English Dub Review: Ninja Kamui “Episode 5”

Joe mows down everything in his path in order to kill Yamaji. Meanwhile Mike meets up with a mysterious hacker who wants to release all of Auza’s secrets. 

Can’t believe I’m saying this, but this episode legitimately caught me off guard. 

For the past few weeks it feels like the show’s been running on fumes. We would roll the plot along, might have a couple of laughs here and there, and round things off with a neat– but tacked on fight. I was anticipating this episode being heavier on the fights similar to the premier, and while we don’t quite reach those heights, the hand to hand combat always remains exhilarating! And boy, there sure is alot of it.  

I found the subplot with Mike to be much less engaging. However, seeing “Jason Cárdenas–” AKA: Jason Demarco, The Co-creator of Toonami– was a surreal surprise. Apparently Sunghoo Park decided to add him just for the hell of it! Hey, as long as everyone working on it had fun then I’m having fun watching it. 

Things conclude with the organization introduced in the episode prior absolutely tearing Joe apart with little to no hesitation. He’s cornered to such a state that not even his “Secret Ninja Arts” can help him out now. And when all seems lost… One of the members of the organization comes in and saves him at the last second. I’m not invested enough in any of those characters for this to come off as a massive shock, but it was still a twist that had my jaw open about halfway. Then  it ends with a standard credits roll– no ED. A great way to close things out, and it genuinely left me with a greater impression this time around beyond just “cool fights and an increasingly confusing conspiracy going on in the background.”

Again, not on the level of the premier yet, but it’s been the most fun I have had since then. Keep the momentum going Ninja Kamui!