Nobunaga no Shinobi

Nobunaga no Shinobi tells about the exploits of a shinobi called Chidori who works for Oda Nobunaga, a prominent (or rather, the most popular) warlord in Sengoku era (16th century). Basically it revolves around the things Chidori do as summoned by her lord.

The episodes are short yet sweet. Characters are in chibi style and as such, it is comedic in nature and viewers should not expect serious historical accuracy in the series. However, those who appreciate Sengoku era history will probably enjoy this series better because they are familiar with the names and the character traits.

The humor is lighthearted and it's rather manzai styled in ... my opinion, which I enjoy very much. The plot moves fast due to the length, but it doesn't deter the comprehension of the story at all and there is no time to get bored.

Overall I give it a solid 9. Definitely recommended for casual anime watching to relax.

P.S.: I absolutely love the opening song!

If you're looking for cute, relaxing comedy series with short episodes and a dose of history sprinkled in, you should add Nobunaga no Shinobi to your list.

The show revolves around Chidori, a shinobi, who's in service to Oda Nobunaga. Each episode is a skit done in the manzai style, often about a mission assigned to Chidori by Nobunaga. However, underneath lies a loose, exciting, fast-paced plot based on Nobunaga's battles in the Sengoku period (16th century). The historical references in the episodes, while not entirely accurate, were enough to make me revise my knowledge of the period.

The art of the show matches its comedic nature: ... the characters are done in a chibi style and the backgrounds don't have too much detail. I especially liked the exaggerated facial expressions and Nobunaga's missing mouth. The character and background designs match the period.

I'll proudly say I never skipped the opening for the show because it's beautiful and soothing. The music of the opening coupled with the little story bits make it irresistible. The background music often fit so well with the events, especially the action scenes. The sound and music of the show is one of my favourite aspects and I always look forward to hearing the exciting voices, especially Hideyoshi's.

Overall, the show has been enjoyable so far and I don't see that changing. I'll definitely recommend it for a relaxing anime viewing.

Overall: 8
Story: 7
Art: 8
Sound: 9
Character: 7
Enjoyment: 9

So what happens when a cute ninja helped with Oda Nobunaga's conquest?...

Hilarity Ensues.

Nobunaga no Shinobi is one of LA's favorite anime shorts of Fall 2016 and with a 26 episode run spanning 3 minutes each, LA enjoyed this little gem all the way through.

Nobunaga no Shinobi comedy core element is the use of "defying expectations" mainly in the case of punchlines. Be it from a cute girl who happens to be an excellent ninja who can kick ass, to Hideyoshi Kinoshita being a bumbling errand boy turned commander of an army for Oda Nobunaga, to the most unpredictable character of all, Kichou, Oda Nobunaga's wife ... voiced by Chiaki Takahashi thinking up nonsensical things. If there is anything Nobunaga no Shinobi does right in the comedy department is it's greatly timed punchlines (be it running gags or even in serious situations..you know...WAR, they even manage to make great quips in the heat of battle!).

In terms of animation by TMS Entertainment, the animation has this traditional Japanese scroll effect to it from it's character designs being somewhat chibi sure but the backgrounding makes it like your reading a scroll of Oda Nobunaga's exploits. The character designs albeit chibi, it makes their designs rather noticeable, like you'll never confuse Nene for Kichou and that's usually due to appearance and their accessories they usually wear and with a HUGE cast for an anime short, they did a good job even on that front.

In terms of voice acting, with such a greatly timed comedy anime, the majority of the voice cast did rather well. Special props to Inori Minase as Chidori (our main protagonist), Kappei Yamaguchi as Hideyoshi Kinoshita. Also nice voice cast of Rie Kugimiya as the tsundere Nene..because tsundere.

Nobunaga no Shinobi is a definitely LA's favourite anime short of Fall 2016, it's a perfect mix of comedic timing, historical and moe all in one and LA can't wait for it's second season!

Although absolutely a comedic series, this show is distinguished from generally lighter-than-light 3 minute anime by its somewhat serious plot. While the story doesn't delve into Nobunaga's really brutal actions, or the historical detail that would have endeared it to the Sengoku period geeks, as with Sengokuchojyugiga, something serious is going on in almost every episode; the unification of Japan. This provides a solid vehicle for the fast paced, appealing humour and adorable characters. In a long tradition of pure-hearted idiot heroes, Chidori stands out as rather lovable, with her silly and deadly sides well balanced. The serene airhead Kicho, chirpy comic butt Hideyoshi, would-be ... serious Nobunaga and pompous Imagawa all do good service as well. Fans of reaction humour will find much to amuse them, and mildly serious dialogue offers a relief from humour as well as an anchor for it.

Nothing is too serious, however, or profound developed. Or as mentioned, loaded with historical depth; the overall impression is an anime for children or adults in search of light amusement. Gags also tend to follow a basic running theme for each character, which may not agree with some. I was a little annoyed that more attention was given to Nene's terrible cooking than her Kugamiya Rie voiced tsundere act.

It should be noted that the interpretation of Nobunaga as an enlightened and visionary ruler comes up in several other works, such as Kurosawa's film 'Kagemusha'. Say what you like about him (though not within earshot) he really was one of the three unifiers of Japan.

This is a simple comedy anime with some historical facts based on the warlord Oda Nobunaga with some obviously historical inaccuracy throughout it as it's clearly made for young children to watch and enjoy.

Since this a comedy show the animation style is done with chibi style for all the characters, its simple and while I am not a particular fan of it, its fine for the run time of the anime being only three minutes long. And it works well for the show for the characters show off their more comedic expressions or tell the fast paced jokes in each of the episodes, but ... it still has problem. Some of the jokes can be hit or miss in some episodes and some jokes are often being told so fast often you might miss it.

The music is repetitive and uninteresting and outside of the two opening songs, I just tried my best put up with the music in the background. The acting is fine, for the material that the actors have and I have nothing honestly bad to say about the characters or the story. Since I don't have any knowledge about these actual historical characters it was interesting to at least know abridged version of Nobunaga and his generals on the unification of Japan, but I understand if your familiar with the actual history of this era you probably be more upset with this anime than.

It's an anime meant for a younger demographic, I know that but as an anime I just find it to be average, its fine if you take your time and watch and few episodes a day and not binge watch all the episodes at once, because you'll probably be more frustrated with it. If you don't care about the historical accuracy of the characters and take your time watching this series, you'll find an enjoyable, short and funny anime to pass the time with.

Started off pretty slow and had a lot of fictional ass-pull to get the story kick started. Towards the end, it actually became more historical (Sengoku era), enough to actually get me to try to verify some of it.

I expecting to learn something about Nobunaga and shinobi. Instead, I found a show that followed a ridiculously OP "ninja" who tried to be cute. I decided to watch the 2nd season hoping they'd show the invasion of the Iga territory...

Regarding the story, art, sound, character, enjoyment, etc. I may have confused Nobunaga for being a ventriloquist. It was refreshing to see anyone who wasn't a samurai, ... but none really had any human-like depth to them. I've seen scripted NPCs more lively and animated. Don't think there was any real sound besides the voice acting and the OP. I think I most enjoyed seeing the overpowered ninja actually take some damage.

Overall, I'd say don't bother. You can get your does of cuteness watching something else, and can learn more about Sengoku era in the dozens of other stuff produced.