Manga 4613 Rappi Rangai

tl;dr: A manga with good distinct episodes, but a very lacking overarching plot.

This manga is about Raizou, the last survivor of the Katana clan, and his three loyal kunoichi as they go on a quest to revive their house. And the first step in that plan is to get Raizou married to a princess. About half of the manga is composed of arcs that are centered around that. How these arcs go is that Raizou tries to woo a princess and gets caught up in some sort of conflict and though he makes a fool of himself, in the end he does manage to save ... the princess and she falls in love with him due to his kindness. However, due to various circumstances, it doesn’t work out and Raizou and his kunoichi have to run away. And thus, they try again with another princess.

The formula is simple, but there’s a decent variety to how it is executed to the degree it doesn’t get boring. And furthermore, all of these arcs are at least decent with most being pretty good. They do a good job of fleshing out the princess and giving her a character arc and tying that into solid relationship development with Raizou. Each of these arcs is pretty separated from the others and the overarching plot however, so while they are good on their own, it’s somewhat disappointing how little carries over after the end of each one. I will note though that the moment that does tie all of these into the overarching plot in the finale, as half assed as it was, still serves as a pretty strong emotional beat.

As for the overarching plot, which is the other half of the manga, that was nowhere near as good as the princess focused arcs. The biggest problem is that the main cast isn’t very good. Raizou is a protagonist that starts off really lame. And that’s perfectly fine as they do a good job fleshing out why he’s the way he is and set a good base for a character arc. Unfortunately, that character arc doesn’t really exist. He definitely has moments where he’s pretty awesome and seems like he’s grown as a character, but these are just blips. He goes back to how he was before immediately after. As such, there’s no sustained character growth, and he’s just as lame at the end as he was at the beginning.

In terms of the three kunoichi following him, the main heroine Kagari get’s decent relationship development with Raizou and is overall decently likable. However, she’s fleshed out too little for the role of main heroine, with her getting less development than any of the princesses, and ultimately she just doesn’t have as strong of a presence as she needs to. The other two fair even worse, wherein there’s an attempt at fleshing out one of them. Himemura, but it’s pretty badly written and doesn’t really work, and with the other, Kisarabi, there’s not even an attempt at giving her more depth. Furthermore, both of them have pretty terrible personalities so they’re not likable at all.

The antagonist’s side is also pretty terrible. It’s for the most part just one main villain, Seigan, with everyone else just being mindless minions. I suppose one of those minions, Juube, stands out as being pretty interesting, though he doesn’t have a strong enough presence for that to make that much of a difference. Anyway, Seigan is just annoying. There was an attempt at trying to give him some depth to make him more than just a one-dimensional cartoon villain, but it was botched so badly it probably would have been better to not bother. He’s an awful character. And absolutely not in the love to hate way that makes a good villain that you like to see get their comeuppance. Rather, in the way that makes you want them to just not be a part of the story anymore and that the only satisfaction you get upon their defeat is being glad that they won’t be around anymore. Though that doesn’t really help here as he’s the main villain and after his defeat the manga ends. As for the ending itself, it’s about what I expected it to be and though simple and predictable, it’s probably the best sort of ending for such manga so I was satisfied with it.

There’s a good amount of action in this manga, but it’s not that great. There are various abilities and ninja arts, but it doesn’t really focus on them or explain them, and there’s very little in terms of ability growth or new abilities, so it’s somewhat random and repetitive. The comedy was pretty solid, wherein though a lot of the humor was pretty similar across the entire series, there was enough variety and it was in general fast enough with it that it didn’t get old. The art certainly can look good at times, though for the most part it was only okay, in terms of designs, style, and quality. So while that art doesn’t detract from anything, this also isn’t a manga I would read for the art or ecchi.

It's hard to say that the harem comedy sub-genre needs a shot in the arm since they have such a low ceiling in terms of innovation, so the key to having a successful title is to just have fun with it, and that's what Ninja Girls does well. It's far from original and does everything you've already seen before, but this is the most fun I've had reading this type of manga in years.
Story 7: Raizo is a down-on-his-luck boy who is the remaining member of his fallen family, and in an attempt to restore his family hierarchey (I think I butchered that), ... he must marry into a wealthy family with the aid of three kunoichi who unintentionally make his task that much harder. Generally, I'm left with the impression that in these types of stories, male lead and female lead will end up together and everything else in the middle is just filler, and I'm sure other readers of this manga can see the same writing on the wall, but I'll be a bit honest, I probably would've been okay with any of the candidates introduced here. Each volume of the manga follows one viable young girl whom Raizo must "trick" into marrying him, each girl's story is very good and well thought out for several chapters to a full volume. They aren't just here for eye candy, even though they are all easy on the eyes, but I'm amazed at how not only each girls' tale plays out (it IS pretty formulaic, yet effective), but Raizo's genuine concern and willingness to help touches each bride-to-be's heart, cumulating to playing a role in the final chapters. Ninja Girls' secondary plot involves of course the impending romance between Raizo and Kagari that may not be subtle, but it's a slow build I was anticipating to see how far the limits of loyalty and love will be stretched. Okay, that might be a bit hyperbole, but this is just how caught up in the fiction I got with this manga and a testament to how much fun I was having that a story this run-of-the-mill and predictable had me going. Simple, yet satisfying.
ART 8: A knock against Ninja Girls is that the manga isn't fleshy enough, and it maybe tame in comparison to Samurai Harem or Omamari Himari, but for my tastes, I'm perfectly fine with this title not making it a booby-revealing oogle-fest like the formerly mentioned as it's bread and butter. That sort of transperent style sets comedy back a decade. Make no mistake, the ladies in Ninja Girls look very spicy and the partial nudity is handled very tastefully as opposed to blatant exposure for the sake of it. Nothing wrong with being a little titillated, what fun would Christmas be if you present wasn't wrapped?
Fight scenes are beautifully drawn and black levels are done really well, no action-based panel looks like a cluttered mess. I would say that it's on par with A Certain Scientific Railgun. Character facials are another huge plus, this manga doesn't rely on constantly using superdeformed comedy gags and follows Gintama a little more closely with it's physical satire. Even when some of the more dramatic moments, the characters' "acting" is top notch, especially Kagari. The atmosphere of feudal Japan are done very nicely, but few and far in between, since the characters take up most of the panels.
CHARACTERS 7: The cast really hits home here, and also nails another important factor for a good harem comedy: how many girls are too many? I enjoyed Rosario+Vampire until Mizore and Moka's little sister were introduced and Nejima has up to 30 different girls all vying for page time, which renders character development protracted and tedious. Ninja Girls is focused on mainly Raizo and his interactions with kunoichi Kisabi, Kagari, and Himemaru and the highlighted bride for each respective volume. Because of the relatively small cast of ladies, this keeps characters from being limited to one note gags and in the 9 volumes total, does a good job of fleshing out each of them. Raizo himself is every bumbling male lead in a title of this nature, and like most, he's a pretty likeable chap. If anything, he's probably better than the likes of Keitaro in Love Hina or Yamato in Suzuka, due to the degree of his task and the bond he shares with his tribe of gals. Also, his big heart is a major plus, as he never feels he can fake being a Casanova and his sincerity is genuine. Raizo isn't presented as a hopeless loser who just falls into a pair of huge, gravity-defying breasts all the time, nor are any of the kunoichi purposely torturing him just out of sick pleasure in the hopes that the reader will find this funny. The ratio of assistance/pain is pretty close to how the Tenchi franchise balanced this formula with Ryoko and Aieka, minus the romantic implications. In attempts to ease Raizo's suffering, their hearts get ahead of their brains and make the situation worse. This is easy stuff, yet authors are more prone to write sadistic comedy like Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-Chan and Tora Dora, where the female lead is so hair-trigger angry and violent towards the protagonist that the creators must think I'm some kind of idiot to hope she winds up with the guy by the end of the story. I'm not biting.
Ninja Girls' only weakness is probably the villians. Kabuki Seigan isn't a terrible bad guy, he just can't be taken seriously because he comes off more like a high school jock that's jealous of the nerd kid whose friends with the hottest girl in the class. I suppose for a tongue-in-cheek comedy, it's effective, but he should've been made funnier instead of making him imposing near the end, where he barely did anything. His two henchmen were more impressive and legitimately funny, easily outshining your top heel in the story.
OVERALL SCORE 8: Ninja Girls is a fun read that's a nice change of pace from other harem titles with it's throwback comedy, lovable cast of wacky personalities, and lovely artwork. If you're looking for gratuitous fan service, this probably won't do the trick, but if you overlook that little nit pick, you'll find a harmless, entertaining story that's character driven. It's short length also keeps it from getting tiresome.

This manga is pretty much a harem title (expect a descent amount of fan service) with plenty of violence (not nearly as much as other titles though). The story is set during medieval japan so expect plenty of samurai and ninja action and the plot is about Raizou, a boy with a horn on his forehead and this horn has led society to demonize him but the truth is the boy is actually a very warmhearted person and is in fact the illegitimate child and last remaining heir to the noble Katana household. He meets up with several kunoichis who serve under the said household ... and together they plan to revive the house by having Raizou marry a princess of a highly influential house, but along the way they continuosly encounter an organization that plans to eliminate the Katana household as well as several other enemies.

The artwork is very good, the girls look gorgeous and the medieval Japanese theme is pretty well drawn. The characters are very well animated, and their expressions are very well drawn.

Pretty much all of the characters are very likable, and there are plenty of characters who will surprise you. One of the more notable characters here is Raizou's mother who happen to be nothing more than a mortuary tablet, although she doens't have any speaking roles, her presence alone provides plenty of comic relief. All characters have a different personality (not necessarily unique to this title) but you should also expect some stereotypical characters here and Raizou happens to be one of them (he's just the kind of here you'd expect to be in a harem title shy, kind and completely clueless when it comes to romance and girls)

Despite the obvious flaws it has, the good far outnumber the bad and its definitely a joy to read. The plot isn't too deep but the characters more than make up for it. The action scenes are also pretty good and for you Naruto fans out there, I'm sure you'll find a technique or two that sounds very very familiar...

Overall Rappi Rangai is a very entertaining title and that's all that matters. The characters are funny, energetic and likable. The action is intense and there are some fight scenes that haven't been seen before in any other title (I think)... There are also plenty of fan service. The only problem I found in this title is that there aren't plenty of English translated scans available out there but the Rappi Rangai team are working very hard so please be patient