Ninin ga Shinobuden

2x2=Shinobuden is a 2004 ufotable anime based off of a Koga Ryoichi manga. Yes, the studio behind the Fate anime, Kara no Kyoukai and Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight was responsible for this. Let's have a look and see how they handled it.

Story:

Shinobu is studying at a Ninja school to become a kunoichi. One night she's sent on a surprise exam to steal panties. During the mission she meets Shiranui Kaede who takes pity on her and decides to help her. From there they become friends and Shinobu introduces Kaede to her wacky world of ninja hijinks.

There are two issues with the comedy ... in this series. First of all, some of the punchlines are way too obvious and you can tell exactly where the joke is going far in advance. Though those are in the minority and most of the time the jokes have a pretty strong surprise factor. Another issue is that some of the gags come across as more of an excuse for fan-service than actual jokes.

With that out of the way, there are a lot of things this series does well. Its very good at making its zany humour work well. It also generally knows how far to go with its dirtier jokes so that they aren't overly crass while still providing that variety of humour. The series is also pretty strong with setting up cutesy moments betwixt Kaede and Shinobu.

Characters:

By far the worst character in the series is Onsokumaru. He's just another dirty old sensei character and, while it can be satisfying to see him get his comeuppance, he's also very much the type of character we've seen in many, many other gag anime.

Overall, the characters do work pretty well for a comedic work. They don't have the complexity to carry a more serious work but they have the strong comedic quirks and dynamics to make this kind of series work. And I do quite like Kaede and Shinobu as comedic characters. I think Kaede works really well as the straight man type character while also being capable of getting some good gags off while Shinobu functions very well as a shounen action character parody. She's basically the very determined and eager type of character but put into an absurd scenario.

Art:

The biggest issue with the artwork is that it delves into overly fan-service territory at times. There are a lot of risque sequences in this series. On a more positive note, the character designs are pretty good and the series features a lot of really strong visual gags.

Sound:

There are a lot of strong actors in this series. Mizuki Nana, Kawasumi Ayak, Kugimiya Rie, Wakamoto Norio & Seki Tomokazu all deliver strong performances. The only issue with the acting is that it can be overly exaggerated during certain segments. Because this is one of those comedies that feels the need to go into over the top territory for its gags. The music is really good. It's upbeat and hectic which matches the show's tone perfectly.

Ho-yay:

There's quite a bit. It's clearly shown that Shinobu has romantic feelings towards Kaede and it's also implied that Kaede reciprocates those feelings.

Areas of Improvement:

1. The series would benefit from more zany humour and less fan-service. Ultimately, the zany humour is what it excels at while whereas the fan-service comes across as overly crass.

2. The acting could use more subtlety. I get it, zany humour frequently comes with over the top performances but it also generally works better when the delivery errs more on the nuanced side.

3. The pervy old man character is just over-used. We really didn't need another extreme example.

Final Thoughts:

2x2=Shinobuden is a pretty good anime. It has its issues. It can be overly pervy and there are some obvious gags with performances that are far too over the top but it also has a lot of strong zany humour. It has some nicely done character interactions and the relationship between Shinobu and Kaede is pretty cute. Overall, I give it a solid 7/10.

Ninin ga Shinobuden is a show that is really random, features out of the box scenarios, and overall, an alright set of characters for a comedic anime, but it just doesn't work. Sure, it's random, just not funny. Bobobobo was random, and also actually funny. Ninin ga Shunobuden certainly has some random scenarios, but they don't chain naturally into another joke or scenario that's hilarious like what Bobobo has perfected.

Plus, while this show isn't exactly stale or reuses gags too often, half of the show is ecchi humor which isn't really funny, and the other half is just slapstick which also just gets ... old. Again, onsakumaru feels like don-patch from Bobobo sometimes when the gag comes together, but usually, it just feels you're watching something random for the sake of being random. Either that, or it's just poking fun or making use of Onsakumaru's raunchy personality as a setup for another predictable joke

Sasuke, the supporting ninja(s) are fine, so is Shinobu and Kaede as a duo. They're nothing special, but they fulfill their roles, one as a airheaded boke, the other one as a functional Tsukommi to all the random shenanigans and crap that's going on.

It's just that clearly, Onsakumaru is basically the defining character of the show when it comes to comedic setup and introducing chaos into the show, and he just can't carry the show.

Of course, again, a lot of the scenarios and gags were destined to fail, a lot of them being plain unfunny, or again, random for the sake of being random.

The show starts off introducing us to two of the main characters, Kaede and Shinobu. Both quickly won me over as cute and likeable characters, and thus began the fun ride, or so I thought.

The moment Onsokumaru appears, he immediately came across as an annoying character, the kind who might be okay to a point for comic relief and to provide some antics for the more likeable characters to play off of. Unfortunately it wasn't just a little; he was in nearly every scene, and possibly got more total screen time than either of the above mentioned girls. That such an annoying character was a ... non-stop presence pretty much ruined this anime series for me.

Kaede, Shinobu, and the third main girl Miyabi could have made for a cute, funny and entertaining show, with the support of other characters such as Kaede's mom and dad, rival clan leader Izumi, and others. I could have given the show a 6 or 7 rating if only Onsokumaru had been relegated to a less frequent supporting character, or even left out entirely. That the girls were so likeable is why I didn't give it an even lower rating.