Unmarked spoilers below.
The Game Itself
- It’s definitely a bit disturbing seeing your Kid Hero avatar get brutally mangled when someone performs an Ippon on you, what with the camera lingering on you twitching limply before cutting to the killcam. It’s particularly creepy when the player’s neck appears to have been snapped on occasion, bringing to mind more of a brutal bloodsport than a competition for kid ninjas.
- The Shinobi Beast Ninjutsu transforms your character into a hulking, three-eyed Venom-esque monster, complete with distorted voice filter. They have temporary Super Armor while attacking, so it's a bad idea to face them head-on as they can easily one-shot you if your health is lower enough. Thankfully, the monster form can be beaten if you play smart and tactically, or have an effective Gum Ninjutsu on reserve.
- Additionally, all of the animations the player character can do as a human, they can also do as the Shinobi Beast, many of which dip straight into Unintentional Uncanny Valley due to the model rigging being different; cheerful or comical expressions come out as looking very wrong instead.
- Upon transforming into the Shinobi Beast, the player character lets out a hellishly shrill screech that can be heard across the map, serving as pretty much a signal to warn every other player to get the hell out of range the minute they’re in its sights. It gets worse when there’s more than one player on the map with the Shinobi Beast in their kit, since it means you’ll be hearing it very often (and sometimes right after each other).
- And now we have Release the Beast, an entire Feature Battle mode centered around running away from a group of these things. And now they're even bigger and even come with horns this time! And to make matters worse, you have no weapon to defend yourself with; all you have is Gum Launcher and a slow-charging Ninja Tornado, both of which can only stagger the beasts to buy you a bit more time to get away. Oh, and the beasts' attack is not only a instant KO if they catch you, but you turn into one of them when you respawn, forcing you to hunt down other players to turn back to normal.
- Normally there are only three beasts at a time in this mode, but on occasions you can manage to make it so there's more.note Meaning that with a little set-up, it's possible to have a Release the Beast match with seven beasts chasing one player. It's as terrifying as it sounds.
- The Baiting Shark Ninjutsu is a trap that lays down a scroll on the ground, which summons a shark to attack whatever unfortunate ninja gets too close. Think about it for a minute: you can summon an actual ''shark'' as a Gum Ninjutsu against other kid characters...that swallows them whole.
- Chapter 1 of the game's story mode reveals that the Space Ninjas are kidnapping children with shinobi blood and harvesting their DNA for...some purpose. You heard that right: there are space aliens abducting children! We even see school buses being attacked by them, which Van has to stop midway through the chapter and later has to retrieve stolen DNA capsules. It's never explained why they want the DNA, why they're kidnapping children to get it, or how they're even getting it from them.
Anime and Story
- As discussed below, the WNA has a habit of dealing with those they deem enemies or even those who simply know too much.
- Throughout the anime, Berecca, Burton, and Ron are all hunted back by a clan called the Oniwabanshu. Who they are exactly isn't made clear, but it's heavily implied that they're affiliated with the WNA. It's made clear right from the get-go that they have no intention of showing any mercy towards them, and will not stop until they achieve their goal. The only thing keeping them safe is the WNA Academy, as Genryusai states they can't do anything to the students there.
- After the successful Ninja-Gum experiment, Berecca and Burton's records are completely wiped from the WNA databases, and the WNA even go as far as to evict them from their homes and effectively erase any trace of them whatsoever. And this is on top of trying to kill them.
- Lucy. When she isn't being The Woobie, she's an Ax-Crazy Blood Knight who takes any excuse to rip something to shreds.
- Her powers alone are scary as hell. She has the unique ability to manipulate metal objects, such as street signs, chains, and even balconies and railings, and is able to change their shape at will (e.g. using a bunch of street signs as tendrils to attack a target). We can see her messing with innocent passersby seemingly just for the hell of it shortly after accepting herself, even grabbing someone and waving them around like a dog with a chew toy.
- The first thing Lucy does upon unlocking her powers is to use the metal tendrils to restrain the two thugs that were bullying her and her friends, and prepare to attack them. If it weren't for her friends' terrified reactions snapping her out of it, Lucy might have seriously hurt them if not killed them outright.
- Lucy's comment before the attack makes this even creepier. Her creepy smile and the tone of her voice makes her seem absolutely delighted to bring whatever wrath she was planning to bring upon them. It gets worse when you remember she was no older than twelve years old when this happened.Lucy: I banish you...into darkness!
- When Chloe is about to get struck by an out-of-control car while crossing the street, Lucy shields her by forming a barrier of mangled street signs. In the anime the car slows down enough to just hit the makeshift barricade without much damage done, but in the webtoon the car slams into it head-on and flips over. We don't actually see the vehicle afterwards, but it's very possible that crash might've killed whoever was inside.
- Chloe's reaction to all this in the webtoon is surprisingly realistic. She's left visibly shaken, and she's unable to say anything and barely able to move as the police escort her to a police car. Whether it's because she almost got hit by a car, was shocked by the sudden appearance of the metal barricade Lucy summoned, or a mix of both is not clear, however. Not that it makes it any better for Lucy, mind you.
- Her powers alone are scary as hell. She has the unique ability to manipulate metal objects, such as street signs, chains, and even balconies and railings, and is able to change their shape at will (e.g. using a bunch of street signs as tendrils to attack a target). We can see her messing with innocent passersby seemingly just for the hell of it shortly after accepting herself, even grabbing someone and waving them around like a dog with a chew toy.
- The WNA makes an attempt to assassinate Ron and Jane in the anime by luring them into an abandoned apartment and blowing it up, covering it as a fire. Thankfully, Ron and Jane escape with the help of Ninaja-Gum.
- Emma, Lucy, and Warren are all taken hostage by a gang of criminals they encounter while out exploring. While the gang sells off their stolen goods, they leave them chained up in an abandoned house and later decide they'll have to "finish them off" so they don't expose their identities to the authorities. Repeat: this gang was ready to murder two children just so they could get away with their crime without a second thought. Thankfully, all three escape long before they get the chance to do so.
- Episode 11 has the cast partake in a challenge where they're split into two teams (Team Coyote with Jane, Lucy, Kappei, and Van; and Team Jaguar with Berecca, Emma, Burton, and Ron), dropped off in the middle of nowhere (a thick forest for Team Jaguar and a scorching desert for Team Coyete), and tasked with making their way back to the academy in one piece before the other team does. They're completely alone, with limited supplies and resources to help them. Reminder that these are children they're sending out into the wild to fight for themselves, and there's no guarantee they'll even make it back alive.
- To make matters worse for Team Jaguar, the Oniwabanshu are still hunting down Ron, Berecca, and Burton, and show up during the night in another attempt to kill them.
- Fridge Horror starts to kick in when you remember that the Academy was the safest place for them because the students were protected. Not only are the Oniwabanshu taking advantage of the situation where they're vulnerable outside the Academy, but it also implies that the WNA really do just leave the students out there with zero support and that they're all at serious risk of harm or even death out there. How many students may have gotten hurt or even died during this challenge that we don't know about?
- To make matters worse for Team Jaguar, the Oniwabanshu are still hunting down Ron, Berecca, and Burton, and show up during the night in another attempt to kill them.
- Team Coyote passes the time telling ghost stories to lighten the mood. While Jane, Van, and Kappei's aren't that bad or scary, Lucy's delivery of her story is genuinely unnerving thanks to Lucy's unhinged facial expressions and Aoi Yūki's performance.
- And just when she finishes her story, the camera pans down to reveal something stalking them, which freaks out everyone but Lucy, who doesn't see it.
- Episode 12 is terror to the max as what should be a routine training exercise in the style of hide and seek quickly goes wrong with the sudden arrival of the Space Ninja. By the end of it, all of the students except Jane and Burton are left with various injuries, much to the former two's shock. Emma in particular is shaken up by this.
- Van comes across a very unsettling building filled to the brim with creepy mannequins. It's a short but surprisingly creepy scene, especially for anyone with a fear of mannequins. Lucy uses this to her advantage for a prank to scare Van.
- Lucy brings out her power again to defeat a giant green Space Ninja by brutally impaling it with several metal tendrils. The look of sheer sadistic excitement on Lucy's face as she does this is a little disturbing to see on someone as young as Lucy, and Emma's shock at the incident really helps to show that Lucy really might not be alright in the head.
- During the group's first real mission, the new instructor "Chris", who's secretly Tsukikage in disguise, traps Berecca in the cave and attempts to murder her right then and there. Had it not been for Burton and Ron's quick arrival, he would've succeeded.
- Despite the failed mission, Tsukikage manages to figure out that the child Ron is the same one that they knew about and reports this to Allen. What this exactly means for Ron is unclear, but it can't be good.
- In Episode 17, Ron attempts to infiltrate the WNA HQ's server room, with Jane as support. Unlike Burton and Berecca however, they aren't so lucky and Ron is immediately confronted by Allen upon arriving in the server room and he wastes no time in attempting to dispose of him. The look of shock and horror on Jane's face when she realizes they've been made helps solidify how screwed they are.
- Allen shows absolutely no mercy towards Ron and manages to get a good hit on Ron's leg during the confrontation. It shows that he's not just all talk and he's perfectly willing to get his hands dirty to further his goals, even if it means killing one of WNA's students.
- Furthermore, this episode all but confirms that Allen's planning some sort of hostile takeover of the WNA and may even be using the academy to form an army. With this added to the previous confirmation that he's working with Harold Cook, who is the Komerican president, on this scheme, the stakes may have just gotten much higher. And we still don't know why he's doing this or what the president wants out of it.
- In between Tsukikage's disguises in Episode 19, his voice sounds like the two voices of the disguises he's transitioning between layered on top of each other. Hearing this coming out of "Eliza" is pretty creepy.
- A Chocomin pretends to be weak so it can gain the kids' trust. It manages to locate the Ninja Gum factory and is able to tell the rest of the Space Ninjas exactly where it is. We don't know what the Space Ninjas' purpose is, but if the most basic mook is able to strategize like that, it's not that big of a stretch that the rest of the army is smarter than they let on, making them far from innocent and even more dangerous than previously thought. This is only further proven when they pretend to fall for the WNA's bait while the rest of the army attempts to invade the factory while the majority of the team is distracted.
- The Chocomin takes a sign of a soda brand's mascot and seemingly absorbs it, turning into an actual crazed version of the mascot to fight Burton and the rest of the crew, complete with the Chocomin itself as its tongue. This ability comes completely out of nowhere (unless you've played the game, of course), and it was able to make this monstrosity from just a sign depicting the mascot. Imagine what ELSE the Space Ninja might be able to turn into with this ability...
- Not to mention, this is a Chocomin, a basic mook, who does this. We don't know if other Space Ninja are capable of doing this as well, but if the lowest-ranking creature in the army is capable of doing this, what other abilities could the other Space Ninja be hiding?
- Just when it seems like the crew have won the day, a Shadow Ninja suddenly throws a surprise bomb that catches Emma point blank and knocks her off the bridge, with Lucy diving off after her. The bridge collapses soon after, and Berecca, Ron, and Burton fall with it, leaving Gen'unsai, Van, Kappei, and Jane the only ones left. The episode ends on a cliffhanger, meaning we don't know immediately whether or not they survived. Not even a few minutes after reuniting, and the kids have been separated once again, and worst of all, in hostile territory this time.
