Title: Ninja Robot Tobikage (Ninja Senshi Tobikage)
Genre: Adventure, Mecha
Publisher: Studio Pierrot
Director: Masami Anno
Script: Hideki Sonoda
Music: Eiji Kawamura
From what I have gathered after watching the first six episodes, the story of Tobikage takes place on the planet Mars, the new home of the human race living in the 23rd century. And before one could say “Super Teenage Ninja Martians”, the three main characters, Joe, Jenny, and Mike suddenly find themselves implicated in an intergalactic war where they end up helping a pretty blue-eyed alien princess while hoping to return to their home planet, Earth.
Being a rather stubborn individual when it comes to my tastes, once my mind is made up, it takes a lot of effort for it to change. This could have been the same case for Tobikage if it was an anime that fully concentrated on one of the genres I have the most problem with, mecha. Yet, Tobikage has managed to focus on elements other than giant fighting ninja robots, so I quickly took a liking to it.
With Tobikage being an anime from the eighties, where cocky male characters and annoying female characters were far from rare, I should have adapted rapidly to these simple personalities displayed by the characters and moved on. However, once you’ve grown accustomed to anime characters with more or less different personalities than the ones I have mentioned and have grown old over time, well…the pill is harder to swallow. For the moment, the only characters I appreciate so far are Mike (voiced by Masami Kikuchi), for playing the role of a worry-wart and uncertain person, and the sharp-tongued, red-haired general who apparently never leaves the side of his beautiful princess. I couldn’t get into the characters of Joe (Kazehiko Inoue) and Jenny (Noriko Hidaka) since they didn’t really appeal to me. Joe is your everyday cocky teenager and Jenny is the cute girl who has eyes only for the main character.
…I believe it’s for the best if I refrain from developing my thoughts on the most uninteresting character of the show, the princess. Or perhaps not.
This wasn’t surprising for me since I had expected it, but the princess Romina Rodario (Sumi Shimamoto) basically plays the role of a stiff, boring plot device and possible romantic interest for our main character. So if you were expecting anything else for a pretty face, you can always count on Jenny to fill the role of an action-girl.
Story-wise, Tobikage seems to have an interesting story to tell. As I’ve mentioned way above, humans in the 23th century can now live on the planet Mars, but it appears to have not been a choice for our heroes. On the contrary, Joe (and his friends I believe) was rather eager to leave Mars behind and return to his home planet he was apparently forced to leave as a kid, Earth. While it isn’t the most original thing we’ve ever heard, it does raise one’s curiosity as we wonder exactly why was John, as well as other children his age, obliged to go to Mars.
Also, Tobikage touches a few other themes rendering the adventures of Joe more serious than what we would expect at first glance. I can’t touch more upon this subject since I have yet to see the rest of the series and know what direction will the current arc take, but what I can say is that Tobikage handles pretty well the theme of discrimination for an anime with giant ninja robots. The Intergalactic war between the princess and the evil guy can still wait; there are better stories to be told.
If you aren’t into mecha and alien princesses like me, Ninja Robot Tobikage is still an anime one should try out at least once. Why so? Because it has teenage Martian ninjas in it, that’s why.
You can find this anime streaming for free on Anime Sols.
