Ninjago seasons, ranked by me.
S1: Masters of Spinjitzu: 9/10. Classic nostalgia, funny jokes, theyâre all so young and adorable, Nya is such a good example of a âgirl powerâ character
S2: Masters of Spinjitzu: 10/10. The Lloyd and Garmadon relationship is so amazing, Garmadon is such a great sympathetic villain, the finale is simply an outstanding piece of television, one of my fave final good vs. evil battles ever
S3: Rebooted: 6/10. Weird way to do a time jump (they should be running a dojo, not a school :/), I have new appreciation for the Cole/Nya/Jay debacle but still not my fave. Garmadon is the best, the story just takes the characters all over the place and I find it weird (the digiverse? Space?). Pixel and Zane sharing a heart however? Peak romance.
S4: The Tournament of Elements: 10/10. Excellent and so fun. Garmadon continues to be the best, I love the expansion of the worldbuilding, the characters are well-written, interesting concept.
S5: Possession: 8/10. Love it, but it would have been so much better were the show not restrained by the limits of a Y7-TV rating. Great whump with Cole and Lloyd, Morro is an awesome villain, love the insight into Wuâs character, but the ghost magic is a bit too inconsistent.
S6: Skybound: 10/10. FAVE, the character development is developing, I love Jay in this, I love Nya, I love their relationship, I love the exploration of all the charactersâ flaws, Nadakhan is a seriously creepy villain. Make that lightning boy suffer.
S7: The Hands of Time: 3/10. What. You can viscerally tell that this season had different writers, these writers donât know these characters at all, the aesthetic is so messy (instead of snakey Vermillion Warriors, they should have been steampunk automatons), the villainsâ motivations make no sense, Kai and Nyaâs parents could have had a much more interesting storyline, the ending is so incoherent, Lloydâs character is unrecognizable. Bad.
S8: The Sons of Garmadon: 9/10. Glow-up! The animation is beautiful and I love Ninjago City in these seasons. I like Lloydâs new VA, the new character designs, I love the tone, the plot, the everything. Especially BABY WU AND DAD COLE. Oh and the Lloyd/Garmadon fight!! Lose one point for making Harumi a princess and introducing a one-off royal family, rather than just a wealthy family. Also I think that Lloyd and Harumi should have known each other longer, like the ninja should have been their bodyguards for a longer period of time.
S9: Hunted: 10/10. Very good, I love the ninja in this, the resistance is a great plot line and a great group of characters. So good thereâs not much to say.
S10: March of the Oni: 6/10. Way too rushed. The March of the Oni should have been a march, as in, an extended invasion. Cole should have been stuck in that cloud for weeks at the very least. The final battle was so unimpressive. Also I think Garmadon should have sacrificed himself and been destroyed along with the Oni, Lloydâs temporary death should have hit harder, the visuals should have been more dramatic. I do like Garmadon and Lloydâs interactions, and the Jaya proposal â¤ď¸
S11: Part 1: Secrets of Forbidden Spinjitzu: 5/10. Ok. The Wu/Aspheera storyline seems ripe for some more drama. Kai is the best.
S11: Part 2: The Never-Realm: 8/10. I love the new realm, the worldbuilding is cool, Zane đ oh the trauma. Meanwhile Pixel is single-handedly saving Ninjago while the ninja are gone. Good stuff.
S12: Prime Empire: 7/10. I love the premise, and a lot of it was executed well, but a lot of other things were not thought through. Why would everyone just willingly walk into the game? How do the freed NPCs have physical form? It would make more sense if the game was really a portal to another realm that was governed by Dyerâs programming. The detective episode with Zane and Pixel had me giggling, theyâre adorable. Also, the Okino episode is just masterful.
S13: Master of the Mountain: 10/10. I had never seen this season before and knew nothing about it. Honestly, this was such a pleasant surprise! The aesthetic is SO FUN and I love that we got a Cole-centric season. The Jaya was perfect, everything with Nya and Kai becoming the rulers of the mountain peoples was legitimately hilarious, I cackled every time Zane threw a pebble at Kai đ. And the D&D group??? How did they even come up with that. Genius. Hilarious.
S14: Seabound: 10/10. đđđ that was beautiful. My little sister watched this beforehand and had told me that Nya âdies.â I wasnât looking forward to it, but the show proved me wrong. Nya is such a well-written character. Peak Jaya, of course. Wonderful. I cried. In loving memory of Kirby Morrow. Sob.
S15: Crystalized: 2/10. Now, to be fair, I only watched a third of the season because thatâs all thatâs available on YouTube. I still was not enjoying it at all. Nya was brought back with criminally low fanfare. We didnât even get to see her and Jay properly reunite. Similar to s7, the writers seem not to know these characters very well, and the aesthetic is super messy. Also, the league of villains trope is so tired, and it doesnât make any sense. Not a fan.