Sai

Let's begin by going back in time a little for some context. The first animated Nintama movie came out in 1996, and the second one in 2011, making a 15 years gap between each release. The first movie didn't make much waves at the time and the second movie came out at a very unfortunate timing (one day after the March 11 2011 great Tohoku earthquake), which made it a box office failure despite receiving good reviews. It'd make sense given that background that unlike others kid anime franchises that get movies almost on a yearly basis, there was little confidence in bringing Nintama back to the theaters again. But it happened finally 13 years later on December 20 2024 with Dokutake Ninja Corps' Strongest Tactician! Interestingly, this is the very first entry in the Nintama franchise to be officially available with English subtitles on a streaming platform. It came out on Prime on August 13 2025 under the title Invincible Master of the Dokutake Ninja. Obviously I have a lot of thoughts about this official release, how it was handled and how the movie itself was translated, but comparing our translation VS the official one isn't the point of this post so I won't go too deep into it. (I guess my commentary of these subs could be its own post but I don't know if it would be interesting...?) Despite the limited success of the first two movies, The Strongest Tactician was a huge success and far exceeded expectations, with box office revenue exceeding 3 billion yen. Additional cheering screenings were organized on top of some English subbed screenings in Japan, before exporting itself for limited screenings in Taiwan, Vietnam, Hong Kong, South Korea, Thailand, and Indonesia. (Prime uses the subtitles track from those screenings.)

Its original title is ドクタケ忍者隊最強の軍師 Dokutake Ninja Tai Saikyou no Gunshi, the same name as the light novel it adapts. The original light novel was written by Sakaguchi Kazuhisa, a novelist, scriptwriter, lyricist and producer that had already been involved both in writing for Nintama's anime and musicals. If the light novel was written for an older audience, the movie aims to be enjoyed by all the family, so the story received several adjustments, notably giving more focus to the good little children of the 1-ha class.

The title we went with in English is Dokutake Ninja Corps' Strongest Tactician, which is a very literal translation of the Japanese title. The official English title is very different and puzzled me a bit when it first came out, because you'd think Master of the Dokutake Ninja would apply to Happousai more than Tenki haha. Looking at the official subs' localization efforts overall, it seems they wanted to feed more into what ninja are like in popular imagination especially abroad rather than what they are like in Nintama ; military terms like "ninja corps" (or squad, team, unit, troop, from 隊) are swapped for a vaguer "ninja clan", which I feel reflect less the reality of the Nintama setting but, oh well. Maybe the idea was that "invincible master" was also more catchy as a title than "strongest tactician/strategist", though Tenki is neither invincible nor the master of Dokutake's ninja army in reality... Anyways! On to the movie per se!

Opening scene & Sonnamon's duel

The movie opens with a very impactful and violent scene that we rarely get to see in Nintama. As a nice parallel to the second movie, this opening scene conveys the reality of the time period Nintama takes place in by showing us a mansion being burned down and its inhabitants murdered. When the second movie used anachronistic gags to soften the violence, The Strongest Tactician chooses to replace bodies with straw mannequins and blood by red spider lilies. It's overall a gruesome scene, but I find the detail of a woman screaming followed by a mannequin lying down with its clothes undone especially dark...! Of course, the audience will quickly understand that this flashback relates to Doi's past ; but I really like the idea of keeping the victims of that bloodshed anonymous, because it helps tying together Doi and Kirimaru's experiences as war orphans. It happened to Doi, but it could happen to anyone really... Red spider lilies weren't just picked for their bright red color. Their Japanese name is 彼岸花 higanbana, the higan part refers to the equinox week in March and September when Buddhist services are held and people visit the graves of family, and bana is flower. The red spider lily, growing in September, is associated with the dead due to being planted in and around cemeteries. It's likely you've already seen these flowers used for that symbolism in popular culture before, they serve a similar purpose in the anime Jigoku Shoujo or Lycoris Recoil on top of my head. The bright red superposed on mostly black background also reminds me of the Koentake ninja from Ninmyu 12, which ties really nicely with The Strongest Tactician not just purely in terms of plot but in the themes tackled and motifs used, so I definitely recommend giving it a watch if you want to learn more about Doi's past! I subbed an excerpt and gave some insight here.

In the scene where Doi briefly meets with Rankirishin before leaving Ninjutsu Academy, we get one of Nintama's beloved puns that are so difficult to make entertaining in English, so the script had to be adapted a little to incorporate the funny misunderstanding. In the original text, when Doi brings up the water escape jutsu, 水遁 suiton, Shinbei mistakes it for 水団 suiton, dumplings served in soup. Kirimaru mistakes it for 整頓 seiton, tidying up. Finally, Rantarou mistakes it for とんとん tonton, literally tap-tap, but he means massaging his father's back with tapping motions. In our subtitles, Lizzie, who proofread and edited my script, went for a play with the similar sounding words "water" "wafer" "in shape" and "an ache". Good job!!!!!!!!

Red spider lilies don't only symbolize death, they are also used to help set the story at a specific point in time. Again, they bloom around September, and since they show in the scenery throughout the movie, it tells us the story takes place at the beginning of autumn. During Doi's duel against Sonnamon, two others visuals point out that we're currently in autumn : the moon and the rabbit on it, then the susuki pampa grass are both associated with Tsukimi, the moon-viewing celebrations taking place in autumn. Traditionally, the moon associated with Tsukimi would have a white rabbit pounding mochi rice cakes on it. Here, it's replaced by a quite ominous looking rabbit grinding skulls in its mortar!

"You can't hoard all of my free time with these things, you know." is originally こんなこと、いくす生命があっても足りないよ, literally "No matter how many life I have it isn't enough for this stuff". It's cute that despite their gap in power Doi always takes the time to answer Sonnamon's duel letters and entertain him...

I find interesting that Doi "loses" his duel against Sonnamon by protecting a bird's nest . The idea of finding a home and holding it dear is important to Doi after all.

Ninjutsu Academy

"Let's review different types of escape jutsu today. Fire, water, wood, metal, earth…" 1-ha are said to always be late on the curriculum, and here's an example of it. 1-ha are still learning about the water escape jutsu, while 1-ro are already reviewing them all. Doi wanted Rankirishin to review it earlier in the movie, so let's take a look at escape jutsu ourselves. Shadou-sensei lists different elements which would be 火 ka (fire), 水 sui (water), 木 moku (wood), 金 kin (metal), 土 do (earth). Add 遁 ton (escape) to them and you get katon, suiton, mokuton, kinton, doton, terms that you might have heard in popular culture where ninjas will exclaim Katon! before conjuring fire, think Naruto, Final Fantasy and such. While these techniques did exist, they are less fantastical and exciting in real life. Actual, real ninjutsu is all about guerilla warfare and infiltration, so for example, as you can guess from the name, suiton groups together various techniques about hiding underwater to go unnoticed by enemies. The others might be less intuitive but let's make Doi and Shadou proud. Katon, fire escape, involves using fire and explosives to cause confusion and producing smoke screens to go by unnoticed. Mokuton, wood escape, involves using the vegetation around to conceal oneself (...hiding in a bush jutsu). Kinton, metal escape, involves using metal tools, for example by producing clinking noises with coins or metal staffs, using metal surfaces to create blinding light reflection, or just... dropping money on the ground to distract enemies (Kirimaru is particularly weak to kinton, you could say.) Finally doton, earth escape, involves digging into the ground to conceal yourself, creating secret tunnels, etc. Incidentally, in Japanese the days of the week use these same elements : tuesday would be kayoubi, wednesday suiyoubi, etc. Which is why the Prime subtitles make Shadou-sensei say "Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday...." ....haha......

It's cute that Fushikizou sensed Zatto arriving before anyone else. Later, when Zatto uses his murderous aura, Fushi is the only one unaffected...

As usual, the kids mispronounce Zatto's name, and this time they involve Sonnamon too. Shouzaemon begins by saying Kusotare Castle ; kuso is shit and -tare is an insulting suffix (for example, Monjirou always says "bakatare!" to others), so he's pretty much saying Shithead Castle. Then Shinbei first says Zotto Senmon-san, not sure if there's any meaning beyond mispronouncing Zatto Konnamon, but zotto is an onomatopeic word conveying the idea of feeling disgusted. It becames Tarto Conman in the subs because... I admit I don't remember we were just shitposting brainstorming in the subbing groupchat and it happened I think. Oops. Then Sonnamon gets called Morosuberi Zunda-san ; suberi means slipping and zunda is a paste made with edamame beans, Moroslippery Soybean came naturally so it still sounds like Moroizumi Sonnamon.

Bandou is the old name for the Kanto region. Ninjutsu Academy is in the Kansai region, and we know Kisanta is originally from Hakone, so if you want to get a better picture at the distance it would look like this:

Map that I borrowed from Google. Graphic design is NOT my passion.

Searching for Doi-sensei

I like this discussion between the Headmaster and Zatto a lot. In general, I really really like the Headmaster in this movie ; his voice actor's performance is great and it's good to see the Headmaster being more responsible and level headed. It goes beyond this scene but there's an important point I want to bring up: the language used in this movie is much richer and nuanced than in the TV anime. I always say the TV anime is a great tool to learn Japanese because not only the characters generally speak clearly and use simple language, they often paraphrase their point to make themselves clearer, and regularly repeat the same sentences/expressions. While it's a great learning tool, it can make their speech a bit awkward and stiff at times. Nintama also doesn't shy away from using modern words, expressions, foreign loanwords etc that are completely anachronistic to the time period. This movie is different : while the underclassmen retain their mostly kid speak, the adults have a much more nuanced vocabulary and speech and even use archaisms that give certain lines a period flair. We tried to reflect that in the English subs. It's something that is already conveyed in the second movie (though through others means) but I love how this gap between how the adults speak and how the children speak shows how different reality is for them, and how the adults are trying hard to preserve the children's innocence.

When the sixth years make their appearance, they are all associated with a card suit. Tomesaburou and Monjirou share clubs albeit in complementary colors, Isaku has hearts, Senzou spades, Chouji diamonds, and Koheita is the joker. A lot of people wrote their own interpretation for these specific matchups, and I guess mine could be its own post in the future. Interestingly, the suits shown here are from a modern french-suited deck of cards, known in Japanese as トランプ toranpu, "trump". They weren't in use during the Muromachi period ; the Portuguese did bring playing cards to Japan at the time but they would use different suits : cups, coins, clubs and swords, and were known as 南蛮かるた nanban karuta, "western cards".

In that scene, dragonflies are crowding by the water near where the Headmaster is standing. Dragonflies are also another motif associated with autumn.

Before the sixth years split up to search for Doi-sensei, we see more red spider lilies on the side of the road and a statue of Batou Kannon, the "horse-headed Kannon". Kannon is a feminine boddhisattva associated with compassion, but Batou Kannon is one of her rare wrathful manifestion, and is recognizable by the horse cap, three heads and furious expression. While fury and compassion may feel like distant concepts, Batou Kannon symbolizes the determination to erase evil and overcome challenges. Its proximity to the sixth years might indicate that they are blessed with divine protection and it's a sign of good luck for them, but its association with spider lilies might have to do with Doi too. On top of being closely linked with Buddhism, Doi is consistently written in dichotomies in this movie (...and beyond, if I might, but let's stay focused). War and peace, destroy and nurture, Doi's black outfit and Tenki's white outfit, etc etc ; so doesn't a wrathful but compassionate deity fit to foreshadow Doi's current state as Tenki?

Back to Ninjutsu Academy

The monster jutsu is the 化け物の術 bakemono no jutsu in Japanese. Bakemono can be translated as monster, ghost, apparition, but specifically refers to shapeshifting monsters. 化け bake means to shapeshift, transform into, and mono is "thing", so a very literal translation would be shapeshifter. You might be familiar with the trickster foxes or raccoon dogs of Japanese folklore, and these are called respectively bakegitsune, shapeshifting fox, and bakedanuki, shapeshifting raccoon dog. Hence the monster jutsu, a technique about disguising yourself.

Oshitsu makes an appearance!! Yay! He's an important figure in the Tasogaredoki ninja army who, somehow, made very few appearances in the anime. He's the subleader/kogashira of the Black Eagle squad, which specializes in infiltration and scouting missions, so he's pretty much The Guy for gathering and reporting intel. I dedicated a longer post to him before if you're curious.

At this point in the movie, we know little about Dokutake's entire scheme, but Yamada-sensei did guess right that they are bluffing. Since that scheme is devised by Tenki, it shows how similar Doi and Yamada think in terms of warfare, I think! Yamada-sensei probably came to the conclusion that Dokutake are making empty threats because of two points : first, Dokutake Castle is not particularly strong, and stands no chance if it were to provoke the powerful Tasogaredoki and Amidare Chamidare Castles up north. Second, a good part of a lord's army wouldn't be full-time trained soldiers but common folks hired for the duration of campaigns. Since it's autumn, it means that most people can't be hired as soldiers as they are busy with the harvesting season, making Dokutake's manpower lower than ever at the moment.

Yamada mentions his past with Doi, which you can learn more about in 30-35, 32-62 and 32-64.

Out for work

Unlike Kirimaru, I'm no expert on mushrooms. The first one he mentions, ドクアジロガサタケ dokuajirogasatake (literally "poisonous straw hat mushroom"), is the obsolete name for koreratake ("cholera mushroom"), or Galerina fasciculata, which doesn't have a common name in English, so I put in the general genus name, Galerina. The others two mushrooms, shaggy chanterelle and pink woodgill, are straight-forward translations. アミタケ amitake is Jersey cow mushroom or bovine bolete. Honey mushroom is a straight forward translation, and enoki are.. enoki in English.

"He looked at me all demure..." The Japanese text says 上目遣いで uwamedzukai de, literally "with an upturned gaze", but the idea is pretty much "cute moe little girl giving a shy upward look". So demure it is. Chouji is very demure. And if you're not convinced just paste 上目遣い into Google images and look at the results.

"Cheapskate ninpo, nosy cap!" In general I leave words related to ninjutsu like, well, jutsu, ninpo and such to give the text flavor, since I assume they are words established well enough into popular imagination now. If 忍術 ninjutsu is ninja technique, 忍法 ninpou is ninja arts. Ninjutsu is more grounded into reality and refers to practical moves related to warfare, infiltration, etc (remember the escape jutsus I mentioned before), while ninpo is a word born from Edo-era kabuki and woodblock paintings depicting fantastical ninja practicing magic tricks and able to conjure elements ; so it evokes more the ninja of modern pop culture rather than the soldiers Nintama mostly depicts. Because Kirimaru is messing around rather than using actual ninjutsu, it'd make sense he'd exclaim the much more spectacular "ninpo". "Nosy cap" is 聞き耳頭巾 kikimimi zukin in Japanese, literally "listening cap". Kikimimi Zukin is actually a folktale about a man being gifted a "listening cap" by foxes, which enable him to hear the voices of nature around him. There are variations to the story, but the gist of it is that he hears from crows and trees that the daughter of a rich man is sick, and after managing to save her, the rich man rewards him... with money.... (Kirimaru...) Typically, he uses that money to buy fried tofu as thanks to the foxes though.

Usually, we don't make the characters swear in the English subs of the TV anime, but we thought Monjirou and Tomesaburou were allowed a little swearing as a treat since the movie fits the mood better.

I absolutely adore that scene with Kirimaru spying on the sixth years arguing. This movie does a great job depicting the different points of view of children and adults, where the children's world is much more innocent, fun and fantastical. Shuriken go in the opposite direction to hit Sonnamon's butt, they use funny cartoony eavesdropping ninpo, Doi-sensei is on a business trip and all is well ; meanwhile the adults are dealing with Doi's possible death and impending war involving multiple castles. The adults do their best to hide the truth to the underclassmen, but Kirimaru ends up hearing about it anyways. It's a great shock to him, and it almost works as a "loss of innocence" kind of scene. Almost, because Nintama is careful to never "break" Kirimaru despite everything, and what characterizes him is his unwavering resilience. Kirimaru is already well acquainted with the horrors of war, but through sheer resilience and effort he has managed to build himself back, culminating in him finding Ninjutsu Academy, Doi-sensei, and a home, but this scene shows his shock realizing all that might fall apart. No matter how strong willed he is, it's hard to take on for his 10 year old self, isn't it? It's why Chouji reacts so strongly in this scene ; he might be a quiet person, but I'd argue he's the most emotional among the 6th years. That, and he has a special bond with Kirimaru, of course, always going beyond his duty as committee senpai to help him with his part time jobs regularly, teaming up with him in the orienteering race to help him pay his tuition fee... There's no doubt Chouji appreciates Doi (and I think 32-64 aired just before the movie to show us that), but his affection is for Kirimaru above all. This scene is a great exercise in characterization for the sixth years in general I'd say. They're much more layered characters than "Chouji quiet, Koheita hyper" ; I already talked about Chouji, but in contrast, Koheita is being really quiet and serious here, isn't he? An attitude he's going to keep throughout the movie, too. Chouji might be quieter, but he's the emotional and impulsive one ; on the other hand, Koheita is much more sensible and rational. Notice how when Chouji grabs Monji's collar, Koheita immediately reacts to stop him? Tomesaburou is another impulsive, emotional one. Unlike Monjirou, he always wears his heart on his sleeve, and I think hearing bad news from Monji of all people only exacerbates his emotions. Isaku can't assert his own feelings as much, and concerns himself more with keeping Tomesaburou in check. Finally, the 6-i pair put reason above feelings. It's not that they don't care about Doi, not at all, but both Senzou and Monjirou are people who values self discipline and the image they have of what being a ninja entails. Hence "Remember what you were taught in Ninjutsu Academy!"...

Nighttime

Nerimono is a word that groups all paste food products, mostly fish paste and youkan (a confectionary made with azuki beans, sugar and agar agar), but for clarity it became "fish cakes" in the English subs. Just after, Rantarou mentions they might serve oden at the cafeteria tomorrow, which is fish cake hotpot in the subs, what I believe is an okay approximation. There are a lot of different fish cakes like chikuwa or kamaboko actually, so sometimes it makes it a pain to subtitle… Doi, just leave no leftovers, okay?

In Kirimaru's dream sequence, he's making paper scoops to catch goldfish, a game that is popular during markets, fairs, and festivals. They're one use only so Kirimaru's job is to craft a large supply of them.

Meeting Tenki

In the flashback scene where everyone is going home for break, there are cute lines from the students in the background. Danzou mentions being able to see his horses, since his father owns a horse carrier business. Isuke says his hands get all blue when he helps out at home because his family works with dye, and Shouzaemon hands get black because his family are coal sellers.

The scene where Kirimaru asks Doi-sensei why he cares about him is taken directly from 19-90.

I really like how Kirimaru coping with the shock of potentially losing Doi-sensei is portrayed, all he can do for now is to keep their home clean for Doi-sensei's return. I love how despite all his distress, he never loses hope! I think it's a feat to change the overall tone of a series, especially such a long, well established one, without ever betraying its characters and what it stands for. This movie never falls into the trap of going "Nintama, but daaark.", while still making it a point to depict the Sengoku wars for what they were, though always with a lot of consideration for its young audience.

While Kirimaru is cleaning the house, the background music, titled "Let's Go Home -memories-", features humming provided by otsuka Akio, Yamada-sensei's voice actor.

When Kirimaru watches the sixth years running from afar, Senzou is behind everyone else. I wonder if I see too much into it but he's consistently depicted as being physically weaker than everyone else, like in 30-31 or Ninmyu 12, and in Ninmyu 14 there's a scene where he's struggling to keep up with the others and is lagging behind lol. So I don't know if that detail is intentional but it sure pleases me.

The fact that the sixth years' civil clothes are reversible with the color of their Ninjutsu Academy uniform is really cool. Doi elaborates on ninja and reversible clothes in 16-15.

The sixth years VS Tenki fight has a yet unseen level of violence for Nintama. I assume seeing them bleed was a shock for everyone! Tenki is purposedly trying to kill too, aiming his blade at their throat, hitting them in their wounds, etc. Isaku is lucky he got away with just a haircut, because Tenki was definitely going for his neck. Rip Tomesaburou who took multiple hits on the head.

When Monjirou repeats "We're talking about you, man!", Senzou grabs his arm and he becomes embarassed. I hope it comes across as well in English, but in Japanese, Monjirou uses casual speech that's not appropriate to use when addressing a teacher. Addressing people directly with the second person pronoun, anata, is considered familiar, but not only Monji does that, he uses the colloquial form anta for emphasis, so Senzou is gesturing at him to get a grip and be more formal. In English, we made him say "man!" for emphasis and make him sound casual. It's especially notable because by comparison, Tenki consistently speaks in a very archaic way.

Just before the bombs detonate, Senzou shouts "get down!", and it goes pretty fast but you can see Koheita actually throwing himself on the ground and cushioning himself with his elbows, showing that he consciously got down. Isaku, on the other hand, lands face first, his hand in the air, so he definitely tripped. Oh...

Monjirou and his swollen eye makes him look like his manga design, with mismatched eye shapes.

Let's pause for a bit before we take a better look at Tenki and his design, and let me talk, in very broad lines, about shugendou. Before 1868, Shinto and Buddhism weren't separated as two religions ; meaning that Shinto shrines could be used for buddhist rites, buddhist temples could be used for shinto rites, buddhist deities imported to Japan could be perceived as kami (shinto gods), and kami could be perceived as manifestation of Buddhas. This religious syncretism, together with folk beliefs and philosophical influences such as Confucianism, gave birth to 修験道 shugendou, lit "the way of trial and practice", aescetic practices involving training in the mountains for self improvement. Practitioners of shugendou are called 山伏 yamabushi, lit "one who lies/hides in the mountains". During training, they wear completely white clothes likened to those worn by the dead, to signify their symbolical death and rebirth ; but the most striking element of the outfit is the headscarf and its two big knots on each side of the head called 宝冠 houkan, lit jeweled crown, which holds multiple symbolisms, notably that of the crown of Dainichi Nyorai, the primordial Buddha, but is also likened to a symbolical afterbirth, or the purifying shimenawa rope you find on shinto sites... Yes! This is what inspired Tenki's outfit. Though not included in the history proper, Amako Soubei envisioned Doi to have had a religious education in the mountains on top of learning ninjutsu, after all.

We know Doi is an orphan who was eventually picked up by a strong ninja group that he ended up defecting. He learned shugendou in addition to ninjutsu and art of war in general ; and as Amako Soubei mentions, shugendou and ninjutsu are closely tied in the first place...

But in short (I'll try), ninjutsu is a set of techniques and methods for guerilla warfare involving infiltration, espionage, sieges, ambushes, survivalism in harsh terrain, etc. But esoteric Buddhism was also an essential part of this warfare, and I think the most famous manifestation of that is in how ninja are often depicted practicing hand gestures to conjure spells. These are actually called kujikiri, the nine symbolical cuts, and are rituals to ward off evil that comes from shugendou. This relationship between esoterism and ninjutsu is regularly touched upon in Nintama, with the characters frequently visiting Kinraku-ji temple for zazen meditation training ; the head priest of Kinraku-ji used to be a ninja himself, too. In 20-81, Isaku compounds medicine while reciting the dharani mantra. Ninmyu 11 opens with the musical number Shingon, literally "mantra", in which the sixth years chant a mantra to Fudou Myou-ou, worshipped in shugendou. Ninmyu also refered to Marishiten, a warrior deity of illusion and invisibility.

To go back to the Strongest Tactician, a soldier trained in shugendou and ninjutsu makes a great asset for Dokutake Castle. Onmyoudou, a type of divination, was used in battle tactics as well, making Tenki very credible in his role as tactician.

Contrasting with Doi's black ninja outfit, Tenki wears completely white clothes. I already talked about the significance of the outfit for yamabushi, but in the context of the movie and for Doi specifically it also shows a reset of his self back to before he called himself Doi Hansuke, erasing all the character development he went through since meeting the Yamada family.

In Dokutake Castle, next to Tenki's desk, on a shelf, is a statue of Daikokuten. Daikokuten is the specifically Japanese take on the deva Mahakala. If Mahakala is another wrathful, violent deity, he ended up becoming a much more peaceful and positive figure when he was imported to Japan, from a warrior to a deity of wealth and fertility. Another dual figure linked to Doi/Tenki! Not to go too deep, but Daikokuten came to when the buddhist deity Mahakala was conflated with the shinto god Ookuninushi, the ruler of the earth. Ookuninushi, whose name literally mean "great master of the country" is one of the most important kami in Shintoism so I'm speedrunning explanations here, but one of his role was to build and strengthen the country in which humans dwell before leaving for heaven. Maybe we can relate that to Tenki aiming to unify the country under Dokutake in order to end war!

Tenki's name was picked to end with the same -ki suffix as others Dokutake ninja. It's spelled 天鬼 tenki in Japanese. 天 ten is sky, heaven, and 鬼 ki is demon. Again, two opposite ideas in his name. It also opposes the name Doi, spelled 土井 doi, with 土 do meaning earth, soil, and 井 i meaning well (as in a water well). This makes Tenki and Doi heaven and earth respectively! Interestingly, in Ninmyu 12, it's revealed that prior to being Doi Hansuke, Doi went by the name 夜霧 Yogiri, "night fog". I like this name, first because the second character is read kiri by itself, so it makes another link between Doi and Kirimaru's childhoods. Second, because if sky and fog evoke intangible concepts, earth and well feel more concrete and palpable ; the well is where everyone in town gathers and where human life and connection happen. A much more happier and fitting name for him if you ask me!

Waow, this Dokutake song number is just like my beloved Ninmyu. Incredible. Showstopping. Spectacular. On top of the bright visuals and kaleidoscopes, it is constructed in a very repetitive, mesmerizing way, so it works well as a brainwashing song. It wasn't captioned in the subs, but the golden letters at the beginning of the song number reads "justice." The calligraphy scroll the Headmaster slashes reads "world peace."

Such a character appears in Movie 1 and 2, but I never thought of taking note of it until it was mentioned on Discord, so here it is...! The young boy sitting close to lord Taketaka is a 小姓 koshou, a page or squire. These boys were close retainers and bodyguards of high ranking military men and lords. They took care of their everyday business and chores, on top of swearing to protect their lord in battle if needed. Because they were physically very close to their lord, they also ended up as sexual partners, especially during long war campaigns... !! ...Anyways, that boy is likely the one who tells Taketaka that preparations to host the messenger from Chamidare Amitake are done.

Said messenger's name is 緒結 小呂倫 Omusubi Kororin, the characters are picked for phonetics purpose only. おむすびころりん omusubi kororin means "rolling rice ball", and it's the name of a folktale in which an old man drops a rice ball that ends up rolling into a mouse hole, and the mice thanks the old man by giving him treasure. At the end of the movie, the messenger is shown wearing a black and white helmet that looks like a rice ball covered with nori seaweed. The war flag he's holding, and the kamon emblem behind him are also shaped like a rice ball.

In the Dokutake comic book the sixth years retrieved, all of Ninjutsu Academy are depicted as various monsters. I'm unclear on what everyone is supposed to be ; I think it's a mix of youkai and monsters of modern popular culture. I especially like Yuki, Tomomi and Shige as oni, because their outfit reminds me of Lum from Urusei Yatsura lol... And Yamamoto-sensei kind of looks like Sirene from Devilman, doesn't she? Shadou is depicted as a yuurei, a Japanese ghost in a white outfit accompanied by hitodama will-o-wisps, and Andou-sensei is abura akago, an oil thieving youkai. The rest I can't say for sure! In everything related to dentistry, cavities are often represented by little imps with a fork tail and antennas poking at a tooth, and they're called mushibakin. That's what Yamada-sensei reminds me of lol. And of course, Lord Taketaka poses like Napoleon Crossing the Alps by Jacques-Louis David!

I really, really like the detail of Chouji and Koheita watching Kirimaru walk back to the dorms. They care...

In the English subs, when Zatto comes out of the ceiling, Tomesaburou tells him to "Cut the crap!". In Japanese, he says "白々しい！" shirajirashii, literally transparent, obvious, so something like "your intentions are clear". It's another case of addressing a superior in a very casual way that comes off as really rude, so the swearing is an adequate swap in English. I mean, Tomesaburou really doesn't like Zatto after all.

In that same scene, I like how everyone is frowning at Zatto but Isaku has the softest expression, on top of being the one to talk back to Tomesaburou. This movie is full of subtle interactions like that that shows the relationships between the characters, I'm always impressed by the amount of small details, but it's really the accumulation of it that makes the setting shine and feel so full of life.

I also really love how annoyed Zatto looks when he says "A powerful Dokutake isn't particularly worrisome...", it's one of those few moments that betray how uncomfortable the situation is for him. Technically, Zatto could just have Tenki assassinated and be done with it all, especially when waiting longer means having war possibly breaking out in winter where more soldiers can be deployed and battles happening at a larger scale. But not only he has to cover for Sonnamon's mistake, he really doesn't want to harm Doi because it would go against the debt of gratitude he owes Isaku. The second movie ends with him saying "...or the Health Committee will be sad.", and a lot of his actions in the third movie follows the same mindset. Of course, when push comes to shove, Zatto has to take action later in the movie, and the Headmaster predicted that when he said "In order to keep any har maway from Tasogaredoki, he would not hesitate to eliminate that tactician." It's really Zatto's biggest ordeal to have found people he cares about outside of Tasogaredoki, where his allegiance lies. I feel Nintama likes to flirt with the idea of Zatto having to make a choice between betraying his domain to help Ninjutsu Academy or prioritizing his loyalty even if it means harming Ninjutsu Academy, as this kind of dilemma for him also happens in Ninmyu, but it always remains pretty lowkey. I want that man PUSHED INTO A CORNER FOR GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!! ...Anyways. More on that later.

"Since Doi-dono has been confirmed to be alive, we will take our leave." From this point, all of Tasogaredoki except Zatto aren't seen again until the end the of the movie, but it doesn't mean they aren't there. Zatto is always one step ahead of everyone else after all...!

Gingin / moso / ike ike dondon are such iconic catchphrases, kinda onomatopeic (or totally in "moso"'s case) in nature too, it feels sacrilegeous to translate them, so we never did, even in the TV anime. Ike ike would be "go, go!" and dondon indicates a continuous, rapid motion. So it's pretty much "Keep going!", and became "Onward-ho!" in the Prime subs. もそ moso doesn't have much meaning beyond a mumbling onomatopeia. Japanese has a lot of onomatopeic words, but moso is a purely Chouji invention. Maybe it comes from ぼそぼそ bosoboso, an actual onomatopeic word for mumbling...? Anyways, it became Chouji's default word when he doesn't want to say anything else, so now he regularly says it out loud too lol. Moso is moso. And now to our point of interest: ギンギン gingin! Another onomatopeic word that express excess excitement, feeling fierce ; but also sharp feelings like stinging pain and brain freeze. So maybe, hardcore!, just like Monjirou is...? Sharp sharp? Wild? Anyways, it's another case of gingin becoming Monjirou's word, and a name for his unique mindset of hardcore training and strict discipline, so maybe gingin is ought to be just gingin... What is "We'll gingin through!" in the English subtitles is "ギンギンにやれます！" gingin ni yaremasu in Japanese. Literally, "we can do it gingin-ly", but I don't want to adverbify it, so I always work around sentences where Monji uses the word like this. "We can do it the gingin way!", I guess.

To Dokutake's branch castles

"I have some stag-gering news." I'm so glad we found this pun, so we're going to use it again and again!!! It's a recurring one, and its most famous appearance is from the second movie. Do I have to explain it again...? Actually, I'll just copypaste myself. Shadow clone jutsu! "In the original script he says 斯く斯く然々kakukaku shikajika, which simply means “this and that”, “such and such”… while holding a puppet of the bishop shogi piece, called kakugyou or kaku for short, and a puppet of a deer, or shika in japanese. So the joke is that as he says kakukaku shikajika, he shows a kaku and a shika… "

Kisanta tells his slugs "Today's mission is gonna be a tough one...", in Japanese "今回の任務はとてもハードなので..." konkai no ninmu wa totemo hard na no de..., so he says the English word "hard" in his sentence. It's specifically vocabulary related to the hard boiled detective genre, to go with his attire and foggy environment.

In the 4th and 3rd years cameo, it's really cute how they're all facing the same direction except for directionally-challenged Sannosuke and Samon.

This movie has SO much on-screen text, and sadly captioning everything makes for a very cluttery mess sometimes. This sheet reads: Outing Permission Slip 1st year, Ha-class Name: Kirimaru Reason: Part-time job [Moroizumi] It's the permission slips Kirimaru made Sonnamon sign earlier in the movie, and the 1-ha kids simply scribbled their own name on top of it. It's very cute to look at everyone's different handwriting. Shouzaemon has a very straight and proper handwriting lol, while Danzou is a complete disaster. I attached a screenshot because I want everyone to look at the trouble Azul went through to add a new font JUST to differentiate Danzou's horrible handwriting from the rest hahaha.

"Stuff is selling fast lately, it's a huge relief." Again, it's harvest season, and people are stocking up for the upcoming winter.

Sakuragi Seiemon and Nakouji Kanbei are two new characters Amako Soubei designed just for this movie. They're respectively dubbed by Oonishi Ryuusei and Fujiwara Jouichirou, two members of the band Naniwa Danshi, who sings Yuuki 100% and Arigato Kokoro Kara, the two songs used at the end of the movie. They're 16 year old, meaning they were 6th years students a year before Nintama takes place. Seiemon used to be the president of the PE Committee, and Kanbei president of the Library committee.

The discussion between Rikichi and Yamada-sensei is one of my favorite scene in the movie. Again, there's a sense of realism you don't find in the TV anime where the adults specifically use the word shinobi rather than ninja, which adds to to their serious, no nonsense, professional vibe. Rikichi acts smart and wants the conversation to be purely professional, but the moment he learns about Tenki's identity, he's in complete shock, sweating, facing the ground... and immediately dropping the "pro" act by calling his father. "Father, what's the plan?" Rescuing Doi becomes his priority number one ; please note the pause he makes after Yamada-sensei to retreat the moment he's in danger. "...Of course." Oh, Rikichi, you big liar.

Mission Lelele! Another call back from the second movie, in which the kids got a LLL sized jacket that they mistakenly read as the katakana characters レレレ, rerere. It became Lelele in the subs to link it better with LLL. The text on screen reads "Mission レレレ / Mission L L L".

The auntie workers of Dokutake made their first appearance in the first movie! Good to see them again. They don't realize it, but it's their second time working with Doi.

1-ha with their head, arms and legs poking out of the rice bales are SOOOOOOO cute.

"Under-the-big-chestnut-tree, that name would belong to me!" Ugggh. I love this character. I really do. I did not want to tackle him in subs at all lol. We're not 4kids and we don't want to translate names, but it kinda had to happen here. His name in Japanese is 大黄奈栗野木下 Ookinakurinokinoshita 穴太 Anata, with characters chosen for phonetic purpose, and it reads like the opening lyrics of a nursery rhyme called... Ooki na kuri no ki no shita, which I learned just now is apparently called "Under the spreading chestnut tree" in English. When the lyrics say "You and me, let's happily play together", it uses the japanese second person pronoun あなた anata, which sounds similar to the guy's name, 穴太 Anata. So he's basically singing that nursery rhyme while spelling his name at the same time : "Ookinakurinokinoshita Anata is my name!"

When Shinbei sings "Pray tell, where could Tenki-san be?" there are visuals relating to the weather in the background ; umbrellas, snowmen, suns, clouds and a rainbow. It's because Tenki is an homophone of 天気 tenki, weather.

The fake branch castle at Suppontake's border aside, three branch castles on one border is a Lot to have for Dokutake, which are clearly not the strongest domain around. I'm actually unclear on the status of some characters, but given the amount of castles based in the Kansai region where Nintama takes place, they realistically can't be all daimyo (war lords which would govern at the scale of a province). Actually, all the battles depicted in Nintama are on rather small scale, the second movie being a battle over a village for example, so the lords that are introduced are likely not all great daimyo who can realistically go to war against another province (though IIRC Tasogare Jinbei has been called a daimyo...? but it's from memory I can't cite an episode) Yet, it's possible for a local lord to become daimyo and gain more power, and we know Lord Taketaka fuels the ambition to unify Japan eventually, hence the many branch castles. Though one of them is fake...

Happousai discloses the entirety of Tenki's plan to Fuuki. It turns out that Dokutake do plan to attack Suppontake to bait Chamidare Amitake and Tasogaredoki into waging war on each other and not interfere. I insisted on the movie taking place in autumn ; it's likely Tenki elaborated a plan that had to take place now, when less soldiers are involved, so that the battle scale and casualties are kept minimum. Had it been winter, a lot of farmers would be hired as soldiers since there's no work to be done in the fields.

Rescuing Doi-sensei

In the scene where the fifth years are scouting the Dokutake soldiers at night, an owl can be heard in the background, then makes its appearance just before they read the letter Kanemon and Saburou stole. It's very likely that this owl represents Tasogaredoki, or more precisely Oshitsu, passing information in secret code, as they've been associated with owls before in the TV anime, the second movie and in Ninmyu. Again, redirecting you towards this post if you want to read more about Oshitsu and Tasogaredoki's manner of communicating in secret.

I think it's really cute how disinterested and bored Saburou is initially, but becomes a lot more enthusiastic and playful at the idea of disguising himself to trick Dokutake. During the last half of the movie, he gets to do quite a lot of disguising paired up with Raizou and looks like he's having lot of fun with it.

"Those guys were carrying four chests, weren't they?" The chests are specifically karabitsu, a Chinese-style chest with six legs.

When facing Happousai, Rankirishin do their usual bit of calling Happousai by the wrong name. Leaky Happoucider is 漏れた発泡酒 moreta happoushu in the original script. 漏れた moreta is "leaked", and 発泡酒 happoushu is a sparkling alcoholic drink. The same pun was used in the second movie, so we translated it the same : with cider to keep the "sai" sound from Happousai. Stuffy Hot-carpet is 蒸れたホットカーペット mureta hotto kaapetto, and is a direct translation. Sueta with 1.5 Head-proportions is 饐えた 1.5 等身 sueta ittengo toushin. 饐えた sueta is "spoiled" (as in food that went bad), but we kept it as Sueta so the final name still kind of sound like his actual name lol, since 1.5 等身 ittengo toushin is so removed from Happousai... it literally means "1.5 heads tall", and it specifically refers to character design where characters' height are measured in heads. Shinbei is pointing out that in this movie, Happousai is slightly taller than usual ; it's a similar gag to movie 2 when Happousai breaks the fourth wall to point out the movie screen is making his head larger than usual... Later, when Rantarou says "He and Shinbei compared how they're drawn.", it's "しんべヱと等身くらべしてた" Shinbee to toushin kurabe shiteta, "he and Shinbei were comparing their body proportions."

"And now that singing idiot is giving me extra work to do." In Japanese, he doesn't say "that singing idiot", he says 穴太め Anatame, "that damn Anata". But since we chose to avoid using his first name in the subtitles earlier, we did that swap.

"The walls have been sealed with dried potato stems in case a siege happens!" To be precise, there's imogara, taro yam stems in the walls. Shou-chan adds that there's salt in the floor, as well. There's historical truth in this: pine trees were often planted around castles not just because they are associated with good fortune, but because the inner fiber of pine bark are edible (You can make mochi out of it! but according to Shinbei and Oshitsu, it doesn't taste good...). The most documented "edible" castle is Kumamoto Castle, which had a number of hidden water wells, tatami made of dried taro stems, and more taro stems and kanpyou (dried calabash gourds) sealed in its walls. Nintama had already brought up this fact in Shuichirou's introduction arc in season 23, where the ruins of Hodohodo Castle are surrounded with pine trees, and Oshitsu mentions dried taro stems, bracken, pine bark mochi, etc... being used as emergency rations. Later, Rantarou mentions the importance of a water well during a siege too.

"That familiar-looking thing is suspicious enough." It's the same giant carved head of Lord Taketaka that we can see in movie 1! The passages inside are also similar.

Seiemon's weapon is called 振り杖 furijou, a flail with a retractable weighted chain. Kanbei's weapon is called 棍平 konpei. It's a weighted chain with a handle and its main use is to catch an enemy's sword and disarm them. Matchy matchy!

The gap in strength between Zatto and Rikichi, Seiemon and Kanbei is crazy! I remember that this scene came as a shock to me the first time I watched the movie. Huh? They made pop idols star into the movie only to have their characters get beaten up by Zatto?!!! It's also rare to see always-cool Rikichi be defeated so easily. The thing is, not only Zatto didn't fight back really seriously, I think he kind of cushions the graduates' fall, too? He's scary...

All's well that ends well

"And ten of those cookies while we're at it!" what is cookies in the English subs are ボーロ bolo in Japanese. Nowadays it means cookies, but the word is borrowed from Portuguese bolo, cake. Dokutake ninja are also seen enjoying castella, another sweet treat brought to Japan by the Portugueses. It was pretty new, exotic stuff by the time Nintama takes place!

"Even if Tenki were to remember his true self, he'd be unable to…" ...If he were to kill children, the guilt would be too much for Doi to ever return to Ninjutsu Academy. It makes sense for Fuuki in particular to be uncomfortable with that idea, given he's a father himself to a son the same age as Rankirishin.

Shinbei and Rantarou describes 袋返しの術 fukurogaeshi no jutsu correctly. It involves infiltrating the enemy camp, pretending to be on their side, and betray them at the last moment. Inside-out bag is a direct translation. The kids misremember the name as 手のひら返しの術 tenohiragaeshi no jutsu, literally "sudden reversal", and "topsy-turvy bag" in the subs.

"I can hear the clink of a coin from four leagues away!" In Japanese, he uses the old unit of measure ri. 1 ri = ~4km. "When you sell eggs, say they're from a silkie!" I don't remember him doing this in the anime, but he did play that trick in the manga. "You need money to go through hell, too! But I'm not paying up the six mon to get on to the other side!" mon is the old currency. Traditionally, 6 mon were placed with a dead body so they would b allowed to cross the Sanzu river and pass to the other side.

sorry, second and last screenshot showcasing Rikichi in despair. this movie really is Rikichi's Very Bad Day

Rikichi grabbing Zatto's wrist with his bare hand despite the poisoned shuriken and his tense expression really shows just how desperate to save Doi he is here. I guess it's a choice he had made in the spur of the moment, so selfish feelings took over reason, but if he had managed to stop Zatto while Tenki had successfully cut Rankirishin... well... Rikichi made his choice, but thankfully for him he doesn't have to live with the consequences of it.

When Doi recovers his memory, after the traumatic flashbacks on a white background, the first thing that comes back to him in bright light is the Yamada family. It's baby Rikichi who proved Doi had potential as a teacher, it's Mrs. Yamada who pointed it out, and it's Yamada-sensei who recommended Doi to Ninjutsu Academy, and ended up naming him as a result... all three are the foundation of his new identity, aren't they?

When the moon used to depict a scary rabbit grinding skulls, it's now the more traditional, cute bunny pounding mochi rice cakes.

Sorry I keep going back to this, but characterization is so perfect in this movie. Kirimaru gets to show subtle expressions and emotions the TV anime rarely allows. Doi's voice change as he returns to his true self is also really impressive... And Chouji being unable to retain his tears too ;_; I love Koheita taking the initiative to quietly tie up Happousai and make him trip ; he's been so serious and dutiful the whole movie, I guess he's allowed to be a petty 15 year old for a bit.

"Onii-chan, I couldn't be happier." "Onii-chan, I couldn't be happier." Agggggghhhh!!!! I still can't get over it. Compare this to Rikichi who could only mutter "onii-chan" where Doi couldn't hear him in 30-35! It goes to show just how relieved Rikichi is finally. Storytime: I had the chance to watch this movie in theaters one day before its release, so the theaters was packed full with excited fans who had never watched the movie before. We were all mostly quiet, but when this line came up there were loud, audible gasps in the audience LOL

By the way, look at how Koheita freezes after Rikichi's line. I think he heard something he wishes he hadn't heard. Maybe the "oniichan" too shocking. Haha

"When I make a mistake, I have to take responsibility for it, or as a teacher, I won't be able to look my students in the face." It's one of my favorite lines in the movie. Nintama anime has been written with the adult audience in mind for a long time (the expected demographic is basically children and the housewife mothers watching with them), so not just the idea of senpai being responsible for kouhai, but also adults' responsibilities towards children is not new or exclusive to this movie. But this line addresses it directly, and its timing within the story is perfect. I really appreciate it. The sixth years' humility in response to Doi's apology is equally touching. They really are good kids...

It's so odd seeing Happousai returning to his usual tiny proportions after watching him look so cool the entire movie lol. As Fuuki says, I prefer this Happousai over the other one... It was necessary for Happousai to undergo some sort of brainwashing/amnesia to mirror Tenki in this movie, since he does and says pretty horrible stuff that is uncharacteristic of his usual funny cartoon villain persona. Back to status quo for this funny little man!

"With this, I'll be free of Ninjutsu Academy's ire." I already mentioned it, but the situation was uncomfortable for Zatto. I know it's better not to think too hard about the timeline in Nintama, since it's a 30 year old franchise that technically takes place all within one unfinished school year. The first movie takes place at the beginning of summer, when vacation has just started, the second movie takes place just after summer vacation, when everyone is back to school, and the third movie takes place in autumn, just after summer has ended. Meaning that realistically, very little time has passed between the events of each movie... but there are hundreds of episodes and relationship building happening in between all that. By movie 2, Zatto had what he calls a debt of gratitude to Isaku. After that, he regularly visits Ninjutsu Academy just to hang out with the Health Committee and gains actual affection for the nintama. He may acts cool by calling it just a debt of gratitude, but at this point, "making the Health Committee sad" would pain him greatly, and it's certain that killing Doi was a last measure he must be very glad he didn't have to take.

I mentioned Saburou having fun because he gets to do a lot of disguising with Raizou, but damn! Don't give him such a fond look while disguised as Happousai!!

I didn't mention it before, but isn't it tragic how poor Kiri-chan under the snow is so cold, the snowflake touching his face isn't even melting...? This scene is great at conveying his resilience, though. When you think all hope is lost, Yuuki 100% (100% Courage) starts playing, and he's immediately shown walking together with his Ninjutsu Academy friends.... ughhh, Kirimaru, you are so loved.

That Yuuki 100% sequence has a lot of interesting cuts. Again, showing the reality of the Sengoku period for the common folks highlights how much of a (temporary?) safe haven Ninjutsu Academy is for the kids. The 5th and 6th years reuniting with their graduated senpai is also really sweet, and a nice touch to make them look cool after much of what they did in the movie was getting beaten up by Yamada-sensei then Zatto, haha.

Torawaka's chubby cheeks when he slurps on udon is sooooo cute. (we have entered the Truly Insightful Commentary part of the post)

All the super deformed art in the ending credits is also really cute. I really, really like how while the 5th years are stuck in Tofu Hell, Hachizaemon gets somewhat of a special treatment. Kanemon, Raizou and Saburou are sharing from the same nabe dish, while Hachizaemon has his own plate of animal-shaped tofu, referencing 20-32. In general, I love how the credits show a return to status quo ; Isaku's hair isn't cut, no one is wounded, Tome and Monji are back to bickering, Chouji is quiet, Koheita is ikeikedondon-ing, Senzou's hair looks perfect silky smooth in the wind... justice is served in that only Happousai seems to be dealing with consequences : in the credits, Lord Taketaka is specifically angry at him, and post credits, it's revealed Zatto took the opportunity to steal part of Dokutake's domain into Tasogaredoki.

And of course, this has to end with Sonnamon delivering yet another duel letter to Doi. All is right in the world!