As years have passed and the streaming landscape has become the norm, Toonami has been the gift that keeps giving despite the odds, and they've only seemed to grow more ambitious. Following exciting announcements like Lazarus or the long-anticipated Uzumaki, Sunghoo Park's first new series since directing Jujutsu Kaisen, Ninja Kamui, is just a month away.

Sunghoo Park stopped directing Jujutsu Kaisen after the film in 2021 to dedicate his time to his newly-founded studio, E&H Production, which has been hard at work on several projects. Ninja Kamui was the first of these, announced back in 2022 by Adult Swim and slated to air on Toonami on the night of February 10, with the episodes releasing on Max the next day.

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What is Ninja Kamui?

There's something immediately nostalgic about the imagery of Ninja Kamui, that especially comes across in this newest trailer. If it isn't the characteristic editing style and narration of Adult Swim promos, it's the character designs by Takashi Okazaki, the designer and original creator behind Afro Samurai. Aesthetically, the series brings to mind a particular era of animation from studios like Gonzo and Madhouse.

Okazaki previously worked together with Park on Garo: Vanishing Line, a series that showcases the latter's directing chops before his now-famous work with Jujutsu Kaisen. Now, they've reunited for Kamui, an action series with the intent of differentiating itself from existing ninja-based films, according to Park. Interestingly enough, the show will air in both English and Japanese at different times on the same night. Adult Swim describes the story as follows:

Ninja Kamui follows Joe Higan who is a Nukenin - a former ninja who escaped his clan and is hiding from his violent past in rural America with his family. One night, he is ambushed by a team of assassins from his former organization who exact a bloody retribution on Joe and his family for betraying their ancient code. Rising from his seeming “death,” Joe will re-emerge as his former self - Ninja Kamui - to avenge his family and friends. Kamui is a 21st century ninja, a shadowy anachronism who pits his ancient skills against high-tech weaponry with brutal finesse. He must face off against trained assassins, combat cyborgs, and rival ninjas to bring down the very clan that made him.

Judging by this new look at the series, Joe looks to be collaborating with a detective and their tech-savvy partner to investigate a corporation tied to the ninjas that killed his family. There also seems to be a blend of high-tech sci-fi and more mystical ninjutsu at play within the action, judging by the cybernetic foes in Joe's way.

The biggest difference between the previous trailer and the newest one is - strangely enough - the appearance of the protagonist. In the first teaser revealed back in July 2023, Joe was shown to be a blond man with long hair and a beard, whereas this most recent look almost exclusively depicts a man with black hair. There is still a shot of the blond man toward the end of the trailer, however, so there's a chance of a narrative explanation for the change in his appearance.

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Will Ninja Kamui Live Up To The Hype?

Not much is known about the production staff other than Park's direction, Okazaki's designs, and Yan Le Gall as art director, yet the first two alone are sure to get people excited. While there were a lot of talented artists behind Jujutsu Kaisen and Jujutsu Kaisen 0, fans have come to associate Park's directorial works with excellent hand-to-hand action and choreography. Judging by Ninja Kamui's trailers, there seems to be no shortage of that.

A field where the series may potentially struggle more is storytelling. A story about a former killer avenging his family is hardly an original concept and any new attempts at the formula tend to have to get creative. For example, in John Wick, the trick was to replace the dead family with a dead dog and then to create an expansive world that became the focus going forward.

The deciding factor for Ninja Kamui will be whether it can carve an identity of its own. Park's aforementioned intent to differentiate this story from other ninja tales is fascinating, but the way he describes it, it sounds like it describes the philosophy behind the action more than the story. By mixing techniques used in animation with those used in live-action (presumably pre-viz and video reference), his team could create some unforgettable fights.

For many, "the director of Jujutsu Kaisen" is all they'll need, and it's hard to blame them. Then again, there's also the CGI, which, from the few glances shown, might be a bit rough depending on how frequently - and effectively - it is used. The variety of antagonists alone presents an opportunity for something akin to 1993's Ninja Scroll, but janky 3D animation could kill some of that potential.

Speculation aside, there hasn't been a show advertised for Toonami that has felt more fitting for the programming block in a long time and that's likely intentional. Hopefully, that feeling extends beyond the barest surface-level aesthetics and spells good things for Ninja Kamui, and the start of E&H Production's quickly-growing portfolio.

Ninja Kamui premieres on Adult Swim on February 10 and the next day on Max.

Sources: Anime News Network [Link 1][Link 2]

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