This is... this is... ICLA why did you do this?
https://i.ur.com/wjEC1Rh.png
...Okay lets take it from the top. ICLAhttps://anilist.co/studio/6078/ILCA is an anime studio that is primarily known for doing Yami Shibai. A little horror series where a creepy masked story teller guy just tells spooky stories.
https://anilist.co/anime/19383/YamishibaiJapaneseGhostStories/ https://anilist.co/anime/20669/YamishibaiJapaneseGhostStories2/ https://anilist.co/anime/21473/YamishibaiJapaneseGhostStories3/ https://anilist.co/anime/97890/YamishibaiJapaneseGhostStories4/ https://anilist.co/anime/98978/YamishibaiJapaneseGhostStories5/ https://anilist.co/anime/101743/YamishibaiJapaneseGhostStories6/ https://anilist.co/anime/109603/YamishibaiJapaneseGhostStories7/
And you know whether or not you think theyre good or not theyre spooky stories There are ghosts there are ghouls there are occasionally scares...
But ICLA has also done some... weird stuff as well. Like the show about a talking anthropomorphic fart man.
https://anilist.co/anime/21812/OnaraGorou/
Or like a scifi version of basically Yami Shibai but then at some point for some reason they did a liveaction episode about a spooky clown invading some womans home.
https://anilist.co/anime/98442/TheWorldYAMIZUKAN/
Ninja Collection... in my opinion falls into the ICLAs weird category. Maybe its not quite as weird as the fart show or Sekai no Yami Zukan but...
Its pretty fucking weird to just out of nowhere do a Yami Shibai season but rather than it being the classic Yami Shibai storyteller schtick theres just... ninjas.
440https://i.ur.com/YRzTdDo.png
Ninjas that literally attack and kill ghosts and demons. So rather than episodes being lead ups to some big old jumpscare or a character being BOOD at by a ghost...
The ghost or demon I dont know what theyre actually supposed to be in this show he says when multiple characters skin suddenly turns red and also they grow horns just suddenly appears and like mere seconds later they get stabbed by one of the ninjas and it dies.
440https://i.ur.com/PfzcMSb.png 440https://i.ur.com/mr04MtO.png
I already thought a lot of Yami Shibai episodes ended really just anticlimatically. They treat the scare as like the most important thing but no the characters reaction is the most important thing. You dont get that. Usually its immediately the story teller saying OSHIMAI and thats the end.
Did the ghost murder the character? Did they drag them off into the darkness? Youll never know because it doesnt matter all that matters is the scare.
But god damn it now theyre even ruining the scares. Its so lame. Cant the ninja at least fight the ghooh my god.
https://i.ur.com/DoiwN8z.gif
...My self that had not witnessed ICLAs version of an action scene has died. Theres no going back anymore. What could be seen shall never be unseen.
Theres really no way I can say this without sounding insulting but when your series idea of a new scene is the exact same drawing except one character is missing theres no new angle theyre not posed differently the facial expressions are basically the same and then when the other characters comes back you use that drawing AGAIN
440https://i.ur.com/qHPumqn.png 440https://i.ur.com/oEVEtMY.png 440https://i.ur.com/SfvwP7B.png
okay they did at least alter the background at the end but still thats just never going to look right to my brain no matter how many seasons of ICLA shows I watch
...maybe you shouldnt try an action scene. Like what the hell is even happening in that gif? Those movements are happening like right in front of the girls face and theyre so small. Like is it supposed to be the guys sword and the demons claws ??? or did they shrink or what?
I guess it doesnt matter if you cant tell whats happening. All that matters is that rule number one about ninjas? They always win against demons and ghosts. Except for the times they dont.
440https://i.ur.com/qf6f0BO.png
...And thats another thing. You think the ninjas are going to get some sort of characterization or something. Theres four unique ninja characters right? And you think oh okay so these are our characters who are gonna beating the ghosts and demons throughout the series right? Wrong. There are also just generic ninjas that show up and it very quickly becomes obvious that trying to differentiate from the main ? ones is a futile effort.
They dont even get names. We dont get any information about this group of ninjas that have apparently been fighting against the demon and ghost scourge for a long time... we get nothing.
440https://i.ur.com/3OgPXok.png
And as for the ghosts and demons... again this is like the most pathetic attempt I think ICLAs ever made. Like we typically get a character and oh no they end up alone in a room and they just immediately become terrified because they are alone in a room and oh fuck no shit fuck the WINDOW WASHER GUY WAS A RED DEMON THIS WHOLE TIME FUCK
440https://i.ur.com/r5HAyZD.png
And then usually the demon gets stabbed. And thats the end of the episode.
What was I supposed to get out of that? Was I supposed to be scared? Was I supposed to go oh those ninjas sure are cool wow? And then theres literally three episodes where they do the thing where the character were focusing on the whole time actually ends up being a demon ghost even though there was absolutely no hints of that and the character themselves were acting completely like a human.
One of which was literally there because they thought a barber was a demon ghost who hurt or messed with her friend but instead the concerned friend herself was actually the demon ghost ooooooooooo didnt see that coming
440https://i.ur.com/9HZRFsb.png 440https://i.ur.com/cElMoPM.png
...Fuck this.
Conclusion
You know considering how Ive negatively reviewed Yami Shibai multiple times it may seem like I came into this new show ready just to not give it a chance. But I am in no way against ICLA trying something different out. To shake things up But what I was handed was essentially just yet another season of Yami Shibai but without the thing I probably like the absolute most about Yami Shibai.
440https://i.ur.com/Hfgrcwr.png
I give ICLAs Ninja Collection a 2 out of 10. And I do not recommend it. Got absolutely nothing out of it. Honestly legitimately got more out of their show thats literally just about a fart.
500https://i.ur.com/dEWfvwv.png
20
/100