House of Ninjas – Episode 3 Recap & Review

The Flower

House of Ninjas episode 3 starts with a flashback of a young Nagi fascinated by Gaku’s skill to make things disappear. Her brother was happy to teach her. Presently, she gets caught by Riku when she sneaks back into the house. An excited Riku asks her to teach him, but she refuses and makes him promise to keep his discovery a secret.

At the moment, Nagi is more preoccupied with losing the artefact to Ninja X and DM’s him to return it. He promises to return it only if they can exchange it with the scroll in Nagi’s house. However, Nagi is shocked because Ninja X referred to her home as “our”. She also has no idea what scroll he is talking about.

Meanwhile, Haru and Karen watch videos of Yosuke’s teachings to find new clues. They spot a yellow flower at the end of his live feed. However, Haru is worried when Hakashima drops by the Gyudon restaurant to keep tabs on them. In his briefing, he asks Hakashima to stand back and expresses his annoyance with being given orders to sneak into Gentenkai and steal the yellow flower. Hakashima wants to use Karen to find out more about Yosuke, but Haru intends to handle the mission alone.

At home, Souichi tells his family about the new employee’s proposal and shares the good news of the brewery being featured in an international magazine. He asks his family to show up on Saturday to take a picture for the article. Souichi is excited, but the rest of the family is dealing with different problems and is not enthusiastic about the upcoming photoshoot.

The article will talk about the familial legacy of the brewery, but things are currently hectic in this household. Given her recent strange behaviour, even Souichi is questioning if Yoko is having an affair. 

Later, Oki helps Yoko get into her new undercover job as Misa-san and casually dates Matsuura after matching with him on an online dating platform. Matsuura is a fan of Jazz music, and they hope to lure him in through this. Misa-san’s first date with the guy goes well. She is a pro-manipulator, after all!  

At the Agency of Cultural Affairs, Oki and the other members are tasked with compiling the shredded documents. On the other hand, Haru finds his way inside Gentenkai and checks how things work. He is also surprised to see Karen there, which is confusing to us. He does remember she is an investigative journalist, right? They spot a man tasked with choosing believers to meet Yosuke privately. 

They investigate the man and learn he is the cop who killed the woman. They set up a way to reach him and threaten to release the video of him killing the woman (related to Karen’s source) if he doesn’t help them meet Yosuke.

Karen is surprised by how well Haru handled the situation and says she knows he is keeping secrets from her. She adds that she is okay with it and feels safe to continue sleuthing around because he is her protector. Haru plays innocent and tries to explain he has never saved her before. However, she is not buying his cock and bull story about learning things in a movie. He asks her to let him handle the Gentenkai situation alone. 

At school, police drop by to interrogate Kyotani, and he implicates Nagi after mentioning her as his alibi. The police visit Nagi’s house, and our adorable Riku unknowingly spills the tea about his sister’s unique ability to run and jump across buildings. His grandma quietly listens but says nothing to the police, nor does she stop them from taking pictures of the house’s roof.

Later, she overhears Nagi trying to sneak into her room to look for the scroll and stops the search even before it begins. Upon hearing the photo shoot is on Saturday, Nagi decides it will be the perfect time to sneak into her Grandma’s room and steal the scroll. Nagi waits for Haru and tries to have an honest conversation with him about Gaku. Nagi questions if Gaku truly died. Haru is sure Gaku died and refuses to listen to Nagi, who quickly leaves.

On Saturday, Haru heads to Gentenkai wearing a red bracelet as planned to make it easier for the murderer cop to spot him. The plan moves along smoothly until Karen also shows up wearing a red bracelet. They are both chosen to meet Yosuke, and this is where things tense up.

On the other hand, Souichi is disappointed when only Riku and Taki show up on time for the photoshoot. Nagi decided to stay behind, faking a closet emergency and used the opportunity to find the scroll. She is pleased when she finds it hidden in her grandma’s room ceiling. It wasn’t easy, though; she set off a trap and was nearly killed by an arrow.

Meanwhile, Yoko’s date with Matsuura takes longer than expected since he decided to serenade her with jazz songs. At this point, she notices him lip-read a mysterious man dressed as a monk in the audience. We don’t know what was said, but it was enough to scare Yoko and make her tear up. Sadly, even though Souichi deeply wanted to take a new family photo, his timing was off. For him, the photo shoot was a chance to take a family photo after six years. It meant a lot to him, and Yoko knew this and still failed to show up.

Back to our sleuths, Haru and Karen finally get to meet Yosuke. The religious leader claims he can see who they are and stops Karen from introducing herself. He “reads” her and brings up her traumatic childhood. On the other hand, he says he senses a too-gentle sound from Haru. A woman (We last saw her at the train station when she dropped a mask and a message to a stranger) enters the room and draws a sword. Karen is shaken, but Haru picks up the sword, and Yosuke orders him to liberate Karen from her pain. 

Haru grabs Karen’s arms and tries to leave, but two men walk in carrying the murderer cop. He is tied to a gurney, but Haru uses the sword to free his bonds. Yosuke threatens the man’s family before letting him go. He then hands the yellow flower to Karen and asks her to leave. Once they are alone, Yosuke reveals he is the man Haru spared. He is, therefore, the man who killed Gaku and Haru is enraged. 

However, Yosuke promises not to hurt him or Karen just yet. Yosuke believes he has somehow ascended and is now a god. He claims he has the spirit of 18 generations of his ancestors. He goes as far as to ask Haru to try and kill him. The minute Haru strikes his sword, Yosuke grabs it with his hand and somehow feels no pain as it digs deeper into his hand.He says he is disappointed in Haru, a ninja who can’t kill.

Before leaving, he tells Haru that he created him. The episode ends with men wearing protective gear collecting the yellow flowers in a huge orchard.

The Episode Review

We solve a new mystery with each episode of the show. We now know who killed Gaku and why Yosuke followed Haru around. We must admit that Yosuke is intelligent; he got Haru to bring himself willingly to his lair. Haru thought he was investigating Yosuke, but he was falling into his trap. Their encounter was intense, and they will definitely be crossing paths again. The question is, will Haru be able to kill him if the opportunity arises? 

We also know that Yosuke is making poison from the flowers. If what the source said is true and given the size of the orchard, something big is about to go down. However, who is Yosuke’s target and why commit mass murder?

It is unclear if the show will continue with the “Is Gaku really dead storyline”. With Nagi questioning death, is she missing her role model and brother, or did he fake his death? We are also curious to learn more about Ninja X and what Oki found when piecing the shredded paper together.

However, we are desperate to discover what Yoko learned from her date with Matsuura. It felt like something big; did they find out her true identity?