Shadow

The way the sword fight suddenly shifted into the adult scenes was handled better than most shows in this genre and the dark tone really worked

Uzume is such a beast for standing her ground against an assassin and the way they clashed in the dark looked really cool for a 2004 show

My mind was blown seeing Karyu enter the mansion because the atmosphere felt so tense before everything turned into a bloodbath and Uzume caught me off guard with her skills and that back and forth struggle during their fight was exactly what I wanted from an older ninja title and the way they balanced everything out was solid

The action is okay but it felt like they spent too much time on the setup and the actual duel should have lasted longer since they are top ninjas

I was not expecting the fight between Karyu and Uzume to get that brutal because the blood spray was wild and the animation for an older ova is actually decent

The animation for the final sword clash had some serious weight and you can really feel how much Karyu wants to prove she is the best

The clash between Karyu and Uzume really shows how desperate things are for ninjas in the Edo period when they have to fight over a simple merchant job and it was awesome seeing Uzume drop the servant act to reveal she is actually a master assassin, and seeing them trade blows for dominance made for a very intense finale

Karyu is such a cold killer but seeing her struggle against Uzume made the stakes feel real for once

Watching two top tier ninjas try to outmaneuver each other in a dying era is such a cool concept and the duel at the end delivered

I did not expect the target to have such a skilled bodyguard and Uzume definitely caught me off guard with her first strike

That transition from a simple hit job to a full on duel for superiority kept things moving really fast and the action looked decent for an older OVA

I thought the servant was a nobody but seeing her go toe to toe with Karyu was so cool

I got such a rush when Karyu realized she met her match because that servant girl was holding back the whole time

Uzume being just as fast as Karyu made that fight way better and the Edo setting feels so gritty

You can see them sizing each other up before the blood started flying, and it was great since ninjas are supposedly not needed anymore

You get this really gritty vibe from the training scenes and then he just gets hit by a truck and starts playing pretend with some elves

I didn't think his desire to be a shadow master would involve him screaming at a truck, but it really showed his obsession

It was pretty cool to see the light novel start with the story about Akane and the kidnapping instead of just jumping into the magic stuff

That sudden jump from a dark crime drama to a generic fantasy world was weird and it made the whole first half feel like a different show

I was surprised by how much crowbar training looked so painful and how much he actually wanted to become a nuke