Ninninger 03 sanjou!

[takenoko]

Let's not forget that Ranmaru was played by this pretty lady in the Gaim & Wizard movie: http://www.ldh.co.jp/talent/talent/ueda/

In costume:

[mholden020]

It appears that I will be alone on this opinion, but I absolutely hated this episode. I loved the first two, so it was inevitable that there would be an episode where the ending wouldn't come along fast enough.

I just didn't get it, I guess. I am still wondering if Nagi even had a line in the 2nd episode, so when I saw the hints at a yellow-centric episode I thought "Cool! We'll find out more about this guy." Thirty minutes later and I didn't learn anything about him. He likes licenses, that's about all I got. The villain/red topic seemed shoe-horned into the episode as well, almost like they wanted to make an entire episode about it, but couldn't scrounge up enough to fill more than 5 minutes. There was the roller-blade monster, then the red/villain scuffle, then Izayoi appeared, and then a giant skeleton thing fell out of the sky. Then to top it off, Shinobimaru appears and immediately moves around like Jetman's Tetraboy, and after that it was over for me.

Oh well, still like the series. Hoping for something better next week!

[Knight of L-sama]

as for the Ranmaru/Gengetsu's page thing, there was an anime sometime within the last year or so with basically alt universe versions of historical figures like Oda Nobunaga & Friends, Leonardo DaVinci, Joan of Arc, Julius Caesar, King Arthur, and more, and in the series, Nobunaga makes Joan of Arc disguise herself as a man named Ranmaru to avoid political issues that might arise from him being around a woman.

Nobunaga The Fool.

Don't take that as a recommendation to watch it though. It's something of a confused mess and the creative staff seem to visibly flip-flop over what direction to take the story, waffling until the end were they settle on an asspull of a third option.

Also, other episode thoughts. Takaharu is beginning to remind me of Gentarou from Fourze. This is not a good thing.

[Lunagel]

Sooo I talked with a native speaker and although Izayoi is a usually female name, Kyuuemon is more male. Buuut kitsune are primarily portrayed as female in Noh and the voice actor is female. I'm going with female but it's a close call.

What is it with the gender neutral villains recently? Is this Tumblr?

[takenoko]

Yeah, those sexy kitsune ladies. But I think it's safe to say that if it's a cartoon show for kids, ladies are going to have their femaleness super accentuated. Like, maybe not their fighting form if they have a human counter part. But if they're only designed to be a female, it's super obvious that they're female. Just look at Toqger. Mork was super obviously female. Even Glitter is a lady.

Like if Luckyuro didn't have those pig tails (probably a remnant from back when he was female), I don't think it'd be even a discussion.

Can we agree that in these kind of shows, a safe rule of thumb is that gender neutral = probably male? In any other case, you'll probably get monsters with boobs or something. Or a monster with super emphasized lips. By the way, have you guys noticed how nice the lips are on the monsters in Super Hero Time? "Oh yeah, there might be no other facial feature, but we got to have them lips"


Anyway, I'll probably go with male for Izayoi for now. Part of it is me thinking that the Ninningers are supposed to think he's male too. It really makes sense to think of him as a" Ranmaru sexy boy toy ambiguous male type".

[Gottis]

Yeah, Takenoko makes a good argument, and I've never heard of female Pages anyway, so I'm saying it's a boy. (That, and Megumi's using her 'Gon'-voice for them, so... If it was meant to be a woman, given the kind of show it is, wouldn't she try to sound either more cutesy or more sultry?)

[Kuchiri]

Preview:

Spoiler

I was hoping each Ninninger would have their version of the main mecha like in OhRanger. I guess considering we are doing armaments in the next episode... probably not.

[dualvision1984]

Oh yeah, did I forget to bitch about Izayoi's mouth? I hate the way it moves. I almost would prefer that it doesn't move at all.

Kinda weird for me as well... probably they did that in preparation for the Power Rangers version by next year or 2017.

[Banjo]

What is Takaharu's catchphrase that he always says? I wonder if it's not the same sort of thing the Gekirangers shouted after forming their mecha. "Burning Up!"

[AxemYellow]

Ok, I just re-watched some of Izayoi's scenes from episode 3 and judging by the voice and manner of speech I'd say the character is male or a woman pretending to be male. Since this series tends to use stereotypes, the voice is really too low to be female.

[Strykor]

Personally, I'm going to avoid assigning a gender, and just call Izayoi RuPaul in my head from now on.

[lennyhouston16]

Wiki: http://wiki.tvnihon.com/wiki/Ninninger_Shinobi_no_03
I like Kasumi's subtlety. I can't wait for an episode that's fully about her. I love the idea that she knows more than she's letting on.

I agree! I hope the writers keep that up and eventually give her an episode where her knowledge is truly put to the test.

This episode actually satisfied my hopes of giving Nagi some sort of depth other than the boyish one of the group. I would like more but it's enough for me at the moment.

Takaharu is slowly growing on me but his outbursts are annoying me a lot. Cloud is still awesome and I'm glad Fuuka's bad luck from the previous episode isn't a running gag (hopefully I'm not speaking too soon). Note: Gags are like alcohol. Both should be done in moderation.

The villains are interesting and I wonder if anyone else notice the silhouette of the five "generals" at the beginning of the theme song? It makes me curious if they'll slowly uncover them throughout the series and fully show the big bad near the end game or quickly reveal them by episode 12 or so.

Lastly, when did we last see a monster on roller skates? I thought that was unique and awesome.

[TsubasaGaro]

Is Takaharu's actor new? He seems kinda... Well, not very willing to do this at all. He doesn't sound fired up at all when compared to Daigo and Gen and seems to say lines just for it. Maybe it's his voice that doesn't go slightly higher when he "shouts" that but over time it just becomes annoying and seems like he just isn't putting enough into it.

[Leonsagara]

Takaharu is slowly growing on me but his outbursts are annoying me a lot. Cloud is still awesome and I'm glad Fuuka's bad luck from the previous episode isn't a running gag (hopefully I'm not speaking too soon). Note: Gags are like alcohol. Both should be done in moderation.

Why do you keep calling Yakumo Cloud? He has a proper name, you know.

I didn't really like the first episode since it seemed way too random and fast-paced, but now the show is starting to grow on me. I like that Takaharu isn't overly reckless and is smart enough to withdraw when Kasumi shows up.

I wonder if Izayoi might be a former ninja that went bad. Although it might just be his personality, Raizou not remembering her(I'm in the female camp) might be a hint that she isn't who she's claiming to be. Or maybe some kind of possession? Like she's actually Takaharu's mother and was possessed by a spirit of one of Kibaoni's servants(maybe a male one, which would explain the gender confusion).

[DaVinci030]

Why do you keep calling Yakumo Cloud? He has a proper name, you know.

I know they (properly) called him Yakumo. But Cloud is Yakumo's nickname and a japanese word westernized name.