English Dub Review: Ninja vs. Gokudo “Part 4 Young Maniacs’ Death Game, Stage 4”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Shinoha and Kiwami join forces to stand against Ballon d’Or.  They put complete trust in each other, despite concealing their true identities.  In perfect sync, they manage to read their opponent’s Gokudo Skill and destroy his beloved ball!  In the face of Ballon d’Or’s rage, Kiwami tries to let Shinoha escape…

Our Take:

After nine painful episodes of underwhelming action and unbearably wooden dubbing, we finally reach the show’s turning point regarding Shinoha and Kiwami’s friendship.  Kiwami was able to piece together Shinoha’s ninja persona, but it came at a bad time, thanks to Ballon and his deadly soccer ball.  As a result, the two are put in a situation where ninja and gokudo must cooperate to outmaneuver the Glass Children’s dangerous general.  If the show’s premise had more time to develop, this climax could’ve had a greater impact on the characters’ growth.  Alas, that’s wishful thinking at this point, since the season’s arcs were pretty much one spectacle after another, without any profound substance or tolerable dubbing holding them together.

Unsurprisingly, this episode is no different than the rest, with Shinoha and Kiwami defeating Ballon d’Or in one fell swoop.  Of course, the enemy’s defeat isn’t complete without yet another tragic backstory, with Ballon’s path to becoming an assassin was paved by the trauma that stemmed from his mother’s lies.  Sadly, it continues to squander the series’s emotional resonance through its one-dimensional characters and awkward dub performances.  Once more, I just did not care for the Glass Children as much as I did for the demons in Demon Slayer.  The episode offered some interesting elements that would play a role in the final episodes, including the new characters joining the party and Kiwami changing fate by saving Shinoha.  But even those moments struggle to overshadow the flaws that are as plain as a scar on Shinoha’s eye.