December 8, 2007

Ninomiya-kun 10: Ninjas on Parade

Just got finished with watching Ninomiya 10, and I have to say, boy am I glad that this series is only 12 episodes. It really felt like they ran out of comedic material sometime around episode 5, and the dramatic romantic backstory that they are trying to weave into the show is bland and, to be honest, doesn't make sense more than seventy-five percent of the time. Hopefully they can at least wrap up this series gracefully, although from what happened in this episode, it looks like that could be a long shot.

Spoilers be ahead, so turn back now if you don't want to know what happens in this episode just yet:

My face pretty much looked like Reika's when I was watching this - an exasperated state of confusion as I was trying to make sense of the whole thing by paying attention to the nonexistant details of plot and character that I may miss from just a casual watch-through. Unfortunately, it was a fruitless venture - it feels like there should be some backstory to a lot of the character interactions, but they're mostly just glossed over. Take for example, this:

Yes, we finally find out that Mayu, Reika, and Shungo did all know each other as kids. While we already know that Shungo has pseudo-amnesia or something, and that's why he can't remember either Reika or Mayu, they don't really explain why Reika and Mayu don't remember each other, or, if they do, they show no signs of being acquaintances from the past at all, given their interactions with one another at the start of the series.

This is just one of the faults I find within Goshuusho-sama Ninomiya-kun, the other being the inconsistency of the plot. Apparently, the writers have really begun to run out of ideas, and instead, are serving up portions of RANDOM NINJAS into the episodes:

I'm not joking when I say they pretty much appear out of nowhere either. It's like one moment, we're having an ecchi fanservice moment with Reika and Mayu dressing each other up in costumes, and the next, a parade of ninjas begin to attack. Luckily, these ninjas apparently weren't trained very well, since even an average high school female student like Hinako can dispose of them easily.

After a long-winded chase through the streets of Kyoto, culminating in a gigantic ninja vs. high school student battle (complete with Ryoko and Mikihiro cameo roles), it ends with a simple kiss between Tatsuke (creepy guy) and Irori (glasses-kun). No further explanations are provided, and the gang is just let go.

As if this wasn't confounding enough, apparently the true villain all along has been Hosaka, as he throws Shinobu off of a helicopter after Reika reverts to her succubus self. Great, you kill off (or maybe they'll bring her back to life, Zero no Tsukaima second season-style) one of the better and funnier characters in the series, and focus the attention on the person who's been nothing but a lackey all along.

Honestly, if Ninomiya-kun wasn't a half-season show, I'd be dropping it right about now. But since there's only two episodes left, I'll probably just keep on watching this helicopter-wreck of a series until the bitter end. Who knows, maybe it'll redeem itself with some cheap breast humor.

1 comment:

TheBigN said...

I actually thought that Shinobu was an annoying character, mostly for the random "I'll kill you Shungo" moments throughout the series. I felt as exasperated with them as Shungo felt every time his neck was pressed up against a sword.

I actually like how Hosaka, who's clearly much better then he seems, has decided to tag around Reika, though it's kind of sad how he lets himself be a willing lackey. Obviously when we get the big reveal, it doesn't seem like it will be too exciting, but it will work for the show, I guess.

And I never really watched Ninomiya-kun for the plot anyways. :P It was all about the random humor and cheesecake, that the show brought.