Ninja Spirit (video series)
Encyclopedia
Martial arts
Martial arts are extensive systems of codified practices and traditions of combat, practiced for a variety of reasons, including self-defense, competition, physical health and fitness, as well as mental and spiritual development....
parody videos that focus on the adventures of the eponymous character, Ninja Spirit.
Overview
Ninja Spirit is presented as a series of TV episodes, each featuring a battle between Ninja Spirit and one or more villains. Every episode is between one and six minutes long and begins with Ninja Spirit welcoming the audience and introducing the guests for that particular program. A battle takes place, and Ninja Spirit is typically defeated in some comical fashion.There are currently nine released episodes of Ninja Spirit, with an extended length Ninja Spirit movie, Ninja Spirit X - Enter the Insanity in post-production.
Production Style
The series is shot in a unique style that blends traditional live action video/film production with elements from Japanese animeAnime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
cartoons such as Dragon Ball Z. This is particularly evident in Ninja Spirit when a character flies into (or back from) an attack. A still frame cutout of their face or body is superimposed over a blurred background that appears to move opposite to the character's supposed direction of travel, creating the illusion of a high speed jump or flight.
The show also plays on the stereotype of poorly dubbed Asian films, where the dubbed dialogue is often poorly synced with the on screen actors' mouth movements. The Ninja Spirit series recreates this effect intentionally, even though the actors are English speakers and the show is also in English.
Ninja Spirit episodes are conceptualized, shot, edited, and released all in one day.
The series includes homages and references to many films such as Enter the Dragon
Enter the Dragon
Enter the Dragon is a 1973 Hong Kong martial arts co-production with Golden Harvest and Warner Bros. studios, directed by Robert Clouse; starring Bruce Lee, Jim Kelly and John Saxon. This is Bruce Lee's final film appearance before his death on July 20, 1973...
, Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
, The Matrix
The Matrix
The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction-action film written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, and Hugo Weaving...
, and the James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
films.
Ninja Spirit episodes 1-5 were shot on VHS-C. Episode 6 used DVCAM, and all episodes after that were shot on MiniDV.
Acclaim
Ninja Spirit has been featured at such events as the Penn State CAN Film Festival and the Johns HopkinsJohns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
student film show. It was also mentioned in a feature article in Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
Magazine.
Characters
Ninja Spirit, the series' title character is an ill-fated martial artist who, despite supposedly great martial prowess, is continually defeated and embarrassed by his enemies. He is typically depicted in a TaekwondoTaekwondo
Taekwondo is a Korean martial art and the national sport of South Korea. In Korean, tae means "to strike or break with foot"; kwon means "to strike or break with fist"; and do means "way", "method", or "path"...
dobok
Dobok
Dobok is the uniform worn by practitioners of Korean martial arts. Do means "way" and bok means "clothing." The dobok is modeled on the Japanese gi, used in Judo, which was developed by Judo's founder, Kanō Jigorō. The dobok comes in many colours, though white or black are the most common. The...
with a black belt and red headband.
First introduced in Episode 2, Wang is Ninja Spirit's partner. He has been shown wearing a variety of Taekwondo uniforms with either an orange, green, or black belt.
The Bien Clan includes a variety of villain characters such as Tuxedo Bien, Disco Bien, and Bushido Bien. Each character has a unique uniform and fighting style.
Evil Ninja Spirit is Ninja Spirit's dark twin. He wears a dark uniform and kung fu belt.
Evil Ninja Spirit's partner, Gnaw, is a twisted and animal-like version of Wang. He employees a variety of bites and scratches in his fighting style, similar to the Filipino art of Kino mutai
Kino mutai
Kino mutai is a specialized sub-section of some Filipino martial arts that emphasizes biting and also covers eye-gouging. It involves extensive use of grappling, so as to allow the practitioner to control the opponent while applying the techniques.The biting aspect of kino mutai concerns itself...
.
Episodes
| Episode | Title | Released |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Ninja Spirit" | April 30, 1998 |
| 2 | "Ninja Spirit Gets a Partner" | April 11, 1999 |
| 3 | "The Evil Infamous Disco Bien" | ca. August, 1999 |
| 4 | "The Evil Infamous Tuxedo Bien" | ca. March 2000 |
| 5 | "The Evil Infamous Dark Ninja Spirit" | ca. April 2000 |
| 6 | "Freestyle Fighting" | ca. June, 2000 |
| 7 | "The Evil Infamous Darth Boz" | ca. June, 2000 |
| 8 | "Super Gnaw" | ca. March, 2001 |
| 9 | "The Evil Infamous Bushido Bien" | ca. May, 2005 |
| 10 | "Ninja Spirit X - Enter the Insanity" | Not yet released |