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Stuntmen and Swordgirls
Sans outright magical powers, these are superheroes in ninja trappings. Their stunt-team-driven films have the otherwise stealthy
assassins in distinctive costumes, swinging around on ropes, fighting in tree tops and taking monster dives off castle towers.
Body counts are absurd, as is the amount of otherwise fatal wounding the hero can take. Supermen ninja lit up screens in the
60's, 80's (Chiba and Sanada again) and have come back strong in the digitally-assisted new millenium. The American films
of Kosugi and Dudikoff are certainly born of this ilk. The most recent mutation of the super-sword-hero is the cute female
pop-star as invincible warrior, who despite a complete lack of conditioning, body mass, or real kendo technique goes toe-to-toe
with any supervillain or professional army.
RECOMMENDED:
Shogun's Ninja
Ninja in the Dragon's Den
Red Shadow
Azumi and Azumi 2: Death or Love
Amazing Anime Action
Unburdened by the things that make reality so boring - physics, gravity, limits of human anatomy (and the limits of modern
hair products) - animation is a great vehicle for ninja adventure. Ground-breaking B&W anime of the early 60's help create
the original ninja craze, and set often revisited conventions like shuriken fighting amongst tree tops and ninja of normal
size battling enormous oponents of absurd scale. The entire ninja idiom is currently being redefined by the enormous multi-media
sensation Naruto (black suits traded for rave-wear, metal-plated headbands and kunai knives being all the rage).
Shinobi-toons have run the gamut of age groups in Japan, but most of what has made it into English is adult fare for the 'mature'
otaku in all of us.
RECOMMENDED:
Ninja Scroll (the movie NOT the TV series)
The Dagger of Kamui
Ninja Ressurection
Naruto
The American Films
Ninjutsu superimposed onto the American superhero model. Logo-emblazoned black and red suits worn night or day, one-weapon/one-kill
martial arts based on a fetish for outre arsenals, lone ninja wandering America bringing shuriken justice to movie and TV
screens alike. Just as common; ninja 2-dimensionally redefined as evil death cultists and cheap merc assassins. The brief
but intense flash-in-the-martial-arts-cinema pan that was our 80's Ninja Craze answered the question of how quickly a genre
can burn itself out.
RECOMMENDED:
The Octagon
Enter the Ninja
Revenge of the Ninja
American Ninja
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