Ninja Girls Vol. #2
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January 24, 2010
by: Adam Beck
It’s time the horned lord hooks up with a princess… but how will his ninjas take it?
Manga Description: MARRYING UP!
Raizô is heir to the once-powerful Katana family, and his loyal and lethal new companions—a band of beautiful female ninjas—are determined to restore the family to power. That means the hopelessly dorky Raizô must marry a wealthy bride. But when Raizô's prospective fiancée is the victim of attempted murder, the prime suspects are none other than the lovely ninjas!
Includes special extras after the story!
Manga Review
Content: (This section may contain spoilers)
Let’s face it, ninjas are just plain badass. Female ninjas on the other hand, well now that’s just hot; this is exactly what Ninja Girls is: a sexy and action-packed adventure. That said, don’t expect this to be a Ninja Scroll style manga; it centers far more on comedy rather than death and drama. There will be battles, but generally characters will end up surviving. Maybe the first volume showed some death, but I can’t think of anyone who dies throughout the second volume. If you’re expecting a bloodbath from this title, I advise you to stop reading right here.
The second volume of Ninja Girls doesn’t quite pick up where the first ended. Instead we are introduced to a brand new character: Mizuchi. Mizuchi is, like almost every other female in this book, a ninja, but she is different from the women we’ve met before. Hosana Tanaka moves away from the well-endowed women and gives Mizuchi a much slimmer body. This is mainly because Mizuchi is a young girl – which I’m not quite sure of her age. She is a fairly comical character. She enjoys money over anything, and even if she is willing to do anything for some hard cash, her intentions are still fairly pure, only thinking of others – one specific other to be exact. She is also very loose around Kagari, to a point where she forgets completely what she is doing. My only problem with the young lady is that she is gone after the first chapter. After one failed attempt at her job, she instructs Kagari and her group to find a suitable bride in the Oumi province. I hope she appears again because her appearance is very short-lived.
The central story revolves around the Oumi province and Raizô attempting to marry Princess Hibari, a cute and hardworking girl with a heart of gold. She isn’t exactly your stuck-up arrogant type of princess; she is willing to work 16 hours every day, pushing herself to the limit. Maybe it was just incredible luck but Raizô and his ninjas have come to the aid of Princess Hibari just when she needs it most: there are multiple attempts on her life during Raizô’s stay. This is a very interesting scheme to read because it keeps you guessing who the antagonist is. I am a bit confused by the appearance of two of Kabuki’s shinobi. This is because Mizuchi was thinking to get Kagari all for herself by getting Raizô shacked up with the princess, yet these ninjas interfere with this plan as they attempt to overthrow the Oumi province. I don’t know if it is just coincidental or everything was planned, but it had me wondering if Naja – one of Kabuki’s ninja – didn’t trust Mizuchi. In the end, the fights were pretty bland and happened mostly off screen. Even the antagonist in this case just gave up and left because Raizô had a larger sword. He could have at least tried.
While the main core of the story in the second volume runs at a steady pace and does build a strong relationship between Raizô and the princess, I do think the ending is way too sudden. Having Raizô’s horn revealed to the princess, our protagonist completely freaks out and runs away from the engagement, ultimately throwing away all character development through the five chapters. That said, I do enjoy how the princess orders her loyal men to get him back, but I have a feeling nothing is going to happen and we won’t see her for the rest of the series. I hope that isn’t the case because it would discard this scenario entirely, even if Raizô becomes a bit of a stronger character.
Artwork: I’m really torn with the artwork in the second volume of Ninja Girls. Artistically, it really isn’t all that bad, but it is the environments and backgrounds that bring the value down. This is a series primarily focused on characters, and it shows as each individual (significant) character is given plenty of detail on their clothing and bodies, but the characters are generally found in an empty space with maybe a couple other characters. That isn’t to say the backgrounds are nonexistent, it’s just they’re not as drawn as well as the characters and are generally either not in the scene or fading out to white or black. I also had one problem on page 89 where Princess Hibari’s thighs grow really fat all of a sudden. This turned out in being a very unpleasant page to look at. Anyways, this isn’t exactly the most balanced artwork you will see, but thankfully it won’t be too hard to look at either, offering a style that is fairly appealing.
Translation: The English translation in the second volume is great. There are no overlooked sound effects, nor are there any spelling or grammar errors. Sound effects are presented in the original Japanese text with an English translation nearby. That said, not everything is translated as small items such as a lantern on page 17, a sign on page 75 and a flag on page 119 all have Japanese kanji written on them, but have no English-translation. The dialogue itself is very immersive as you will feel as if you’ve travelled back to the 15th/16th century itself. Contractions are used whenever they’re accessible and even the use of fragments show up, such as “Doesn’t count!” Sadly we aren’t given too many extras. There are some translation notes and an untranslated preview into the next installment, but that is it.
The Bottom Line: Ninja Girls is a fun and exciting adventure that has a very weak and pitiful hero who is slowly growing up, for the most part anyways. This is far less action-packed and sexual than the last outing, but Hosana Tanaka does a great job in establishing a mystery and conspiracy among the Oumi province. In the end, with a steady storyline and solid character designs, this turns out to be a strong addition to any manga enthusiast’s collection.
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Content |
While the ending is a bit sudden, the character development and events throughout are most entertaining. |
8.0 |
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Art |
Well drawn character models with strong detail; sadly I can’t say the same for the backgrounds. |
7.5 |
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Translation |
Even with the lack of extras and some untranslated signs, the English-translation will immerse you in the Sengoku era perfectly. |
9.0 |
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Verdict
Ninja Girls is a fun and eventful story full of mystery. While the action portion of the novel is pretty weak, the overall sense of immersion will have you pleading for more. That and the conspiracies put forth in the Oumi province will keep your interest until the book concludes. In the end, if you’re looking for a sexy and fun adventure full of ninjas, then Ninja Girls is for you.
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8.0
[not an average]
+ Keeps a steady pace from start to finish.
+ Well drawn characters.
- Backgrounds are bland.
- Backgrounds are bland.
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