Nabari no Ou

People will look at this and say: "Another ninja anime?". By now, the big and world-wide known title I don't even have to mention is burned into people's minds, and although it wasn't the first or last anime about ninjas, it's now become an easy reference.

I say you should forget that anime if you want to watch Nabari no Ou.

The plot here, more than the fights, more than the neat skills, is the most important thing. And the main characters, are, surprisingly, the main hero and the main villain. Wait, what?

In our story, Miharu Rokujou has the greatest and secret art of the ninjas within ... himself, and the whole world of Nabari, the hidden world of said ninjas, want him because of it. There is no good or evil, no black and white. There are those that want to use the power, Shinrabanshou, and those that want to get rid of it before something bad happens.

Our "hero", Miharu, rejects all shounen stereotypes and actually couldn't care less. All he wants is to go back to his old, carefree life. The others surrounding him carry powerful stories of betrayal, emotional weaknesses, and the relations between the characters just builds up. Some of them even end up surprising you, acting way colder than you thought they could.

And the villains, they don't actually sound like villains at all. In the dark world of Nabari, it's either kill or be killed, so you can't really say because they're murderers that they're evil, and that's what makes it more interesting. And the best character interaction comes from the worst killer with our main "hero".

The art isn't astonishing, but isn't bad either. Very nice colors, and smooth animation. The only complaint is that, as I said before, the main concern here is the plot. If you're in here for great action, you're just going to disappoint yourself. Nice background music, catchy opening song, very touching ending song that somewhat makes you relate to the pain inside each character.

Nabari no Ou is an anime about the art of the ninjas, and although not action-filled, it has a consistent plot and interesting characters that just might surprise you. If you want to get a break from the "other" ninja anime, or if you just want to watch a good ninja anime, then you should give this a try.

In life, many people (through different experiences) learn the value of human relationships; be it the relationship between lovers, siblings or friends. They learn it is okay to have selfish desires once in a while and what a person can mean to another.

…If only.

Thus we come to Nabari no Ou (English: King of Nabari), an anime which attempts to present multiple character relationships and the complexities of human interaction with a bit of ninja action to spruce things up.

The story is one that had an interesting premise: The apathetic Miharu is told that he holds the power of the Shinrabanshou, a ... technique desired by the entire ninja world named “Nabari”. He doesn’t really feel anything towards the responsibility until he befriends Yoite, a merciless killer who is on the side that wants to attack Miharu. They both forge an unlikely bond they never had before and Miharu promises to wipe Yoite existence from the face of the earth with his power.

Unfortunately the rest of the show does not live up to this premise. It not only follows this summary, but the stories and relationship of those around them, as well as the entire Nabari conspiracy and plots to overthrow the ninja world. And that is where the first mistake appears. In an attempt to create an eco-system like story where everything affects everything else it dangers itself into using every cliché imaginable. Clichés aren’t necessarily a bad thing when used properly, and Nabari no Ou doesn’t, the worst cliché being “The Chosen One” seen one-too many times. Praise has to come to Yoite’s and Miharu’s ambiguous connection though. If there was a spark of originality it would be them – the friendship between the main protagonist and main antagonist.

As aforementioned, there is an attempt to display meaningful character relationships and it remains just that – an attempt. The failure of this is due to the superficial cast of characters seen a hundred times, seen in a hundred different anime. There’s the spunky girl, the geeky yet strong boy, the all-knowing mysterious guy who randomly pops up, the emo and the beautiful ninja showing a bit too much of that cleavage. I don’t believe it is a bad thing to have the obvious traits in the typical character; but these characters are just outright boring and bland with nothing remotely important to give to the show.

How all the characters affect and are intertwined with each other could more or less be summed up with the following motion: Yawn. Caring less about these people with such pathetic reasoning and whimsical basis for relationships and justifications would be a challenge. Take Miharu’s and Yoite’s relationship for example: Basis for such an excellent bond? Because they are both lonely. The arbitrary relationship was so irrational it might as well be deemed as “Love at first sight”, in which case the anime also had gay undertones.

Miharu also becomes one of the most boring hero’s I’ve seen in any show. Primarily because he is an overly passive one. No, really, he does NOTHING. Most of his screen time consists of him crying for Yoite and waffling on about life.

Now we come to the ‘ninja’ aspect. I was actually looking forward to this part as I thought if anything could redeem this show it would be the action. Again, I was left thoroughly disappointed. We all know how the ‘Ninja’ genre isn’t really taken too literally in anime since they’re about as sneaky and invisible as a bearded lady; but even so, that is no excuse for calling this a ninja anime then having no attributes to the genre in it whatsoever. To call this a ninja anime is like calling Death Note a romance just because an infatuated broad comes along and speaks about “dates” and “boyfriends” or Fruits Basket a shounen because of the odd duel. Out of the 520 minutes you would have wasted watching this show, about 8 minutes of that is filled with rather poorly choreographed action.

Nabari’s uniqueness stems mainly off of the art. It easily catches the viewer’s attention with the sketch-like drawings and water colour inking which makes the entire show looks like a painting. But ‘uniqueness’ doesn’t always mean ‘good’. The low-budget quality of art becomes irritable; especially the sickly anorexic character designs which made me want to force feed them all.

The music themes were assets to the show as well as being a liability. The themes played throughout the show usually consisted of high pitched violin solos which added to moments of drama – a fine piece; however it was the only piece memorable. It wasn’t that it was particularly outstanding but it was CONSTANTLY being recycled over and over again to the point where it Britney Spears’ “Toxic” would’ve sound more appealing to me. The OP song is skipable as it is too annoying to sit through 1:30 minutes of a j-pop opening that sounded like it was sung through the nose.

Being an English dub fan I wasn’t impressed at all by the voice acting. Most of the English voice were just average. Brenda Palencia is an excellent voice actress to portray young boys, but her voice did not fit well with Miharu's character -- probably because of Miharu's split character at times, especially when he to play “cute”. On the other hand, the Japanese seiyuu, Rie Kuguyima did an excellent job in portraying both Miharu’s real personality and his fake one. However, there is one English performance I can truly applaud -- and that is Joel McDonald, who played the emo-like Yoite. He gave the character more personality than the art or character’s actions ever could. Choosing between the English and Japanese audio is a matter of preference -- both versions are equally listenable; so if you enjoy a certain language more than the other then go with it, since there is no extra merit to listen to the opposite language to your preference.

The dialogue was definitely the worst part of the show. Firstly, I wanted to chuck a thesaurus at whoever the screenwriters were due to the fact that the word “apathetic” was mentioned every five agonizing minutes. How about words like “indifferent” or “nonchalant”? Then there was the rest of the dialogue: biggest bull I have ever heard. Nabari no Ou will make you cringe at the unoriginal waffling, and mostly unimportant dialogue. You could forward ten minutes to find that they are STILL babbling on about the same subject.

A dragged out story. Annoying, stereotypical, carbon copy characters. Repetitive sound. Low budget animation. Rubbish action. And the most pretentious dialogue ever. I’m not kidding you when I say this is bad, but by all means check it out for yourself if you’re that much of a masochist.

Nabari no Ou decided to take the ninja theme and put a little twist on it - the ninjas exist in modern times. I'm not saying this hasn't been done before, but it's definitely a change of pace from most ninja anime where ninjas are completely different from our contemporary culture. Nabari no Ou is about a boy named Miharu who has a powerful forbidden art called the Shinrabanshou inside him, a skill that can give infinite knowledge to the user, thus giving them the ability to grant wishes. Once his schoolteacher recognizes him, things pick up from there and he is ... dragged into the underground ninja world so they can seal the Shinrabanshou in his body (you didn't think using it wouldn't have a consequence, right?).

At first, I was pretty disappointed with the series. It seemed to be the same old tired ninja series with nothing special to offer. They didn't execute the modern day ninja as nicely as I'd have liked them too. However, about 10 or so episodes in the show started changing focus. Yes. Instead of running around to get scrolls, Miharu was becoming obsessed with a boy named Yoite. From this point on, some really complex character relationships start to form, creating a sort of soap opera effect that keeps you watching. It gets ridiculously melodramatic at points (running in the snow at Christmas after someone, a character going into a coma, Yoite being unable to accept kindness...) but it's impossible to not get sucked in by the drama. I feel this may not be as interesting for guys though, because the relationships become borderline yaoi at a certain point, so some guys may not have the same interest in the series after the "boy love shift" occurs.

The story itself ends up getting lost amongst the drama and character relationships. The epic hunt for all the scrolls is pretty laughable because the only enemy is a group called Kairoushuu....You would think every ninja clan in the world would be trying to collect scrolls to get their hands on Miharu's power but nope. Just one group. Anyways, Kairoushuu is the worst villain group ever. The villains aren't evil - they constantly help the heroes. In fact, they constantly run to them and provide them with information or even work alongside them. It creates no tension at all. Oh, and the leader? His final "battle" with Yoite ends in....5 seconds maybe? That's just pathetic. Don't even get me started on how bad the ending was. It went from EXTREME ACTION into the quaint, melancholy ending of japanese drama series. There is no plausible way for it to have been more anti-climactic.

Lastly, the characters need some work. Nabari no Ou wanted to be like Bleach so they put in a hole flock of characters - many of which they don't even use for anything interesting. They build up something about a character (Oda and Katou's relationship, Aizawa's 'secret' or Hattori's assistant) and then don't touch it any further. Personally, I would like to know how Oda and Katou hit it off afterwards, or see Aizawa use his EPIC secret in abttle at least more than once in 26 episodes. Even seemingly main characters end up just spectating or flouncing around, like Kumohira-sensei. At a certain point, the designs even started to get less interesting. However, the main characters they DO focus on are pretty captivating.

Overall, I can see that this series has some minor flaws (too many characters, plot could use work) but it really is very enjoyable. Some may watch for the fights, but I watch for the character relationships.

Nabari no Ou is not a ninja anime. Yes, the synopsis would disagree with me, but after watching all 26 episodes, the ninja aspect of Nabari no Ou is pretty much unimportant to the central story.

Nabari no Ou is more about the relationship between Yoite and Miharu. They meet each other as enemies, but as the story progresses, they slowly become friends. Yoite wishes Miharu to end his existence using the power Shiranbanshou, while Miharu tries to master this technique to fulfill his wish.

The story, is at best, mediocre. From the synopsis, I was lead to believe this series would be action-packed. But it really ... isn't. There is little to none ninja/fighting scenes, and most of the story is told through the characters' interactions and dialogues. Nabari no Ou isn't quite episodic, but I actually wish it was. After 26 episodes, there isn't really much content. Many of the events that occur in the middle of the story really has nothing to do with the main plot. If you had missed half of the episodes in the middle, you'd be perfectly fine. Nabari no Ou's story was rather dull for 26 episodes; it would've been much better had it been 12 or 13 episodes. However, the progressing bond between Miharu and Yoite was done very well, and the end, although not exciting at all, was very satisfactory and conclusive.

The characters were quite weak for the most part. Nabari no Ou had a serious problem with transition in terms of character reactions and personality. For example, near the end of one episode, a certain character laments over a dreadful event and grieves. The next episode, right after the event passes, and the next arc comes along, that character acts as if nothing bad had happened. This happens many times to many characters throughout the episodes. It seriously kills any affection for Nabari no Ou's characters, and watchers really can't identify with such characters that seem obviously fictitious.

The art is unarguably one of the better aspects of Nabari no Ou. Characters are quite skinny, but then again, that's perfectly normal in anime. What I really enjoyed is the background scenery. Edges and lines are not sharp, and the coloring reminds me of pastels and crayons. The backgrounds provide a really peaceful and tranquil atmosphere for Nabari no Ou.

The sound consists mostly of serene background music, and during scenes of action, music filled with anticipation kicks in. Overall, the background music wasn't spectacular, but there wasn't wrong with it either.

Overall, I feel Nabari no Ou could have been so much better if it was only 12 or 13 episodes long. The plot is quite simple and straightforward, and having 24 episodes with such a short plot creates repetition and dullness in Nabari no Ou. If you decide to watch Nabari no Ou, I highly recommend skipping scenes or fast forwards parts. You won't miss anything important.

Mixing genres; as a writer, when you mix genre you have to be careful or one genre’s over-representation can overwhelm the other, and subsequently alienate your readers. There are some genres that go well together, like romance and drama, or action and fantasy. But then there are others like drama and comedy that can conflict so much the readers rage at the sight of one or the other. There is nothing stopping such genres from mixing well, but for that to happen a writer has to take care, and in the case of Nabari no ou it doesn’t seem like the writers did.

Story
Nabari starts by ... introducing its watchers to two worlds, the world we live in now that continues to evolve and one that hides in that evolution, evolving with it but not enough to become apparent. This turns out to be necessary for that second world, as it is apparently a world where ninja thrive. As the anime starts, its already difficult not to draw comparison to other “ninja” anime, especially when you realize that the title of it translates to King of Nabari (Nabari being the ninja world) despite the comparison you draw though, Nabari actually does do a good job of creating a ninja world in modern times. There are still fantasy elements, but that aren’t so apparent that calling the ninja “ninja” is unfitting. The problem with Nabari no Ou however, starts within the ninja world that I just finished praising. While it builds up a conflict between the four or so hidden villages of Nabari, by the time the fourth or fifth episode comes around that conflict is pushed to the side in favor of something else; a quasi-romance “subplot,” and as the anime goes on that subplot gets pushed more and more to the foreground, so much so that the ninja elements become more of an aside. This is particularly bad because there are a lot of elements in that world that should have been explained. The target of interest for example, is a magical entity called the Shinra Bansho. I use entity because there is in fact something they call “fairy lady” that dwells within the person who possesses the shinra bansho. As the story goes on it becomes apparent that she wants the possessor to use the shinra bansho but there doesn’t seem to be any reason why. At most we learn that she can steal the life of the person who possesses it, but that doesn’t seem to be her goal. Another issue that comes from the ninja elements being pushed aside is that the villain’s motive gets second gun to the conflict of the quasi-romance subplot. It is not till the last few episodes that we learn what he wants to accomplish, and even after being told what his motives are, they still get second gun to the quasi-romance sub plot.

This is a case of genre clashing too, as the quasi-romance somehow manages to remain a subplot and at the same time, manages to be the main focus. Later in the anime the quasi-romance all but completely becomes the main conflict, but even then it is fragmented as watchers are never really given anything more than a shallow reason to care. This romance or camaraderie, or what have you is never exemplified in more than just one of the characters it involves saying that they have to save the other one, or that same character going on about how he and the other are so much alike.

Art
The art and animation for Nabari no Ou is for the most part, wholly unimpressive. Characters are drawn in this CLAMP-esque art style where most of them are this lanky archetype, with the only difference between them being slight differences in their faces, hair, and clothes. It is in fact the clothes that get more attention to detail than the overall character as many of them are decked in these very extravagant outfits. If they aren’t and they have a similar design then my overview of the art style takes form. Take for example the protagonist father who is seen in flashbacks, and one of secondary main characters Aizawa. Both of them are short haired males who wear glasses, and if it wasn’t for the fact that the protagonist father is taller and has a slightly different hair style and color, they’d look exactly alike. As for animation, well despite this being an action anime it is rarely ever pushed. For the most part the characters are talking to each other, making this anime essentially talking heads, but when there are moments of brief actions (and I do mean brief), they range in quality from static images with speed lines, to somewhat fluid movement. Otherwise things are pretty rigid.

Sound
The music in Nabari no ou is very much the same as the art, overall unimpressive. Despite finishing the anime only several days ago, I can barely remember the melody of the opening and ending themes, and as far as music in the show goes I can only recall a heavy use of flutes. While mediocre, I can say that the music suited Nabari’s, let’s say hushed tones. There was never a moment that called for a powerful rock ballad, and likewise the production team never used one. The music in Nabari twists toward a more classical angle, but blends in so well with Nabari that it is barely an aspect alone.

Characters
And now we get to what was likely Nabari’s main problem, and likewise go back to what I was saying before. As what is basically a romance anime clad in action anime clothes, Nabari fails overall at being either because it only gives its watchers shallow reasons to care. The conflicting forces after the shinra bansho don’t really get much development till the end, and the characters in the romance subplot gets next to none. This is not helped by the main character that is soft-spoken, manipulative, apathetic, and more than a little self-entitle. The writing tries to make us care about him by showing that he was wronged as well, but considering just how self-entitled it also makes him, making watchers sympathize doesn’t really work. This gets worse when you realize that the main romance (camaraderie, what have you) involves a character that is almost exactly the same. The difference between this character and protagonist is that the writing actually does make us care but it doesn’t say specifically why we care. This character is haunted by a troubled home life from their youth, and it alludes to there being a reason why it was so bad and why the character is so determined to achieve their goal, but that’s pretty much it; it stops at allusion. To further explain why characters is Nabari’s main problem is to draw attention toward its other characters; characters that seem interesting but get all of a few minutes of expansion. One case goes back to the story and likewise, the similarities watchers might draw. There is a character who wants to get revenge against another for killing their family. This is fine and all, albeit cliché, but the writing’s stubbornness to move away from the quasi-romance subplot makes this characters story an aside, much like the ninja world. Build up is frankly brief, and pay off is underwhelming invoking a sense of this plot only being here because it was (perhaps better) in the manga. This is the same for a lot of other characters. They are displayed as interesting but pay-off always turns out to be these few minute long, underwhelming scenes.

Enjoyment
At this point I don’t think a person needs to ask if I enjoyed this anime or not. With its unlikeable main character, and failure to mix genre, Nabari no Ou is something of a painful watch, made more so when you realize that it’s pacing is bad. Pacing notwithstanding, this is not a disdain for romance or disdain for action, but a jerking feeling I got while watching it. What I did find interesting, got next to no attention, and what I found annoying was constantly shoved in my face. Again amplifying the negativity of this, the latter was something that was forced into the main focus position. It tries to masquerade as an element of the plot, but the story’s own main character defuses this disguise by choosing a jarring reason to get involved (one that makes him more despicable when you think about it in hindsight).

Overall
If you’re planning to watch Nabari No Ou you should go in knowing that it is neither an action series, nor a romantic one. While those are genres you can tack onto it, this anime barely seems like it knows which one it wants to be. The characters aren’t developed enough to make us care about their romance (camaraderie, what have you) but they are push so hard into the main focus that something we might have cared about (The world of Nabari) becomes second gun even to the end. What Nabari could have benefited from was more than twenty-six episodes, and if that wasn’t an option, a willingness to explore more of its elements. It however had neither, and leaves an impression of time better spent

For those looking for action-packed, let-me-give-you-a-history-lesson-on-my-special-move-before-I-execute-it, will be disappointed. This is not that kind of anime.

The characters and story are the main focus of this anime. I generally do not watch shounen-type animes, this one is very well done. While the backdrop theme is the ninja world, it really is a story of relationships and personal struggles.

The animation is very nice. Great use of colors and somewhat of a nostalgic feel to it. The action sequences flow well from scene-to-scene. The real gem of this anime is the relationship between Miharu/Yoite. All of the supporting characters and their relationships are also well-developed and is ... weaved into the storyline seamlessly.

I highly recommend this one to those interested in engaging, somewhat emotional storylines.

THE REAL PREMISE:
- 2 socially distraught boys connect with each other, and find peace therein.

THE GOOD:
- Unique plot. This is not your typical ninja anime.
- Plot twists keep the story engaging.

THE BAD:
- The last 5 episodes don't do the rest of the anime justice.
- The relationship between the two boys becomes tedious. Yeah...they really like each other...we get it.
...
CONCLUSION:
- If you're looking for a fighting anime, this isn't it. This is not one of those "let's get stronger so that we can beat the boss" types of anime. What this anime really focuses on is human emotion. So, if the dynamics of trust, loyalty, and friendship is your cup o' tea, then I highly recommend Nabari No Ou.

It's your typical ninja anime. I'm used to all this ninja plot, and nabari no ou is no different. You've got your typical main character, who has many flaws, Rokujo. He has the shinranbanshou, this mythical power that could make him the king of nabari.

However he has two ninja clans after him, both wanted the shinrabanshou. Rokujo is typical apethetic and indifferent. I'm quite used to that by now. To make the anime worst, it's basically copied ninja scroll series.

Ninja scroll the series is about a woman who has a mythical power similiar to shinrabanshou, a power that two very similiar clans are fighting over. ... She has only three people on her side. And her power enables her to be the ruler of the world, once again. However, ninja scroll does this perfectly, with a set of interesting enemies and allies.

Nabari no ou just uses the typical anime characters, the main character is a cry baby emo, raimei (lead female) is loud and obnocious, kumohira (teacher to rukoju) is over protective over rukoju, and Aizawa (friend to rukoju) is a know-it all. I've seen these characters all the time.

The only thing that I have to say puts the story upto two, is Yoite and his kira ability. I won't tell you what it does, that'll be a spoiler, but it's quite interesting. Apart from this, it's a modern anime, all art no plot.

Story
Meet Rokujo Miharu,your average sarcastic and devilish teenager.In the normal world.But in the secret world of Nabari ,Miharu posses a deadly skill,Shinrabanshou,that can grant any wish.
All that Rokujo wants is to live an normal life,but nothing will be normal any more,especially when you posses the most wanted skill from the whole World of Nabari.
Art
Fair enough for me.The characters are drawn nice,and the background is ok.
Sound
Well,there aren't very much sounds in an ninja anime,but the OP and ED are good.
Character
The characters are drawn very nice,and the quality is good.Also,their clothes are nice.
Personal opinion
Not bad at all.It lacks a little in fighting scenes for a ninja anime,but ... it's just the beginning.Also,I think that if this anime wasn't a shounen,it could have become an shounen-ai without problems.

I found this Anime to be one of the best that I have seen. The mix of action scenes and also the parts where the characters relate to each other. They could have made the story go a bit deeper though, and I thought that it played out to...Smoothly, to put it simply. The Art was very good in my mind, and i liked how some of the characters hair you could tell was changing. In most Anime that I have seen they don't show that kind of thing. In the way of sound, I think that the characters voices ... fit them, Miharu's voice sounded right, as well as most of the other characters, if you can understand that kind of thing ^_^' I liked the character choice too. The way they could got together, and even if they switched ways they still looked like they belonged. I enjoyed Nabari no Ou very much, and my overall score will always stay the same ^_^

this anime is crappy. all the characters lack common sense and have unlikable personality's. story's horrible. main character is weak/useless. i don't recommend watching this anime.

I think the most important thing to say about this series is that it's mediocre. It's good enough to watch, but honestly, the series generally feels rushed, disjointed, and well--average.
Story (6): Nabari No Ou is another ninja anime. That's not intirinsically bad, but it's enough to make someone roll their eyes. If this is going to be a ninja anime, it'd better be good. And that's the thing--it's really just not. Ninjas in modern day. That's not terrible, but the truth is that Nabari No Ou tried to be more than it was. It tried to incorporate big ideas of the universe and the fragility ... of life and death and loyalty. The problem with this is that it's just a ninja anime. It tried to be ambitious, which is commendable, but it ultimately failed. The plotline feels forced and rushed.
Art (7): For a shounen, the art of this series is actually rather effeminate. This isn't necessarily a bad thing and I think the rendition of these characters fits their personalities. Nice colors, memorable character designs, and really good color saturation/layout.
Sound (8): The soundtrack to this anime is actually solid. From the catchy OP to the sweet ED, it's really solid. Nothing bad to say.
Character (4): This is an area where Nabari No Ou really falls flat. The central characters (Yoite and Miharu) are memorable and loveable and have some layers of dimension in them, but the other characters are completely unremarkable in every possible way. I'll avoid spoilers, but there are a few startling plot/character devices utilized, but even those feel forced and artificial. Characters act in incredibly irrational (but predictable) ways and cry way too much. Too much emotion without proper justification. Honestly, every time the peripheral characters got screen time, it was mildly embarrassing because it's obvious that nobody really thought their characters through.
Enjoyment (6): Despite the glaring flaws evident in every single episode, this anime is fun to watch as long as you don't take it too seriously. Don't walk in expecting something amazing. It's not. But if you just take it for what it is--an anime about ninjas--then you'll probably enjoy it a lot more.
Overall (6): This anime isn't necessarily horrible. It just wasn't thought out well. This anime doesn't know what it wants to be. At times it's completely action driven, with every shounen plot device imaginable. At other times, it borders on a romantic shoujo. I doubt it's just me, but there seems to be a very subtle, fragile romantic relationship between the two central characters and it's sweet, but uncalled for. It doesn't fit in the idea of the show. It feels weird, like a (possible) homosexual love story wrapped in a (blatant) soap opera of feelings and family dysfunction slathered with a few fights and ninja references to justify this series being a shounen. Nabari No Ou is, to be concise: terribly awkward.

I heard people say that this was just going to be another Naruto. It was so much more though. It wasn't too long and the story was amazing. It wasn't just another mindless ninja anime, it wasn't all about fighting and it wasn't all about drama. It had so many twists and turns. And the characters were amazing. There was no good or bad, no villains or necessarily heroes. It was emotional, tear jerking, funny at times and an overall great anime.

So if you are looking for a gentle review of this semi-mediocre ninja anime you are reading the wrong review.

The first half of the first episode my first thought was like.... Awesome this is gonna be almost like a but of a modern naruto. By the time I got to the end of the first episode I was fully convinced that this anime could set itself aside from naruto altogether. A couple of the characters were already deemed BA's(bad asses) to me and others had the ability to grow...now that all about sums up the things i liked.

Now for the bad qualities is ... that these characters who had so much room for growth and depth stayed pretty much the same in the whole anime. The main character never truly grows to me the whole time and in the whole series all the supporting characters seem to grow and change even more.

Overall i have to give the season an overall score of 5 because of the characters and the story but as for the art and sound, i dont pay as much attention seeing as they were both just good enough not to have me pay attention to them. Like i said before not quite a big fan but it had me caught enough to watch it until the end

✪ Genre: action (martial arts, swordplay), contemporary fantasy, drama, shounen, ninja, superpower with bishounen character designs


✔ Positive Aspects ✔

◧ The quality of the animation is typical of a late 00s production, mid saturated colors, clearly lacking in vibrancy, but with very distinct character designs, not allowing the viewer to confuse a character for another. In general, the animation was nothing overly enticing, but it was not shabby either.

◧ One of the better aspects of the series was its soundtrack. It recycled quite a few tracks which were, generally, positively noticeable, and, I dare to say, entertaining for the most part but nothing overly exciting.


✘ Negative ... Aspects ✘

◧ The concept itself, although interesting and somewhat Narutonian in some sense, it was severely underdeveloped. First and foremost, we were unable to acquire a clear, or barely adequate, understanding of 'Shinrabansho', neither of its nature and origins nor of the extent of its power. Secondly, we were unable to form a clear picture of the level and degree of separation between the regular world and the ninja world, that most of the events that were portrayed, were predicated upon. Thirdly, we were unable to discern whether or not the series had any kind of direction, in the sense of a clear purpose for existing.

◧ A major flaw of the series was clearly the development of its characters. Firstly, most of the protagonists' and antagonists' personal histories, motivations and ideological beliefs were either explained fairly late into the series and quite inadequately at that, or genuinely indistinguishable. Secondly, we were unable to conceptually separate the protagonists from the antagonists given the fact that they were jumping ship, or, at least, being unsure about their respective memberships, very frequently. Thirdly, the main character's motivation for moving forward (trying to form a friendship with an enemy) would probably feel woefully dissatisfying for the average viewer, as it felt for me.

◧ The action scenes were uncharacteristically (compared to the series' pace at least) speedy, were executed within very few frames, were escalating, and ending, quickly and unsatisfactorily.


Overall: This was a pretty underwhelming series which may have had some potential, but did not make good use of its air time at all.

Nabari no ou encounters the same problem as many other plot-centric anime: it is enjoyable enough to compel you to watch the whole thing but contains plenty of bad elements to keep you frustrated. I hereby list those elements.
The centerpiece of the anime, the shinrabanshou, is supposed to be some sort of superpower that, I suppose, can do anything. However there's very little detail given about the nature of its use. The consequences of activating it are never really discussed so it remains unclear why Tobari Sensei is so determined never to let it be used, even for good. When he argues about this ... with Miharu he just repeats himself without explaining his decision. Tobari Sensei had the potential to be a cool "seems like a slacker but is really competent" character, but instead ended up as "guy who has unclear motives that are necessary for plot device" character.
Furthermore, Kouichi's immortality and fighting skills were too inconsistent. At random times he would become an immortal deadly assassin, but most of the time he would just be a kid who was no better than the average ninja and forgot he was immortal. Also he should have immense knowledge if he's been around forever; shouldn't he be conspicuously smart for a high schooler? Needless to say, his character lacked much needed development. There were times when attempts were made, like when he killed all those dudes, but the weren't followed up on.
Miharu and Yoite's relationship made very little sense. It would have made sense if it was intentioned to be homoerotic love but I just don't think it was. Miharu was attracted to Yoite because they were both lonely, but the fact that they remained rather passive and rather undeveloped throughout the series made it difficult to justify caring about their relationship.
Like many plot-centric anime with a rather stupid, one-dimensional plot, the series got more boring and repetitive at the end. At the first half of the show, all the characters are being introduced and developed so the series catches your interest. But by the last 5 episodes or so everyone just starts repeating themselves and reiterating their motives, while the plot unfolds predictably. It's quite frustrating when most character's reasons for doing things don't extend beyond "because I think I'm right" and "because I want to". Those aren't reasons themselves. Those need reasons.
The best character in the series was Yukimi, who had a likeable "tough guy who cares" personality. Even so he did some frustrating things and his development left some things to be desired.
There was an unfortunate paucity of good fighting scenes. The best action scene was when kouichi was beating up the guy with the gun, and that isn't saying much.
On aspect that I was (relatively) impressed with was that they gave the main villain understandable reasons behind his motives. I could at least understand how his intentions could be construed as something for the greater good.

I'm a bit skeptical to watch this anime but I'm glad I did. This anime is not for everyone. At first I thought this anime is all about fighting and action but it's much better than I thought. It's main focus is the relationship between the characters. Awesome anime, a solid 9 from me.

Haha, NO, this is not a Naruto copycat or anything like it. Nabari No Ou is completely different withinself and quite unique. Even though it's based on ninjas, so what? Just because Bleach has shinigami, does that mean other anime/manga can't have shinigami's?

I think the art was done well and I would rate the story higher if not for the anime terrible ending. >< It wasn't really 'terrible' but more or less disappointing and unsatisfactory. But then again, most anime madeup endings are irritating.

Also I think one of the greatest points of Nabari No Ou is its characters. They're fundamentally unique and the ... main protagonist, Miharu, has a very original personality compared to the usual main characters of action anime/manga. The other characters are charms as well with there own quirks and pasts.

Nabari No Ou is also quite a moving tale about an indifferent boy with an unknown past who becomes livelier over time because of an influence from someone just like him. "Another me" as quoted from himself.

I'm sure the majority of people who watch this anime will enjoy it.

I was suggested this anime by a friend, as he made me watch a few amv's.... and my initial comment/observation was "looks like one of those ambiguously yaoi animes...". He laughed, but he didn't deny it....and that made me apprehensive.

Going into the first few episodes, I was actually pleasantly surprised by how well the writers had done, drawing me in to the plot and characters. The apprehension was gone.

The story wasn't anything amazing...but it had a solid functional premise to build upon and was clearly going to be more character/story-driven(which I prefer, most often) than action-driven.

Then came that ambiguous yaoi I'd ... spotted in the amv's.

Oh well, they've sucked me into the plot/characters already....so let's just hope the ambig-yaoi is done with tact.

Fortunately, the anime didn't really lose any steam from the latent boy on boy thing they were hinting at, and I found myself increasingly curious about the character's back-stories quirks and futures...enjoying the sporadic bouts of drama and mini-action.

Alllll the way to the last two episodes....where I just about face-planted from how anticlimactic a turn the anime had taken.

I was exceedingly disappointed by the ending, so much so that it dropped a few points in story/enjoyment/overall.

Still...ending aside, I didn't dislike any of the voice actors...and the characters were successful in drawing me in. The art wasn't as lush/original as it could've been, but it was far from bad.

All in all, it was a good anime that had the (unfulfilled)potential to be better.

Nabari no Ou. At first I thought it would be like another Naruto series, but thankfully I was wrong about it. Instead it had a whole different feel to it than what Naruto had.

First of would be the story in general. Where as Naruto you have a ninja trying to become hokage and no real other plot than that. Nabari no Ou however you have a consent plot that is shown threw out each episode. The stories development was pretty good in my opinion. It had a nice build at first before diving into the plot more.. and steadily rising to something believable and reasonable ... in the series. That was another good aspect of the story.

I also loved the friendship and twist thrown in and how Miharu deals with this along the way. Yes a story that deserves its rating.

The art was also pretty good as well. Though it did have its flaws when it came to the characters, it was still good and I could see the effort the team put into the animation. The opening animation would be the first thing I would start off with. It was pretty bright, yet had that shin to it like the rest of the series had when it came to sunshine in the city. The grass and trees, water, plants and more had nice blends of color, and the movement was great as well.

Next would be the series. As I said about the background, when it comes to certain scenes involving the city it had a strange glow to it. But basically the whole time it was pretty bright, but not too cheery like Naruto's was. Normal I would say. You even had nicely colored plants, trees and animals. Movement of animation was excellent, and had a nice effect for the series. Now for what I wanted to avoid.. the characters animation. Now as you can see in the manga the characters seem to have long limbs yet try to hold the same shap as the regular human arm. The only problem I saw here were at the elbow and wists, chest and stomach, legs to ankles. If you notice those seem a bit longer than necessary, shorten a little and you'd have the right shape but it has that slight tube effect. The animation was good but it did have flaws.

The justus also didn't have that over done feel like Naruto's had. The animators took there time with this instead of throwing paint and turning it into something else. Even the shinr. looked great.

The sound now.. well I will honestly say that I will advise against watching the dub, and go ahead and watch the subs. The dub wasn't all that bad, well it was but not completely. Brina did not slip into the role of Miharu well.. as I said countless times in forums and probably in reviews.. her voice was scratchy, dull and void of emotions when it came to scenes where Miharu showed some emotions. I could also tell that it was a woman lowering her voice and this just ruined Miharu's image for me slightly 'sighs'. Another character with a similar effect like Miharu's was Raikou.. and if you know who plays him.. you are correct Tantum J. Michael. Once again I must curse him for doing terrible acting.. well it wasn't that bad. He at least had some emotion this time than being utterly dull like he always is when trying to play a character like Sebastian. His voice was also a tad scratchy with slight gruffness in it. A few other voice actors didn't seem to slid into their roles well and this disappointed me. It would seem that Funimation with every new anime is failing misserably with it.

Though there was one voice actor that stood out.. the voice actor for Yoite. Oddly enough out of everyone he had slipped into the role of the kira user quite nicely, and seemed to match with Yoite on some levels. I approved of this but I still strongly advise to watch the sub and not the dub. You'll just get disappointed.

The opening and ending themes were good matches to the series, I will not say they had that rarity where the songs actually fit with the anime but they were good and rememberable.

Characters now were also another thing I liked about this series. Though I had to switch to the sub to get a better opinion on Miharu and a few others after the dub messed with my opinion. I still say they were pretty good. Unlike Naruto's characters where you have all these amazing ninjutsu, genjutsu, and tijutsu.. and showing that off.. the characters are more of the concern than the action or drama. You have good development for them, and shows the build between them. You also have no real sense of Mary-sues or annoying characters.. each with a well rounded background and views.

Character's art was also good though it had limb problems it showed off the characters well and I didn't really see anything that differs from the manga with that.

But if you notice when it comes to Yoite you might mistake him for Sebastian Michaelis from Kuroshitsuji. The first time I notice this series was an advertisement on fanfiction for the boxset and the first thing I thought when seeing Yoite for the first time was.. " Is that Sebastian?" Funny, but still it he looks similar to the demon butler.

The one thing I hate is crying.. I have an emotional system that acts up for no reason at times and I cry which is annoying. I hate non-emotional crying moments, thankfully I had such emotions by the end of this series. I will not say why but the ending will give you that want-to-cry emotion. My enjoyment was pretty high, even though I found myself springing tears at the end.. it was a very good ride and I enjoyed every minute of it.. (as long as I ignored some bad actors).. I also love the creativity behind this.. unile most ninja series why they turn paint into something else they manage to actually make something instead of just using splashes of paint. They took the time to get it right and I love that..