Ninku


Ninku is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kōji Kiriyama. The original series was published in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump manga magazine between June 1993 and September 1995. Shueisha compiled its individual chapters into nine tankōbon volumes.
The manga was adapted into an anime television series produced by Fuji Television, Yomiko Advertising, and Studio Pierrot which aired on Fuji TV between January 1995 and February 1996.
A sequel manga titled Ninku 2nd Stage: Story of Etonins ran from September 2005 to September 2011 in the seinen magazine Ultra Jump and Shueisha compiled its individual chapters intro twelve tankōbon volumes
As of September 2011, Ninku had over 9 million copies in circulation.

Plot

Ninku is the story about an odd-looking 12-year-old boy named Fūsuke who is a powerful warrior from the Ninku school of martial arts, who command a style that mixes ninjutsu and kung fu. Before the present time in the story, the Ninku were targeted by an evil empire and the Ninku corps were formed to combat the menace. The names of the corps were taken from the twelve Chinese zodiac animals and each captain of the corps was called the zodiac animal Ninku master. Their powers are derived from nature and a specific dragon to their own element, with the Sky Dragon being the almighty master of all the elements. The Ninku were disbanded by their master before the end of the war and as such, the Empire was victorious and the Ninku became vilified by the Empire as the perpetrators of the war and made attempts to eliminate any surviving members. Three years later, Fūsuke, the young former captain of the 1st Ninku corps and controller of the wind and Hiroyuki, his flatulent penguin, start a journey, searching for the other Ninku captains. However, a new group of Ninku users has arisen and are trying to take over the world. Fūsuke and his penguin must defeat the new Ninku empire with the help of his old comrades.

Characters

Main characters

;Fūsuke
;Aichō
;Tōji
;Hiroyuki
;Rihoko

Enemies

;Kōchin
;Kisumi
;Mekira
;Ajirada

Media

Manga

Ninku is written and illustrated by Kōji Kiriyama. The manga started in the 1993 38th issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump, published on June 14, 1993. The series was suspended after the 1994 30th issue of the magazine, released on July 11, 1994, with 53 chapters published. The manga returned as Ninku 2nd Stage in the 1994 51st issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump, published on December 5, 1994. 27 chapters were published before the series finished in the 38th issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump published on September 4, 1995. The series was compiled into nine tankōbon published by Shueisha between January 11, 1994 and November 2, 1995. Shueisha republished the manga into six bunkoban volumes from November 17, 2006 to February 16, 2007.
Ninku was published in France by Glénat between 1997 and 1998.
A sequel titled Ninku 2nd Stage: Story of Etonins ran in the seinen manga magazine Ultra Jump from September 17, 2005 to September 17, 2011. Shueisha compiled the manga into twelve tankōbon volumes published between March 3, 2006 and November 4, 2011.

Volume list

''Ninku''
''Ninku 2nd Stage: Story of Etonins''

Films

Prior to the anime television series, a film titled Ninku: Tomb of Knives was screened at Jump Super Anime Tour in November 1994. A 26-minute film titled Ninku: The Movie was screened at the Toei Anime Fair on July 15, 1995.
Media Blasters's Anime Works brand released Ninku: The Movie together with in North America in 1996. A DVD version was released on January 30, 2001 as a result of a poll conducted by Media Blasters.

Anime series

Ninku was adapted into an anime series, produced by Fuji Television, Yomiko Advertising, and Studio Pierrot, and directed by Noriyuki Abe, spanning 55 episodes. The series ran from January 14, 1995 to February 24, 1996 on Fuji TV. The opening and ending themes for the series are performed by Yume Suzuki. The opening theme is "Kagayaki wa Kimi no Nakani". The first ending theme for episodes 1 to 28 is "Soredemo Ashita wa Yatte Kuru". The second ending theme for episodes 29 to 50 is "Sora no Namae". The third ending theme for episodes 51 to 55 is "Sorezoreno Ashita e". Geneon Entertainment has released the series in two DVD boxsets in Japan. The first set containing the initial 28 episodes was released on February 25, 2005 and the second set containing the remaining 27 episodes was released on March 21, 2005. In 2015, Bandai Visual re-released the series on two Blu-ray box sets, the first one on May 21 and the second on July 15.

Episode list

Video games

A number of video games based on the series have been released. Two video games were launched for the Game Boy, three video games for the Game Gear, a video game for the PlayStation, and a video game for the Sega Saturn. Fūsuke is also featured as a selectable character in the Weekly Shōnen Jump crossover fighting game Jump Ultimate Stars, launched for the Nintendo DS in November 2006. Characters from the series also appeared in another Weekly Shōnen Jump crossover smartphone game Jumputi Heroes, released for iOS and Android in 2018.

Reception and legacy

As of September 2011, the manga had over 9 million copies in circulation.
In a fan poll posted by BIGLOBE in 2012 about favorite Weekly Shōnen Jump anime adaptations, Ninku ranked 45th out of 50 anime adaptations, and 40th out of 60 series in a 2019 poll conducted by Goo Ranking of "’90s Anime That Deserve Remakes".
John Oppliger of AnimeNation attributed the low popularity of the Ninku anime series to its lack of compelling narrative development and the sequential lengthy story arc structure that make other shōnen action series like Naruto, One Piece and Bleach popular. He praised the characters and animation of the fight sequences, but considered them repetitive and that the show does not encourage much viewer loyalty.
In a review for the Ninku/YuYu Hakusho Double Feature DVD release, Chris Beveridge from Mania.com praised Ninku: The Movie for its fight sequences and animation, but recommended this release only to fans of either series. Mike Toole of Anime Jump in his Ninku: The Movie review stated, "Aside from the engaging story and great fight scenes, there are a few other good points about Ninku."
Ninku has inspired artists such as Masashi Kishimoto of Naruto fame, who used to copy Kiriyama's drawings in his studying to become a manga artist.