With its constant kinetic assault of jokes, puns, slapstick and perverted craziness, there is definitely something for everybody, except children, in Ninja Nuisance.

Ninja Nonsense: V.1 Enter the Ninja, V.2 Psychedelic Summer, V.3 Ninjas on First, V.4 Exit the Ninja
TV series (12 episodes), 2004. Original story by Ryoichi Kog. V.1-4 three episodes/80 minutes, DVD, bilingual, $29.99. Distributor: Right Stuf.

One of the things that I miss from my student days was the freedom and flexibility that I had creatively. We were given a particular subject or emotion to deal with and from there our imaginations were the only limitation. This free flowing of ideas and creativity pushed students’ skills and storytelling abilities. Watching Ninja Nonsense has made me remember how awesome that time in my life was, but I will deal more with this later.

Ninja Nonsense is the story of a modern day ninja in training -- Shinobu. This is one of those few anime titles that really has something to offer to both genders. With its constant kinetic assault of jokes, puns, slap stick and perverted craziness there is definitely something for everybody. But by no means is this an anime for everyone. Put the kiddies to bed when this one is running in the DVD player. There is not a lot sex graphically depicted in the series, but there is a great deal of obvious sexual connotations and plenty detailed sound effects that actually made me blush a little. Expect some pseudo yaoi and yuri innuendo going on, which is then quickly followed by hilarity.

Production quality is very high, from the animation to sound production and throughout the story. Character models are very well “developed” (pun intended with this story) and their fluidity of motion is second to none. Characters seamlessly transition between what appears to be three forms. There is the main appearance, which is your basic cute, magical girl type with rosy cheeks and sticky sweet big eyes; there is the super deformed cuteness type; and, finally, there is the sexy type. Plus the character design behind Shinobu’s head master Onsokumaru I thought was brilliant. Rapidly switching between these character models provides Ninja Nonsense with a fair amount of its humor, and some ever so slight feelings of guilty pleasure. The overall look is very reminiscent of one of my all time favorites, R Ranma 1/2. Especially with the commercial bumpers that appear in the story breaks. But don’t let the similarity fool you. This is not a Ranma 1/2 clone. In fact, this title is far from it.

At first Ninja Nuisance seems to be very formulaic, but it begins to find its own originality in ensuing volumes.

While this title initially seems to be very formulaic, I was pleasantly surprised to find that, as I watched more, it really began to find its own originality. Tying into how I opened this review, I have to say that I am jealous of the good folks who produced this. I am jealous because as I watched each episode it became very apparent that the goal was to pack in as much goodness into each episode as possible. There is so much detail in this series that each episode really should be re-watched just to catch everything. Everyone from the storyboard artists through the tweeners must have had some creative input in these shows.

For instance, Shinobu wears a headband that has a smiley face on it. This face reacts to Shinobu’s emotions, when she’s happy the face is happy, she’s angry the face is angry. It's one of those little things that really illustrates the amount of effort put into the production. Even the generic background ninjas have their own personalities and reactions. One these ninjas named Sasuke even becomes a reoccurring character in the story.

Ninja Nonsense is the very kind of project that most animators would say their ideal job would be. There is always something energetic happening on screen and, sometimes, there is almost too much happening. Humor that starts out what would be considered cookie cutter for this type of anime always winds up taking an original twist. It reminded me of school when my friends and I were developing our project storylines. We would sit around in creative meetings and try to think up the most outlandish and nut ball ideas. Because of this freedom, we could to take our projects in new directions. Out in the real world where time is money some of that freedom was lost. In Ninja Nonsense, it seems, as if they got the opportunity to use that kind of freedom to really develop a truly fun anime. Even the stop-motion animation that the end titles shows loads of creativity and is fun to watch.

In volume 1 we are introduced to our heroine, Shinobu. We quickly learn that she is not your typical ninja. In fact, the only thing about her that says ninja is her bubblegum pink keikogi. She breaks into the bedroom of Kade Shiranui thinking that she is hidden by her skillful use of ninja techniques. But she is actually in plain sight to the dismay of Kade who is trying to study for her finals. Shinobu is taking her finals as well and her chosen task is to collect the underwear of certain high school girls. We are then introduced to the headmaster and head pervert, Onsokumaru. I can only describe him as a shape shifting tennis ball with wings. Later, we meet Shinobu’s bratty little sister, Miyabi, who also happens to be a much more talented ninja than her older sister. Background ninja, Sasuke, and the dojo gator, “Devil,” also make their first appearances in this volume.

The following three volumes follow Shinobu as she progresses toward graduation. What Onsokumaru has exactly prepared her with for graduation I still have no clue, but the fact that she never really learns anything doesn’t stop Shinobu from believing in herself. Well, with the support of her best friend Kade, she has no problem believing in herself. Each volume is well produced with lots of nice extras such as cast interviews, linear notes, character bios, and production journal.

Another really cool extra for nerds like myself is the reversible cover art that swaps out the translated title art back to the original Japanese. It’s a nice touch that is really appreciated by fans. Even the English voice acting is fairly decent and not especially irritating like so many dubs in this genre can be. Technically there are only three episodes per disk, but each episode is actually more like two smaller episodes combined into one. That means there are really six episodes to enjoy on each disk because each smaller episode has its own completed story. So for the money this is actually a pretty good deal when combined with the cool extras. Ninja Nonsense is a fun little series that is full of energy, fun, humor and fan service.