Senran Kagura: Ninja Flash!: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.0

Senran Kagura: Ninja Flash!: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 4, 2014

American Ninja Warrior has become appointment television over the course of the past few summers, offering a perhaps surprisingly large audience the chance to see people attempt to make it through a gauntlet of daunting obstacles. In an effort to make the show less of a goofy Wipeout and more of a “legitimate” sporting event, the series regularly posits “character arcs” or story points, going into the backgrounds of various competitors and coming up with something akin to traditional plotlines. This season has seen the emergence of one of these supposed generalizations, the rise of women to the winners’ circle after at least a few females managed to make it through some of the qualifying rounds. The series seems especially intent on furthering the ostensibly inspirational stories of at least a couple of these women, highlighting their appearances in the audience even when they’re not actually in the competitive ranks. While diehard fans of Asian cinema may question the whole “ninja” aspect in a show like American Ninja Warrior, female ninjas have also managed to take over their own little corner of anime, as evidenced by the fan service laden Senran Kagura; Ninja Flash. The irony here is that while American Ninja Warrior is doing its level headed best to flaunt the athleticism of its female competitors, making at least the finalists the equals of the men, Senran Kagura: Ninja Flash is a resolutely old school, almost adolescent, series which flaunts its women’s buxom bodies more than any intrinsic element like intelligence or even ninja skills. The result here is probably no more ironic than a woman posing nude for a men’s magazine insisting that she’s doing it all for female empowerment, while simultaneously ignoring the overtly titillating enjoyment most men who will be looking at the picture will glean from it. While the fan service in Senran Kagura; Ninja Flash is actually often on the tame side (at least insofar as these things typically go), it points up the fact that this series has pitifully little to offer other than that very titillating aspect.

Senran Kagura: Ninja Flash can be boiled down to that oldest of tropes, good vs. evil, albeit this time with lots of jiggling boobs. The “good girls” in the series are Asuka, Hibari, Ikaruga, Yagyu and Katsuragi. The chief character here is Asuka, who comes from a long line of ninjas and is in fact studying at a ninja academy that was founded by her family. While she’s the putative leader of the group, she has issues, including a bizarre fear that plays into her development, as well as a bit of insecurity that she’ll be the first person in her family to fail at the “family business”. The other characters have similarly convoluted histories, with only Hibaru not having to deal with some trauma from her past, something that perhaps paves the way for her repeated use as comedy relief, courtesy of her penchant for clumsiness.

As convoluted as the “light” ninjas’ stories may be, they pale in comparison to those of the “dark” ninjas, but it’s here that Senran Kagura: Ninja Flash seems really oddly structured from a tonal standpoint. This is a series which frankly doesn’t seem to have that much on its mind other than a bunch of scantily clad, overly buxom girls engaging in various ninja romps. But with regard to the “villains” of the series, Senran Kagura: Ninja Flash actually tries for something more. It’s a lurching attempt at best, since trying to inject anything real feeling into something this overtly cartoonish (in every sense of the word) simply ends up feeling like a fool’s errand.

Perhaps due to the fact that Senran Kagura: Ninja Flash was adapted from a game, there doesn’t seem to be much forward momentum other than that generated by the various ninja battles. The show does attempt to weave together the stories of the light and dark forces, especially in the second half of the series, but it often feels like a forced effort, as if the creative staff knew they had a viable pre- existing propertly just lying around and then came up with various filler material to help the series have enough episodes to make it marketable. One thing that Senran Kagura: Ninja Flash achieves very well, though, is a viscerally exciting design aesthetic in the battle sequences. Here, even those bouncing boobs become objets d’art, and the animators actually introduce an almost quasi- hallucinogenic quality to some sequences that provides visual allure even when the show itself is kind of lackluster.

Senran Kagura: Ninja Flash!: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Senran Kagura: Ninja Flash is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of FUNimation Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer. This relatively recent vintage anime looks great in high definition, with clear, convincing line detail and some outrageously saturated colors that span the gamut from cool pastels to incredibly vivid primaries. Some of the character animation is a bit on the generic side, though even here there are some nice surprises along the way. The standout elements in the series are the battle scenes which erupt with fluidity and fury, and which often offer weird, almost psychedelic, backgrounds. There are some minor issues here with banding, especially in segues and fades, but otherwise this is a bright, clear and appealing presentation that should certainly satisfy the series' fan base.

Senran Kagura: Ninja Flash!: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Senran Kagura: Ninja Flash is just the latest in a string of anime releases where some folks may be wondering why there's no surround mix, especially considering the action elements which are such an important part of the series. That said, the two Dolby TrueHD 2.0 mixes (in the original Japanese and an English dub) provide ample support for the series' dialogue and sound effects. Things can sound a bit crowded at times, with a lot of foley effects seeming to emanate toward the center rather than being splayed for better stereo separation. But fidelity is excellent on both of these tracks and neither offers any problems to worry about.

Senran Kagura: Ninja Flash!: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Episode 4 Commentary features Brittney Karbowski and who I assume is Jerry Jewell (he doesn't introduce himself).


• Episode 10 Commentary features Chris George and Megan Shipman, along again with an again unidentified Jerry Jewell.


• Promotional Videos (1080p; 5:25)


• Japanese Commercials (1080p; 00:34)


• Textless Opening Song "Break Your World" (1080p; 1:32)


• Textless Closing Songs:

  "Shissouron" (1080p; 1:32)

  "Fighting Dreamer" (1080p; 1:32)

  "Yamiyo Wa Otome Wo Hana Ni Suru" (1080p; 1:32)

• U.S. Trailer (1080p; 1:10)

Senran Kagura: Ninja Flash!: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Senran Kagura: Ninja Flash has a couple of interesting angles, but the "angles" most viewers are probably going to notice are the delicious curves of the females' voluptuous bodies. The weird thing about this series is that it could have just been an out and out fan service fest, with nimbly fighting women flaunting their oversized bosoms into the viewers' faces. Instead, though, there's a really almost bizarre attempt here to invest the ninjas (ninjettes?) with often pretty traumatic histories, something that may not sit well with a younger male demographic that is tuning in just to catch sight of huge breasts bursting out of schoolgirl uniforms. The animation here is probably the single biggest selling point, at least to those who have moved beyond any rampant need for fan service.