Ninku: The Movie

Title:Ninku: The Movie
Overall:Watch
Keywords: , , , , , , ,
Notables: HAYASHIBARA Megumi
KOSUGI Juurouta
MADONO Mitsuaki
MATSUMOTO Rika
OGATA Kenichi

The Ninku clan has the rep of the top martial artists in the world. They're high on skill but low on brain power. This time, their biplane has crashed in the desert and they need money to help make repairs, buy fuel, and get food. When a flyer comes their way requesting bodyguards, they set off to take the job. Unfortunately, another group of people have been hired using the Ninku name. Outraged, the real Ninku are forced to take jobs as servants. Will the real Ninku regain their name over cowerdly impersonators?


[1 30-minute theatrical movie based on the manga of the same title. See also Ninku.]

OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Rent 7 7 6 6 6 AstroNerdBoy [series:372#436]

I've never seen the Ninku TV series so I really didn't know what to expect. Fortunately, you don't need any prior knowledge of the show to watch this ~30-minute movie. The Ninku are a bunch of Ninja warriors with various special attacks and such, like what you'd see in a video game. Fusuke is the weird looking kid of the group who also seems to be the leader. Then there's Toji, his sister Rihoko, and Aicho, who seems to be involved with Rihoko. Rihoko (voiced by the most-excellent Hayashibara Megumi) seems to be the only non-fighter of the group in addition to the penguin.

This movie is much like Yu Yu Hakusho : The Movie (in fact it is bundled with that movie on the DVD release) in that it is like a filler TV episode. There's not much of a story and the fight scene is nothing spectacular. If you've seen the series, the Ninku's special attacks may mean more for you. For me, the villians (I use the term loosely because their motives aren't explained and they are pretty cheesy) special attacks were of note since I'm a Tenchi Muyo fan. All of their attacks start with "Tenchi" which I found amusing.

The character design felt more American than anime styled. Fusuke, the bug-eyed boy character, looks weird. Everyone else is OK, but not really what we've come to expect out of Japan.

As to the DVD, at least the Japanese audio is OK. The English dub sounds fine and the subtitles are readable. However I have read that the subtitles have some problems in accuracy. Certainly some of the Japanese humor is lost. When the Ninku are playing a rhyming game with food, the subtitles don't really make good sense. The two times this comes up, I recommend listening to the dub. I actually laughed when the game was played toward the end of the movie.

Bottom line: Fluffy and silly. Nothing special, but I don't regret renting it.

Last updated Saturday, September 06 2003. Created Thursday, September 04 2003.

Watch 6 6 3 4 4 BigPants [series:372#243]
Well, it sure wasn't the greatest thing animated.
Ninku is about a clan of the most highly trained martial artists that meet up with some impersonators and then come to terms at the end of this 26-minute "movie".
1 word: Whoop-de-doo.
The movie was rather nicely animated though, I will give it that, but the characters we're just, well, homely. The only other uglier characters I've ever seen were those of Hana Yori Dango, and they were pretty bad. Like mentioned above, the kid was REALLY scary looking, and that cannot be emphasized enough.
Whatever you do, don't buy this. Please don't buy this.
1-28-02

Last updated Monday, January 28 2002. Created Monday, January 28 2002.
Watch 6 7 6 4 Midnighter [series:372#94]
The best part of Ninku was the creepy (I mean really creepy) character design of the little kid. Sweet angry Jesus that kid is scary lookin'
Anyway, onto the actual review. Ninku was enjoyable enough fluff, and it's acceptable for all ages. The animation was nothing special, nor were the voices or the story, as I knew the outcome ten minutes in. I was disappointed at the pathetic running time of a mere 26 minutes, I don't know how one can call that a movie. Still, I'd rather watch this than "Friends"...
The character designs were unique, visually interesting, though not really all that great. The creepy little kid was definately...different.
Overall, watch this if you come across it. Definately borrow it from a friend or something, but don't pay money to see it. The best part was that freaky kid, and it's worth seeing just for him. Weird.

Last updated Monday, November 04 2002. Created Friday, January 04 2002.

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