The family that slays together stays together!
House of Ninjas was an entertaining mix of action, humor, and conspiracies with a little romance thrown in for good measure. Three generations living in the same house can be a source of stress on any family, especially for one that has a dark secret.After a mishap on a mission six years before, a family of ninjas may live in the same house, but they are all going in their own direction. Dad Soichi runs the failing family sake brewery and wants his family to lead a normal life. Mom Yoko is a bored stay at home mom and shoplifts in her spare time. Daughter Nagi is frustrated and puts her own spin on theft. Like his dad, son Haru wants a normal life and spends his nights refilling vending machines and having dinner in the same place so that he can be near the young woman who has her daily meal there. Retired Grandma Ninja keeps an eye on everyone, especially the youngest, Riku. The ninja code puts a crimp in Haru's love life when he is reminded that he’s not allowed to date just anyone, especially a comely reporter. When a rival ninja family reappears, the family will have to pull together to help save the nation.
House of Ninjas had a good balance of humor, romance, and bloody fight scenes. The ninja battles were entertaining and well choreographed if you don’t look too closely. The grannie-on-grannie ninja action was a hoot. The characters could make some inexplicably poor decisions at times. Apparently, ninja families are bad at interpersonal communication. When the going got tough, the family did pull together and have each others’ backs-literally. Each of the actors portrayed their characters well, glum Haru, mischievous Nagi, inquisitive Riku, and two parents who got their groove back. Throw in a deranged cult leader who thought he was god and you have everything you need for a fun ninja, excuse me, shinobi ride.
If you’re looking for a completely serious and blood-soaked drama, this isn’t it. If you are looking for a funny satire of ninjas, this isn’t it. If you are looking for a full-blown romance, this isn’t it. If you are looking for a ninja drama with high stakes, some light and dark humor, family drama exasperated by the ninja code, and a nice little romance, this could be worth a try. I found it compelling and entertaining, with some flaws.
15 February 2024
Was this review helpful to you?
A Cure for Those Who Are Nostalgic for Ninja Dramas
I quite liked this. It's been a while since a good, live "ninja/shinobi" or Samurai series has come out and this was a refreshing take. It focuses on a family who are one of the last of their kind. The Hattori family and their rivals, the Fuma clan.It had all the stealthy and shadowy vibes that you find in most kinds of films or dramas.
While the storyline follows the Tawara/Hattori family, the reveal of the brother's death was done in a timely manner without dragging out the suspense and mystery surrounding it.
The romance part of it was all kept on the DL so it didn't ruin or add too much to the story itself. As for the music, I wasn't really a fan. I think that using a lot of music with English lyrics was a bit distracting especially since the lyrics showed up in subtitles during high-action scenes. I think that in this kind of production, instrumental Japanese music would've been more appropriate, especially during the fighting scenes.
The last fighting scene had a bit of comedic humor that felt out of place but was oddly satisfying (I'm referring to the arm). I do feel like the conclusion could've been better simply because the final scene where ppl died seemed pretty predictable and preventable. Also, it would've been better to see the family push back against their superiors a bit more at the end considering all the sacrifices they had made.
Otherwise, I still enjoyed it. I would n't rewatch the series as a whole but maybe some of the action parts. But if another season came out, I'd definitely watch it!
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
I'm disappointed
I rarely give a low rating but i was really disappointed with the overall serie conclusion. I feel like we got nothing from the show and all went back to start of the show. A whole f**king circle. The family wasn't free from the grip of the government. We don't know who is behind the red phone. Why did the older brother ideology change so much what exactly happened to him. I felt like there was a whole conspiracy still hidden and uncovered and that unnerved me when i didn't get any answer at the end i only got more question. I hope there is a second season but still my expectations are very low. The cast and acting was on point. The actors and actress portrayed the role and emotions perfectly. But the conclusion D*MN. I FEEL SO FRUSTRATED NOWWas this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
"In twilight's silence the ninja's realm where mastery embraces mystery."
This series explores the life of ninjas living in this contemporary world, it starts off well too with the action sequences like a ninja style is very nice and unique too. The cinematography in fight sequence did a splendid job. The story is somewhat predictable in upcoming episodes, I was impressed with grandma talking to her friend without moving her lips as well as our cutie riku who finds out that his family is a "shinobi"( a ninja who act as in stealth or a spies who works for an organization or a group people).They are basically 'a ninja who can't kill'. Each and every actor (who acted as ninja) did a extraordinary job that to fighting sequences as well as vanishing them into thin air without anyone being notice etc. Even the granny, nagi as well as her mom did nice job while protecting their family members from enemies. The return of 'Gaku'(the hero's family member) is too predictable at a point that every audience were expecting him to come at certain point. The director and his crew insisted that the SAT cannot defeat ninjas, but if that is the case, there should at least be a scene demonstrating this. The hero family is being controlled by a small team from the nation, not even allowed to date or bring a girl home without facing execution, and having to marry through arranged meetings is absurd. They will be threatening the FL not to meet our ML(it literally frustrates me a lot).So there are planning for season 2 for this series so they left the finale episode as what is the real motives of villain's gang(fuma), we need to wait for it's season 2 to come.Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
An Incoherent House of Potential
It’s difficult to give a coherent review on this one because the story was so disjointed. So in short the Fuma who are apparently an ancient Ninja group of Japan wants to remove those who are currently in power to install their own puppet master to do their bidding. What that bidding entails is never explained. But then in order to reach this goal, they kill a bunch of innocent people and are fixated on some ancient scroll that details the genealogy of the Hojo clan. The belief is that as long as they have the scroll they will succeed in their goal to rule Japan. Again, we are given no history on these clans and ninja groups. Some things are implied but never explained.We spend several episodes on Haru and the reporter investigating all the mysterious deaths and disappearances only for the reporter to become irrelevant halfway through the series.
In the final battle the Tawaras are fighting the Fumas and are about to lose the battle when a group of ninjas whom we’ve not heard of or seen, show up to help them out. There were many story threads not fleshed out, that didn’t make sense or just there it seemed to fill time with no connection to the overall story.
The actors had strong performances in this, and there was the potential for a good story but it just wasn’t well, written.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
The dullest Japanese drama ever! Besides the fact that everything ninja related was so loosely used, the majority of the actors didn't have any enthusiasm in this none whatsoever.The only few actors in this that helped this drama along was the mom, grandmother, and little kid.
We have no idea why the Fuma and Shinobi are at odds with each other. We just know it's about power but that's about it.
The antagonist was the weakest of all. What was his point of trying to kill everybody? Because he felt he was a god and wanted political power....ain't that always the case?
Plus it's always about a girl. I swear they make Asian females the dumbest characters ever. They're always that stupid D.I.D (damsel in distress). I can't stand when the arc of a story is surrounded by this.
The episodes dragged by. I found myself skipping through the last episode which was worse than the first episode. There was no meaning to it at all. The plot was still carried out! What was the point of going through all of that only to have the ending just waste away.
The only fighting chance this series had was the fighting. The daughter was useless...the parents were good...even the grandma out shined the second eldest son.
It took me a lot longer to finish these 8 episodes. The House Of Ninjas was true to it's title. It was a family of Ninjas but that's all they were.
This was one of the reasons why I tend to shy away from Japanese dramas. Most of the time they're utterly useless!
Was this review helpful to you?
Surprisingly decent, hoping for another season!
There aren't a lot of ninja around anymore. Not just the shinobi in the fiction of the series, just ninja media in general.I feel like the last big one was maybe Naruto?
This came out of nowhere and delivered some solid ninja stuff.
It's also funny, which is a bonus!
That said, the pacing was a bit too slow at times, felt like it could've been edited tighter.
And while I kind of get the Britpop music choice, it really didn't work with the show for me.
I do hope they make another season, though I'm not expecting it, considering it's Netflix.
Was this review helpful to you?
Action thriller? Heck no, this drama is pure comedy. I enjoyed it
So, the Bureau of Ninja Management excludes but is not limited to the following, because it actually has many a sour faced members:The Tawara Family, a bonus red phone of doom, and Karen the reporter, exciting stuff fr.
A ninja suffering from survivors guilt and can't 'kill'.
The other is a kleptomaniac who develops remorse only three days after a steal and takes it back, which she appears to have inherited from her mother, except her mother doesn't take her supermarket booty back, the daughter is into museum artifacts though (and she has an Instragram account where she posts her spoils, imagine that), and all this is for the excitement because they miss being ninjas, because of their lost one, and because the father put his foot down, hmmm.
Did an American scriptwriter write this story? Because the more I watched, the more I thought this show was mislabeled.
Now, the father and head of the Tawara family, brewery owner who hires people based on days and colours and a ninja in denial by night and when he's at home, the man is so conflicted he can't even swing a drink, while the last Tawara kid is just cute and eagle eyed, you know how kids know you've done something and they weren't even looking, except this one is looking, lol. And he gets upset when he discovered his parents have been keeping the secret about the family secrets, ends up shutting the door in their faces until they explained themselves, hmmm, not convincing behaviour for an Asian kid istg or are the new gen kids built differently? Because the parents aren't 😅.
A grandma ninja who still got it and always laughing at the breakfast table every other episode and she can talk with her shoulders and face y'all, without a sound escaping her mouth (it looked like flirting to me, why that scene didn't have sub, I will never know (I liked her a lot more).
Oh and there's a cult full of clapping-in-perfect-sync and very enthusiastic members who laugh, scream and cry when the voice tells them to, including holding hands while standing around a shrub without even singing kumbaya because why not?
Basically a family traumatised by the eldest son's death.
That scene where Haru saves Karen from the train racks, that's a new PPL style for shoes, it worked fr. I even looked them up online.
Boy the way Omi-san was framed for stealing those artefacts was genius, the naked with the box over his thingy was over the top, who does that? Is it a coming out? Ha!
I think Haru has been watching the dirty when he's not having nightmares, cause the way he was working Karen's mouth didn't look very virgin-like to me, huhu.
And who knew swordplay and a little blood spilling was all it took for Haru's parents to start banging again, it's a happy ending y'all.
Because what do you mean the guy is shocked his arm didn't grow back or sew itself back on, omo the way I couldn't stop laughing at that scene, heheheh!
I wanted Haru to finish wannabe Thanos off but of course Gaku the glory seeking guy waltz in to kill the man as unceremoniously as it could get, why didn't he try to kill him before until one of his arms came off? Hmmm!
I really can't take anything in this drama seriously LMAO!
I have mixed feelings about this drama and couldn't take anything in it seriously because it was ridiculous (including the OSTs because it looks like they've run out of jpop songs or did those simply not exist in Demon Gate Era Japan?)
I'm happy it had me laughing out loud the whole time, but I won't be rewatching it again. I'm out.
Was this review helpful to you?
Ninja mode: activated. ⚔️ Only a Shinobi can stop a Shinobi
Loved it! Liked it even more than I was expecting to, and I had been keeping an eye on this show ever since it was first announced. I lived in Japan for a while and have long been a fan of Japanese classic samurai/ninja cinema. It is so awesome to see this show bring back some of the great shinobi tropes, themes, lore, etc. From the great classic shinobi films of the 1960s (which are largely little unknown outside Japan). I particularly REALLY liked the depth of character/family development here, the emphasis on the human element of being a shinobi/ninja, and to see excellent martial art action that is done in a very grounded, realistic manner. The action was fast, visceral and not over the top, which made it all the more impactful.The show is not perfect of course, but on the whole very entertaining and well done... The acting, production quality and action are all top notch and this is the exact kind of high quality drama series that I've been waiting to come out of Japan for a while now. There are so many original, interesting things Japan could be doing with TV/streaming series incorporating unique, rich cultural elements and the unmatched cool factor of samurai/ninja history, lore, etc. We will hopefully see even more productions in the future along these lines!
I really hope House of Ninjas gets a season 2! The first season has wonderfully established a world, a unique style/aesthetic, characters we care about, interesting themes and realistic badass action which could really be expanded upon in future seasons. More please!
Was this review helpful to you?
A decent drama but I expected a lot more
The premise of the show is good, I was really excited for it.The show is decent, Towards the end the story imo started to get worst. I wasn't a fan of the ending at all.
The casting for the show was good, Kaku Kento is my favourite Japanese actor right now and he was great, I've really only ever saw him in more comedic roles so this was a nice change.
The best thing about this show is the soundtrack.
This was the best soundtrack I've heard for a drama, Whoever decided to choose the songs from the 60s by some legendary artists did such an incredible job.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
FIRST JAPANESE DRAMA I WATCHED
This is my first Japanese drama and like it...I rated overall 8.It's about the Tawara family, the last shinobi clan, who lived in a traditional 'house of ninjas' in present-day Japan. Six years earlier, the eldest son died during a mission to rescue a kidnapped politician, and the Tawaras abandoned their discipline. They aim to be a normal family, but struggle with some idiosyncratic dysfunctions. Some family member were longing for action because of the boredom, separately they involved in questionable activities while the Dad, the head of family strive to hold family together as ordinary as possible. The head of the Bureau of Ninja Management insisted the Tawara family to take on mission although been rejected multiple times.
When a crisis unfolds, the family is drawn back into the shadows of its past, the son that they thought died was actually survived and recruited by the enemy. The family must take on the greatest crisis as it became personal one and that threaten the nation on political trouble.
Action, little romance, family dynamic, revenge, mystery and comedy. Japanese has special dark humor that I can appreciate.
Was this review helpful to you?
A Fun Watch
I just want to say that this show has some of the best fight choreography I've ever seen. I was really drawn in by how controlled yet dangerous the fight scenes felt because it added a whole other layer of realism to the vibe of the show. There were, of course, many other sides to the show itself, but I wanted to primarily praise the finesse with which they planned and executed the fights.I'd definitely recommend it for the many "oohs" and "aahs" it calls for in thos3 action moments which make up for the slower scenes/bits that happen elsewhere.
Was this review helpful to you?
