Shuriken School



Shuriken School is an action-comedy cartoon that aired in the US in 2006 on Nickelodeon. It's about kids who attend a school to learn how to be ninjas. The show primarily follows the antics of Eizan Kaburagi, Jimmy B and Okuni Dohan.


 * Action Girl: Okuni, Kita and (to a lesser extent) Ami.
 * All Elections Are Serious Business: In "Okuni for President", Shuriken's election becomes this, resulting in the candidates taking levels in jerkass by turning against each other and cheating to win the election. It gets worse when their schemes to bring the other down start affecting the other students, who are in the middle of the whole shabang.
 * Animesque: Very much so.
 * Armor-Piercing Slap: Ami delivers one to Daisuke in the opening sequence.
 * Badass Adorable: The kids.
 * Berserk Button: Do not EVER mess up anything Michiyo has been cleaning.
 * As demonstrated in "The Big Illusion", the concept of being in love makes Okuni yell loud enough to make entire mountains tremble. Which is partly the reason why she has trouble admitting her feelings for Eizan.
 * Beware the Nice Ones: Shuriken's students and teachers are in general very nice, friendly people, but they are ninjas and is not a good idea to mess with them.
 * Big Bad: Katana's principal appears to be this, although he doesn't do enough things to qualify.
 * Black Best Friend: Jimmy B.
 * Boarding School of Horrors: Played with in regards to Shuriken. Shuriken's infrastructure is crumbling, and the school perpetually suffers from financial woes. However, the environment is quite positive, and the main cast have a very friendly and family-like relationship.
 * On the other hand, Katana plays this very straight, as it resembles a Military School, complete with a scary headmaster who doles out borderline abusive punishments for menial failures.
 * Cannot Spit It Out: The main point in "The Saber and its Shadow".
 * Cat Fight: Okuni and Ami stage one in "Kubo's Mystery".
 * Charlie Adler: Vlad, Tetsuo, Principal of Shuriken, Principal of Katana and Michiyo the Cleaning Lady.
 * Chivalrous Pervert: Vlad.
 * Clingy Jealous Girl: Okuni seems to be this for Eizan, the clearest example being in "An XXL Lie", when he gets paired up with her frenemy Ami.
 * Color Coded for Your Convenience/Red Oni, Blue Oni: The uniforms of Katana and Shuriken Schools.
 * Crazy Jealous Guy: Daisuke towards Ami, as shown in "The Old Master".
 * Cringe Comedy
 * Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Everyone at Shuriken is this. No matter how weird and eccentric they are, at some point they show how capable ninjas they really are.
 * Darker and Edgier: The Movie is more serious and emotional than the series, although it retains its sense of humor.
 * Entitled to Have You: Nono, Kita's former classmate in "The Winning Ninja". He relentessly insults Shuriken School to Kita's face and blatantly uses their bet to get a date with her, clearly thinking he deserves her despite his horrible attitude. Needless to say, not only doesn't get the girl, he goes through a Humiliation Conga for his actions throughout the episode.
 * Everyone Can See It: Both Jimmy and Ami are able to spot Eizan and Okuni's feelings for one another faster than they do, leading to a Love Epiphany.
 * Feud Episode: "Okuni for President" is this between Okuni and Ami. They reconcile at the end, of course.
 * Foil: Shuriken School and Katana School are this for one another, which fuels their rivalry.
 * Gang of Bullies: Katana School, obviously.
 * Genki Girl: Ami, the local Lovable Alpha Bitch.
 * Gentle Giant: Nobunaga. A Mighty Glacier who is very sweet and loves food and his friends. And they adore him in return.
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar: Nobunaga in a wetsuit.
 * Grand Finale: The Movie
 * Group Hug: The main trio do a tearful one in The Movie.
 * Improbable Weapon User: Eizan wields a green ruler. Also Jimmy and his skateboard.
 * Jerkass: All Katana School qualifies by default. There's also Tetsuo, Kazumi, and many others.
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Shuriken has these when they're not straight-up nice guys. Among these it has Okuni, Jimmy, Daisuke, Ami and Vlad.
 * Knight of Cerebus: The ninja antagonists of The Movie. While not exactly "villains" ; they take The Movie to a darker path.
 * Living Emotional Crutch: If there's something Okuni and Jimmy have in common, is their love and affection for Eizan. If he's not with them, they will break down in tears very easily.
 * The Kimura Twins are so dependent on one another they get weaker when separated.
 * Love Revelation Epiphany: In "The Saber and Its Shadow" Okuni realizes her feelings towards Eizan when Ami tells her he loves her. She then denies it, of course. Eizan himself has also one when Jimmy points out the reason for Okuni's evasive behavior.
 * Ninja School: Shuriken School is basically this. Katana School, too.
 * No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Eizan is a frequent victim of this, often dragging his friends into it.
 * Not Evil, Just Misunderstood:, as discovered in "An XXL Lie".
 * Ocular Gushers: Frequently.
 * Opposing Sports Team: Katana School are the embodiment of this, being Jerk Jocks constantly harassing the protagonists.
 * The Power of Friendship: A main theme in the show.
 * The Power of Love: Invoked by Jimmy in "The Saber and its Shadow", regarding Eizan and Okuni's love for each other that defeated the enemy of the episode. Okuni is not amused.
 * Properly Paranoid: The Principal in "The Old Master" thinks Master Otomo is an impostor who is in Shuriken School for the food, and correctly guesses his entire scheme.
 * Rival Dojos: Katana school vs Shuriken school.
 * Rousseau Was Right: Everyone in the show had shown some sympathetic qualities. The "villains" are mostly jerks but not quite evil. Even the Big Bad Wannabe, despite being the closest thing to a "villain", had Pet the Dog moments and doesn't do much of anything to be considered as a threat.
 * Sailor Fuku: Ami always wears one, though no one else ever does.
 * Sand in My Eyes: Jimmy cries in "Kubo's Secret" after seeing . He claims he had something in his eyes. Suuuuure...
 * Ship Tease: Lots of these, but mostly between Eizan and Okuni.
 * Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Okuni, despite refusing to admit it, clearly has feelings for the dorky, sweet protagonist Eizan, who reciprocates.
 * Slapstick Knows No Gender
 * Snowball Lie: The plot of "An XXL Lie" centers on this, showing what happens when a Seamless Spontaneous Lie gets unintentionally connected to another student, with another one joining and making the lie even bigger than it already was.
 * Stern Teacher: Kita and Vlad, although the latter can cross the line into Sadist Teacher sometimes.
 * Taking the Bullet: Parodied in "The Old Master". Nobunaga takes the rice ball for Jimmy by eating it.
 * Token Evil Teammates: Tetsuo and Yota for Shuriken, the former especially. While the main Shuriken students are a flawed, but generally pleasant bunch of True Companions; these two are nothing but a pair of bullies who rarely get involved into the plot, and when they do, is to make things worse.
 * Tomboy and Girly Girl: Okuni and Ami, respectively.
 * Tranquil Fury: In "The Winning Ninja", after learning Okuni signed him up to a fighting contest without his consent, Eizan's reaction is silently walk towards her while giving her the mother of all Death Glares, freaking her out. She was really lucky Jimmy was there to defuse the situation.
 * True Companions: Shuriken School's main cast (Except Tetsuo and Youta). When one of them has a problem, the others will go ahead and help him without any doubts, even fighting together when the plot calls for it.
 * Inside the group, there's the titular trio: Eizan, Okuni and Jimmy B. Even if they fight sometimes, it's clear they mean the world to each other.
 * Shuriken's principal even said they're a family in "Eizan's Shadow", proving to be the school's creed.
 * Tsundere: The three main girls of Shuriken, each one being a different type:
 * Okuni is a Harsh Type. She has a really short fuse (normally triggered by her companions' idiocy), and can be quite violent. However, she's a very caring and loyal friend when not pissed off. Her Tsundere personality is best shown when around Eizan.
 * Ami is a Sweet Type. She's a sweet if snobby girl, but she really dislikes Daisuke's unwanted attention, and has quite the competitive streak, as shown in "Okuni for President".
 * Kita-sensei is an Unsorted Type. As a Mood Swinger, she can switch between "Harsh" and "Sweet" at the drop of a hat.
 * Unresolved Sexual Tension: Between Eizan and Okuni.
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: Okuni and Jimmy are practically Like Brother and Sister, having constant quarrels but being there for the other when it counts. She also has this with Ami, who is both her female best friend and occasional rival.
 * Shuriken as a whole can be this at their worst. They have their disputes, sure, but that's pretty common in families.
 * Katana is a mix of this and With Friends Like These.... They laugh at each other's misfortunes, yet they stick together and team up when it counts.
 * Vote Early, Vote Often: In "Okuni for President", everyone tries to do this to win the election..
 * Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Eizan really dislikes rice balls due to the fact he often has to help his father in his rice ball shop. It goes to the point he gets literally sick when someone mentions them.
 * Vlad shows he's extremely afraid of tests, of all things.
 * You're Cute When You're Angry: Daisuke tells this to Okuni in "Okuni for President", and since she gets angry a lot, she may get his vote. Predictably, Okuni tells him to shut the hell up.