Shinobi Life

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Time travel is a HUGE aspect of this series, occurring way more than necessary. I feel like the characters are always going backwards and forwards and backwards again; it’s a gimmick that gets old quickly. At varying points in the story I felt that the author could have taken a route separate to time travelling that would have led to the same overall finale. Maybe I’m just upset that she didn’t get more creative with the whole concept. The tedious nature of these “time jumps” began to bore me far sooner than I had anticipated.

The characters themselves are nothing truly special. They follow your standard ... shōjo tropes making them invariably lacklustre. The female protagonist is a spoiled girl who has two guys that fall for her, the good boy and the bad boy. The bad boy has mummy and daddy issues that contribute to his intolerable nature. But the woman that he cares for so fondly for helps him realize the error of his ways so he vows to become a “better person.” Meanwhile, the good boy follows said female around like a lost puppy until they reach their inevitable happily ever after. You also have your badass villain boy who is more handsome than the other two, but also has issues stemming from a horrid childhood that makes him the monster. Does he mend his ways? Why of course he does! Isn’t that the standard shōjo way of life?

I didn’t absolutely hate everything about the series. The ninja backdrop that makes up the past for two of the male characters is actually pretty interesting. I don’t think I’ve come across a manga series with such a motif before; at least not in a shōjo romance type series set in modern times. These facets provide two of the male characters, Hitaki and Kagetora, with much more depth than any of the other people in the series. It explains the conflict characteristic of the story’s development and is probably the best written portions out of the whole thing.

The art was immensely disappointing when I first started reading Shinobi Life. It felt very sloppy and rushed. The expressions on each of the character’s faces were uninspired. I really didn’t care for the way that the mangaka drew their eyes whenever they were feeling sad or sorrowful. I’m not sure if she just didn’t know how to express it, or if she believed that a pile of lines would amount for something called countenance. But whatever it was, it wasn’t good, however. I did see improvement as the series went on. The lines and images began to have a crisper feeling to them and the character’s moods were discernible in a more fluid way. It’s still not the best thing out there, but it was far better than the first chapter of the first volume.

I will give the series as a whole six stars, which is an entire star more than it deserves. Art improvement and an interesting premise are worth more than nothing, I believe. Also, I would be lying if I said that I didn’t get invested in what would happen next. It was compelling to an extent.

The beginning of the story, I felt like most of the other reviewers here, but I dropped the manga as soon as Beni started having feelings for another guy. I know there is a tag for love triangle, and I expected a love rival to appear for Kategora. However, the person that Beni started having feelings for is a possessive, rapey, jerk. No matter the reason behind his actions, or personality, to have feelings for that type of person, I lost all respect for Beni. Kategora is a cool, strong guy, that will die for Beni, but to have a rapey ... guy has a love rival? I could not continue reading further, because the more Beni interacted with the rapey guy, the more feelings she had for him. More likely Beni, and Kategora will end up together, but it will be better if Beni, and the rapey guy ended up together, while Kategora found a better girl.

The series is about a Ninja going into the future and finding a girl that looks like she's the exact same as the princess he was supposed to protect. Believing her to be the same person whilst simultaneously ignoring the fact that he isn't in the edo period anymore. He continues trying to protect her in this time instead while the female lead hides the truth that she isn't the princess that he's protecting since she is now in love with him because she is the female lead of this manga and he's the male lead of this manga so naturally that was gonna happen.

With ... that being said. The series actually sort of kinda just finishes this plot immediately. He realizes very early on that she isn't the princess, the internal conflict switches to whether or not the MMC is using the FMC as a replacement to the princess he was protecting because he too starts gaining feeling for the FMC. Why you ask? Well, like i said these are both attractive leads in a manga so yeah....

Its kind of weird how the original plot is just forgotten. Though Resolved might be a better word. The series shifts to the MMC's rival who has come to the future as well in hopes to exact revenge or whatever to the male lead. While the male lead is getting accoumsted to the modern life and getting jiggy with the FMC.

Honestly I think this series did a poor job of making the characters have feelings for each other. I understand that both are teenager so having crushes are normal. But it still felt a bit ridiculous (Funny thing to say in a manga where time traveling is a mechanic.).

One of the conflicts of the series is between the FMC and her father who acts like an asshole. He's totally not being an asshole to play the tough asshole father role. That is 100% not what he is doing yup. So with the Male lead she escapes to the past but something goes wrong and she ends up in the wrong time. So the male lead is constantly going to the future and past trying to find where she is. While the female lead tries to understand more about where she is and how she can be more of use to the people around here.

As i mentioned one of the conflicts is The rival of the Male lead trying to kill the male lead. I liked this part. How they resolved it and the dialogue and backstory of those 2 characters were well done. Arguably thats the only thing that really stood out in the manga. I think it was dramatic and evoked the necessary emotion that the author was looking for.

The characters are... They exist. Honestly i can't really remember. I was told that the male lead is the nicest of all shoujo male leads but thats not true. He is pretty nice though. It's always nice to see another male lead that doesn't try to immediately rape the female lead in the beginning of the manga. But yeah incredibly blanket personalities. I guess they did the job. At least i don't really have any negative feelings about the characters except maybe the father who totally played the asshole and nothing else totally. There is no deeper to meaning except that he's an asshole totally.

I think some of the issue regards how the series gets a bit weird towards the end with magic hair. The fact that the time travel works almost perfectly now that the manga is almost over.

When the series does end. There is some unresolved shit like how come no one else found the time traveling portal? Or how they will handle the future. It just kinda gets thrown under the rug.

In the end I feel like Shinobi Life did the bare minimum in regards to entertainment. Like this is the bare minimum any author aiming to acheive. Though yes there were some stand out moments I don't think they are enough for me to recommend this series. Its enough for a time killer but your not missing if you don't read it.

TLDR: So much potential but really just came out ok. 5/10