English Dub Review: Ninja Kamui “Episode 12”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Higan is visited by the old chief of the ninja, Dilly sacrifices herself to protect Joseph, and Joseph makes his final play to fight off Yamaji, who also enters his own endgame.

OUR TAKE

As the second to last episode of the season, and possibly the entire show, a lot of this is sliding the pieces into place for the final battle. Higan is still recovering from his battle with Zai, so while he’s getting his last minute lecture on why the Ninja are a broken system that should be destroyed, we get to see the last of the Ninja lieutenants, Dilly, meet her end and reflect on her apparently being in love with Joseph or something. I guess showing even the slightest openness to someone’s opinion is pretty impactful when all they’ve known is being part of a destructive clan. Doesn’t really make up for the fact that Joseph is still an awful person and character and I very much look forward to his death! Oh yeah, also Mike gets his own kind of final battle against his former partner, who he has a brief fist fight to convince to help with the investigation. It’s all pretty fun stuff and it’s good that every surviving character is getting something to do, as well as getting it all out of the way for the finale when Higan gets to take center stage.

As for what to expect for that finale, I pretty much figure it’s going to be a non-stop battle between Higan and Yamaji, with Higan possibly meeting his end right after killing Yamaji. I’m sure that Jason DeMarco would like to make a second season if possible, so even if Higan dies, there’s probably ways to right him coming back if need be. But right now he’s definitely got a lot of John Wick in him, so that’s what gives me the impression that he might be about to die here. Also worth noting is that the show was initially reported to have twelve episodes, but apparently DeMarco decided at the last minute to add another episode. I’m sure a lot of shows would probably like to be able to add another episode to get some extra breathing room in the writing, so it’s nice they got that in this case. Fena: Pirate Princess FOR SURE could’ve used another episode, though even that wouldn’t have saved that ending. Ninja Kamui may not be the deepest show and rely a lot on its action, but getting a chance to wrap up properly will definitely help. Hopefully they get to make good use of it as we enter the final episode next week.