is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kà Âji Kiriyama. It was serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine Weekly Shà Ânen Jump from June 1993 to September 1995, with its chapters collected in nine volumes.
A 55-episode anime television series, produced by Fuji Television, Yomiko Advertising and Studio Pierrot, aired on Fuji TV between January 1995 and February 1996. A sequel manga, titled Ninku 2nd Stage: Story of Etonins, was serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine Ultra Jump from September 2005 to September 2011, with its chapters collected in 12 volumes.
The Ninku manga has had over 9 million copies in circulation.
The story follows an odd-looking 12-year-old boy named Fà «suke, a powerful warrior from the Ninku school of martial arts, who command a style that mixes ninjutsu and kung fu. Before the present time in the story, the Ninku were targeted by an evil empire and the Ninku corps were formed to combat the menace. The names of the corps were taken from the twelve Chinese zodiac animals () and each captain of the corps was called the zodiac animal Ninku master (). Their powers are derived from nature and a specific dragon to their own element, with the being the almighty master of all the elements. The Ninku were disbanded by their master before the end of the war and as such, the Empire was victorious and the Ninku became vilified by the Empire as the perpetrators of the war and made attempts to eliminate any surviving members. Three years later, Fà «suke, the young former captain of the 1st Ninku corps and controller of the wind and Hiroyuki, his flatulent penguin, start a journey, searching for the other Ninku captains. However, a new group of Ninku users has arisen and are trying to take over the world. Fà «suke and his penguin must defeat the new Ninku empire with the help of his old comrades.
Fà «suke, the former captain of the first division Ninku corps journeys across the land with his pet hiroyuki and the hot headed Rihoko to find his Mother who was taken from him at a very young age by the Imperial Army leader Kochin. On his travels, he reunites with fellow captains Toji and Aicho who begin to travel with him in hopes to not only stop the rise of the Imperial Army, but to restore respect to the Ninku students. Along the journey, Fà «suke and the others are tasked with finding and controlling the mystical sky dragons in order to become stronger.
Written and illustrated by Kà Âji Kiriyama, Ninku started in Shueisha's manga magazine Weekly Shà Ânen Jump on June 14, 1993. The series was suspended on July 11, 1994, with 53 chapters published. The manga resumed publication as Ninku 2nd Stage on December 5, 1994, and finished after 27 chapters on September 4, 1995. Shueisha collected the chapters in nine volume, published from January 11, 1994, to November 2, 1995. Shueisha republished the manga in six volumes from November 17, 2006, to February 16, 2007.
A sequel, titled , was serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine Ultra Jump from September 17, 2005, to September 17, 2011. Shueisha collected its chapters in 12 volumes, published from March 3, 2006, to November 4, 2011.
Prior to the anime television series, a film titled was screened at Jump Super Anime Tour in November 1994. A 26-minute film titled was screened at the Toei Anime Fair on July 15, 1995.
Media Blasters's Anime Works brand released Ninku: The Movie with an English dub on VHS in 1998. It was later released on DVD, along with ', on January 30, 2001, as a result of a poll conducted by Media Blasters.
Ninku was adapted into a 55-episode anime television series, produced by Fuji TV, Yomiko Advertising and Studio Pierrot, and directed by Noriyuki Abe. It was broadcast on Fuji TV from January 14, 1995, to February 24, 1996. Reruns of the series have been broadcast on Kids Station. The anime series includes an original story and characters not presented in the manga series. The opening and ending themes were performed by . The opening theme is . The first ending theme for episodes 1 to 28 is . The second ending theme for episodes 29 to 50 is . The third ending theme for episodes 51 to 55 is . Geneon Entertainment has released the series in two DVD boxsets in Japan. The first set containing the initial 28 episodes was released on February 25, 2005, and the second set containing the remaining 27 episodes was released on March 21 of that same year. In 2015, Bandai Visual re-released the series on two Blu-ray box sets, the first one on May 21 and the second on July 15.
Ninku was also broadcast in other parts of Asia on Animax Asia.
A number of video games based on the series have been released. Two video games were launched for the Game Boy, three video games for the Game Gear, a video game for the PlayStation, and a video game for the Sega Saturn. Fà «suke is also featured as a selectable character in the Weekly Shà Ânen Jump crossover fighting game Jump Ultimate Stars, launched for the Nintendo DS in November 2006. Characters from the series also appeared in another Weekly Shà Ânen Jump crossover smartphone game Jumputi Heroes, released for iOS and Android in 2018.
The Ninku manga has had over 9 million copies in circulation.
In a 2012 fan poll by BIGLOBE about the favorite Weekly Shà Ânen Jump anime adaptations, Ninku ranked 45th out of 50, and in a 2019 poll conducted by Goo Ranking of '"90s Anime That Deserve Remakes", it ranked 40th out of 60 series.
John Oppliger of AnimeNation attributed the low popularity of the Ninku anime series to its lack of compelling narrative development, as well as to the lengthy sequential story arcs that make other action series such as Naruto, One Piece and Bleach so popular. While he praised the characters and the animation of the fight sequences, he considered them repetitive, and stated that the show does not encourage much viewer loyalty.
In a review for the Ninku/YuYu Hakusho Double Feature DVD release, Chris Beveridge from AnimeOnDVD praised Ninku: The Movie for its fight sequences and animation, but recommended this release only to fans of either series. Mike Toole of Anime Jump in his Ninku: The Movie review stated: "Aside from the engaging story and great fight scenes, there are a few other good points about Ninku."
Ninku has inspired artists such as Masashi Kishimoto, creator of Naruto, who used to copy Kiriyama's drawings while studying to become a manga artist.