House of Ninjas is an excellent dorama.

 

I've been a fan of anything involving ninjas and shinobi ever since I was a young kid. I've seen countless hours of media about and involving them, including anime, dorama, movies, video games and more. So, when I heard about the dorama, House of Ninjas, that was to be released on Netflix, I was cautiously optimistic. Less so when I read about the non-Japanese director and music man. Still, I thought it was a fantastic dorama. 

Following a mishap six years ago during a mission to save a politician from the Fuma clan, a family descended from the legendary Hanzo Hattori all live in the same house, but are each headed in different directions. It's as if they're strangers to one another. Soichi is the patriarch and father who runs the family business, a sake brewery. He wants the family to live a normal life and as such, he has been the driving force behind getting the others to quit being shinobi. His wife Yoko is a bored aging beauty that is already tired of the mundane lifestyle and as such, seeks thrills via shoplifting. Their son, Haru, works the nightshift as a vending machine re-stocker and eats gyudon at the same place every day due to the fact that a young woman whom he has a crush on also dines there each day. Much like Soichi, he also wants to live a normal life, but unfortunately the ninja/shinobi code forbids him from dating his crush. The daughter, Nagi, takes after Yoko in that she also seeks thrills via theft. Nagi's theft however, involves stealing various pieces of art from museums before returning them after a few days. Grandma Taki is like the guardian of the home. She has her eyes on everyone, ensuring their safety and adherence to the shinobi code. She also looks after the youngest son, the investigate and curious, Riku. When their legendary rival clan of many years, the Fuma clan, resurfaces, the family are forced into becoming shinobi once again in order to stop their rivals nefarious schemes. 

What I enjoyed about House of Ninjas is the fact that every core member of the family got some character development. Each felt like a real, individual person rather than cardboard cut-outs and each had something someone could relate to about them. For example, for most of the dorama, Haru suffers from guilt and regret due to sparing the rival shinobi who would seemingly kill his older brother before his very eyes. He blames himself for Gaku's apparent death and as a result, doesn't trust himself enough to help with the family business at the Sake brewery. The patriarch of the family, Soichi, also is regretful about his son's alleged death and goes through struggles with the sake brewery with his sales manager quitting. He also struggles in getting his family together as a unit and at one point suspects Yoko of having an affair when she doesn't answer his phone calls and comes home rather late. Yoko struggles in adapting to the mundane lifestyle becoming rather bored and wishing for any opportunity to become a shinobi again, going as far as shoplifting various items from stores in order to stave off boredom. Nagi is much like her mother in wanting to be a shinobi again and almost certainly showing off with her anonymous social media account for her acts of theft at museums. 

There were several things that were predictable about the dorama that I managed to sniff out almost straight away. Things like certain characters having larger roles than it would seem at first glance and seemingly deceased ones coming back. Despite the predictability, I thought that it was handled nicely and in a way which didn't take away from my overall enjoyment. 

One of the standout things from the dorama was the beautiful, picturesque cinematography. Dave Boyle managed to frame the narrative exceptionally well with a wide variety of shot types, camera angles and filming techniques being used throughout the episodes. The best shots in my humble opinion are the wide shots used to establish the setting, showcase the chases and the rooftop running. There's also the very pretty sunset shots used during the latter stages of the dorama, which are also wide shots. I also enjoyed the usage of colour and lighting as it really enhanced the mood of certain scenes such as when a certain character's demeanour changes to a much more menacing and suspect one with the colour of the room being drained as if the life itself was sucked out of the room. 

The fight scenes were pretty well choreographed for the most part. The one on one fights stood out the most with particular attention being given to the various moves used during such sequences. The larger scale fights however, did suffer from the same old issue of having random attackers standing around and waiting for their cue to attack. There were also a couple of bad guys that seemed to get knocked unconscious by the wind in the final episode as Haru heads towards to the climatic showdowns. Despite these small issues, each fight scene was framed brilliantly with each swing of the sword, kick of feet, punching of fists and more being clear and precisely visible and easy to follow. I also appreciated the sound design during certain fight sequences, with the soundtrack becoming quite subdued with the sound of swords clashing being much louder. I thought that was a nice touch. 

My biggest issue was the soundtrack. The old American songs really felt out of place and made me roll my eyes and I almost stopped watching when I heard them. It just really took me out of the experience and left me scratching my head in disappointment. It just didn't suit the scenes and dorama at all and it would have been better to have had some traditional Japanese music or even Wagakkiband style music instead. Why use American music when you could use the dorama to promote and highlight some brilliant Japanese music? 

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed House of Ninjas. It was quite compelling and entertaining, having a high stakes narratives to help the action serve a purpose, a neat blend of light and dark humour, a traditional family unit dorama, enhanced by the shinobi code and a sprinkle of romance. If you're into ninjas and shinobi, it's a great time!