English Dub Review: Senran Kagura “We’ll Meet Again”

Let’s not and say we did.

Overview (Spoilers Below)

This week’s episode starts with Kagura reciting a flashback of Hanzo and Kurokage during their time together as young men. As the two drink at the pub, Yume joins them, who Kurokage is dating. Cut to the next day, and Kurokage is out for blood after some evil ninjas injured Kurokage’s comrades. Hanzo tries to convince Kurokage to stay his vengeance, but there’s no consoling him. Kurokage kills three men in cold blood, betraying the principles of a good ninja.

Back in the present, Fubuki and Yumi fight it out, while Suzune and her crew come across a powerful youma backstage who is as intelligent as a human. The youma blasts the ninjas with dark magic. In the past, Kurokage is made to answer for his actions in killing the ninja who turned out to be more neutral shinobi. Kurokage declares the ninja elders to be evil for allowing evil to exist. Hanzo tries to comfort Kurokage, whose sense of justice is taking control of him. Kurokage pushes him away, though, and heads off on his own. This ends in tragedy for Kurokage, who never gets to see his son or his daughter-in-law in the flesh before they die. Kurokage goes on to adopt Yumi, his granddaughter, and teach her to be a shinobi.

Yumi, meanwhile, thinks she has Fubuki defeated, but Fubuki transforms into a more powerful, more gothic chic form. Fubuki turns the tables on Yumi, and then, knowing that her match is being broadcast, declares war on all shinobi, denouncing them as hypocrites, and revealing that the youma in the basement is in her service.

Our Take:

Yuck, every time I sit down to watch this show I’m always left with a bitter taste in my mouth. Senran Kagura Shinovi Masters continues to be the absolute pits: an anime that tries to achieve no more than the plot of your average pornography and still manages to disappoint. I don’t know where to begin. It goes without saying that a show like this can’t be expected to have any kind of drama in its climax when its foundation of characters and plot is this pointless. Right from the beginning, the episode drops is into this flashback sequence that takes you right out of the action and completely misdirects the tone. I don’t know why Senran Kagura, a show that is, as I’ve said before, just pornography with more dialogue, thinks that it can insert this family drama/moral relativity storyline into the episode without infuriating its viewers. It’s like mixing orange juice and toothpaste, its just plain disgusting.

The tone is an absolute non-entity in this show; there is no attempt whatsoever to be consistent or sincere in its emotionality. Not to mention, the entire episode gets bogged down in this obtuse, lowest common denominator plot about “Good and evil ninjas.” This shit sounds like its written for kindergartners. The fact that the show is even so lazy as to name the opposing factions of ninjas in this world “Good and evil ninjas” demonstrates how little of a shit it gives to be anything really worth watching. My heart goes out to the voice actors, who have to endure this nonsense week after week. This show knows its audience, it knows the plot just gets in the way.

But then, that begs the question: why is this colorful burlesque show with well-endowed ninjas so goddamn boring? You’d think that if we’re gonna be the most perverted show in town, then we could at least be funny or cute or visually exciting. I didn’t turn my nose up at “High School of the Dead” because it was a good action anime, and I found “A Sister’s All You Need” to be surprisingly charming because of its good humor. But Senran Kagura doesn’t hit any note of quality. There is nothing redeemable about this episode whatsoever, nothing that isn’t stupid, boring, or ugly. Senran Kagura cannot end fast enough, and when it does, with any luck it will be buried in the ground so deep that not a soul will remember it.