Warning: The following contains spoilers for Ninja Kamui, Episode 1, now streaming on Max.

"Originality" can be a minefield in media critique, because few stories are truly unique nowadays, and media often thrives on its roots within previous works that have inspired it. So, when a show like Ninja Kamui manages to captivate despite what is - on the surface - the least original premise ever, one starts to think harder about originality, expectation, and the objective of an artist.

Ninja Kamui aired twice on Toonami on Saturday, February 10, both in English and Japanese, no doubt to let viewers savor the dulcet tones of Kenjiro Tsuda (Kento Nanami from Jujutsu Kaisen). The story follows Joe Higan, a former ninja whose peaceful family life is violently upended when a mysterious group begins picking off ninjas one by one, pulling him back into the fold.

Related

This Canceled Anime Got a Second Seasons Thanks to Toonami

There was an anime in Japan that was a flop. In America, it was successful enough for Cartoon Network to order a second season.

The Premiere Comes Out of the Gate Swinging

Frankly, the early preview of the series released a week before the premiere did a better job of advertising it than any of the trailers did. The cold open sees a seemingly ordinary office worker running from an unseen assailant before being forced into an all-out slaughter by a coterie of technologically advanced ninjas. Unlucky for them, their prey is no stranger to battle either.

It's an exhilarating start, with a balanced mix of flashy, acrobatic martial arts and more brutal, bloody violence the instant any blade is added into the equation. It's also a brief battle and necessarily so, conveying a lot of useful information with little dialog. There are ninjas discreetly hiding among the populace, wearing new faces, and these hunters can see right through it.

A Picture-Perfect Family

From there, the next leg of the premiere focuses on Joe, his wife Sara, and their son, Kyle. The viewer isn't sure why these ninjas are being hunted, but that doesn't matter nearly as much as how it affects this family, even if the portrait painted of their happy life can be painfully clichéd. The musical montage that recaps another musical montage that happened not even five minutes prior almost borders on parody. There may as well be a timer that says "countdown to a dead family."

Joking aside, it's a blessing to the storytelling that Joe's past isn't a mystery to his family. Sara comes from the same background. There is a decent build of tension as she worries that the string of murders, the victims of which are all practically ghosts, is a sign of trouble coming to their home. Joe tries to play it off, but he quickly becomes just as worried.

The Mask Comes Off

Having them both be aware of a potential threat makes their picturesque time together more palatable than if they were to be completely blindsided by violence. Instead, subconsciously, they're making the most of their time together. Having Sara be a former ninja also helps her to be more than just a victim in her final moments, but a mother who would fight tooth and nail to protect her child, and leave some nasty scars in the process.

There's also a subtle theme about masks that comes into focus nicely by the end. Kyle wears a few masks throughout the episode, from the oni mask that evokes a demon to the lighter, more friendly superhero mask that Joe gifts him for his birthday. It's a small symbolic gesture of Joe giving him a better life. Sara, on the other hand, takes off the mask entirely, as if to say that their son doesn't need a mask, and yet this expression of love proves to be more of an act of denial.

In our preview of the series, we spoke about how strange it was that Joe looked so different between the first trailer and the second. Just as suspected, there was a reason and it was a pretty simple one. These ninjas use advanced tech to change their faces and Joe's unmasking at the end hits home that this family has been disallowed from truly being themselves. It retroactively adds another note of tragedy to this family's destruction.

Ninja Kamui Puts Action Above All

This series can't reinvent revenge stories or make them less tired, and it clearly doesn't intend to either. What it does have is action, the quality of which is not some consolation for lack of further depth, because, in the right hands, the action can be the depth. After all, this is Sunghoo Park and this is his domain; fast, dynamic, and brutal action that is always up close and personal.

Thus, it works, both viscerally and emotionally. There's not enough time for the story to make this family's death heart-wrenching, but Joe's rage in the aftermath - and its accompanying carnage - is ample kindling to the fire beneath this show's feet. Now, the only concern is whether the rest of the show can keep up. If it can capitalize on Joe's anger and invite the audience to share in his thirst for revenge, then that's half the work done. The other half is the animation.

The Truth About Sunghoo Park's Directing

Get ready for a bold claim. Sunghoo Park's style can be overrated (don't freak out yet). The operative words "can be" are pulling a lot of weight there, because it wouldn't be fair to discount the man's work. His works have a very clear, identifiable style to their action in a way that few directors could monopolize, but look closer, and you will see some of the cracks forming.

The animation emphasizes the characters so much that it can be easy to ignore how bland the backgrounds might look. Often, the backgrounds are heavily digitized, which can be a blessing and a curse. On one hand, it allows the camera more creative freedom to spin around the characters who are perpetually the focal point.

On the other hand, sometimes the characters can clash so greatly with their surroundings that they almost feel like they aren't inhabiting a real space. This was occasionally an issue with Jujutsu Kaisen Season 1, where Park attained universal acclaim. Granted, a clever director can draw the eye where attention is needed the most and, as has been stated already, the action is always in focus, because Park does have a keen eye for such things.

The purpose of bringing this up isn't to disparage one of the more notable directors in recent anime history. Rather, it is to emphasize the impressive standard set by this premiere and to stress how easily the story might stumble when below that standard. Ninja Kamui is an easy show to like. The craft behind its core appeal is tightly focused, and it has, thus far, built intrigue without an excess of exposition thanks to good visual storytelling. Here's hoping it continues strong.

More

20 Nostalgic Anime That Aired On Toonami During The 2000s

Throughout the 2000s, Toonami aired several great anime that longtime fans will likely remember. These nostalgic examples are proof.