Shinobi Quartet - By Himuka Tohru (7/10)
It's blunt. It's loud. It's a yandere modern-day shinobi harem, and the writing feels flat in half the chapters. The setting is silly. The author tried to make it unique, but Chouko is annoyingly perfect. The only unique thing about this story is the yandere, who wins the harem fight to have the best master. The rich, cute and spoiled Shinobi Princess.
Wish fulfillment changes depending on the year. This story is 1000% teen daydream fluff from 2003 and you can't change my mind. Chouko is the daughter of a rich family, who are descended from famous shinobi. Chouko isn't even allowed to go to school without a bodyguard, even though she is powerful, because she is that rich. When she gets kidnapped she isn't even fazed. Regular crooks don't scare her.
The head of the harem and the obvious winner is Ujou. He is an extremely submissive yandere. Sometimes his behavior is presented as funny, but he is unhinged. He is also a privileged young man, who is destined to serve Chouko's family. It's a match made in heaven.
Chouko forgot Ujou, but they were friends as kids. The other boys do not stand a chance. Honestly I don't know why this is a harem. The other options really do feel like window dressing. Ujou has no flaws outside of being obsessed with Chouko, which is kind of his job. Even her family is mostly OK with the stalking...because he's a shinobi guard. It's kind of what he's supposed to be doing.
Chouko immediately makes a friend when she is finally allowed to go to school. It's not a regular school of course. She's too rich for that. Only the best shinobi heirs go there. It's a dog eat dog world where lower shinobi submit to masters from more powerful families.
Is this a problem?
Kinda but no.
Chouko always preserves the status quo. She is the rightful Shinobi Princess. She is willing to rough it with the peasants and wander around, but when there's a fight suddenly she's the boss in control of the battlefield. Chouko adores Kurumi because she had an isolated but spoiled childhood. She has always wanted girl friends. She kinda treats her harem like junk when Kurumi wants to hang out, and that particular gag is kind of funny.
The twin gag is not funny. I have to say it. The "twins" are usually the worst part of harems like this. Neither of the red twins feel like romantic interests at all. That would be refreshing. I want Chouko to have male friends, but um...it does feel like an error on the writers part. The brother complex thing has to die. Nobody likes it. Stop.
I've seen worse harems. I've seen less entertaining yanderes. Ujou isn't lying about being submissive or anything, and that makes him a rarer type of yandere too.
Be warned.
I downloaded the pretty color panel spreads but the art ain't that great. I love the coloring of these spreads, but the actual art is kinda boring.
This is Tsubaki. He calls Chouko onee-chan. He is not really a love interest option, again, and he exists to make her look strong and cool. It's honestly kind of funny how Chouko's female friends get more development than the shinobi boy crew.
He is an assassin who tried to kill Chouko, but she won him over with her coolness.
This is the other "crazy" character. He's also the doctor character, which makes him rather one note. When there's a medical situation he's in charge, but usually he's in the background. To the point where it gets funny. He's also a pervert...I guess...but that's not a personality trait...and Ujou is more flirty than he is. He's like diluted Ujou with white hair and a medical kit...He also quickly accepts that Chouko likes Ujou without a fuss....He also has magical prophecy powers...ok
Chouko solves Kurumi's romance issues, and family trauma, in like two chapters by the way. Chouko tells this guy, who is obviously in love, that he's probably in love and he freaks out. He thanks Chouko for showing him the light, and helping him accept his feelings...but lmao...she didn't do anything. She stated the obvious and after that she gets praised for an entire chapter.
I won't say this is bad. It's early 2000's wish fulfillment shoujo. One of the twins has a brother complex. You know what is up. We get it! Our heroine gets worship and praise every single chapter. She is the messiah that solves every problem, and when she's sick everything falls apart. Also they're ninjas I guess. I do respect the commitment to the yandere. The author doesn't even pretend that the other men have a chance.
