NINJA SLAYER

DESCRIPTION

CAST

CHAPTERS

NOVEL ActionNinja Slayer Series
MANGA ActionNinja Slayer Kills
MANGA ActionNinja Slayer: Glamorous Killers
ONA ActionNinja Slayer from Animation
MANGA ActionNinja Slayer: Kyoto Hell on Earth

REVIEWS

• 

  CaptainZaimon

  100/100
  Namusan! Unique pastiche of all things action schlock, as well as one big injoke for multilingual readers. Gouranga!

  Back when I first learned that Ninja Slayer had several manga adaptations - including this one, which looked so sick and over-the-top it instantly got my attention - I was somewhat dumbstruck. See, I loved the Trigger anime, but I was shocked to learn that it was not an original story written following the tremendous success of Inferno Cop, but rather, just the tip of a ninja-shaped multimedia iceberg with a small but extremely devout fanbase in Japan and Korea that's been going barely noticed by the English-speaking side of the internet for over a decade now.

  For those of you that are familiar with any of the Yuki Yogo/Yoshiuki Tabata duo's previous works (Akumetsu, Wolf Guy, Shin Mazinger Zero and its sequel), I think a mental image of what to expect has already begun to form - but here's a little twist, they're just adapting an already insane piece of literature.

  Originally, NS was a web novel published via short, achronological snippets on Twitter, later collected into a novel release and illustrated by Warainaku (of KEYMAN fame). The official blurb advertised it as a "cyberpunk ninja action novel" and claimed it was just a Japanese translation of a totally real English book by two American authors who "wanted to blow the whistle on the menace of ninja in our world" and, allegedly, peddled shoddily made copies of it printed in one of their mothers' basement on some random scifi convention. The thing is, this was all fiction in order to hype up the series. I think that much becomes obvious when you see one of the totally real American authors is "(...) to ninja what Joseph Campbell is to Nordic mythology. He's also the first to draw parallels between the two (...)". If you've ever heard about the many controversies of Campbell and realize what this bio is actually saying in an attempt to sound smart and exotic, I think you're already getting the gist of what to expect from this series' sense of humor.

  Being the adaptation of Ninja Slayer's first "part" - the NS series follows a "part" formula similar to Jojo's Bizarre Adventure - the manga follows Fujikido Kenji, a salaryman who loses his family in a tragic incident brought upon by turf wars between ninja, who, in this universe, are beings akin to demigods rather than generic assassins throwing shuriken, infiltrating fortresses and all that jazz. On the brink of death, a mysterious spirit called Naraku Ninja offers him the chance to become a sort of Grim Reaper-like figure from the ninja's mythos that re-emerges at random points in time - the titular Ninja Slayer - and Fujikido takes it, consequences be damned as long as this pact allows him to exterminate all ninja to avenge his wife and child.

  Most of the story is told in achronological order, but a majority of the stories that the manga adapts follow a series of hyper-violent struggles between Fujikido and other ninja, commanded by the fearsome ninja-yakuza boss, Laomoto Khan. All manner of absurd worldbuilding is sprinkled in constantly - for example, the fall of Rome and construction of Egyptian pyramids are both tied to ancient ninja infighting and culture in later parts.

  All historical events and the ninja's code of conduct are catalogued in "The Kojiki, a Record of Ancient Matters", a book written by "Miyamoto Masashi" (sic!), who the narrator and wiki claim is a completely different person from Miyamoto Musashi. In fact, despite all their similarities to each other, it's said they are all a matter of coincidence, as they allegedly published their works in completely different times. Not only that, but confusing the two is considered a rookie mistake. Per this book, regardless of circumstance, ninja are expected to bow and introduce themselves with a "Domo, my name is X-san". Not doing that before a fight is considered VERY DISHONORABLE and frowned upon in ninja culture. They also have to scream things like "YEAAAARRRRTT", "ABAHHHH" and "NAMUSAN...!"

  On top of that, whenever a character - especially an opponent to Fujikido/Ninja Slayer - perishes, regardless of circumstances, they yell out SAYONARA and explode. Why? Because the Record of Ancient Matters says it's polite to do so, and Buddha forbid serial killer mafioso ninja all named things like "Darkninja", "Hellkite" or "Kickout, the Ninja Motherfucker" act impolite.

  We also have an annoying, unhelpful narrator who spends more time over-explaining unimportant, irrelevant matters or stating the obvious (like mentioning that "ASTUTE READERS WILL NOTICE THIS KUNOICHI HAS QUITE AMPLE BREASTS") and occasionally blurting out exaggerated, over-dramatic reactions like "OH, BUDDHA!", "BUDDHA FUCK!" or "TRULY AN ACT OF COPS DECADENCE!". Characters make extremely obvious linguistic mistakes (every fighting style is referred to as some sort of jutsu or karate, "katana swords" and "suriken throwing stars" are plentiful) and jokes that become twice as funny to anyone who knows more than one language are just. Numerous. God is always translated as Buddha, oiran refer to their clients per "aka-chan" (get it? Because it means "baby"? But it's "baby" as in infant? Lmao). A character possessed by a ninja spirit called "Nguyen Ninja" has artificial memories of the Vietnam War implanted in his brain, which get triggered by him seeing bamboo shoots. Every piece of machinery has, quote, "UNIX display", "UNIX cables" and people communicate exclusively via "IRC relay chat". Meaningless tech babble par for the course in crime dramas and action flicks is not only plentiful, but so in-your-face you just know the authors knew what they were doing and loved every second of it.

  Overall - initially coming across like a dime-a-dozen action/revenge seinen, NS quickly becomes an obvious stab at pointlessly edgy and serious pieces of media, American cinema, popculture and everything inbetween. A lot of it makes fun of common mistranslations and stereotypes about Japanese culture, and it's clearly written for people who love to laugh at stuff like that. While it's not for everyone, if you're part of this very specific audience this series is aimed at, you're in for a ride, and this manga happens to be the best way of engaging with the source material, in no small part thanks to Yuki Yogo doing his best to nail the action, violence and occasional sexiness that NS features tons of.

  Sadly, the official release of this particular manga got axed just 8 volumes in thanks to some unspecified nonsense with the rights following Vertical Comics changing hands or something. However, if you want to get a taste of what NS is like, I highly recommend checking out the 4th volume alone - it's pretty much the perfect sample of what the series is like, and it contains a complete story.

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