House of Ninjas – Episode 1 Recap & Review

The Offer 

House of Ninjas episode 1 starts with an intense fight scene between two groups of Ninjas. It turns out the team in green, known as Fura, have kidnapped a candidate running for the Governor’s post in Tokyo and the team in Black, Tawara, is trying to rescue her. Ultimately, they quickly rescue the candidate, Mukai-san, but sadly lose one of them, Gaku.

Presently, we are introduced to Haru, who works as a vending machine operator. He leads a quiet life and has a crush on the girl he constantly runs into when getting a meal. He hesitates to ask her out even as his colleague encourages him. This time the girl, Ito Karen, starts the conversation and they get along well.  

Haru gets the courage to ask her out, but her phone rings before he can finish his sentence. Karen rushes out to a crime scene with multiple victims. It is at this point that we learn she is a reporter. She fails to notice two men actively taking photos of her and the crime scene.

Elsewhere, police officers try to stay alert at a museum trying to arrest a criminal who likes to steal cultural artefacts and return them after three days. 

The following morning,  Haru returns home, and we are introduced to the Tawara family. There is the adorable Riko. He is oblivious to his family’s secret. We have  Taki, the grandmother who is still so agile. They are joined by Souichi, the dad and head of the family. He runs the family brewery, which is a cover for their operations. Souichi keeps nagging Haru about working at the brewery, but his son stubbornly refuses.

He is married to Yoko, who loves to shoplift simply because she is too smooth. Souichi worries she might expose their secret since she uses her skills openly. Lastly, we have Nagi, the only daughter. She is proud of being a Shinobi, just like her dad. 

Since he worked all night, Haru heads to bed while the others leave for their respective work obligations and school. He ends up having a nightmare about being attacked by a fellow ninja. At Tawara’s brewery, things look bleak as one worker quit. Apparently, the brewery has been struggling for the past six years, and they have been unable to get funding. Souichi asks for more time, but the worker respectfully quits and leaves quickly. 

A  few moments later, Souichi is visited by a man named Hamashima, who claims he is from Cultural Affairs. He says he is dropping by to remind Souichi about the agency’s policies. Hamashima has brought along Oki, the new guy. Oki is beside himself and can’t believe he is meeting a descendant of the legendary Hanzo. It turns out that the pigeon Souchi spotted on his way out of the house was a message from Hamashima. For some reason, Souchi is not a fan of pigeon carriers and even a lesser fan of Hamashima’s reason to visit. 

Hamashima informs him that a new Shinobi threat has cropped up, but Souichi believes they ended all the Fumas. Hamashima brings up the recent deaths at the  Pleasure Cruise incident since he believes it is the work of the Fumas. The killer used a new kind of poison, but Souichi wants to hear nothing of it. In fact, he suggests that Hamashima let the police handle the matter. Hamashima asks Soiuchi to consider returning to work for the agency because only the Shinobi can help.

As expected, Souichi asks him to beat it. Hamashima doesn’t take no for an answer and brings up the failing brewery, which touches Souichi’s raw nerves. He also questions if all family members are happy with acting like a normal family. 

Meanwhile, Nagi gets a love confession from a boy while they are at a museum. They skipped school.  Nagi softly turns him down. She mentions they can’t date because of a rule but quickly says she is weird and can’t explain. At night, Nagi returns to the museum and steals an item she loves. She is the museum thief who returns stuff after three days.

In a way, she thinks this helps her reconnect with her late brother, Gaku. He was the one who taught her all about the ways of a Shinobi. She takes the picture and uploads it to her private Instagram. The next day, someone with the username Ninja X starts following her and mocks her Shinobi skills. 

At the same time, a man receives a message from a strange woman while walking at the train station. The woman leaves behind a mask and asks the man to wait for the instruction since it is almost time. The man seems pleased, as if this is a chance he has been waiting for all his life.

On the other hand, Haru finishes his shift, and we learn that he still has visions of the ninja he sees in his nightmare. After his shift, he drops by his favourite restaurant, and  Karen asks him out.

They agree to meet the following day. However, Hamashima shows up after she leaves and warns Haru about her being a reporter. He says the rule demands they kill anyone who finds out about them and doesn’t allow them to date people outside of their group. Hamashima suggests setting him up with someone vetted like his parents. Hamashima also asks Haru to obey the dietary rules of the clan; they can’t have meat.

The next day, Souichi tries again to convince Haru to come to the brewery. As usual, Haru refuses the offer even after his father brings up Gaku. Haru believes he can’t replace his late brother, and Souichi promises to wait until Haru is ready to take over.

In a flashback, we learn that Gaku died on the night they saved Hukai-san. Haru blames himself because he spared one of the Fuma ninjas. The man later killed his brother. The man in Haru’s nightmare is Gaku. The Fuma serve only a cause and refused to tell Souichi more about themselves, even in the face of death. The Fumas believe they can’t truly die.

As the day passes, Haru keeps thinking about his talk with Hamashima. He was tasked with investigating Karen, who is looking too much into the Cruise incident. He decides to spy on Karen, while Hamshima spies on Yoko and reports her to the shop owner for shoplifting. He uses her little pickle with the law to convince her to return and work for him. He promises to overlook her offence if she carries out a mission for her. However, Yoko demands to be paid before accepting the mission. 

Back to Karen, she cancels the date and heads to a club holding a masquerade party. Obviously, Haru follows her but maintains his distance. While there, Karen meets with a source who tells her about the man behind the cruise incident. He tells her that someone survived the incident and he is behind the attack.

The man claims the cruise incident was a test, and something worse is in the works. As they talk, a man wearing  the mask dropped at the train station arrives and starts to stab people quietly. He gets to Karen and her source and kills the man before he can tell Karen the culprit’s name. Karen starts pushing her way out of the busy club, but the masked man follows her. 

Haru intervenes and gets into a fight with the man. They fight so skillfully that even those dancing around them fail to notice what is happening. It is almost like they were dancing themselves. For a brief moment, Haru and Karen lock their eyes, and the masked man uses this chance to escape.

Haru follows him out and sees a man with a similar mask lying on the road after being hit by a car. Haru checks the man’s wrist to see the wound he just gave him, but it is nowhere to be found. He quickly realises this is not the man in the club and starts walking away. Instinctively, he feels someone watching him and turns to look. Unfortunately, the strange man observing him is gone.

The Episode Review

The first episode packs a punch as we get introduced to the Hawar family and their rivalry with the Fumas. It is possible that Haru feels guilty about what happened that night and blames himself for his brother’s death. It might be why he hesitates to return to his roots and take over the brewery. He is not used to killing and probably wants a normal, quiet life where he can fall in love and be free of the burden of the legacy. He seems to like Karen, but this might endanger her life more. Will something happen between the two of them?

On the other hand, Nagi’s activities might soon put the family at risk even more than Yoko’s kleptomania. Who is Ninja X, and how did they find out about Nagi’s little secret hobby? What do they want?

The first episode perfectly builds up on the characters and the introduction of the main plot. Even with so many moving pieces, viewers can easily connect them and enjoy the flow. However, it can be a bit too fast-paced, so you will need to focus so as not to miss something. You know, it is going down at the speed of a ninja!

As the show is helping us learn more about the Japanese culture, a shinobi was a skilled mercenary, especially in Guerrilla warfare tactics in feudal Japan.