Ninjala (TV)

Name: Ninjala (TV)
Genre: Action
Released: 2022-01-08

ニンジャラ

5.5(477)

MAL Score

Ranked #13196

Popularity #10445

Action

Duration: 23 min
Aired: Jan 8, 2022 to ?
Status: Currently Airing

Synopsis

In a futuristic world where the legacy of Japan's legendary ninjas has nearly vanished, the once-mighty clans have dispersed during the tumultuous Meiji Restoration. As time has passed, the descendants of these clans have worked tirelessly to protect their heritage, leading to the establishment of the World Ninja Association (WNA). Their mission: to revive the ancient art of ninjutsu and reconnect with their roots.

Central to this revival is the creation of Ninja-Gum, a unique substance that harnesses the very essence of the Shinobi. However, the true potential of Ninja-Gum can only be unlocked with the strongest ninja DNA. To identify the most powerful warriors among them, the WNA organizes the Ninjala Tournament, a thrilling competition where skill, strategy, and heritage collide, revealing the next generation of ninja champions.

Otaku Consensus

Ninjala works best as OLM’s long-haul kids-action extension of the game franchise: Mamoru Kanbe’s 63-episode directorial stretch gives it clear, low-friction pacing, and the show leans into readable super-power set pieces rather than dense battle-shonen mechanics. Its weak database reception, with 5.58 on MyAnimeList and 47/100 on AniList, points to the central complaint: the child-first episodic structure and simple conflict writing offer limited payoff for older action fans.

Why You Should Watch

Watch Ninjala if you want a modern ninja action series built like a colorful kids-TV serial: quick competitions, exaggerated super-power gags, and a primarily child cast, without the lore density or harsher violence of Naruto or Boruto. OLM frames it as accessible franchise animation, while Shinzou Fujita’s series composition has room for stranger tagged ingredients such as age regression, fugitives, and aliens without turning the show grim. It is also a useful curiosity for game-anime followers: a long-running TV expansion of Ninjala’s Gum-based combat identity, supported by recognizable seiyuu including Akari Kitou, Takahiro Sakurai, Megumi Han, and Junko Minagawa. Best for viewers who like toyetic rules, transformations, and compact action beats over tournament power-scaling marathons.

Key Characters

B
Berecca(VA: Akari Kitou)
Berecca stands out for tying the cast’s bright comedy to the anime’s age-regression sci-fi angle, with Akari Kitou giving the role more snap than the series’ modest profile suggests.
B
Burton(VA: Takahiro Sakurai)
Burton benefits from Takahiro Sakurai’s older, controlled vocal presence, which plays neatly against a show otherwise dominated by child-cast energy.
E
Emma(VA: Megumi Han)
Emma gives the main ensemble a punchier shonen rhythm, and Megumi Han’s casting helps her land in the action-comedy register the series depends on.
G
Gumchi(VA: Honoka Inoue)
Gumchi is the mascot-like anchor of the franchise’s gum motif, designed to make the show’s central gimmick instantly legible to younger viewers.

What Makes It Stand Out

1
OLM produces the series, placing Ninjala in the studio’s kids-franchise lane rather than the late-night action lane; the result emphasizes bright silhouettes, readable gags, and easy-to-follow action over heavy choreography.
2
Mamoru Kanbe is credited as director for episodes 1 through 63, an unusually long initial run that gives the early TV series a consistent rhythm before later production shifts.
3
The staff pairing of Shinzou Fujita on series composition and Atsushi Suzuki on character design points to a show built for repeatable, character-driven episodes rather than a tightly compressed seasonal arc.
4
AniList’s high-percentage tags for Kids, Ninja, Age Regression, Super Power, and Primarily Child Cast make Ninjala a more specific hybrid than its plain Action genre label suggests.
5
The first ending theme is a notable music-credit bundle: Nayutan Seijin handled composition, lyrics, and arrangement, bringing a recognizable internet/Vocaloid-adjacent sensibility into the broadcast package.

Fun Facts & Trivia

Fun fact 1: Ninjala began airing on January 8, 2022 and is still listed as currently airing, making it a rare recent game-linked anime with a long-running TV footprint instead of a one-cour promotional run.
Fun fact 2: Kazuki Morishita is credited with the original story, so the anime’s core concept is not presented in the staff list as a manga adaptation or light-novel adaptation.
Fun fact 3: Ryou Nakano episode-directed both episode 1 and episode 20, giving him a role in shaping the premiere and returning for a later early-series checkpoint.
Fun fact 4: The voice cast includes four especially recognizable names in close proximity: Akari Kitou as Berecca, Takahiro Sakurai as Burton, Megumi Han as Emma, and Junko Minagawa as Jane.
Fun fact 5: Despite airing for years, the show remains niche in English-language databases, with only 473 MyAnimeList votes and 33 AniList favourites in the supplied data.