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Mirai Ninja (film)

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Mirai Ninja
Theatrical release poster
Directed byKeita Amemiya
Written byKeita Amemiya
Satoshi Kitahara
Based onMirai Ninja
by Namco
Production
companies
Gaga Communications
Graphical Corporation Crowd Inc
Namco
Release dates
  • October 1988 (1988-10) (Tokyo premiere)
  • December 2, 1988 (1988-12-02) (Japan video release)
Running time
75 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese

Mirai Ninja: Keigumo Kinin Gaiden (未来忍者：慶雲機忍外伝, lit. "Future Ninja: Stealth Joy Cloud Device Side Story"), known as Cyber Ninja in the United States,[1] Warlord in Canada and Robo Ninja in the UK, is a 1988 Japanese science fiction action film directed by Keita Amemiya, which was co-produced and released by Namco that premiered in October 1988 at the Tokyo International Fantastic Film Festival.[2]

It is marked the first live-action film based on a video game, although it still unrecognized the distinction over Japanese films in video game adaptations to the United States as the reason it took over the record by the 1993 film Super Mario Bros. to critical and commercial failure.[3][4]

It was released as a direct-to-video film on December 2. The film is based on the arcade game of the same name which was also developed and released by Namco.[5][6]

Plot

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In a future time a war is being waged between humans and cyborgs. One of the elite cyberninja 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 legions digital overlord from another dimension. The resistance army sends a small band of soldiers in, among 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 the cyberninja Shiranui is in fact the lost brother, transformed into the robot and now determined to regain his human body. The survivours 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.

Cast

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Beverly Hills Video Group produced an English dubbed version of the film in 1994 directed by Carl Macek and distributed by Streamline Pictures for a 1995 release in North America.

Character Original actor English voice actor
Shiranui Makoto Yokoyama David Povall
Princess Saki Eri Morishita Juliana Donald
Akagi Hanbei Kawai Michael Forest
Jiromaru Kunihiko Ida Stephen Apostolina
Kajiwara Fuyukichi Maki Edward Mannix
Dark Overlord Masaaki Emori Kirk Thornton
Shogi Mizuho Yoshida Jeff Winkless
Bishop Raimei Shohei Yamamoto Mike Reynolds

Additional English dub voices

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Release

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The film was originally screened in Japan back in October 1988 at the Tokyo International Fantastic Film Festival for a premiere release and later first released on VHS by Pony Canyon on December 2. Later it was released in North America Cyber Ninja for VHS on July 25, 1995, with an English dub,[7] and on region 2 DVD in 2003 (Japan, Europe, Middle East, Greenland, and South Africa).[8] The U.S. DVD was released in 2009.

Reception

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The film met with mixed reviews from Western film critics. It holds a 44% "Rotten" approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[9]

Writing in the Montgomery Advertiser, Rick Harmon was highly critical of the film, saying it does not reach the level of Star Wars as promised by promotional materials and he criticized special effects.[10]

References

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  1. ^ ComicAttack. "From Friendly Ghosts To Gamma Rays: Smurfs and Cyber Ninjas!". ComicAttack. Archived from the original on 2014-01-11. Retrieved 2014-01-11.
  2. ^ "WORKS 監督". crowdinc.com (in Japanese). CROWD. Archived from the original on 2019-10-03. Retrieved 2022-02-01.
  3. ^ "Super Mario Bros.: The First Movie Based On A Video Games". www.warpedfactor.com. Geek Dave. Archived from the original on November 24, 2020. Retrieved December 22, 2020.
  4. ^ Chute, Harrison (2023-01-13). "Best Video Game Adaptations That Prove They're Not All Terrible". Collider. Retrieved 2024-09-15.
  5. ^ "Mirai Ninja". flyers.arcade-museum.com. The Arcade Flyer Archive. Archived from the original on 2021-12-15. Retrieved 2022-02-01.
  6. ^ "未来忍者". eiga-chirashi.jp (in Japanese). サイト. Archived from the original on 2021-12-15. Retrieved 2022-02-01.
  7. ^ Yuen Biao. Cyber Ninja [VHS]: Hanbei Kawai, Hiroki Ida, Eri Morishita, Makoto Yokoyama, Fuyukichi Maki, Masaaki Emori, Shôhei Yamamoto, Satoshi Itô, Mizuho Yoshida, Chikara Aragaki, Kiichirou Tai, Hajime Iwasaki, Satou Anada, Hiromi Saitô, Kaori Nitami, Hiroaki Mita, Hideki Sasaki, Keita Amemiya: Movies & TV. ASIN 6303158633.
  8. ^ "Mirai Ninja (aka Cyber Ninja, Robo Ninja) Original Video [DVD]". Cdjapan.co.jp. 2003-10-24. Archived from the original on 2005-02-21. Retrieved 2014-01-11.
  9. ^ "Cyber Ninja". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on 2014-01-12. Retrieved 2014-01-11.
  10. ^ Harmon, Rick (September 1, 1994). "'Cyber-Ninja' Lightyears behind classic 'Star Wars'". Montgomery Advertiser. Archived from the original on January 31, 2022. Retrieved February 1, 2022.
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