Next on my queue was a Genocyber movie.  You can guess why I was forced to not review that title and had to move on to next on the list.

Ninku the Movie was something I’d been meaning to watch for a long time now.  Literally since my late 90s anime obsession when I rented tapes from Hollywood Video.  And Blockbuster for a while.  I only got my hands on this copy a few months ago.  Whee!

And so, without further ado…

AKA Expressions the Episode

The movie starts out with the bare minimum backstory for us to understand some of the context in the plot: The Ninku were an elite ninja clan that posed a major threat to an empire, so they were targeted for destruction.  Although they were disbanded, a select few still survive.  They are our heroes, Fuusuke, Aicho, Toji, Rihoko, and Hiroyuki the penguin.

Our elite ninja team are hard up for money, so they travel to a nearby village to take on jobs as bodyguards, only to find out the positions have been filled by a group of people claiming not only to be Ninku, but to be Fuusuke, Aicho, Toji, Rihoko and Hiroyuki (the owl)!

The real Ninku still need money, so they agree to be the “servants” of the fake Ninku.  As expected, the fake Ninku have little actual skill and plot to run away once a threat from bandits known as the “Heaven and Earth brothers” arrives.

What follows is one of my favorite jokes, and for once my captions would only sully its quality.

While the Fake Ninku are running around being chased by the real Ninku, the Fake Ninku ringleader sends the reward money off to a trusted friend.

In the end, the Fake Ninku get trapped by a large group of villagers cheering them to victory, and they’re forced to confront the bandits.

The Fake Ninku try to use the Ninku name to scare off the bandits.  The problem?  These guys are psychopath ninjas that want to prove their superiority over the real Ninku.

Finally, the real Ninku (minus Rihoko, who doesn’t appear to be a particularly skilled fighter) step in and take the fight to the Heaven and Earth brothers.  Although they manage to kick a bit of ass, the Heaven and Earth brothers are truly skilled and appear to have the upper hand in round 1.  Round 2, however, proves to be a relatively brief curbstomp, and the Ninku stand victorious.

I do wish I could take more pics of the battle to show off how great it is, but half of it is awesome simply because it’s ninja on ninja action in a wild west setting with wild west showdown music playing in the background.  It’s freaking awesome.

They then turn their gazes upon the Fake Ninku who reveal themselves to be former circus performers.

With no guests, the circus was driven to poverty, and out of desperation they sought out the bodyguard job.  This sob story proved to be enough to trigger the ol’ “You can have our reward money after all” schtick.

So although our heroes don’t get the money… Wait, there’s no upside to this.  They manage to get their plane fixed, but it soon goes spiraling into the ground.

Aaaaaaand… wait, that’s the end.  Seriously?  I thought this was a movie, not an OVA.  Okay, let’s get to the next episode… There is no next episode?  Let’s check the back of that VHS box… “Running Time: 30 minutes.”  Huh.

Uh, okay, I guess that’s it.

Um… here’s the opening for the TV series.

Strangely enough, some of the footage here was on this tape… AS A PREVIEW FOR NINKU THE MOVIE.  That’s right, there was a preview for Ninku the Movie on the Ninku the Movie tape, and it used footage from the Ninku series. EDIT: Actually, this was in the movie as well.  It’s just that the video editing to translate the credits obscured so much of it that I didn’t even recognize it.

Well, enough bizarre observations.  Let’s get to the rundown.
Comedy: 4
I don’t think I’ve done a spectacular job of describing just how hilarious this was.  Granted, it was short, and I’d seen funnier, even in the same day I watched it.  But it’s solid fun, and the characters were all easy to get into.

Pleasure Rating: Damn Good Watch
I’d say this was about on par with Maze in that it got me interested in looking for the TV series.  Unfortunately, (surprise surprise) the series was never licensed in the west, and the movie in its best form is sold as part of a “double feature” with the Yu Yu Hakusho movie.

Rewatchability: 4
Hell, it’s short and it’s fun.  Maybe a bit cliche, but it sure doesn’t hurt.  I’d probably watch this multiple times to remind myself why I need to check out the TV series.

Music: Catchy Theme Song
No real standout tracks, but the end credits are great.

Marketability: 3
From what I can tell, Ninku was decently popular in its time, spawning games on the Game Boy, Game Gear, PS1 and Saturn.  The characters themselves are appealing and fun, and the action is on par with some of the stuff that’s still popular today.  Seriously, watch that OP again and tell me it isn’t an HD reboot away from hanging with modern stuff.  I’d say the only con it has against it is how weird the main character Fuusuke looks.  It’s quite off-putting.

Ninku the Movie was a solid all around watch, and I’d definitely recommend it to… hell, anyone.  It’s a bit of a shame that it’s too short to really call a movie, and I do wish Rihoko could be not useless, but she plays enough of a role to matter.