Under Ninja: A pretty decent adaptation.

 

Another Kengo Hanazawa adaptation was released in early 2025. This time, his wacky ninja manga, Under Ninja was the subject of a live-action adaptation. I laughed when I saw that Kento Yamazaki was the lead role because he's in a lot of adaptations. That's not to say that I hate that fact, quite the opposite, really. Kento is a man who gives it his all no matter the project and I admire his work ethic. As for the adaptation itself, I wasn't sure what to feel before seeing it. 

Following the events of the pacific war over 70 years ago, all ninja organisations were dissolved, at least officially. As one might expect, they didn't disappear completely and instead remain underground, working within the shadows and carrying out major assassinations and making a large impact on society. Two ninja organisations operating are NIN and the splinter group hostile to them, known as UN. Low-ranking member of NIN, the ever bored, Kuro Kumogakure, is tasked with the important mission of infiltrating a former military base turned high school. Kodan High is said to be a base of operations for the UN. Along the way, Kubo discovers several different ninjas, including the director and even fellow students. He also meets Noguchi, whom he gets along with and also gains information from. Kato, a fellow member of NIN also gets involved following a series of murders that could only be done by yet another ninja...

In short, the plot gets quite convoluted and hard to follow. That's pretty much in line with Kengo Kanazawa's work, honestly. 

The opening is a fun little animated sequence that establishes the setting a little. The animation itself has a hand-drawn type of vibe to it, which is nice. The transition into the actual live-action itself was beautiful and seamless. I really loved that. 

The production values are not that great. It's extremely obvious that the movie had a very low budget and it shows. There's next to no colour grading used, the special effects are pretty awful and everything just looks very cheap overall. That's not entirely a bad thing as it does lend itself well to the quirkiness and give the movie it's own charm, but I do wonder what it would turn out like if it had a larger budget. Yuichi Fukuda was a great choice foe the director as he had previously directed the live-action adaptations of Gintama and Hentai Kamen, thus, he was no stranger to the blend of action and comedy when taking the job.

Kengo Hanazawa's manga are known for being rather quirky and bizarre. His rather unique approach to humour and quirky scenes within the manga were captured well within the live-action movie. It won't be to everyone's personal taste as like a lot of things, humour is subjective. I personally enjoyed some of the slapstick style comedy and dialogue such as Kuro and Noguchi's conversation about surnames. Well, the whole surname bit becomes a recurring gag, but it doesn't get old. The sensei straight up calling the pair of them weird is great stuff. Ono's interactions with Kuro are also a highlight. The constantly opening and closing the door sequence is good stuff. As is Kuro randomly catching Ono wearing a bra. 

The action is pretty decent. Naturally, you have your typical ninja shenanigans involving shuriken's, these ones being small drones. There's also ninja armour which is fabric that makes one invisible and there's even a satellite laser that locks onto a target and obliterates them. Whilst the actual fighting isn't always the most realistic, featuring the aforementioned gadgets as well as flashy flips and spins, there's some genuinely well-choregraphed sword fighting sequences. Each fight feels quite unique. A point in the movies favour is the fact that Chief Ninja Kato actually gets a pretty solid sword fight rather than the strange contraption he pilots in the anime. Another major change is the climatic battle itself. It's completely changed from the manga, including the actual outcome. For me this is another point in the movie's favour because I never liked the battle in the manga, it just never sat well with me. 

Kento Yamazaki puts in a very different performance as Kuro Kumogakure when compared to his roles in prior live-action adaptations such as Golden Kamuy and Kingdom. As Kuro, he is much more deadpan, stoic and yet still badass. His expressions and delivery are on point as he excels in both the comedy and in the more serious action sequences. He had some great chemistry with Minami Hamabe, which made their scenes together a joy to watch. Minami herself does a wonderful job with a performance that ranges from suitably over-the-top for the slapstick comedy to genuinely emotional when the script calls for it. 

Overall, I definitely wouldn't refer to Under Ninja as the greatest live-action adaptation of all time, but it is still a decent, fun watch. The action is the main saving grace of the movie, making up for the lack of budget and low production values. I'd recommend it to those who are rather into ninjas, slapstick comedy and like bizarre, convoluted plots.