle into a scene or setting. Partly as a result, the whole episode-long battle feels weak.

The other, bigger, problem is that it's an action series with silly fights. Not funny silly, silly like they're supposed to be cool but just plain aren't. The first beast shows some creativity for all 30 seconds it's onscreen, but the big battle at the end of the first episode looks like a boss fight in a side-scrolling video game. The "boss" progresses through a series of phases (none of them interesting), and I could picture an invisible "player" somewhere figuring out how to avoid each new attack form. The second episode is even worse. It starts out cool, but I'll give away the finale and tell you that one of the cadets ends up turning into a giant frog/Godzilla hybrid and fighting a giant robot. Seriously--it even looks like a guy in a foam rubber suit. If that sounds like something you don't want to see in a ninja movie, I agree--it isn't. I have nothing against fanciful steampunk, but this is just plain lame.

Other than the catastrophically bad mechanical and monster design, the series doesn't look that bad. I particularly enjoyed the character designs--distinctive if not original. (The elder Byakuro, even though he's only around for a minute, is way-cool.) The costume design is similarly varied and interesting. The animation is above average, and if you ignore the stupid boss fight in the first episode there are some particularly nice swordfighting sequences. The standard-but-cool-anyway ninja fallbacks--running through the grass, jumping through trees, and the ever-popular flashing shuriken--are worthy of Ninja Scroll and its kin, however out of place they might seem with the cute cadets in them. The art isn't half bad either--good linework, and a few notably pretty wilderness backgrounds. The opening sequences (different in each episode) stand out as almost too slick for something called Ninja Cadets.

The acting in the dubbed version (I haven't seen the sub) is passable, but the writing isn't--too modern, and the few emotional scenes are bad. The casting, however, is praiseworthy: The actors' voices fit the cute characters and sound young enough without being too cute for the ninja stuff. As with most series involving a lot of Japanese names, the English actors never quite get all the names down, and the only one of the lot who actually pronounces everything right is Kaoru. In terms of background music the series is rather quiet. What music there is is functional but not noteworthy.

Summing up, Ninja Cadets is another cute fightin' youngster series, this one featuring ninjas and surprisingly gory violence. Well-animated and filled with good characters, it is marred by poor pacing, straight-from-a-bad-video-game monsters, and a lack of any conclusion. Might be fun as a rental with friends, but not worth buying unless it sounds outrageously appealing.

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Related Recommendations

As mentioned above, Ninja Cadets one falls somewhere between Battle Athletes and Ninja Scroll, with the mood and feel leaning toward the former. Or, if you want to go in the opposite quality direction for truly preposterous ninja action, the so-bad-it's-almost-good Black Lion is worth a shot.