{"id":949,"date":"2004-09-10T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2004-09-10T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.animenation.net\/blog\/2004\/09\/10\/ask-john-why-are-ninja-so-popular-in-anime\/"},"modified":"2004-09-10T10:00:00","modified_gmt":"2004-09-10T14:00:00","slug":"ask-john-why-are-ninja-so-popular-in-anime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.animenation.net\/blog\/ask-john-why-are-ninja-so-popular-in-anime\/","title":{"rendered":"Ask John: Why Are Ninja so Popular in Anime?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Question:<\/strong><br \/>\nDespite what John says about them being &#8220;dishonerable&#8221; fighters, how come ninja still seem to be depicted in a better light than what they were originally feared for (particularly in Japanese culture)? Is it because of people&#8217;s fascination of &#8220;the way of the ninja,&#8221; empathy for farmers-turned-mercenaries trying to defend their land, or some other reason? (When I mean in a &#8220;better&#8221; light, I mean that I watch shows, anime, and games where the ninja is the protagonist).<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><strong>Answer:<\/strong><br \/>\nMy theory is that ninja are appealing and fascinating because, especially in the way they are stylized in anime and manga, the ninja is as close to being a literal superman as a normal human can be. The ninja of anime and manga is still human, but virtually superhuman. The ninja is physically more skillful than the average person, and more mentally sharp- able to adapt to any situation instantly. The ninja also has the impunity of anononimity. The ninja can come and go at will, do whatever he\/she wishes at any time without fear of detection or repercussion.<\/p>\n<p>For a fan of ninja, the ninja represents a pinnacle of human ability. Morality is irrelevant compared to the overwhelmingly attractive mystery and power of the ninja. The ninja as protagonist is an appealing role model because he\/she represents an ideal of human physical perfection. The antoginistic ninja is a dark and mysterious and charismatic character, simultaneously seductive and terrifying.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question: Despite what John says about them being &#8220;dishonerable&#8221; fighters, how come ninja still seem to be depicted in a better light than what they were originally feared for (particularly in Japanese culture)? Is it because of people&#8217;s fascination of &#8220;the way of the ninja,&#8221; empathy for farmers-turned-mercenaries trying to defend their land, or some [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ask-john"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.animenation.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.animenation.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.animenation.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.animenation.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.animenation.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.animenation.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/949\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.animenation.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.animenation.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.animenation.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}