I’m going to make a change to this blog. In an effort to be more topical I’m going to post reviews of certain series as soon as I finish them. This will prevent my backlog of reviews from increasing and allow me to give my opinions of shows and movies while they are still topical. Today, its time to look at the 39th entry in the Super Sentai Franchise (I know it ended months ago but I’ve been busy).

The Last Ninja, a great warrior who defeated the evil Kibaoni army is looking for a successor. His grandchildren, Takaharu, Yakumo, Nagi, Fuka, and Kasumi are all candidates to inherit the title. Together they must strive to improve their ninjality (the power which allows someone to do ninja skills), fight the now released Kibaoni army, and search for the ultimate weapon, the sealing shuriken. Together they are known as the Shuriken Sentai Ninnninger.

This show is a mess. All its aspects have problems. Let’s start with the sentai. They all fall into the trap of not out growing the initial character stereotypes they are introduced with. Takaharu is wild, Yakumo is smug, Kasumi is smart, Nagi is helpful, and Fuka is innocent and clumsy. The best ranger is Kinji the Starninger who shows the best growth as an individual and conquers the (literal) demons of his past. Also, despite it being a family sentai they really don’t feel like a family. Unlike Magiranger where there were multiple flashbacks to the members growing up and bonding as kids, this series doesn’t have nearly as many or any to help you understand their family bond. Frankly the show is insisting they are family but you don’t feel it as you watch it.

The mecha are weird to say the least. The main robot is a weird combination of vehicles which should not be associated with ninjas including a train and a dump truck. The later combinations are a bit better once they come together as a final form but the first and main robot takes far too long to get used to.

The villains are the saving point of this series. The commanders are least as all of them look stunning and are formidable opponents who give the sentai a run for their money. The individuals monsters of the week are some of the worst creatures ever. These things are worse than the Trinoids of Abaranger and those things had the excuse of being three elements fused together. This show has no explanation for some of the lamest designs since the T-rex Dopant from Kamen Rider W.

The comedy aspect which comes from trying to keep the series more light in the beginning doesn’t work either. The jokes just aren’t funny. An episode or two, such as the episode where its played out like an RPG game is funny but overall the humor doesn’t play well.

The last and final aspect which doesn’t work is the Ninja aspect. They just don’t feel like ninjas. Probably because of their insistence on rampaging and not hiding which is actually the teams personal motto. The poor attempts at humor probably is what killed the feeling of this team being true ninjas.

You weren’t entertaining Ninninger at all. You started okay but crashed hard and still had too many episodes to go to your ending. Eventually, I was begging for you to end. It’s painful enough with you being a bad series but now whenever the studio says they are going to do another ninja themed sentai, we will always be wary of getting another show like you coming out.

RATING: D