I hate to make this analogy, but the best way to describe the first third of Jubei-chan is the result of Sailor Moon trading in her moon scepter for a katana and her cat for a zealous yet clueless servant, battling a new villain every episode with little of anything else going on. I fortunately underestimated anime once again; things take a turn for the best a short while later as characters break out of their prosaic molds to show their true colors.

The first four episodes of this series are basically the same; Jubei doesn't want to wear the lovely eyepatch, Koinosuke insists, she wears it and beats the baddie after doing a typical transformation sequence. Such recurrence is also noticed in the music with only one noticeable song on its program. Things slowly pick up after that, however. The story gets some intricacy, the characters are developed and their pasts surface. This is perhaps not enough to offset the unmemorable humor and tedious repetition but enough to finally get me craving the next episode.

The much-anticipated display of Jubei's skills is of debatable appeal. I understand realistic fights should be short, but since they are the highlights of their corresponding episodes, disappointment is bound to occur. You start to wonder why the antagonist even bothers sending his minions to get so badly beaten. The fights do obey the rule of quality over quantity, though. Animation is never astonishing but remains explicit and sinuous more often than not.

A few things were added to keep manga fans happy but are a complete waste of time from an anime viewpoint. Even with that in mind, Jubei-chan the Ninja Girl still comes off well, but there is unquestionably room for improvement.