House of Ninjas follows a dysfunctional family of ninjas who have retired from their thrilling ninja lives. Now they must return to the shadows to contend with looming threats. The series is currently streaming on Netflix.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
Haru Tawara develops a crush on Karen Ito, a journalist investigating the shadowy forces involved in several unsolved cases.
Haru helps her in her investigation into the Pleasure Cruise incident.
Meanwhile, several members of his dysfunctional family of ninjas are tempted to return to their shinobi missions.
Haru and Karen’s investigations take them to Gentenkai, a cult headed by the same man Haru spared six years ago, and also who killed his elder brother Gaku just a few minutes later.
Meanwhile, Haru’s mother Yoko investigates the cruise incident herself. His younger sister Nagi is also fooled into handing over an important scroll.
The family eventually comes together, as a lost family member returns. However, suspicions and threats loom large.
The family has to embark on a mission to stop their enemy clan, which has emerged once again and threatens to kill many.
While many are saved, many others are killed, as powers that be are powers no more, as the Fuma seeps deeper than ever into the political structure.
The head of the Fuma clan is killed, but a new lord emerges in Gaku, who moves ahead for the next big plan, as House of Ninjas season 1 ends.
Ending explained:
The Fuma clan
The Fuma clan is an old family of ninjas who don’t serve any lord but their cause, unlike other shinobi clans.
The Fumas are the arch-nemesis of the Tawaras (the fake name of the Hattori clan). Hattori Hanzo defeated Fuma Kotaro the 5th and took his mask when he defeated him.
It’s a war trophy from the time when he defeated the Hojo clan and drove the Fuma clan out of Odawara.
Fuma Kotaro the 19th
After the death of the 18th Fuma Kotaro — the name of all the heads of the clan that gets passed to each new successor — the new leader is Shikkoku.
The night he’s made the new Fuma Kotaro, he talks about their ancestors’ ancient desires and realizes them.
When he recruits Gaku Tawara, he talks about uprooting the people in power who have been using and abusing shinobi for their convenience.
He loses himself a bit in his quest to realize whatever it is that his clan has been working for for so many years.
He proclaims himself a god while leading the new cult he creates, called Gentenkai.
During the climactic battle with Haru Tawara, he gets his arm chopped off and in a daze, keeps mumbling that he’s a god while trying to put back his severed arm into place.
He’s soon killed by Gaku, who saves Haru from killing someone, telling him he should keep being himself.
The scroll
In the finale of House of Ninjas, Gaku, now the 20th Fuma Kotaro, meets with Mukai Toko, a descendant of the Hojo clan and acts as a puppet of the Fuma clan.
He talks about having the scroll in their possession, which they procured from Tawaras.
Gaku says that as long as they have the scroll, the Demon Gate can be opened.
As to what this Demon Gate is, no explanation is given in the House of Ninjas.
However, Gaku does believe that Japan will be on top and the dominant threat when it opens, regaining its strength once again.
The Gentenkai
Under the leadership of Shikkoku, or Fuma Kotaro the 19th, the Fuma created Gentenkai, a religious group that managed to garner 30,000 followers.
They attract a younger crowd by addressing environmental issues. It’s essentially a cult that the Fuma use as a front and a means to enact their plan.
They select a few who they involve in a ritual, where they are required to drink holy water which kills some but others are safe, who are welcomed to the Fuma clan.
The Solar Eclipse plan
Meanwhile, the Gentenkai is a cult whose objective seems to be the date of the Solar Eclipse.
It is a momentous date on which the members will receive the Holy Powder.
This powder is made from yellow flowers with strong neurotoxins that can kill anyone with the cure being impossible.
The members will then spread the powder to people around them; in doing so, they will end up killing a lot of people.
However, that’s just one, and not even the main part of the Solar Eclipse plan.
The more important part entails the assassination of many of the powerful figures in the country.
These victims include the National Democratic Party members who gather for the last appeals of the party’s presential election candidates.
Apart from the NDP, the police and the special forces are also targeted.
The head of the National Defense is also killed, and he’s replaced by another powerful figure, who is a Fuma member.
Japan goes through a major upheaval in terms of the powers that be, and even the higher-ups of the Bureau of Ninja Management are replaced by the Fuma, as House of Ninjas concludes.
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