Cons: everything since then
The anime is well viewed and understood. It thus does not require synoptic reviews. I'll just share some personal experience with the anime.
I started watching the series a lot later than most people, but once I started, I had no trouble comprehending the frenzies my friends would have about the series -- a tale of ninja and their mysterious techniques (grown up in China, I love all things elemental-related when it comes to magics and fantasies), a depiction of the hierarchy and conflicts in the Japanese Warring era, and a ballard of growing-up with tears, efforts and friendship. It was an awesome escape from the real world, with either new shinobido techniques or new character stories to reveal every episode-- there is always mystery, suspension, and action.
However, (as with all things, there has to be a "however"), that's only up to about 60 episodes, if I recall right. After that, the series is reduced to episodic missions that do not further the storyline or introduce any new techniques. The motifs of each small story are boring and blank at best. The whole series simply turned into a repetitive, dungeon-ish, adventure anime probably only geared for grade-schoolers.
Just to name one of its vice, it occurs in every single episode that some character, in a super intensive, emergent and often life-threatening situation (as depicted by the character's monologue anyway), would somehow freeze and take ages to make the simplest decision or the most obvious tactical observation -- as if the viewers all have IQ of none when viewing this series. What does the anime itself do during all these pauses? About 7 seconds zooming in on the same frame. And then? Another 7 seconds zooming out! If not longer!!
It's almost sever to the point that I can barely enjoy the episodes as animations but instead voiced CG drama.
I gave up after a few episodes of those, obviously. I would revisit the series occasionally and only receive disappointment - not to anybody's surprise.
Hence, my overall rating -> 3/10, in a protest against the inattention of the producer to the later part of the series, while the partial ratings remain high, in a tribute to the series' quickly-diminished potential.
EDIT:
Unlike normal rating, the word clause remains neutral/positive until the score is lower to as bad as 3 when writing a comment -> partly the reasons for the low score.
