Ninja Trend in Anime

Trend Introduction -

The Ninja trend in anime revolves around historically mercenary units that were used in feudal Japan in the Sengoku Period (15th - 17th Century) Ninja's or Shinobi both derive from "Shinobi No Mono" meaning "One Who Endures" Ninja's in entertainment such as shounen or action anime are more often based on legends and folklores rather than being historically accurate

In history, Shinobi mainly were used for espionage, assassination, infiltration and guerilla warfare for regional clans to be used as spies to retrieve Intel on neighbouring clans and to gain power, historical accounts of Ninja's or Shinobi are scarce but we do know that they used teachings of Ninjutsu which is strategies and tactics of unconventional warfare while using various equipment associated with Ninjas such as shuriken, kunai, katana's and kudarigama (et cetera)

Where as, in popular culture it's often associated with superhuman powers such as flight, invisability, shape shifting, the ability to split into multiple bodies, summoning animals and control over five elements; Chi, Mizu or Sui, Ka or Hi, Kazu (Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Void) as it stemmed from the imagination regarding the mystery of Ninja's as it hasn't been well documented also anime often over exaggerates this for more entertainment.

The modern image of Ninja's originated in the Edo Period when there were many folklore tales, plays and stories about Shinobi were conceived, which encompassed novels that were written about Ninjas such as Jiraiya or had historical figures like Sarutobi Sasuke which influenced manga and Japanese television, for example; Naruto, Ninja Scroll, Gintama and many others

Strengths -

Shinobi trends work well because the legendary status of Shinobi is shrouded in mystery so it can be as creative as they want by being inspired by superhuman abilities, Ninjutsu, vast knowledge of martial arts makes for a great action scenes and create some of the best action shows. Ninjas often have strong teaching, principles and ways of life which can be conceived into characters personality or some ninjas did unconventional ways of assassination which could make some great antagonists.

For a foreigners point of view of Japanese Shinobi may seem extremely interesting because it has a plethora of multiple aspects of the genre as it could be a serious action, comedy ninja route where it makes the trend very hyperbolic and over the top so make it very amusing or makes for a amazing shounen since the idea is very new to a younger audience and stick with them through there upbringing making ninja troupe very popular

Weaknesses/Troupe Life -

The problem with the Ninja/Shinobi trend is that the idea has been about for centuries which is a very long time and one of the longest trends in anime so it been used a large amount; over that time. For the Ninja trend to come off as original it has to be very unique because traditional Ninja anime have been sort-of overdone. For example, some shows like Senran Kagura use the Ninja trend but mainly focus on ecchi and fan service because of that the show doesn't capitalism on the ninja trend making it a very generic anime.

For Ninja animes to be successful it needs to be more innovative for the trend to keep being successful like it has for centuries as no one wants 100 Boruto series but Boruto or Naruto is still popular because of the new concepts that they keep making to strengthen the show and keep audience retention.

Conclusion -

In the future I predict that the trend will go stale like it it is with Boruto and the makers/studios of Japan would have to be more original in terms of ideas, storytelling and strive away from the trend a bit by encompassing different genres or trends to make it more effective while sticking to the trend which would be the best path

Thanks for Reading!