House of Ninjas

I really like this show. The characters are great, story is solid. But the music. Whoever greenlit the music on this made an awful decision.

I think tonally, they were going for something ironic and poignant to punctuate the ridiculousness of a ninja family. But it just doesn't fit.

Western audiences don't need some kind of 'folk' or whatever that music is to make the show accessible. There must exist a version without this soundtrack. Silence would be a huge improvement.

Honestly, I probably wouldn't have written a review if the music wasn't such a mismatch. Tarantino does a great job utilizing soundtracks to what I believe this show was attempting and failed miserably.

If you're into Japanese culture and media, you will likely appreciate this show. If you just want ninja action, you'll likely be disappointed.

The fight scene at the end of episode 6, has become one of my favourite fight scenes. It looks like something out of a European arthouse movie. The series has a lot to offer, either way. Despite having its ups and downs, the plot is pretty interesting. Despite being a series about ninjas, it looks deeper into the tenets of the Shinobi. These people have a personal life, they feel pain. It's not just about fighting and heroism, and whatsoever, but rather about the moral dilemmas of people who are supposed to be killing machine. This might be an unpopular opinion, but I actually liked Haru. He simply does not want to take a life and his inability to do so is seen as a taboo. Oh, and the soundtrack! I love it when they use Classics in movies and series.

Loved it! Liked it even more than I was expecting to, and I had been keeping an eye on this show ever since it was first announced. I lived in Japan for a while and have long been a fan of Japanese classic samurai/ninja cinema. It is so awesome to see this show bring back some of the great shinobi tropes, themes, lore, etc. From the great classic shinobi films of the 1960s (which are largely little unknown outside Japan). I particularly REALLY liked the depth of character/family development here, the emphasis on the human element of being a shinobi/ninja, and to see excellent martial art action that is done in a very grounded, realistic manner. The action was fast, visceral and not over the top, which made it all the more impactful.

The show is not perfect of course, but on the whole very entertaining and well done... The acting, production quality and action are all top notch and this is the exact kind of high quality drama series that I've been waiting to come out of Japan for a while now. There are so many original, interesting things Japan could be doing with TV/streaming series incorporating unique, rich cultural elements and the unmatched cool factor of samurai/ninja history, lore, etc. We will hopefully see even more productions in the future along these lines!

I really hope House of Ninjas gets a season 2! The first season has wonderfully established a world, a unique style/aesthetic, characters we care about, interesting themes and realistic badass action which could really be expanded upon in future seasons. More please!

I remember growing up in the 80s watching movies by Sonny Chiba; Raizo Ichikawa; and of course Sho Kosugi. Those ninja movies were just fun and amazing to watch. And then after a while, it seemed like they kind of phased themselves out. I'm very happy to see a revival of great martial art movies. It's awesome to see Netflix create the series That at least, in my humble opinion has brought back the Shinobis. If you're into martial art Ninja movies with some storylines, then this series is definitely for you. What I enjoyed about is that not only doesn't have some good choreography, but also great storyline to go with it. I'm already looking forward to the next season and I hope they renew it.

I'm just on episode 1, and the show's looking pretty cool and interesting. A bit of janky wire work (jumping into a building), but nothing too bad. Atmospheric and stylish in a Netflix kind of way.

But the music! It's like they thought the story was a bit dark and wanted to lighten the tone to appeal to a wider audience by adding a stupid score that constantly undermines what's happening. Little comic glockenspiel style runs, oompah oompah beats, clarinet trills. Even when trying to be serious, the music gives the whole thing a cheap, B-movie feel. It gets very irritating.

But maybe others like it. I could be missing something, and there *are* some comedic elements (though usually deadpan).

On the whole, very promising. Just put on some headphones while reading the subtitles.