Ninja Hattori-kun (忍者ハットリくん) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Motoo Abiko (initially credited as Fujiko Fujio and later as Fujiko Fujio A) which was serialized between 1964 and 1988. It was later adapted into a television drama that aired on TV Asahi (then known as NET) from 1966 to 1968; an anime series by Shin-Ei Animation, airing on TV Asahi from 1981 to 1987; a video game by Hudson Soft; four anime films by Shin-Ei and a live-action film. A remake of the 1981 anime series was produced by Shin-Ei and the Indian animation firms Reliance MediaWorks and later Green Gold Animations which aired on TV Asahi and Animax from 2013 – 2015.

Plot

11-year-old Kenichi Mitsuba is an average kid who goes to elementary school and struggles with his studies. He is very stubborn and lazy, therefore always ending up frustrating his parents and teachers. He loves to find an easy way out of everything much to the annoyance of Hattori. Meanwhile, a young ninja named Kanzo Hattori becomes best friends with Kenichi. Hattori becomes a part of the Mitsuba family along with his brother, Shinzo and his ninja dog, Shishimaru. Hattori helps Kenichi with his problems, constantly keeping an eye on him as a good friend. Yumeko is portrayed as Kenichi's love interest. The main antagonists are Kemumaki, a Koga Ninja, and his ninja-cat, Kagechiyo. Kemaki always causes trouble for Kenichi and Hattori, sometimes inventing new devices to fight against Hattori but always ending up in mishap. Kenichi asking Hattori to take revenge is a recurring storyline present throughout many episodes. Although Hattori is a good friend, Kenichi sometimes fights with him due to misunderstandings created by Kemumaki. Sometimes Jippou, Togejirou and Tsubame help him. There are five main locations in the series: Tokyo City, Shinto Temple, Iga Province, Iga Mountains, and Kōga Valley.

Characters

Main

Supporting

Other

Media

Manga

The first manga series was published in Kobunsha's Shōnen in 1964 and ended in 1968. A second manga series was published by Shogakukan in various kids magazines like CoroCoro Comic, Televi-Kun and others from 1981 to 1988.

TV drama

It was made into a live-action TV drama. Aired from 1966 - 1968. This was a work of special effects sitcom. This drama was aired on NET and was divided into 2 seasons, first season aired from 7 April to 28 September 1966, second season aired from August 3, 1967 to January 25, 1968. Each season consists of 26 episodes, in total 52 episodes from 2 seasons.

Anime

1981 anime series

The first anime series aired on TV Asahi in Japan from September 28, 1981 to December 25, 1987 for a total of 694 episodes and 11 special episodes, in total 705 episodes. Amazon Prime Video India began streaming the series in English, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi in December 2016. Netflix began streaming the "fifth season" (53 episodes) of the Indian English dub in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and India on December 22, 2018. Since May 15, 2020, Netflix no longer streams them. In Korea, from December 19, 2005, until the 5th season was aired on Talent TV (JEI Talent Broadcasting at the time of the first airing in 2005). became Currently, Nickelodeon is broadcasting New Ninja Hattori. The main character, the ninja Hattori Ganjo Hanzo (Tori), has a distinctive dialect accent and a 'nin nin nin nin nin' tone. In Vietnam, the series was re-released by POPS Kids on digital platforms and YouTube with a Vietnamese dub version by Purpose Media from 2018 and 2022.

2013 anime series

In January 2012, Nikkei announced on its website that a remake of the anime series under production by Indian production company Reliance MediaWorks and Shin-Ei Animation. The announcement was part of a move to produce several remakes of popular anime television series to be broadcast across television stations in the Asian market to counteract Japan's stagnating domestic anime marketplace due to its declining birthrate. Shin-Ei Animation is currently collaborating with Green Gold Animation to produce new episodes of the series. Yūichi Nagata, producer at Shin-Ei Animation, stated that the current collaboration will be between Shin-Ei's "creative content" and Green Gold Animation's "quality of skills in animation making and diligence". The new series began airing in India and Indonesia on May of the same year, as well as China. It premiered on Animax in Japan on May 13, 2013. Netflix, initially set to stream the Indian English dub of the first two seasons in early 2019, began streaming them in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and India on December 22, 2018. Since May 15, 2020, Netflix no longer streams them.

Home media

The 1981 anime series was released on two, nine-disc DVD box sets by Columbia Music Entertainment in Japan. The first box set was released on August 31, 2005, while the second was released on November 2 that same year. The Japanese dub of the 2012 series was released on a five-disc DVD box set, under the title Ninja Hattori-kun Returns (忍者ハットリくんリターンズ), by TC Entertainment, Inc. on July 11, 2014 in Japan.

Live-action film

A live-action film entitled Nin x Nin: Ninja Hattori-kun, the Movie was released in 2004.