Senran Kagura Shinovi Master is a 12 episode anime that is based upon the game series. The aesthetics has changed compared to the previous season, as well as when comparing to the games, so it can feel a bit off at first. Similarly to the Estival Versus OVA, this anime bares it all. Gone are the teasing and strategic censoring, instead, it seems to take every opportunity to show off the characters. It becomes oversaturated by the time the third episode comes around, but it does seem to dial it down a bit towards the end of the season.
The opening episode is fairly bland as it sets the current status quo. The four schools, while not in harmony, seem to be functioning well and have a friendship rivalry going on. Asuka and Yumi are great friends, while Homura’s team is continually struggling to make enough money to buy food. It can feel a tad bit too normal but by the end of the episode, we get a feel on the direction the anime is aiming. This is because we are introduced to two powerful new characters with the intent to eliminate the four schools.
As the mystery deepens regarding the two newcomers, they invite everyone to the Shinovi Masters. This is a tournament in which the winner gets to take on the ultimate youma (i.e. monster). Asuka had already faced against some youma within the city and she suffers a massive existential crisis that robs her of her ideals and dampens her normal cheerful self. This attitude continues for the rest of the season and it can get annoying when she is acting so down and unlike her normal self for so long. Unfortunately, several characters end up out of action for a large portion of the anime.
There is a nice reference to the Peach Beach Splash game in one episode. Actually, it adapts the scenario and has the characters shooting each other in swimsuits, using water that if it hits the target, will render the part transparent (aka clothing damage). These types of episodes, and scenes, form the basis of massive mood whiplash where one moment it is dark and serious, then in the next it throws in fan service.
The youma and eventually the true villains come to the forefront in the second half of the anime. While it managed to avoid it in the first half, like the first Senran Kagura anime, it starts to rely more and more on flashbacks. These flashbacks expand upon the history of the motivations of the villains, as well as the past of Yumi. The scale of the conflict is revealed towards the end that flips the characters’ understand of the relationship between shinobi and youma. They make a big deal out of it but the impact to the viewer is definitely nowhere near as strong or shocking. While Asuka used to be the face of the franchise, it has slowly shifted to Yumi and it is no exception here. Yumi takes on a larger and larger focus as the anime goes on.
The battle scenes are an improvement, although they are still not the best. At least it is more than static images and it has some fluidity to the characters’ movements. If you have played the games, it is a nice bonus to be able to recognize some of their moves. Sadly, there are a lot of scenes where the animation suddenly and noticeably dips in quality. It generally looks great when characters are in close ups, however once it pans out to show several characters onscreen at once, it loses a lot of the details and subsequently, the proportions are off.
Overall Senran Kagura Shinovi Master is so so. It’s biggest attraction is the uncensored fan service (and the franchise is more well known for its fan service than anything). The story stalls too much in the second half to the point of it being too easy to not care very much on what happens. It’s unfortunate because the opening premise shows a lot of promise with a darker, more intriguing tale surrounding shinobi fighting a rising tide of youma within modern day cities.
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