Episode 6 – Ninja and an Assassin Under One Roof

Up until now, episodes of A Ninja and an Assassin Under One Roof have been largely self-contained. We get some comedic premise—or some kind of social commentary—and laugh about it until the end of the episode. Then, like with many shows, we hit the magic reset button and everything returns to the status quo the next week. Except this time, it doesn’t happen.

Last week’s Roboko tragicomedy is still sending shock waves through Konoha and Satoko’s relationship. Konoha is, as silly as it sounds with everything that led up to it, dealing with the loss of her best friend. Satoko feels like a pale imitation of the dead robot. She is inferior in every way—including cooking—which is Satoko’s specialty. Of course, Satoko is looking for a quick fix to the issue. And in her mind that means becoming more like Roboko in the most superficial and half-thought-out way possible: giant breasts.

After meeting (and quickly killing) a ninja able to pull a giant sword out of her cleavage, Satoko comes to believe she can do the same; they’re both ninjas after all. And if she can do that, she can store items for Konoha like her robotic doppelganger did. All that she needs is some mad science-induced breast augmentation.

Of course, rather than making Satoko more useful to Konoha, her new Z-cups make her a liability and an annoyance. Basically, we get an entire episode where the entire core joke is the impracticality of big boobs. It not something I ever expected to see in an anime, but I won’t pretend that it didn’t have me laughing for most of the episode.

But more importantly, this comedic premise is used for more than laughs. The show is able to address a serious topic through something comedic. Basically, through seeing Satoko’s failed attempts at becoming more useful, Konoha is able to understand that both Satoko and Roboko’s feelings come from the same place. Both the ninja and the robot truly care/cared for her and are/were doing their best to support her and her dream.

The only real difference is that Satoko hasn’t matured like Roboko. She is still a pushover going with the flow and is unable to think her plans all the way through. However, that means that Satoko can grow into what Roboko was—can learn to be more thoughtful and useful. It’s all down to whether Konoha is willing to nurture her and let down her walls again when that time comes.

Of course, we also get a few jokes where Konoha tries to rush it—lets Satoko in too deep too fast in an attempt to get back to the level of friendship she shared with Roboko. However, even when these fail (usually due to the aforementioned enormous breasts), she doesn’t close herself off completely, leaving hope for the future.

Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• I don’t know whether its just that she’s now tying her hair back or if it’s meant to show both the passage of time and how Roboko’s death is effecting her (i.e., she’s too out of it to get her roots re-dyed) but I’m digging Konoha’s hair this episode.

• You gotta love that Marin gave herself a pair of breasts just slightly bigger than Konoha’s to get one over on her.

• I wonder what would happen if some of those sakura petals got mixed in with our latest dead ninja’s leaves and Satoko managed to resurrect her…

• If we start out next week with the pair in debt because Satoko had to have very normal, non-ninja/mad scientist breast-reduction surgery off screen, I’m going to laugh my ass off.

Ninja and an Assassin Under One Roof is currently streaming on Crunchyroll on Thursdays.

Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.