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Ninja are stock characters in Japanese and world popular culture. The following examples are separated into anime, armed groups, internet, literature, music, novels, other, products, sports, television and business. Ninja in live-action films and video games are discussed in separate articles.
Contents
History
In modern Japan, ninja are seen as a national myth that stems from a combination of old folk tales and modern day popular culture.
Ninja-themed international media franchises include the 1980s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book and animated series and the late-1990s Naruto manga and anime series.
Anime and manga
The following manga and anime series feature ninja:
Sanpei Shirato has written ninja-themed manga, including Akame – The Red Eyes, Band of Ninja (Ninja Bugeicho) (later adapted into an anime film), Kaze no Ishimaru, Ninpou Hiwa, Ookami Kozou, Ninja Senpuu, The Legend of Kamui and Watari (later adapted into the live-action film Watari, the Ninja Boy).
The following stories contain a ninja character, but are not ninja-themed:
Supporting ninja appearances include Ah! Itoshi no Banchousama (Hirayama Hayaka's ninja bodyguard), Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo (OVER's Ninja Assassin Corp and the Ultimate Five Assassins), Code Geass (Sayoko Shinozaki), Cutey Honey, Dinosaur King (episode "Ninja Nightmare"), F-Zero: GP Legend (Dream), Hero Tales, Hunter x Hunter (Hanzo and Machi), Hyper Police (Kasumi), Kamen no Maid Guy (ninja maids Shizuku and Tsurara), King Arthur, Kinnikuman (the Ninja), Kirby: Right Back at Ya! (Kirby becomes a ninja and works with Benikage and Yamikage in the episode "Visiting Ninja, Benikage!"), Kotetsu no Daibouken (Kagari), Lone Wolf and Cub, Machine Robo: Battle Hackers, Magical Nyan Nyan Taruto (Rakugan), Magical Princess Minky Momo ("Ninja Arrived! Momo is Ninja"), Mega Man Star Force (the Tribe-On transformation Green Ninja), Metal Fighter Miku ("Pretty Four vs The Lady Ninjas"), Miami Guns, My-HiME/My-Otome (Akira Okuzaki), Nagasarete Airantou (Mikoto), Oh My Goddess! (Marller's ninja trio), Planetes (Tanabe's neighbors in "The Lunar Flying Squirrels"), the Pokémon series and Pokémon: The Electric Tale of Pikachu (Aya, Koga-Kyō and Janine-Anzu), PQ Angels, Raimuiro Ryuukitan X (Kasuri Hattori), Ranma 1/2 (Konatsu, Sasuke Sarugakure, and Shirokuro), Saber Marionette, Sailor Moon (the villain of the week Oniwabandana), Sakura Wars, Samurai Champloo ("Bogus Booty" and "Baseball Blues"), Samurai Girl: Real Bout High School, Sengoku Collection (Kotaro Fuuma), Sonic X (the E-91 Lady Ninja and Espio the Chameleon), Sorcerer Hunters, The King of Braves GaoGaiGar (Yūsha Ō GaoGaiGā) (Volfogg), Those Who Hunt Elves, Tower of Etruria (Palmyra), Ultraman (Alien Baltan), Yami to Bōshi to Hon no Tabibito, Yakitate! Japan ("Nin Nin Nin!! My Way of Ninja!"), Yoshimune (Kunoichi) and YuYu Hakusho (Team Shadow Channelers).
Armed groups
Several paramilitary, police and militia groups use the names "Ninja" or "Ninjas":
Video games
In addition to video games, several game-development companies use "ninja" in their name: Ninja Studio, Ninja Theory, Ninjaforce, NinjaKiwi, and Team Ninja. In massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), "ninja", "loot ninja" or "ninja looter" pejoratively describes a player who has stolen something from another player.
Traditional games
Ninja-themed role-playing games (RPGs) include:
Ninja ara also featured in collectible card games such as Legend of the Five Rings CCG, Magic: The Gathering (where the ability Ninjutsu was introduced in the set Betrayers of Kamigawa) and Mortal Kombat Kard Game, and in some miniature wargaming games, such as Heroscape.
Internet
Ninja-themed websites include:
In information technology, "cyber ninja" are sophisticated counter-hackers.
Novels
Ninja-themed novels include:
Ninja have minor roles in Shōgun, Thief of Time, Vineland and the Young Samurai series.
Non-Japanese comics
In the Marvel Universe, ninja have been heroes and villains. Examples include Spider-Man's foe White Ninja, X-Men members Psylocke, Revanche and supporting character Yukio, Ghost Rider's foes Deathwatch and Death Ninja, Wolverine's mentor Ogun, Hawkeye (as Ninja Ronin), the Punisher's friend Katherine Yakamoto (from Shadowmasters), and Pacific Overlords operative Kuroko (Aya Komatsu). In the Marvel Mangaverse, Spider-Man is the last member of a ninja clan. A sinister ninja cult, the Hand, appears in X-Men and Daredevil. The cult and its associates were responsible for the martial training of Psylocke, Elektra, Daredevil, Black Tarantula, Kitty Pryde, Lady Bullseye and Wolverine. The Hand's heroic counterpart is The Chaste, which struggles with its Korean offshoot the True Believers (including Dragonfly Meiko Yin).
Characters with mystical, superhuman martial-arts abilities attributed to ninja appear in the DC Universe. One character portrayed similarly to a ninja is master martial artist and assassin Lady Shiva; Shiva killed Armless Master, who trained Catwoman and Hellhound. One alternative-universe comic substitutes Batman with a Japanese female ninja named Komori (Bat). An alternative version of Robin, Tengu, was raised by Cat-Ninja (Catwoman) in feudal Japan. DC's The New 52 introduced Kunoichi, a member of the Blackhawks.
In the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) series, the main characters and many of their friends and foes are ninja, mainly from the Foot Clan (a pastiche of Marvel's group, the Hand): Donatello, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, Splinter, Shredder and Karai.
The comic version of G.I. Joe has featured more ninja than the cartoon series. Story arcs involved Scarlett, Snake Eyes, Storm Shadow, Jinx, Kamakura, Firefly and the Arashikage ninja clan, an extended family of ninja characters. Cobra Commander's son, Billy Kessler, and the shape-shifter Zartan also received ninja training from the Arashikage clan and their associates.
Other ninja-themed comics include:
Short-lived titles include Codename: Ninja and Zombee. The Amelia Rules! series included A Very Ninja Christmas.
Ninja have supporting roles in Karate Kommandos, Lucha Libre Les Naufragés d'Ythaq, Masters of the Universe (Ninjor), Rebirth (the hero's ally, Eiji Inaba), Sam Noir (villains), Scott Pilgrim (Roxanne "Roxie" Richter), Spike: Shadow Puppets, Sonic the Hedgehog (Uma Arachnis and the Arachne), The Order of the Stick (Therkla and others), The Tick (Oedipus), and Usagi Yojimbo (ninja of the Neko, Mogura and Komori clans, including Kashira Chizu).
Music
Several musicians and bands have the word "ninja" in their names:
A number of titles include "ninja" or "kunoichi":
Songs with "ninja" in their titles include "Deadly Lethal Ninja Assassin" by Reuben (on We Should Have Gone To University), "Hoodie Ninja" by mc chris (on mc chris is dead), "Imaginary Ninjas" by Vince Dicola (on Falling off a Clef), "Inner Ninja" by Classified (on Classified), "Ninja Goon" by Gruvis Malt (on Sound Soldiers), "Ninja Hi-skool" by Bis (on Play Some Real Songs: the Live Album), "We Are Ninja" by Frank Chickens (on We Are Frank Chickens), "Ninja Highschooool" by Peelander-Z (on P-Pop-High School), "Ninja Rap" by Vanilla Ice (on the TMNT II soundtrack), "Ninja Step" by RZA (on the Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai soundtrack), "Ninja Quiet" by Marco Beltrami (on World War Z: Music from the Motion Picture), "Supa Ninjaz" by Method Man (on The Pillage), and "This Secret Ninja" by AFI (on Very Proud of Ya). Ninja Tune is a London-based independent record label. Built by Ninjas is a music video production group formed by Jaret Reddick and Heath Balderston. Fans of the rap group Insane Clown Posse, known as juggalos, sometimes refer to themselves as "ninja".
Ninja appear in the music video for the Presidents of the United States of America's song, "Peaches". Cheryl Cole dressed as a female ninja and performed with a group of similarly-dressed dancers in the TV special, Cheryl Cole's Night In. Members of Momoiro Clover Z dressed as ninja for the music video for "D' no Junjō". Rika Adachi performed in a music video based on a song from Naruto.
Other
According to Indeed.com, there was a 7,000-percent increase in the number of job listings with the word "ninja" from 2006 to 2012. A former Russian soldier who committed robberies in Italy in black attire and a bow was called a "Russian ninja" by the BBC. The video-game series Tenchu was adapted for the Japanese stage. In 2006, Miss Japan Kurara Chibana appeared in a ninja-samurai costume for the Miss Universe competition. Goth Ninja, a type of Japanese street fashion, became popular in 2009.
Products
Products named for ninja include:
Other products are CardNinja, a wallet phone case; Majestouch NINJA Tenkeyless, a computer keyboard from Diatec Corp; Modela Ninja Pibow, an enclosure for the Raspberry Pi computer; Ninja Driver, a USB stick wrap; Ninja Flex, a safety glove; NINJA Plus, a CPU cooler by the Japanese company Scythe; Ninja Remote, a television-control device and IR jammer and SwimmingNinja, a swimbait lure.
In software, CartNinja is a browser application; Ninja Email Security is the former name of the VIPRE Email Security for Exchange antivirus and antispam filter; Ninja Lite is a video telephony program, and Photo Ninja is a RAW converter program.
Sports
Iga F.C. Kunoichi is a Japanese L. League women's association football team. The New Haven Ninjas are an American football team in New Haven, Connecticut. The American Ninja is the stage name of wrestler Brian Adams, and the Black Ninja is the stage name of wrestler Cocoa Samoa. The Canadian NINJAs are a professional wrestling tag team. "Ninja" is a nickname of Brazilian MMA fighter Murilo Rua, and "The Ninja" is the nickname of Filipino boxer Bert Batawang. Ninja Chops wrestles in the Naked Women's Wrestling League. Super Ninja is a ring name of several professional wrestlers, including Keiji Mutoh and Rip Oliver.
Series
Non-anime, ninja-themed TV series include:
Ninja-themed Super Sentai and Power Rangers shows include Ninja Sentai Kakuranger, Ninpū Sentai Hurricaneger and Shuriken Sentai Ninninger; footage from Kakuranger was used in season three of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Hurricaneger was adapted into Power Rangers Ninja Storm, and Ninninger was adapted to Power Rangers Ninja Steel. Ninja villains appear in other Super Sentai series, such as GoGo Sentai Boukenger (Negative Syndicate's Dark Shadow clan: Gekkou, Yaiba and Shizuka), Power Rangers: Operation Overdrive (Miratrix and other Kamdor henchmen), Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger (Ninja Org Duke Dorodoro; Onikage in Power Rangers: Wild Force), Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger (Dora Ninja; Dark Warrior in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers season one), Denkou Choujin Gridman (Shinobilar), and Mahou Sentai Magiranger (Kirikage).
Ninja characters appeared in the live-action series Arrow ("League of Assassins"), Baretta ("The Ninja"), Big Wolf on Campus ("Play It Again, Samurai"), Castle ("The Way of the Ninja"), Charmed ("Awakened"), Criminal Minds ("True Night"), Danger Theatre ("Lethal Luau"), Dude, What Would Happen ("Ninja Slicing"), Knight Rider (1982) ("Knight of the Rising Sun"), Kyojuu Tokusou Juspion (the Five Space Ninjas), Kung Fu ("The Assassin"), Loiter Squad, Lost Girl ("Big in Japan"), Magnum P.I. ("The Arrow That is Not Aimed"), Martial Law ("Bad Seed") and ("This Shogun For Hire"), Mito Kōmon (Tsuge no Tobizaru and Kagerō Ogin), Mortal Kombat: Konquest (alternative versions of Kitana, Mileena, Reptile, Scorpion and Sub-Zero), My Name is Earl ("Creative Writing"), Quincy, M.E. ("Touch of Death"), She Spies ("Fondles"), Shōgun, Simon & Simon ("Opposites Attack"), Space Sheriff Shaider (Girls' Army), That '70s Show ("Jackie Moves On"), The Greatest American Hero ("Thirty Seconds Over Little Tokyo"), Verbotene Liebe.
They appeared in the non-anime cartoon series The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius ("Crouching Jimmy, Hidden Sheen"), Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog ("Robo-Ninja"), The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 ("Sneaky Lying Cheating Giant Ninja Koopas"), American Dragon: Jake Long (Huntsman and Rose), Batman Beyond (Curaré of the League of Assassins), Batman: The Animated Series (Kyodai Ken in "Night of the Ninja" and "Day of the Samurai"), Beware the Batman ("Family" and "Sacrifice"), Black Dynamite ("Just Beat It or Jackson Five Across Yo' Eyes"), Chop Socky Chooks (Ninja Chimps), Karate Kommandos (Super Ninja), Code Monkeys ("Revenge of Matsui"), Codename: Kids Next Door (Teen Ninjas), Conan the Adventurer ("Shadow Walkers", "Dragon's Breath" and "Sword, Sai and Shuriken"), Danny Phantom (Bertrand), Digimon Data Squad (Falcomon), Eon Kid (Black Beauty and her ninja robot army), Family Guy (in "Wasted Talent" and "I Take Thee Quagmire"), Happy Tree Friends (Generic Tee Ninjas), Jackie Chan Adventures (the Shadowkhan), Johnny Test (one of Johnny's transformation is Ninja Johnny), Kim Possible (the Yamanouchi ninja school), The Legend of Prince Valiant ("The Ghost"), The Legend of Zelda (Sing), The Penguins of Madagascar ("Mental Hen/Siege the Day" and "Street Smarts/Nighty Night Ninja"), Phineas and Ferb ("What a Croc!/Ferb TV"), Planet Sketch (Ninja Handyman), The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest ("Night of the Zinja"), Robot Chicken, Road Rovers ("Let Sleeping Dogs Lie"), Samurai Jack ("Samurai versus Ninja"), The Simpsons (in "The Telltale Head" Bart Simpson disguises as a ninja; in "Treehouse of Horror XVIII" one of the aliens is dressed as a ninja, in "Husbands and Knives" the Comic Book Guy has ninja weapons, and in "Yokel Chords" Bart plays a spoof video game with a female ninja), Skunk Fu (Ninja Monkeys), South Park ("Good Times with Weapons" and "Fantastic Easter Special"), Stroker and Hoop ("Ninja Worrier" and "Chopping Spree"), Superman: The Animated Series (Death Fist Ninja), Teen Titans (in "Masks", Beast Boy has a video game "Super Ninja Showdown 8"), The Transformers (Greatshot, Nightbird and Prowl), The Venture Bros. (Otaku Senzuri), Wolverine and the X-Men and Xiaolin Showdown (Tubbimura).
Ninja appeared in commercials for Alior Sync bank, Anime Network, Bombay Sapphire, Clamato, FedEx, Free Realms, Honda Civic Si, Mitsubishi UFJ Securities, MyHome.ie, Nicorette, Nike, Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, Oregon Lottery, Pepsi, Pop-Tarts, and Sure.
Business
Iga Ueno Ninja Festa, the annual ninja festival in Iga in the former province of Iga, has had ninja-inspired performances, competitions and opportunities to practice ninja skills since 1964. Iga also has the Iga-ryu Ninja Museum, ninja-style restaurants and cafes. In the United States, ninja-themed restaurants include Ninja New York in New York City and the Flying Ninja sushi bar in San Francisco. There are American roller coasters named Ninja in California and The Ninja in Missouri.
Other ninja attractions in Japan include the Koga Ninja Village and Kogaryu Ninjutsu Yashiki (Ninja Houses) in Koga-gun, Shiga Prefecture, the Togakushi Ninja Village for children, the Togakushi Ninpo Museum and Karakuri Yashiki (Ninja House) in Togakushi, Nagano, the Edo Wonderland theme park in Nikkō, Tochigi and the restaurants Men no Sato and Ninja Akasaka in Tokyo and Ninja Kyoto in Kyoto.
Businesses include Ninja Jump, an American company producing licensed inflatables; Web Ninja, an Australian e-commerce website-design team; Ninja Message, an Australian direct-to-voicemail service; Ninja Tracking Systems, a British GPS developer; Ninja Polish, an online nail-polish retailer; Ninja Pyrate, a fire-show-equipment workshop; Crystal Ninja, a crystal design studio; Lactose Ninja, a manufacturer of lactose-intolerance remedies and the Ninja Company, a Eurasian toy manufacturer.