If you've heard of Tokyo Shinobi Squad, it's probably because of its xenophobia accusations, which I honestly won’t even try to say they’re wrong, as soon as the first appearance of the MC you have globalization and immigration being called the source of all crime in Japan. The series is very over the top on its xenophobia for like the first 3 chapters, but massively tones it down after, to the point it’s only from time to time you’ll even notice something that’d make you go “oh yeah the MC is a xenophobe”. And note, the MC is never portrayed in the wrong for this, his xenophobia is even called his “righteous beliefs” at some point, so you’re probably going to get it hard to swallow if you can’t get past that.
With the elephant in the room out of the way, let’s talk about the series itself, which I can describe in one word: average. It’s pretty much a generic guild setting but cyberpunk, the plot is barely there and mostly carried by fight after fight, and all but two of the characters are very one note. Jin is your typical MC trying to who tries to act cool, but as said above, he’s a xenophobe who believes in the absolute purity and superiority of Japanese culture, so at least he has something to make him stand out from the crowd. En is probably the highlight of the series, having the most interesting personality, a neat power you don’t usually explored this way in an action shounen, and ironically enough being one of the best representations for dark skinned characters I’ve seen in manga.
Aside from the obviously rushed ending thanks to being axed and the instances of xenophobia sprinkled across it, Tokyo Shinobi Squad is basically a typical action shounen, but it’s at least serviceable enough to keep you entertained for its short run. So if you don’t mind reading a pretty average series that you can probably finish in one or two sits, then I see no harm on this one.
Thank you for reading.
