Back In Black #2

From part I, "Neo-Saitama In Flames": "Back In Black" #2

(Previously, on Ninja Slayer: agents that work behind the scenes in the decadent acid-rainy megalo-city of Neo-Saitama, that's ninjas. Even this night, they carry on their brutal, violent business. However, a mysterious ninja that calls himself Ninja Slayer appears out of nowhere and murders a ninja...)

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.

Back In Black #1

It's long past midnight. The rain polluted with heavy metals consumes blinking neon signs, making their chemical-colored blinking even brighter in this drenched night. The citizen hide themselves under bamboo hats with tired expressions, as if everyone is enduring something. "Cheap, cheap, actually cheap". "Aka-chan..." Attracting the late-night crowd, the advertisements are even louder now.
POWPOWPOW... As a vehicle loudly honks with an automatic horn generator while sprinkling water from the puddles, overworked salarymen grip their wallets and credit chips even tighter, while the street yotamono punks turn around and show it the kitsune sign. In the narrow gap of the night sky between the skyscrapers, a maguro zeppelin passes by.
"Very uplifting stuff!", "Tanning salon", "Waana MIRROR store", "Horse racing bookmaking", "Lots of hot yoga". The sheer mass of neon signs, crackling and blinking from poor cable protection. The steam rising from the foot carts. Chaos. Voices. Death. This is Neo-Saitama. For the capital of Japan, secluded both physically and electronically, this sight is all too familiar.
Busy people, idle people, businessmen, yakuza, oiran, tourists, runaways, suicidal people, Gulf Defense Force scouts, scouts for dangerous work, fast-food store hawkers, karaoke hawkers. Here on the main street, the noise won't cease until it greets the coming of a yellow dawn. On the other hand, just by walking into a certain alley, one will see, darkness.

From part I, "Neo-Saitama In Flames": "Back In Black"