Shinobi Life

Time travel is a HUGE aspect of this series, occurring way more than necessary. I feel like the characters are always going backwards and forwards and backwards again; it’s a gimmick that gets old quickly. At varying points in the story I felt that the author could have taken a route separate to time travelling that would have led to the same overall finale. Maybe I’m just upset that she didn’t get more creative with the whole concept. The tedious nature of these “time jumps” began to bore me far sooner than I had anticipated. The characters themselves are nothing truly special. They follow your standardshōjo tropes making them invariably lacklustre. The female protagonist is a spoiled girl who has two guys that fall for her, the good boy and the bad boy. The bad boy has mummy and daddy issues that contribute to his intolerable nature. But the woman that he cares for so fondly for helps him realize the error of his ways so he vows to become a “better person.” Meanwhile, the good boy follows said female around like a lost puppy until they reach their inevitable happily ever after. You also have your badass villain boy who is more handsome than the other two, but also has issues stemming from a horrid childhood that makes him the monster. Does he mend his ways? Why of course he does! Isn’t that the standard shōjo way of life? I didn’t absolutely hate everything about the series. The ninja backdrop that makes up the past for two of the male characters is actually pretty interesting. I don’t think I’ve come across a manga series with such a motif before; at least not in a shōjo romance type series set in modern times. These facets provide two of the male characters, Hitaki and Kagetora, with much more depth than any of the other people in the series. It explains the conflict characteristic of the story’s development and is probably the best written portions out of the whole thing. The art was immensely disappointing when I first started reading Shinobi Life. It felt very sloppy and rushed. The expressions on each of the character’s faces were uninspired. I really didn’t care for the way that the mangaka drew their eyes whenever they were feeling sad or sorrowful. I’m not sure if she just didn’t know how to express it, or if she believed that a pile of lines would amount for something called countenance. But whatever it was, it wasn’t good, however. I did see improvement as the series went on. The lines and images began to have a crisper feeling to them and the character’s moods were discernible in a more fluid way. It’s still not the best thing out there, but it was far better than the first chapter of the first volume. I will give the series as a whole six stars, which is an entire star more than it deserves. Art improvement and an interesting premise are worth more than nothing, I believe. Also, I would be lying if I said that I didn’t get invested in what would happen next. It was compelling to an extent.

I'll keep this short and simple: Do not let the first chapters fool you! I had Shinobi Life on my on hold -list for years. And while it kept popping up as a recommended series, I always thought I'd pick it up later. Today "later" finally arrived. After reading the first four chapters I started feeling quite fed up. Coincidentally my previous attempt at Shinobi Life ended at chap 4 so I thought I'd skim or crawl through a couple more before giving up indefinitely. 9 hours and 64 chapters later I am SO grateful for my stubborn streak! The cheesy time-travel setup with overreacting characters eventually gave wayto a story filled with so many intricately performed plot twists and layers upon layers of character development that it had me completely wrapped around its proverbial finger towards the end. If something, Shinobi life reminded me of reading The Time Traveler's Wife: the time jumping plot messes with with your brain but in a very reader friendly way - making it both an emotionally and intellectually pleasing read.

I can start to say that I think Shinobi Life (Ninja Life) was a really great manga. After watched a lot of anime I started to feel like some themes and character stereo/archetypes circulated pretty frequently in some genres. So I deiced to give Shinobi Life a try, do to it contained some of my favorite genres (Action, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Martial arts, Romance, Shoujo, Super Natural), but in a new combination. And I wasn't disappointed. I can for starter begin with the art. Even do it was really pretty characters, they had a unique kind of look. All have there own personal traits, butthe same style is used so you see a clear connection between the characters. Not seen that style before. I really growed to enjoy the visuals. The story and character is what made me read the whole 13 volumes in just three days due. The combination of Ninjas, Time Travelling and Shoujo works really well. The manaka has done a great job binding the story together with the characters. Shore, we are getting some cliches here and there, but they are right timed and they doesn´t just feel like something out of place. But overall the story's pace and well woven red thread, was more then enough. I liked all characters. Some may start out some stereotypical and annoying, but if you bear with them they develop very nicely. For a Shoujo we have surprisingly much action and gore (the ninja tittle isn´t just there for show), and focus on other characters and their stories. To see how the time travelling and romance/drama themes developed was nothing but awesome as well. Loved the end and how the story played out. So for me it´s a clear 10. I would have liked at least the double amount of what that come from. I wish that they would adapt this one to 24 epidoeisch anime. The Shinobi Life would had done it self very nicely on screen.