McNinja: Difference between revisions

[[Ninja|Ninjas]]s are [[Rule of Cool|cool]] -- that—that's a simple, straightforward fact (unless you are a [[Pirate]]), that seems to be almost universally recognized. They're also very, very Japanese. Or so you thought... just as McDonald's came out of the United States and conquered the world, so the ninja have set up local branches all over the globe.

* ''[[Batman Begins]]'' transplants Bruce Wayne's martial arts training from Japan to what appears -- fromappears—from the look of the prison camp and the mountains -- tomountains—to be the south Chinese border/Tibet. That they actually practice Ninja training in the home of Kung Fu might be considered a serious case of McNinja...

*** The apparent master of the school is played by a Japanese actor, but {{spoiler|the ''real'' master is played by an Irish actor, and they both}} go by a name that's, of all things, Arabic. Definitely [[McNinja]].

* ''Phantom Raiders'' features a [[McNinja]] training Vietnam Vets to be [[McNinja|Mc Ninjas]] for mission that features ninja stars, grenades, and gunfire.

* The ''[[Talislanta]]'' game features Mandalan Mystic Warriors and Mondre Khan Raiders in the Kang Empire, which is more Chinese than Japanese in flavor. The Rajan Assassin-Mage is apparently supposed to evoke the historical ''hashishin'', yet carries a strong whiff of [[McNinja]] as well.

** Frank actually seems to be of Slavic descent, disappointing his father by leaving to study ninjutsu in the jungles of South America instead of taking over the family fireworks business. He later decides to bridge the eternal gap between fireworks and ninjas by sticking a hilt on a firework and using it as a sword. Even if he were less conspicuous, he's not a very good ninja, as he's constantly berated by his master -- amaster—a giant talking cat who serves as second-in-command to Al Capone.

** Guy (one of the three heroes of ''Final Fight'' and a member of the ''SF'' roster [[Street Fighter Alpha|in more]] [[Street Fighter IV|recent games]]) plays this trope half-straight; [[But Not Too Foreign|he's a Japanese-born naturalized American]], although you probably wouldn't have been able to tell this had it not been for [[All There in the Manual|supplementary materials]].<ref> Just to clarify, Guy's nationality was originally stated to be Japanese in ''Final Fight'' and his "real name" was even written in kanji in manuals and such. From the ''Alpha'' series and onward, his nationality was changed to American, but it is unknown if this was a retcon or if he became a naturalized American after ''Final Fight''.</ref>

* ''[[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja]]'': The trope namer. In addition to the shamrock shuriken-throwing Irish-American ninja-doctor of the title, there is Frans Rayner -- aRayner—a former Danish ninja -- andninja—and his army of American ninja [[Mooks]]. Who eventually come back from the dead as [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|zombie ninjas]].

* In ''[[Buck Godot: Zap Gun for Hire]]'', almost every race in the cosmos -- fromcosmos—from [http://www.airshipentertainment.com/buckcomic.php?date=20080920 uplifted cats to ambulatory mountains to humanoid insects] -- has—has something identifiable as a ninja. This trope is shamelessly invoked and even named [http://www.airshipentertainment.com/buckcomic.php?date=20080529 the Universal Ninja Puzzle] -- "Many of these races cannot see eye to eye (literally) on the definition of such basic concepts as Food, Shelter, Sex and Memory, but they all have Ninja." And they all think that the others are a bunch of ''posers''.

* The "Panous-Panous" -- Mooks—Mooks in the amateur French sentai show ''[[wikipedia:Jushi Sentai France Five|France Five]]'' (no, really) -- have been described as "[[Enemy Mime|ninja-mimes]]".

** And the equivalent of many special forces units like SAS, Navy SEAL s, Spetznaz -- whatSpetznaz—what do the JSDF have?