Kinji Takigawa (
ninjayeehaw) wrote2016-07-26 09:56 am
Entry tags:
Nintality and Shuriken Ninpou
Nintality is the energy with which, in the Shuriken Sentai Ninninger universe, ninja skills are powered. The Igasaki bloodline is a particularly powerful family of ninjas, and thus has an extremely high amount of Nintality relative to other ninjas in their world; but it is an energy source that can be acquired from a starting point of absolute zero. This is primarily done by intense physical training; mimicking the ninja arts of a Nintality user, such as Igasaki Clan or Izayoi Clan Shuriken Ninpou. However, this method would take many months, if not years, before the user's powers would be of considerable power.
High-level Ninpou skills include Cloning Jutsu (creating an identical clone of the user, presumably made of Nintality and designed to take one or two hits before disappearing); or Elemental Jutsu - specifically, the channeling of Wind and Lightning, which are confirmed in canon to be advanced skills as opposed to the traditional five elements of Fire, Water, Wood, Metal, and Earth. However, these skills are far more easily performed with the use of a Nin Shuriken.
There are three types of Nin Shuriken: Technique Nin Shuriken, allowing the performance and training in a specific Ninpou technique; Transformation Shuriken, which allow the user to transform into armour (and seem to be specific to the Igasaki family and Starninger, given we see no other existing ones); and OtomoNin Shurikens, which allow the summoning of giant robot allies, OtomoNin, and the ability to channel their powers into Ninpou techniques.
The main benefit of Nintality is, of course, that the user is a straight-up ninja. This includes the following techniques:
~≈☆ Enhanced Reflexes: The Ninninger are frequently shown to dodge arrows and catch thrown shuriken, exhibiting a supernatural agility and reaction time.
~≈☆ Enhanced Physical Prowess: Users are much more physically capable than non-ninjas, and are capable of jumping obscene heights and distances. They are shown to be able to land on and safely run across water, and can hold themselves in position in otherwise awkward locations such as on ceilings or in upper corners.
~≈☆ Body Flicker: The ability to disappear and reappear in a puff of smoke, and to move so fast as to be a blur.
~≈☆ Body Replacement: Replaces the user's body with a straw dummy when struck, or in anticipation of an attack. This has been shown to happen either in a puff of smoke or
~≈☆ Camouflage Technique: Using a curtain to cover themself, the user is completely invisibility. A subset of this technique would be the ability to hide behind otherwise inappropriate objects such as street lights or skinny trees.
The downside to all of these techniques is that a second person with a higher Nintality than the user can detect them when they're using their invisibility techniques, and are generally better practiced and able to outclass the user in terms of skill.
Another way for a user to acquire extra Nintality is to defeat another user of Nintality, through either submission or death - at that point, the victim's Nintality will be released as a visible energy, something like a gaseous cloud for the assailant to absorb. Originally, this was how the title of Last Ninja was passed down: the son of the previous Last Ninja would kill his father, thus absorbing his Nintality and becoming even stronger. This is most likely the explanation as to the Igasaki Clan's extreme levels of Nintality; the five Ninninger's grandfather, Yoshitaka Igasaki, was the previous Last Ninja before the series' end.
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In terms of Kinji specifically, what this all boils down to is that he is a ninja who knows extremely powerful, advanced skills; he can use Cloning Jutsu without the need for a Technique Shuriken, and is the only Ninninger to master Lightning and Hurricane Jutsu.
While he is physically stronger than the other Ninninger, this is very much due to his life as a cowboy and monster hunter. As a ninja, his skill level at the end of the series is not much better than what the Ninninger were at the start of the series. It is commented on by Yoshitaka during the latter half of the series that compared to the Ninninger, Kinji is "not even at the starting line" in terms of Nintality and who is closest to being the next Last Ninja. This all but outright states that a person not born with Nintality, despite whatever amount of training they undertake, can never be comparable to someone born with it, possibly to the point that a non-Igasaki will never be able to reach the same amount of Nintality as even a weak Igasaki Clan member.
Shurikens that Starninger owns/has access to
~≈☆ Starninger Shuriken: allows Kinji to transform into Starninger, while its detachable outside ring is also usable as a shuriken in its own right; while there is only one Starninger Shuriken, he appears to possess a limitless supply of these outer rings.
~≈☆ Furai Nin Shuriken: his main shuriken for use in battle: by flicking the pick-like tab, it can be switched between Hurricane and Lightning modes. He uses his gun as the medium for which to either create cyclones capable of lifting multiple beings at once, or to shoot lightning from the gun barrel.
~≈☆ OtomiNin Shuriken: Bison: Kinji's personal mecha summoning shuriken. When activated, will summon RodeoMaru and the Bison Buggy. While the Buggy is simply a building-sized all-terrain vehicle (which Kinji can pilot from within), RodeoMaru and other OtomiNin are straight-up sentient with free will, and work in sync with their owner. RodeoMaru is implied to contain a part of Kinji's soul, hence their similar personalities and fighting styles. When activated a second time, the shuriken allows the two mechas to combine and form BisonKing.
~≈☆ OtomiNin Shuriken: Surfer: summons the auxiliary mecha SurferMaru, who can freely switch between his shark-like submarine mode and Humanoid form. SurferMaru can also combine with BisonKing to form BisonKing Surfer, which has greatly increased speed and dexterity.
