Neo-Saitama In Flames: The Timeline

Since the start of the anime, a lot of people have been discussing the "canon episode order", whether the anime shuffles the episodes around or not, and how closely that order follows the novels. That confusion is perfectly reasonable, as Ninja Slayer's legend is all about poor Japanese translators translating the episodes they can get their hands on in random order. However, some people also tend to state their assumptions as facts, which makes the matters even more confusing. An especially popular misunderstanding is that the Otakumode translations are divided into volumes 1, 2 and 3, even though they are single episodes taken from volumes 4, 1 and 1, respectfully. Before I begin, I'd like to note that all information in this post is taken from the official Japanese wiki, so you can double-check me if you want. All I'm doing is translating publically available info. Oh, and I'm only going to cover the first part, "Neo-Saitama In Flames", since that is the one being adapted in the anime. Now, let's dive in and make sense of it all.




1. The Twitter timeline
This is the order in which the episodes have been published on Twitter. Frankly speaking, it's a mess. The very first published episode, "Zero Tolerant Sansui", starts with "Previously, on Ninja Slayer". The next episode, "Rage Against Tofu", is actually the second half of it, with the first half published only 3 months and 11 more episodes later. And as if that wasn't enough, even the arcs are being published in random order, with the latest part 1 episode published in September 2014 (EDIT: actually, another one has been published not too long ago). Yes, after the part 1 volumes have already been printed. Yes, most probably after the anime planning was done. With that in mind, I'll only list the episodes from part 1 and organize them later in other timelines.

2010:
07/24 - Zero Tolerant Sansui
07/25 - Rage Against Tofu #2
07/25 - Neo-Yakuza For Sale
07/27 - Menace Of Darkninja
07/28 - Surprised Dojo
08/03 - Bane Of Serpent
08/06 - Fist Filled With Regret And Ohagi
08/23 - Killzone Sumotori
08/27 - Apocalypse Inside Tainted Soil
09/08 - Sushi Night At The Barricade
09/19 - Chab-Domain Carnage
10/09 - Yuurei Dancing On Concrete Hakaba
10/24 - Kickout The Ninja Motherfucker
10/24 - Rage Against Tofu
11/12 - The Aftermath
11/12 - Merry Christmas Neo-Saitama
11/16 - Conspiracy Upon The Broken Blade
11/22 - Fuji Sun Rising
12/01 - One Minute Before The Tanuki
12/12 - Stranger Stranger Than Fiction
12/28 - Dead Moon On The Red Sky
2011:
01/18 - At The Treasonersvill
02/05 - Necromantic Feedback
02/08 - A Kind Of Satsubatsu Night
03/09 - Ogre The Cold Steel
03/10 - Glance Of Mother-Curse #1
04/07 - Biotech Is Chupacabra
04/08 - Last Girl Standing
04/30 - Neo-Saitama In Flames
07/18 - Glance Of Mother-Curse #2
10/13 - Day Of The Lobster
11/05 - Machine Of Vengeance
12/26 - Glance Of Mother-Curse #3
2012:
01/06 - Atrocity In Neo-Saitama City
01/14 - Swan Song Sung By A Faded Crow
08/02 - New Messenger Of What
11/30 - Guided By Masashi
2014:
04/?? - Day Of The Lobster 2
04/18 - Katana Sword And Oiran Sorcery
08/04 - Back In Black
09/26 - Destroy The Shogi Bastard
2015:
08/12 - Death Of Butterfly
08/18 - The Fortune Teller

2. The novel timeline
This one is much more straightforward: after all, it's hard to mess up the order when the episodes are written down and published as books. With one minor exception: some episodes have never been published before being included in the printed novels. There aren't that many of them, though, and it doesn't affect the big picture in any way.

Volume 1:
 - Zero Tolerant Sansui
 - Bane Of Serpent
 - Neo-Yakuza For Sale
 - Menace Of Darkninja
 - Killzone Sumotori
 - Kickout The Ninja Motherfucker
 - Apocalypse Inside Tainted Soil
 - Rage Against Tofu
 - Surprised Dojo
 - Last Girl Standing
 - Fist Filled With Regret And Ohagi
 - Born In Red-Black (first publishment)

Volume 2:
 - Pankichi Highway Burnout (first publishment)
 - Chab-Domain Carnage
 - Yuurei Dancing On Concrete Hakaba
 - Sushi Night At The Barricade
 - Fuji Sun Rising
 - The Aftermath
 - A Kind Of Satsubatsu Night
 - At The Treasonersvill
 - Swan Song Sung By A Faded Crow
 - Glance Of Mother-Curse #1
 - Ogre The Cold Steel

Volume 3:
 - Merry Christmas Neo-Saitama
 - Conspiracy Upon The Broken Blade
 - Necromantic Feedback
 - One Minute Before The Tanuki
 - Atrocity In Neo-Saitama City
 - Glance Of Mother-Curse #2
 - Ever Felt Cheated (first publishment)
 - Stranger Stranger Than Fiction

Volume 4:


 - Machine Of Vengeance
 - Dead Moon On The Red Sky
 - Biotech Is Chupacabra
 - Korosu Oblivion (first publishment)
 - Treasure Every Meeting (first publishment)
 - Neo-Saitama In Flames

3. The chronological order
Of course, the question that is on everyone's mind is "But in which order did these events take place in-universe?". That question is a bit difficult to answer, as there are many parallel arcs that don't intersect, but the fans from the Japanese wiki have put together the rough idea. Since this timeline also includes episodes that weren't in the novels, I figured I might as well write down which ones have been adapted into manga or anime. As a reminder, the three manga adaptations are Ninja Slayer (no subtitle, I'll be calling it "the manga"), Glamorous Killers and Ninja Slayer Kills. Sorry if it gets difficult to read. Oh, and since episode 25 is so... special, I'll put an * after the episodes that were included in it.

The First Year, Prologue: Seven Days Of Darkness
Fujikido has just been possessed by Naraku, who is free to do whatever he wants with his body (which naturally ends up killing all ninjas in sight).
 - Born In Red-Black (the anime, Kills, Glamorous Killers)
 - Divergence After Dark (Kills-exclusive)
 - Back In Black (Kills)
 - Kickout The Ninja Motherfucker (the anime*, Kills)
 - Back In Black, parts 3-5

The First Year
Fujikido takes the name of Ninja Slayer and learns that an evil ninja corporation is working behind the scenes.
 - Machine Of Vengeance (the anime, the manga)
 - Neo-Yakuza for Sale (the anime, the manga, Kills)
 - Rage Against Tofu (the anime)

The First Year: Dragon Dojo Raid
Soukaiya develops a plan to destroy the Dragon Dojo, while Ninja Slayer does everything in his power to stop them.
 - Surprised Dojo (the anime, Kills)
 - The Aftermath (the anime*)
 - Atrocity In Neo-Saitama City (the anime*, the manga)

The First Year: Search For The Vial
Dragon Gendoso is struck by the anti-ninja virus, "Takeuchi", and only Ninja Slayer can find the cure.
 - Death Of Butterfly
 - The Fortune Teller
 - Bane Of Serpent (the anime)
 - Yuurei Dancing On Concrete Hakaba (the anime*)
 - Killzone Sumotori (the manga)
 - Day Of The Lobster (the anime)
 - Day Of The Lobster 2 (the anime)
 - Apocalypse Inside Tainted Soil (the anime)
 - Destroy The Shogi Bastard (the anime*)
 - One Minute Before The Tanuki (the anime, the manga)
 - Zero Tolerant Sansui (the anime*, Glamorous Killers, Kills)
 - Menace Of Darkninja (the anime, Glamorous Killers, Kills)
 - Tyranny Within (unpublished)

The First Year: Looking For Yukano
Gendoso's granddaughter, Yukano, disappears without a trace. What happened to her, and what will Ninja Slayer do when he finally meets her?
 - Fist Filled With Regret And Ohagi (the anime*)
 - Chab-Domain Carnage
 - Sushi Night At The Barricade (the anime)
 - At The Treasonersvill (the anime)
 - Ever Felt Cheated (the anime)
 - Merry Christmas Neo-Saitama

The Second Year
All the consequences of the dojo raid are dealt with, and Ninja Slayer resumes his chase after Soukaiya.
 - Conspiracy Upon The Broken Blade (the anime)
 - Ogre The Cold Steel
 - Fuji Sun Rising (the anime*)
 - Glance Of Mother-Curse
 - A Kind Of Satsubatsu Night

The Second Year: Zombie Ninja
Deep within the facilities of Yoroshisan, Lee Araki-sensei is working on a brand-new kind of ninja, a zombie ninja.
 - Zazen And Ninja (anime-exclusive)
 - Dead Moon On The Red Sky (the anime*)
 - Necromantic Feedback

The Second Year: Yamoto
A schoolgirl named Yamoto Koki becomes a ninja and leaves her uneventful days behind.
 - Last Girl Standing (the anime, the manga)
 - New Messenger Of What (the anime*, the manga)
 - New Messenger Of Past And Future
 - Swan Song Sung By A Faded Crow (the anime)
 - Treasure Every Meeting (the anime)

The Second Year: Before The Siege
Ninja Slayer and Nancy Lee keep disturbing Soukaiya's plans. The day of the final fight draws closer.
 - Korosu Oblivion (the anime*)
 - Biotech Is Chupacabra (the anime*)
 - Katana Sword And Oiran Sorcery
 - Stranger Stranger Than Fiction (the anime)

Part 1 Finale
Ninja Slayer faces Laomoto Khan in the battle that will decide their fate once and for all.
 - Neo-Saitama In Flames (the anime)

Disconnected episodes
These episodes mention no connections to the others, making their position on the timeline questionable.
 - Pankichi Highway Burnout
 - Guided By Masashi (the anime*)
 - Day Of The Lobster #3

Now, what exactly is that "Tyranny Within" episode? Who knows, only short hints can be found across the published episodes. It might get published one day, so let's wait for it.

That's it for today, hopefully this will let people get a better idea about Ninja Slayer's timeline, or at least learn to deal with its randomness.