House of Ninjas arrives on Netflix on February 15th – Netflix kindly sent us the screener for review and we couldn’t be happier to be spreading the word about this awesome new series.
Wow, where to start? When I first heard of the idea of House of Ninjas, I was immediately sold: a family living in modern-day Japan also happens to be a clan of secret Ninjas. What is not to love about that?
The story, at its core, is beautiful and heartwarming and often funny too. And to top off the wholesomeness, the Tawara family also have the cutest black cat named Hanzo. The introduction of little Hanzo is nothing but love at first sight. Nothing sets this family apart from the rest of us…well, apart from the fact that they’re bad-ass Shinobis!
What’s House Of Ninjas About?
The Tawara clan, are a seemingly normal family who runs a small brewery business barely making ends meet. What people do not know though is that this is no ordinary family and are descendants of an ancient clan of Ninjas who take orders from a secret Ninja Beureau – a shadow organisation in charge of taking down enemies deemed too powerful for the common, normal human. They hide in the shadows and you wouldn’t know they were coming at you until it was already too late.
But after the loss of one of their own, the Tawara family have hung up their nunchucks. Souichi tries to run the brewery, his wife is a bored housewife who misses her shinobi ways, and the eldest son, Haru, a kind-hearted man takes a job filling vending machines – it’s Haru’s kindness that creates chaos in House Of Ninjas. They’re pulled out of their quiet lives and forced to pick up the shurikens once again when people start getting killed by a mysterious poison.
Going into House of Ninjas I was so excited to see the stealth and shadow movement (I mean, I was a master at Tenchu: Stealth Assassin back in the day).
I couldn’t have been more impressed, and it was evident from the opening sequence that this was indeed, the ninja epic I was hoping for. So, a big credit to the lighting and sound department for creating this new shadowy Ninja-Verse!
I’ve never witnessed this much carnage done in complete deafening silence, and that’s what I wanted. One scene in particular was in a nightclub. A masked maniac is going through a nightclub stabbing people without anyone noticing. A fight then breaks out between Haru (the eldest son) and the maniac. They fight in front of everyone, without anyone noticing. I paused the series in complete amazement at that scene alone…and that is very much at the beginning of the series.
The extensive combat training that all of the cast received really shows with the cast put into full training one year before filming began. The fight choreography is stunning with more than enough beautiful long-shot combat takes to impress the action connoisseurs.
Another thing that struck me as odd was the name of the director and co-creator: Dave Boyle.
I thought to myself, well this doesn’t sound like a proper Ninja name. But to be honest, I love hearing these kinds of names in Asian productions, especially as something as epic as House of Ninjas. Gareth Evans created The Raid, Sean Ellis created Metro Manila and now Dave Boyle is added to the list with House of Ninjas.
Kaku Kento who also plays the lead role of Haru came up with the original idea with Yoshiaki Murao and Takafumi Imai. Then Boyle stepped in to add that extra bit of Shinobi sauce.
So…Who Is Dave Boyle?
Although I was unfamiliar with his name, when I checked Boyle’s filmography, the first thing that popped up was the great Neo-Noir thriller, The Man From Reno. My excitement for House of Ninjas shot through the roof because I knew right there and then the strength in this man’s writing.
The Man From Reno won the Grand Prize at the Los Angeles Film Festival (2015)
What was also interesting, Boyle grew up in a Mormon background and was able to use some of his Mormon family traditions (no eating meat, no sexual relationships and no consumption of alcohol) while creating the world for House of Ninjas. I’m just going to go ahead and say that Dave Boyle is the only Mormon in history to create an epic Japanese ninja series. Prove me wrong.
House Of Ninjas arrives on Netflix on February 15th! Get ready!
Official Logline: Years after retiring from their formidable ninja lives, a dysfunctional family must return to shadowy missions to counteract a string of looming threats.
Netflix
Cast: Kento Kaku, Yosuke Eguchi, Tae Kimura, Kengo Kora, Aju Makita, Riho Yoshioka, Nobuko Miyamoto, Tomorowo Taguchi, Tokio Emoto, Pierre Taki, Kyusaku Shimada, Mariko Tsutsui, Tenta Banka.
Based on a Story by: Kento Kaku, Yoshiaki Murao, Takafumi Imai
Developed by: Dave Boyle
Director: Dave Boyle
Written by: Dave Boyle, Masahiro Yamaura, Kota Oura, Kanna Kimura Executive Producer: Yoshihiro Sato (Netflix)
Co-Executive Producers: Kento Kaku, Dave Boyle
Producer: Akira Kanbe
Production: TOHO Studio
Produced by: Netflix
9 Shurikens out of 10 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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