Ninja Boy - The 1983 manga and anime series

November 25, 2020

Ninja Boy (伊賀野カバ丸 Igano Kabamaru in the original Japanese) is a manga written and drawn by Yu Azuki from which an anime and a film were then made.

The protagonist of the same name is a naive young ninja from the province of Iga called Kagemaru (absolute shadow), nicknamed Kabamaru (hippo's mouth) for his insatiable appetite. After the death of his severe grandfather and ninja master, Kabamaru moves to Tokyo with one of his grandfather's acquaintances. The plot is mostly about Kabamaru adapting to an urban lifestyle after spending a childhood in the mountains, developing feelings for his guardian's granddaughter, and how he finds himself caught up in the rivalry between two private schools.

History

Kabamaru was orphaned at a young age and was adopted by his grandfather Saizō Igano (伊賀野才蔵, Igano Saizō), who trained Kabamaru and another young orphan, Hayate Kirino (霧野疾風, Kirino Hayate) in the ninja arts. While Saizō took care of the two children, he was also a very strict teacher, who punished incompetence or disobedience with physical violence. The two children eventually tried to escape, with Hayate suggesting they separate. Kabamaru was reprimanded but refused to reveal to Saizō where his friend was. Hayate watched, hid, and finally made the decision to take advantage of the opportunity and flee. This choice has haunted him ever since.

Kabamaru is in his teens when his grandfather dies. At his funeral, he meets an elderly lady named Ran Ookubo (大久保蘭, Ōkubo Ran). Saizō was Ran's first love and he had asked her in a letter to take care of her nephew when he died. Kabamaru follows Ran to Tokyo, where he will stay at his home and attend the Kin'gyoku (Golden Rules) school, of which Ran is the director.

Upon arrival, Kabamaru meets Mai Ookubo (大久保麻衣, Ōkubo Mai), Ran's granddaughter, who has lived with her since her parents died. Kabamaru immediately takes a liking to Mai, but she finds his crude ways and endless appetite embarrassing and repulsive. These feelings are shared by Kingyoku's vice principal, who nevertheless tolerates Kabamaru's antics out of loyalty and a secret infatuation with Ran. Ran herself is blinded by Kabamaru's striking resemblance to Saizō and sees everything Kabamaru does as fascinating.

Shortly after arriving at the school, Kabamaru inadvertently saves some students from the bullying of an older student named Shirakawa. Shirakawa is a member of a secret student society that includes in its ranks Kaoru Nanokusa (野々草かおる, Nanokusa Kaoru), the beautiful head of the student council. Its true leader, however, is Shizune Mejiro (目白沈寝, Mejiro Shizune), a wealthy and popular bishōnen student whose feeble facade actually hides a powerful whip-wielding fighter. All the girls have a crush on him, including Mai. Shizune's gang is intent on antagonizing another school called Ōgyoku (Topaz Rules). However, negative feelings of varying intensity exist among most students of both schools.

The Kin'gyoku School and the Ōgyoku School have been bitter rivals for nearly half a century and compete fiercely in everything from athletic competitions to those where the school has the most expensive clock tower. The reason for this is twofold: first, the rivalry between Ran and the director of the Ōgyoku school, Sū Matsuno. Both Ran and Sū were best friends until they met Saizō and fell in love with him. Saizō secretly went on excursions with both of them, longing for the baskets of food the girls brought him. When the truth was revealed, the girls asked Saizō to choose one but he refused both, as by ninja tradition he could only marry one ninja. Unable to get angry with Saizō, the two girls turned against each other.

The second reason is the rivalry between the wealthy and influential families of Shizune Mejiro and Shuu Maejima (前島秀, Maejima Shū), head of the Ōgyoku student council. The two families vie for control of the whole of Japan and their children have moved the conflict to the schoolyard.

Shizune initially considers Kabamaru an interfering parasite, then orders that he be dealt with. After Shirakawa fails to crush Kabamaru by force and Kaoru fails to charm him with her beauty, Shizune decides to conquer him, bribing him with food and in particular with yakisoba noodles, Kabamaru's favorite delicacy.

Shizune, aware of Kabamaru's physical prowess, convinces him to participate in the annual long-distance inter-school relay. On race day Kabamaru manages to take the lead and almost wins, but a few meters from the finish line he is surprised by a shuriken thrown at him by an invisible Hayate, who is now in custody and employed by Sū in spite of himself. Kabamaru realizes that Hayate is in town and starts looking for him, excited at the thought of reuniting with his childhood friend.

After some Ōgyoku students are caught spying on Kin'gyoku clubs, Shizune brings Kabamaru and Kaoru to a party organized by Ōgyoku to celebrate their victory in the long-distance relay to spy on Maejima. During the night, Kabamaru and Kaoru infiltrate Ōgyoku's dorms, only to discover that Maejima has a crush on Mai and has written her a love letter. This infuriates Kabamaru, who attacks Maejima and escapes, accidentally dropping the love letter in Sū's office.

A few days later, Maejima receives an invitation to a date from someone she assumes is Mai. To his dismay, he actually meets a flirtatious Sū, who has read Maejima's love letter and thinks it was meant for her. Maejima comes to the erroneous conclusion that Kabamaru is the mastermind behind the dorm attack and deliberately created the misunderstanding of the love letter to mock him. Later that night, he disguises himself and attacks Kabamaru with a club, but ends up injuring Shizune in the arm. He also begins to train martial arts students to act as his bodyguards against future assaults.

Shizune learns of Maejima's actions and considers them a preparation for an all out attack on Kin'gyoku. He asks Kabamaru to train him and his friends in the ninja arts so they can fight back, but Kabamaru's popularity and Ran's enthusiasm for his involvement lead the entire school to volunteer for ninja training in the Iga Mountains, ruining Shizune's secret plans.

Hayate, who has been ordered to disable Kabamaru, is unwilling to harm him directly, so he anonymously contacts Shirakawa and manipulates his dislike of Kabamaru. He gives Shirakawa drugged candy and orders him to deliver them to Shizune, both of them knowing that Kabamaru is certain he will devour them first. Shirakawa should then attack sleeping Kabamaru. The plan almost works, but Kabamaru offers a candy to Ran, who then passes out in the middle of the street. Hayate saves her from being run over, which leaves him in conflict between loyalty to his old friend Kabamaru and grateful Ran on the one hand and his duty to his employer, Ms. Matsuno, on the other.

Characters and voice actors

Kabamaru Igano as Ryusei Nakao
Young Kabamaru: Masako Nozawa
Mai Ookubo: Mai Tachihara
Hayate Kirino as Hideyuki Tanaka
Young Hayate: Eiko Yamada
Shizune MejiroAkira Kamiya
Saizo Igano as Kenichi Ogata
Young Saizō: Ryūsei Nakao
Ran OokuboEiko Yamada
Suu MatsunoMasako Nozawa
Vice Principal: Yūsaku Yara
Kaoru Nonogusa as Youko Asagami
Shirakawa as Daisuke Gori
Shu Maejima as Akio Nojima
Futaba Mejiro as Kenjiro Ishimaru
Kaname MejiroShigeru Chiba

Technical data

Manga

Gender action, adventure, romantic comedy
Author Yu Azuki
Editor Shueisha
Magazine Bessatsu Margaret
Target shoujo
1 edition 1979 – 1981
Tankōbon 11 (complete)

Anime TV series

Regia Tameo Kohanawa
Producer Masamichi Fujiwara, Shigeji Tsuiki, Minoru Ohno, Toru Horikoshi
Music Toshiyuki Kimori
Studio Group TAC
Network Nippon television
1st TV October 20, 1983 - March 29, 1984
Episodes 24 (complete)
Relationship 4:3
Episode duration 24 min
Italian network Odeon TV, Network A
1st Italian TV 1988
Dialogues it. Nini Boella
Double studio it. Videodelta
Double Dir. it. Santo Versace