Senran Kagura: Shinovi Masters Review

The first Senran Kagura anime is one of the worst game-to-anime adaptations I’ve ever seen.  It took what made the first Senran Kagura game such a well-crafted story and gutted it by taking out critical character moments and what was kept was changed enough to miss the point entirely.

Despite this, the announcement of the new Senran Kagura anime, Shinovi Masters, had me optimistic, and not from the more subdued trailer nor the presence of Bebe-tan (although that certainly helped).  I was convinced to watch it based on one name credited.  I’ll give you one hint as to what that name is.

I’ve said it once and will again: Yukinori Kitajima is the lynchpin of Senran Kagura.  He’s on the level of J. Michael Straczynski, Greg Weisman and Joss Whedon in writing talent.  He can make anything work and his writing for Senran Kagura is a key reason it’s as good as it is.  You could not convince me not to watch something with his name on it unless Kitajima himself told me not to.  Sure enough, Shinovi Masters has the writing you'd expect from him.

As the name implies, Shinovi Masters takes place in the spin-off timeline of the games, after Peach Beach Splash.  It seems to be an interim story made to set the stage for a sequel.  It is not a second season of the first anime.  That travesty may as well not exist.  In Shinovi Masters, a new trio of antagonistic ninjas rear their ugly heads, defeat Asuka, kidnap the other Hanzo girls and hold a tournament between the schools.  In addition to offering up the captured Hanzo team, the organizers claim the winner will have the chance to fight the ultimate youma.  From there the plot unfolds into a more sinister and deeper one involving a hole to the youma world, Kurokage and a new youma-sealing ninpo called the Fuma Korin.

I haven’t played Peach Beach Splash yet because the PC version is way too demanding to run, but Shinovi Masters doesn’t reference that game much.  The only developments seem to be that the characters all have new base uniforms, presumably for a higher grade, and Kagura and Naraku from Senran Kagura 2 are now there, most likely expanding from their DLC appearances in Estival Versus.

Peach Beach Splash is the only game in which call-backs set to a minimum, however.  Do not watch this anime if you have not played every game up to Estival Versus or Senran Kagura 2 at the very least.  Shinovi Masters loves its continuity and returning characters.  There are a number of twists in it that will only come as a surprise to anyone that knows the story.  There are several times where something is referenced or called back to or there’s a recurring theme and it would never have the same effect without the added context.

Shinovi Masters has a lot of what I wanted to see more of; things hinted at in the games, but never shown that help visualize the Senran Kagura world more than the visual novel segments of the games.  The best example of this is in an extended flashback sequence that shows Kurokage and Hanzo when they were younger.  One of the core concepts of Senran Kagura is that its shinobi exist in the modern day with more conveniences and advancements.  In the flashbacks, the ninjas wear more traditional ninja clothes, but there are still cars and guns, making it the same kind of anachronism in a different period that's fascinating to see.

Hanzo and Kurokage were total bishonens.  And KUROKAGE HAS A FACE!  When did that happen?!

There are also finally youma in it!  After three games of teasing (I am told PBS does not have them) and only one where you got to fight them, the shinobi finally get to fight youma toward the end of Shinovi Masters and their designs and behavior are consistent with their appearance in Senran Kagura 2!

There are even giant youma, but they aren’t quite the terrifying monstrosities with a different visual style they were in Senran Kagura 2.  They’re designed more like the regular-sized ones, but bigger.  Maybe the kinds in that game were too hard to animate.

I can kind of see it, but not quite.

Kitajima implements all sorts of elements from the games.  Sometimes it ties into the plot, other times it's thrown in for some good old-fashioned fan-pleasing.  Characters go into frantic mode, there’s an actual routine ninja mission shown, Kurokage has a talk with the ninja elders regarding his actions and the big conspiracy, the game flashes back to the climax of Shinovi Versus, one of the tag ninpo from 2 gets used and there’s a brief shot of girls from the different schools all over the world from the mobile game that watch the tournament.

The villains Shinovi Masters introduces are interesting and welcome additions.  The leader, Fubuki, has the most gothic design yet with a fighting style using moves similar to Kurokage and Yumi’s, but with her own spin on it.  She’s assisted by Senkou and Gekkou, a pair of twins attending the Gessen middle school.

All three of them have the same mindset that Yumi did in Shinovi Versus because, like Yumi, they believe they’re following Kurokage’s will and it’s not like he can tell them to stop now that he’s dead.  The twins are enamored with Kurokage because they read about how much of a legendary evil shinobi-fighting badass he was, but Fubuki’s motivation goes deeper for reasons I won’t spoil.  The revelations in Shinovi Masters aren’t major plot twists, but they’re surprising revelations that keep the unfolding plot interesting.

Fubuki also has the assistance of a youma that helps her willingly, which is an example of an early surprising revelation if you know the games.  Youma have always been shown as senseless beasts that only kill and attack.  Dougen was able to control them through some combination of mad science and mutating himself into a youma monster, but this one follows Fubuki’s orders without any tricks, which is yet another plot point acknowledged in the story.

With its attention to detail and adequately developed characters and themes, Shinovi Masters is solidly written, but it does have some of Estival Versus’ problems.  There are still a few parts of it that are entirely pointless and waste most of an episode, but this time they’re at least interspersed with events that are actually relevant.  It’s also the Yumi show again, with her getting the most focus, but the rest of the cast doesn’t get as badly shafted as in Estival Versus.  Asuka gets some character development of her own and the Hanzo team gets some much-needed screen time after their inevitable rescue.  Kagura and Naraku are an important piece of the plot this time too so there’s more of a balance with the characters out of focus.

As much as Shinovi Masters tells its story right, it does a few things wrong.  After praising this anime for its consistency with the games, it gets a little jarring when Kitajima seems to retcon (or borderline retcon) a few things.  Some people may not notice, but I did.  It recreates the scene mentioned in Shinovi Versus where Kurokage met Yumi.  It’s a touching scene, but it confused me when someone offscreen mentioned the funeral they were at was for Kurokage’s son.
In Shinovi Versus they specifically said Yumi was the daughter of Kurokage’s daughter, whose funeral they were at, and he even says that Yumi looks like her mother.  It seems Kitajima changed this to try and shift the resemblance to Kurokage’s wife/lover, who makes her debut in this anime in flashbacks, instead.  Senran Kagura has always been pretty loose with its continuity, but it doesn’t typically outright change things that have been established.

The ending is disappointing in some aspects as well.  The climax is great, but there are situations that should have more ramifications to them that the ending wraps up in a nice little contrived bow.  I know Senran Kagura always ends on happy notes, but when consequences of something are brushed aside, it feels lazy.

Decisions like that were never quite enough to take me out of it.  Shinovi Masters immediately took care of the biggest, most disastrous problem the first anime had by having Yukinori Kitajima write it.  Everything outside the writing is a step up too, but more of a mixed bag.

The presentation addresses everything else I didn’t like about the first anime.  The style and colors look closer to the games’ cutesy look and fights are now actual fights that last more than two minutes and all take place in different settings instead of the Kamui void.  The voice direction is more in line with the games too.  Instead of sounding like they’re bored, the characters all speak with the same kind of energy and emotion they do in the games.

I can’t speak for the English dub in much detail.  I’ve only watched bits and pieces of it, but from what I saw it might be even worse than the first one.  It sounds like nobody on the team actually knows anything about who they're voicing with a script and direction that was rushed out as quickly as possible.  It’s downright cringe-worthy and I know a lot of the actors are really good and can do better, but I don't think they were given a good reference or direction.  R. Bruce Elliot is awesome as he always is, at least, but instead of Kurokage, I would've had him voice Hanzo, given he already had his character down pat in a previous anime.

Hayato is someone I can imagine Hanzo visiting for pleasant recreation.

There’s a reason good dubs from Funimation have been more the exception than the rule starting around 2015.  This is the company that knowingly hired a notorious serial abuser who aided a pedophile for over a decade, has been accused of stiffing artists a not-insignificant number of times, shit talks people to make himself look better and tried to make his ex homeless for not agreeing to sleep with him, after all.  Their standards aren't exactly high.

As long as you’re watching it in Japanese, Shinovi Masters is way more entertaining to watch as an action anime than before, but I can’t give it too much credit.  Characters have a tendency to go off-model between shots and fight scenes, while pretty, don’t have a lot of depth to them.  Senran Kagura is a series of beat-em-up games first and foremost so a lot of its combat is beating on the enemy and charging at your opponent with button mashing at full force.  Shinovi Masters portrays that well and uses moves and motions straight out of the games that will make fans happy, but there isn’t the kind of finesse or choreography better action anime have.  Fights are more or less a means for more dialogue.  It’s good dialogue, but there isn’t quite enough substance in the onscreen visuals to compare with other action anime.  Players are usually kept engaged by playing those parts.

That does paint Shinovi Master’s caveat.  For any ordinary anime viewer that hasn’t played the games (or someone who played the games and wasn't paying attention), Shinovi Masters is like any other anime and the ties to the game will soar right over their heads.  For the ones that have played the games, Shinovi Masters has a lot to like and feels like another game installment in anime form that has all the emotional resonance, charm and fun they've come to expect.  I give Senran Kagura: Shinovi Masters a 7.5 out of 10.

I take that back!  It gets a 10 out of 10!