Honoo no Ninjaman

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Blazing Ninjaman seems to be a series with alot of potential, that regrettably ends up being a mixed bag due to alot of rushed creative decisions. From a master of manga Kazuhiko Shimamoto, it seems to be him throwing a whole bunch of things at the wall to see what sticks, but never quite landing on a winning formula.

Plot: About this guy named Ninja who becomes a ninja and joins his high school's ninja club, and eventually morphs into this conspiracy story about ninjas vs other ninjas who want to take over the world. Theres also alot of romantic comedy throughout the scenes of ninjas ... shooting fireballs at each other and the humor always landed well with me. The overall thrust of the story is kind of forgettable, and suffers from changing gears multiple times in a short run (from school vs school, to romcom, to tournament arc, to worldwide ninja conspiracy, and the author never totally sure if its to be taken seriously or not). The parts that do work well are the individual character interactions on a chapter to chapter basis, which are always funny and entertaining. I get the sense that Kazuhiko struggled with popularity of the series throughout its run, and therefore tried many different things in an attempt to find an audience. I think the series is honestly at its best earlier on, and loses some appeal as it tries to become more complicated. 6/10.

Art: Always a strong suit. Very dynamic action, lots of double page spreads, good character designs, just overall a pleasure to look at. 9/10

Characters: A main boy and girl who are memorable and likable, but the size of the cast grows a bit too rapidly and some of the interesting side characters end up with nothing to do. Like Mantaro's rival, he pretty much disappears with no explanation. Or his uncle, who is introduced and promptly has nothing to do in the story. There are also many characters who get added in the last few chapters to shore up loose ends, but ultimately the series is made weaker by its large cast and functioned better with a couple of well written and likable protagonists. 6/10

Overall, a well drawn and often funny shonen series that struggles from a very disorganized creative vision. It doesnt overstay its welcome and theres more good than bad, but its frustrating to think it could have been as good as some of the authors other works if not cut short.