Stream It Or Skip It: ‘House Of Ninjas’ on Netflix, Where A Family Of Secret Shadow Warriors Face Old Personal Demons And A New Threat To Japan 

House of Ninjas is a new eight-episode Netflix series developed, directed, and written by Dave Boyle and based on a story by Yoshiaki Murao, Takafumi Imai, and Kento Kaku, who also stars. Kaku is Haru, the most reluctant member of the Tawara family. He has no desire to succeed his father as boss of a sake brewery, mostly because the traditional Tawara family business is actually that of the shinobi, or ninja, who have served for generations as Japan’s secret protectors. With the rise of a new threat, Haru, his sister, and his mother and father must reckon with their true legacy while still processing a deep family tragedy. Yosuke Eguchi, Tae Kimura, Kengo Kora, Aju Makita, and Riho Yoshioka co-star alongside Kaku.  

HOUSE OF NINJAS: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT? 

Opening Shot: In looming shadow, on the deck of an enormous cargo ship, masked figures clad in black engage one other with single-edged short swords. As their silvery blades clash in the darkness, someone falls from the deck into Tokyo Bay. “Gaku!” 

The Gist: With Tokyo’s gubernatorial election on the horizon, we learn that one of the candidates was abducted by parties unknown, only to resurface unharmed just a few hours later. And when we meet Haru Tawara (Kaku) at his third shift job refilling the city’s vending machines, it quickly becomes evident that he’s hiding his true skill set. How evident? From distance, he accurately flits cans of pop like darts into the machines. Haru, like his father Souichi (Eguchi), mother Yoko (Kimura), and sister Nagi (Aju Makita), is actually a highly-trained ninja, capable of the silent stealth and deadly swordsmanship that uphold the historic shinobi traditions of the Tawara clan.

For now, anyway, those traditions are on the shelf. The sword battle that opened House of Ninjas may have rescued a politician, but it resulted in the loss of Gaku (Kora), the first born Tawara son and hero to Haru and Nagi. Souichi has turned his back on the old ways, determined to live as regular citizens, especially when it comes to raising eight-year-old Riku (Tenta Banka), who’s oblivious to his family’s secret. But Souichi’s brewery is failing, the family compound is in shambles, and Yoko shoplifts trinkets using ninja sleight-of-hand just to feel alive. Not only that, but Nagi has become an art thief, reveling in the detached glory of mystified police and news reporters. In addition, both Nagi and Haru have the potential for new romance in their lives. But the laws of shinobi forbid any outside contact that would jeopardize the clan.

Hamashima (Tomorowo Taguchi) works in cultural affairs for the government, but he also wants to tap the Tawara to quell a surging new threat. There are whispers of new poisons at crime scenes, and rising cult-like behavior, and journalist Karen Ito (Yoshioka), who Haru’s sweet on, is getting closer to the truth about ninjas at work in the shadows. It seems clear that the Tawara clan will once again be called into action, whether Souichi likes it or not. But while their fighting skills are formidable, the family might not be prepared for how close to home the newfound danger hits.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Everyone in the Tawara clan already knows they’re ninjas. (Well, everyone except little Riku, but it seems like even that will change.) And House of Ninjas takes place in Tokyo, Japan instead of bouncing between Taipei, Taiwan and Los Angeles, California. But a similar sense of duty to both family and tradition guides The Brothers Sun, the recent Michelle Yeoh-starring Netflix action-comedy. 

Our Take: As House of Ninjas gets into gear, the music cues are a little iffy and the fight scenes are underlit. (In those sequences, everyone’s also wearing head-to-toe black and the traditional ninja cowl, making it even harder to follow who’s doing what to whom.) Some of the ninja-specific action we do see is enticing, like Haru’s trick with the cans, Yoko’s ability to leap onto the family’s rooftop effortlessly, or Nagi employing a length of black silk to descend undetected from art museum ceilings. But we’re hoping Haru and Souichi get past their reticence to perform ninja activities quickly, because increased fight scenes and more crisply defined action would be a boon for the series. After all, it’s called House of Ninjas, not House of Used to Be Ninjas. 

There are signs that this will happen. The first episode also includes a tense knife fight in a crowded nightclub that forces its participants to remain undetected even as they stab at each other. And what we do learn about the emerging fanatical threat against Japan is full of intriguing bits that connect to both shinobi traditions and the Tawara family themselves, with the potential to really rip open the calm Souichi is trying to maintain. It’s enough to keep us interested. We just need more of it, and fast.   

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: They’re both wearing masks, and for very different reasons. But as Haru and Karen’s eyes meet with sudden, unexpected recognition, House of Ninjas pays off the brief flashes of chemistry between Kento Kaku and Riho Yoshioka that we witnessed earlier. 

Sleeper Star: Nobuko Miyamoto doesn’t even have a spoken line in the premiere episode of House of Ninjas. But Miyamoto’s delightful, matriarchal presence in the Tawara family compound offers hints of how pivotal her grandmother character will be as new missions for the shinobi unfold. 

Most Pilot-y Line: In a Tokyo subway, a seemingly random act of kindness turns out to have potentially weighty consequences. “You pass. That kindness will lead to the success of our eclipse. It’s almost time. Wait for instructions…”

Our Call: STREAM IT. House of Ninjas wraps its family dynamic in the fight-functional garb of its titular warriors. We want to see more of the Tawara fam fighting together against their mysterious new adversaries, and the threads it weaves about ninja clan history are another intriguing element.

Johnny Loftus (@glennganges) is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift.