Last winter, I was obsessed with a certain ghost anime movie, and Toshihiko Seki, a voice actor who was also very active in that movie, played the role of Doi Sensei (Doi Hansuke) in this movie. Moreover, this time the spotlight is on Mr. Doi! So, I was very concerned.
Meanwhile, on social media, I saw many posts from Nintama fans saying, “For first-time viewers, please watch the anime Nintama Rantaro Ninjutsu Gakuen: Everyone is dispatched!”, so I immediately watched it. I decided to try it.
In this article, we will be talking about “Theatrical version of Nintama Rantaro Ninjutsu Academy: Everyone is on the move!” We will deliver a review of ‘No Dan’ and the highlights that beginners felt!
*This article includes “Theatrical version of the anime Nintama Rantaro Ninjutsu Academy: Everyone is on the move!” Contains some spoilers for “No Dan”. If you want to enjoy the complete first look, please read this article after watching this movie.
“Theatrical version of the anime Nintama Rantaro Ninjutsu Academy Everyone is on the move! ‘Nodan’ is a theatrical anime released in 2011, and is the work before ‘Nintama Rantaro the Movie: Dokutake Ninja Team’s Strongest Tactician’. It is currently available for rental on Amazon Prime Video, etc.
The story begins at the end of the summer vacation at the Ninjutsu Academy, where a problem arises in which homework with incorrect content has been distributed to some of the “Nintama”.
As a result of this trouble, Kisanta Yamamura, a member of the first year class, was given a difficult homework assignment for sixth graders (to fetch the loincloth of the lord of Omagatoki Castle)… and was lost in Omagatoki Castle, which was in the middle of a battle with the Tasogaredoki army. It becomes unknown.
Therefore, Ninjutsu Academy forms a select team of Nintama (1st to 6th graders) who “didn’t do their homework” and sets out to rescue Kisanta.
When I first saw the work, my first impression was that there were too many characters in Nintama! It takes time to recognize who the children are, what their names are, and what grade they are in.
It seems like it will take some time to completely memorize each person’s name… However, since the grades are divided by color, I decided to make a diagram and organize them by grade!
The grade colors for 1st to 6th graders are divided like this: pink is for “kunoichi” and dark blue is for “teacher.”
Rantaro, Kirimaru, and Shinbei are first-year students whose faces tend to come to mind when you hear the title “Nintama.”
At first, you may be confused between 4th and 5th grade, 3rd and 6th grade… It’s still easy to understand when they’re all together, but there were many moments in the story where I thought, “What grade is he in? Third grade? Sixth grade?” when he appeared alone.
I felt like I just had to get used to it and memorize it, but ever since I started paying attention to the character Senzo Tachibana in sixth grade, I remember not making many mistakes. Isn’t it strange that as soon as you find your favorite character, you start to understand it faster?
It’s been a long time since I watched “Nintama”, but it had skit-like elements from beginning to end, and I thought, “Was it that funny?!”
There are many small points of laughter here and there, and I think this is because the characters’ lines and the exaggerated depictions of the pictures (such as characters’ faces getting bigger to make them look more impressive) are popular with a wide range of people.
Personally, I really liked the scene where Doi-sensei and Yamada-sensei were half taken aback by Shinobu Tamachi’s serious lack of humor, and were making tsukkomi comments.
Also, there is a scene where Yamada Sensei’s son, Rikichi Yamada, says, “This is how it is, how is it?”, but he repeatedly makes a big mistake by using shogi horns and a deer puppet (?)… I also felt strangely endeared to Rikichi, even though no one was following him (Doi Sensei was the only one following him).
This time, the selected member, 6th grade student Isaku Zenpouji, is acquainted with Kunamon Zatto, the head of the Tasogaredoki ninja group, and Yamada Sensei (Denzo Yamada) and Rikichi Yamada. In this work, you can learn about the relationships between each character, such as the parent-child relationship (the dialogue is important).
(On a side note, when I heard the name Zawatari Kunamon, I thought it sounded like a phrase like, “What kind of thing is this…?”)
I think the combination element between the characters is also an attractive part of the work! What surprised me the most was that Fuwaraizou and Saburo Hachiya, who look exactly like each other, are not twins. I got curious and looked it up, and it turns out that Hachiya, a master of disguise, imitates Fuwa’s appearance, and since no one has ever seen his true form, “Hachiya Saburo” is quite interesting. I think it’s a character.
The motif is “Ninja”, and the illustration depicts the flexibility, lightness, and agile movements of the body, and the beauty of this drawing is incredible.
Coupled with the beauty of the illustrations, I feel like the “ninja” parts of each character that are suddenly drawn look even cooler. I didn’t keep in mind that most of the characters that appeared were ninjas, so I was taken aback by the cool ninja side that suddenly appeared.
For example, at the beginning of the story, there is a scene in which Senzo Tachibana, a sixth-year student, makes a mad dash and quickly jumps over the school’s wall to chase after a ninja who came to inspect the school. The character Tachibana has quite long hair, and her hair is tied up, and the way her hair sways as she runs is gorgeous.
Furthermore, Shusaku Komatsuda, an office worker at the Ninjutsu Academy, stops Tachibana with his agile movements. When I first saw Komatsuda, I had the impression that he was naturally out of touch,'' so it was a scene that really surprised me, and I couldn't help but feel a gap in his expression, thinking, Huh?! He can move like that?!”
ほかにも、善法寺伊作と雑渡昆奈門が戦うシーンがあるのですが、こちらはぜひ実際に観ていただきたい!! 筆者が本作で一番観てほしいシーンと言っても過言ではありません。ふたりの素早い身のこなしもですが、（顔見知りということもあり）掛け合いが良かったんですよね。このシーンで雑渡昆奈門が気になる方が急増しそうな予感がしています。
ほぼ『忍たま』初見の筆者でしたが、ストーリーも複雑ではないので分かりやすく、「雑渡さんと立花先輩が好きすぎる」という感想に着地しました。冗談抜きで全キャラクターが魅力的すぎました。おそらく『忍たま』って沼が多くて深いのだろうなとヒシヒシ感じています。
なお、2024年12月に公開予定の『劇場版 忍たま乱太郎 ドクタケ忍者隊最強の軍師』には、そんな雑渡さん（雑渡昆奈門）も教師として登場するようです。
本作のPVを見る限り、土井先生に何が起こったんだ？ 土井先生ときり丸の関係は？ と気になるところではあるので、映画公開までに原作『小説 落第忍者乱太郎 ドクタケ忍者隊 最強の軍師』を読んでみようかなと思います。
初見でも大丈夫でした。映画上映前のこの機会に、『劇場版アニメ 忍たま乱太郎 忍術学園 全員出動！の段』をぜひ視聴してみてください！
［文／笹本千尋］
コメント