'A Ninja and an Assassin Under One Roof' is a fun but underrated anime this Spring 2025 season.

§ Overview

Fresh from killing someone, Koga Konoha one day finds a ninja named Kusagakure Satoko, who escaped from a village of ninjas. As a ninja, she was a failure, but she is good at one thing: turning nonliving things into leaves. Konoha, who sees potential in her, offers her a place to stay on the condition that Satoko helps Konoha clean up her mess.

§ Notes

It's a dark comedy because that subject matter — that of killing people in cold blood — is appalling in other contexts. It's just made for laughs without necessarily endorsing said activity in the real world.

The humour is rather dry, and I believe that, among Hanazawa Kana's characters this Spring 2025 season, this is her best performance. She voices Konoha really well. Her stoic, nonchalant character, whilst easily stereotyped as a kuudere, brings out Kana's maturity, as she was usually given characters who are rather emotional.

The anime doesn't critique the violence, nor does it romanticise it. Rather, the humour is there to entertain us, but relevant social issues are inserted without being too preachy. The issues include

Whilst this is not a Monogatari-type of visual feast, Shaft will always be Shaft. We see stuff like a Star Wars opening crawl, as well as a few seconds where the anime resembles cel animation. Despite the news that much of their staff left them, Shaft still has their signature visual style, including the Shaft tilt that made Studio Shaft popular.

The OP and ED are cute, which is consistent with the light-hearted tone of this anime.
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There are some yuri undertones between Konoha and Satoko. Men are rare in this story, and Satoko's leader is in a girl-to-girl relationship. Fans of yuri may like this the most.

Character Meanings (Charactonym)

Koga Konoha (古賀 このは): Her surname Koga (古賀) means 'old celebration/congratulation.' このは can refer to konoha (木の葉) as in tree leaf or konoha (此の葉) as in this leaf. (A related fact is that Naruto's village, Konoha, which has a longer name, Konohagakure (木ノ葉隠れの里), means 'Hidden Leaf Village') Since she provides a home for Satoko, her name is a perfect fit.

Kusakakure Satoko (草隠 さとこ): Satoko and other ninjas from the village are surnamed Kusakakure (草隠), which means 'hidden in the grass.' This is a surname worthy of a ninja, as these people are supposed to be sneaky. Satoko can refer to satoko (里子) as in 'child of the village/hometown.' Other possible means of satoko are satoko (聡子) as in 'wise child,' satoko (悟子) as in 'enlightened child,' or satoko (覚子) as in 'awakened child.' Whilst these are not true for Satoko in the anime, as she is so naive, such possible meanings suggest that she is in for a major character development down the road in the source material.

§ Conclusion

It's quite underrated, and I almost missed watching this gem. If you want some fun comedy after a busy day, this one is for you.

NOTA BENE: A grade of 7 out of 10 [[or 70 out of 100 in anilist] means that I find this anime is very good and two notches above average. I enjoyed watching it.

It is a high score because it is two notches above average. It's not mid or average unlike the misconception of some people in this site.

My enjoyment spectrum lies from 4 to 10. If I have scored an anime below 4, I actively dislike it.