"Kunoichi: A member of the Shadow Team and under the direct command of the Council and doctors of various departments. Her identity is shrouded in secrecy. Uses ninjutsu to cover her trail, making it impossible to track her down."
...The Ninja were basically rural types who had to think outside the bushido box, and therefore got a reputation for deception and trickery; the legends of mystical powers came later. It's like assigning magical powers to The Beverly Hillbilliesnote and then having them topple governments and hire out to the highest bidding supervillain. Okay, my version of The Beverly Hillbillies movie probably would have sucked, too, but it wouldn't have been dull.
— Dr. Freex of the Bad Movie Report
, in the intro to his review of the Godfrey Ho Ninja Movie Ninja Phantom Heroes
, in the intro to his review of the Godfrey Ho Ninja Movie Ninja Phantom HeroesScience has never gotten along with the ninja. One side is always going, "You can't explain me!" while the other shrieks, "Who said that!?" It's gotten so bad that if you put Science and a ninja in the same room, they just pretend the other doesn't exist, and they're both right.
We feel the fire burning bright in the night,
Where the warrior lives, and the warrior dies!
Wherever you go, we will be by your side,
For the spirit of Ninja will carry the night!
Where the warrior lives, and the warrior dies!
Wherever you go, we will be by your side,
For the spirit of Ninja will carry the night!
—"Strike of the Ninja" by DragonForce note
"Shadows"
He is stronger than steel and moves faster than a whirlwind.
Sometimes he hides in mud. Other times he transforms his shape like an ever-changing cloud.
Although his fighting spirit burns like fire, his mind is as calm as still water.
"Violation of the Commandments"
Should shinobi fail before completing the mission, he will disappear before the dawn and vanish forever.
Keep this knowledge in your heart and mind.
He is stronger than steel and moves faster than a whirlwind.
Sometimes he hides in mud. Other times he transforms his shape like an ever-changing cloud.
Although his fighting spirit burns like fire, his mind is as calm as still water.
"Violation of the Commandments"
Should shinobi fail before completing the mission, he will disappear before the dawn and vanish forever.
Keep this knowledge in your heart and mind.
— Excerpt from the Secret Manual of Oboro Ninjutsu, quoted in the intro of Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master
Ninjas! Worse than termites. Cannae ever get them out of the rafters. I'll spook him down!
—Scrooge McDuck, DuckTales (2017), "Timephoon!"
The first priority to the ninja is to win without fighting.
—Masaaki Hatsumui, Soke of the Togakure-ryu school of ninjutsu.
"Where you seen? In this, you must never lapse. Even those who would be our allies would not understand. Our domain is the shadow. Stray from it reluctantly, for when you do, you must strike hard and fade away... without a trace."
— Master Splinter, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)
Henri Ducard: You know how to fight six men. We can teach you how to engage six hundred. You know how to disappear. We can teach you how to become truly invisible. [...] The ninja understands that invisibility is a matter of patience and agility. [...] Ninjitsu employs explosive powders.
Bruce Wayne: As weapons?
Ducard: Or distractions. Theatricality and deception are powerful agents. You must become more than just a man in the mind of your opponent.
Bruce Wayne: As weapons?
Ducard: Or distractions. Theatricality and deception are powerful agents. You must become more than just a man in the mind of your opponent.
Batman Begins, from Bruce Wayne's training with the League of Shadows
The late 20th century in American pop culture truly belonged to the ninja. A byproduct of the Martial Arts Movie craze of the 1970s, people in the west could not get enough of the concept of the ninja. The idea of a One-Man Army wrapped head-to-toe in cloth taking down entire complexes of people with the power of magic spells and exotic weaponry proved to be super compelling to American audiences in the 80s and 90s. This idea of ninja infiltrated all facets of popular culture, from the movies to the TV to the video games. If you grew up during that period, there was no doubt that there was nothing cooler than a ninja.
But it wasn't just America who was feeling the draw of this mythologised ideal of a warrior-spy from the Sengoku period. The ninja was also a figure of intrigue in its home country of Japan. After Futaro Yamada introduced the modern idea of ninjas as these superpowered, almost supernatural beings in his 1959 novel The Kouga Ninja Scrolls, that mythic idea of the ninja has never gone away, especially in the late 20th century. Both Japan and America were having their own ninja crazes that fed off each other in loving symbiosis for many years to come, and from this, we get a lot of ninja anime. With the premiere of the 1985 film The Dagger of Kamui, it was almost seen as a starting point for the modern ninja anime. Ninja Scroll, Wrath Of The Ninja, Ninja Resurrection, Rantaro the Ninja Boy, Jubei-chan the Ninja Girl, and all of them, both eastern and western ninja crazes, would eventually coalesce into the big dog of the genre, Naruto. And while the ninja is still an archetype to be found in both Japanese and American media, it still pales in comparison to the late 20th century's amount of ninja nonsense, which was also an anime.
But it wasn't just America who was feeling the draw of this mythologised ideal of a warrior-spy from the Sengoku period. The ninja was also a figure of intrigue in its home country of Japan. After Futaro Yamada introduced the modern idea of ninjas as these superpowered, almost supernatural beings in his 1959 novel The Kouga Ninja Scrolls, that mythic idea of the ninja has never gone away, especially in the late 20th century. Both Japan and America were having their own ninja crazes that fed off each other in loving symbiosis for many years to come, and from this, we get a lot of ninja anime. With the premiere of the 1985 film The Dagger of Kamui, it was almost seen as a starting point for the modern ninja anime. Ninja Scroll, Wrath Of The Ninja, Ninja Resurrection, Rantaro the Ninja Boy, Jubei-chan the Ninja Girl, and all of them, both eastern and western ninja crazes, would eventually coalesce into the big dog of the genre, Naruto. And while the ninja is still an archetype to be found in both Japanese and American media, it still pales in comparison to the late 20th century's amount of ninja nonsense, which was also an anime.
Kyoto Video, reviewing Ninja Cadets