Anime: Ninja Senshi Tobikage

ART SECTION: 6/10
This series is not serious, despite trying to pass as such. The character figures are generic, the mecha designs are ridiculous ninja mock-ups and the special effects are nothing much. Add a lot of repeating fighting clips during battles and major body deformities here and ther for a very pathetic result. Only the perky, half-funny, half-erotic mannerisms of the main characters save some face but even that is not enough for something good to come up.

SOUND SECTION: 6/10
Besides a very good opening music theme (Love Survival) all the rest of it was somewhere between typical and boring. I find nothing to add here; never cared much about this section anyway.

STORY SECTION: 2/10
The story suffers big time. Not only it is typical, but it also unfolds in a totally predictable, linear manner and the conclusion is not really a conclusion. I mean, typical teenagers getting into super robots in order to save the universe by some evil-without-a-cause alien empire is something we have seen over a billion times. So is the fact that three leading robots outtake a thousand identical enemy robots on every episode and yet, the villains don’t seem to bother at all by it. So is the cliché that the heroes always find some sort of power-up every time they are in a pinch. I can go on forever. The story doesn’t even offer the essentials (no ending) much less some sort of interesting plot twist. And when I say interesting, I don’t mean the antagonist of the leading male joining the bad guys. That happens all the time in action series and it is almost an indicator of tasteless stories.

CHARACTER SECTION: 5/10
Victims of the pathetic story, all characters have hints of personality and definitely don’t evolve in any way you wouldn’t see it coming from the start. Yet, since the series is very light-hearted, there is a lot of humor and subtle erotism present. When the characters aren’t fighting, they sexually tease one another. The main two females in the story are real sex bombs and their semi-funny mannerisms colorize a bit the otherwise blunt story. I must say, I was more interesting when they were interacting with one another than when they were fighting. That made them far more likable. Nothing major happens amongst them but it is still nice to see them doing silly or semi-erotic stuff.

VALUE & ENJOYMENT SECTION: 3/10
If it weren’t for the semi-funny, semi-erotic aspect of the characters, this section would be a 1. Still, this series wasn’t much to bother with in the first place, so it will generally bore most of you quite fast.

VERDICT: 4/10
Call me if they ever make a shortened ecchi version of this series.

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