Ninja Kamui: A Masterpiece In The Making

Former ninja Joe Higan is ambushed by assassins who seek bloody revenge on him and his family for their betrayal, after escaping his clan and fleeing into rural America.

Ninja Kamui is yet another ninja-themed, epically animated and bloodthirsty anime that debuted in 2024. This anime series was written by Shigeru Murakoshi, a Japanese screenwriter whose claim to fame is animes like Kakegurui (2017), Dororo (2019), Zombieland Saga (2018) and Knights of Sidonia ( 2014) among other known works in the anime industry. While it may be an act of folly to judge an anime by its first episode alone, I can't help but feel that Ninja Kamui has all the ingredients necessary to be a stellar anime in all aspects.

Based on my observations from episode one alone, Ninja Kamui is a series that incorporates many aspects of traditional Japanese cultural notions of ninjas as well as blending it with hard-hitting and excessively violent action sequences much akin to those of Under Ninja, another new ninja-themed series. This series is not your Naruto Uzumaki youth tale of becoming Hokage, it couldn't be further from that. Instead, it starts with a masterful blend of mystery, action and intrigue that is guaranteed to keep the audience's eyes glued to the screen for all 23 minutes that episode one covers.

A surefire way to ruin the intensity this series brought in episode one would be to inject unwanted comedic moments into the bleak atmosphere the main character faces. It must double down and bring more than what people expect in all the aspects in this first episode simply excels. That in a nutshell, is my fervent hope for the future of this series. I finally have an anime to watch and anticipate week in and week out.