Mirai Ninja (未来忍者 一慶雲機忍外伝一, Mirai Ninja Kyōun Ki-nin Gaiden, lit. "Future Ninja - Keiun-era Cyborg Ninja Side Story"), known as Cyber Ninja in the United States, Warlord in Canada and Robo Ninja in the UK, is a 1988 Japanese tokusatsu movie directed by Keita Amemiya, which was co-produced and released by Namco that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival to promote a new Namco's arcade game of the same name. The game version does not have a subtitle, and the game name is Mirai Ninja (未来忍者 lit. "Future Ninja")[1].
Originally the arcade game version was first developed, but the video version was released first because of development delay. Therefore, despite the fact that it was released earlier, the word "Gaiden" (外伝 lit. "Side Story") was used in the video version title, and it has been labeled as "movie adaptation game"[2].
Overview[]
This movie is the first Keita Amemiya's directorial work[3]. Set in a Japanese-style in different world where Keiun period[note 1] and mechanics coexist, it depicts the battle of Cyborg Ninja, Shiranui.
At the beginning, Amemiya was planning a project with a friend in Namco, but because no candidate for the director to entrust the world view was listed, it is said that Amemiya, who is familiar with the contents, has made the name of himself. Amemiya also stated that he had been planning to work with a friend who had been in Namco before he was supposed to be a director. He was not conscious of the work of the director in this work and thought it was a lifelong memory[4][3].
There is a Amemiya's message on the back of the VHS video version package, and the title "Mirai Ninja" is obscene, but when the science-fiction movie was the royal road of Western culture, he wrote "Cut out the landscape of Japan and use the Japanese actors to create what is called Star Wars", being inspired by the “Star Wars” series. In addition, "I promise to make a Mirai Ninja that is not a 'Gaiden'", he said of his willingness to remake.
Plot[]
In a future time a war is being waged between humans and cyborgs. One of the elite Cyborg Ninja (機忍 Ki-nin) of the enemy goes rogue and sets out to assist the royal family after their headstrong princess is captured and destined to become the final sacrifice needed to summon the Cyborg Ninja Army (機忍の軍団 Ki-nin no Gundan) digital overlord from another dimension. The resistance army sends a small band of soldiers in, amongst whom is a determined young man out to avenge the death of his brother at the hands of the robots. After suffering many losses and battling towards the enemy castle it is revealed that is Cyborg Ninja Shiranui (機忍 白怒火 Ki-nin Shiranui) was in fact the lost brother, transformed into the robot and now determined to regain his human body. The survivors must storm the technological castle and rescue the princess before the resistance army fires a super cannon to prevent the summoning of the electronic evil.
Characters[]
Cyborg Ninja | Shiranui |
Allies[]
- Akagi
- Princess Saki
- Jiroumaru
- Kajiwara Sandayu
Villains[]
Cyborg General | Shouki |
- Kurosagi Shikinami
- Raimei Houshi
Other Media[]
Video Game[]
- Mirai Ninja (video game): In the game, the basic game system was an orthodox side-scrolling action shooting game, but with a configuration full of speed, the SYSTEM II (third work on the same board) has a rotation scaling function. He used a lot of the productions he used and created his own color in combination with his unique view of the world.
Trivia[]
- In the canceled real time strategy game New Space Order, based primarily on Namco's Xevious series, one of the four playable interstellar nations, the State of Feudal Dynasty (封建王朝国, "Houken Ouchoukoku") known as Tiencho zo Refous (ティェンチョウ・ゾ・レフウス Tienchou zo Refuusu) is conceptually linked to the far future of Mirai Ninja, according to Hisaharu Tago, the founder of the United Galaxy Space Force timeline, focused on the aggregate timeline of the Xevious series and related media. This nation relies on Cantonese as its primary language. Other nations that had been planned for this unreleased game were also influenced by the worlds of other past Namco franchises.[5]
Casts[]
- Makoto Yokoyama as Shiranui
- Satoshi Itō as Hiyūkaku/voice of Shiranui
- Hanbei Kawai as Akagi
- Eri Morishita as Princess Saki
- Kunihiko Ida as Jiromaru
- Fuyukichi Maki as Kajiwara Sandayū
- Masaaki Emori as Kurosagi Shikigami
- Shōhei Yamamoto as Raimei Hōshi
- Yoshida Mizuho as Shōki
- Hiroaki Mita as Shōki (voice)
- Hideki Sasaki as Ninjaroid (voice)
Notes[]
- TBA
References[]
- ↑ TAFA's image flyer (front cover)
- ↑ TAFA's image flyer (back cover)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Kodansha <Kodansha Series MOOK>. (2018). "Super Sentai Official Mook 20th Century 1991 Chojin Sentai Jetman". p. 32, "Backstage of Super Sentai Production Keita Amemiya". ISBN 978-4-06-509613-0.
- ↑ Keibunsha. (1997). "The Complete Works of Japanese Tokusatsu and Fantasy Movies". pages 328-330. ISBN 4-7669-2706-0.
- ↑ https://twitter.com/Tagotch/status/109938944807940096
Footnotes[]
- ↑ Keiun is an era that actually existed in Japan, but it was at the end of the Yamato era long before the appearance of castles and samurai equipped with a castle tower.