B:TAS "Night of the Ninja" Talkback (Spoilers)

[Bird Boy]

Discuss this classic Batman: The Animated Series episode!

Episode #034 - Night of the Ninja
Original Airdate - October 26th, 1992.

Wayne Enterprises' various companies are robbed by a mysterious figure known as the Ninja. Batman and Robin discover that the Ninja is actually Kyodai Ken, the only man who could beat Bruce Wayne when they studied martial arts together as boys in Japan. Bruce exposed Kyodai's attempt to rob the dojo, which got Kyodai expelled and now Kyodai is back for revenge.

Comments?

 

[Caped Crusader]

This past Sunday I saw this B:TAS episode on CN. I was really suprised to see it on. According to the news page they weren't supposed to start airing it until the 17th. CN has started showing Batman again and they showed this episode! I love the classic ninja action!

 

[Blight]

I saw it! "Night of the Ninja" was a great episode, and it was great to see it again! Hopefully CN will air "Day of the Samurai" soon, since I can't remember that episode very well. One thing I do remember, is that the the villian (forgot his name) jumps into a volcano at the end! An unforgetable moment!

See ya!
Blight

 

[Matt-Man]

Yeah I missed that episode! His name is Kyodai Ken by the way... If thats how you spell it... Anyways I am happy to see Batman back!

 

[The Dark Knight]

I really liked this episode, even though I would have preferred if Cartoon Network had shown an episode they didn't show during the Batman vs. Superman week. Seeing Bruce training to be Batman was quite a treat.

 

[Barb Gordon]

This was one of my favorite eps, and I was so happy to see it! I was going to turn of the tv, but I saw that Bats was coming next, and then wooo, it's Night of the Ninja, what an awesome way to spend a Sunday night.

Barb^-^

 

[The Penguin]

Night of the Ninja airs tonight

Tonight at 2:30 a.m. ET Cartoon Network airs the Batman: The Animated Series episode, Night of the Ninja. This episode previously aired in B:TAS's premiere on Sunday nights earlier this year."Cat Scratch Fever" will air next week (I too was expecting that one this week ). This is already your official talkback thread and here's the episode synopsis.

Batman #034 Night of the Ninja
Written by Steve Perry - Directed by Kevin Altieri
Wayne Enterprises' various companies are robbed by a mysterious figure known as the Ninja. Batman and Robin discover that the Ninja is actually Kyodai Ken, the only man who could beat Bruce Wayne when they studied martial arts together as boys in Japan. Bruce exposed Kyodai's attempt to rob the dojo, which got Kyodai expelled and now Kyodai is back for revenge.

Sooo more comments?

 

[Bleu Unicorn]

<kicks CN for being all confuzzling-like> I swear it did that just to make me look stupid or something!

Anyway, this episode doesn't air for like 10 more minutes, but I've seen it about a bagillion times. So, anyway, "Night of the Ninja" is one of my favorite episodes. I really love the interaction between Kyodai and Bruce -- the anomosity between the two is just so... well real, for lack of a better word. In fact, there isn't really much with this episode that I don't like, save for Summer Gleason. One of them, "why does this character need to be in this episode" moments, imho. I mean, granted it added to the whole tension of the fight, since you really wonder if Batman's going to let Kyodai win... but she's just so annoying... extra baggage and all.

Anyhoo, great episode, one that I don't mind watching a bagillion more times!

 

[JTurner954]

I'm split on this one. I didn't like the bad stuff that happened to Bruce, but on the other hand I accept it. And this Kyodi guy was pretty evil, but again I accept it since that was the point. I like his second appearance with Bruce leaving Gotham better. Nice to see Robin again. When will Robin's Reckoning Part 2 air??

I'll give this episode 4 stars, and Kyodi's second episode 4 1/2 stars.

 

[The Penguin]

****

"I have to be the best there is, no matter what it takes!" - Young Bruce Wayne, Night of the Ninja

(Post 1818! )

This episode gives an interesting look into Bruce's past and his training on the road to becoming Batman. Sometimes Bruce's pride gets in the way and this was a classic example, not letting Robin come along and then not appreciating his help at first. Robin's reaction to Batman's lack of gratitude is funny as heck.
"Thanks for saving my bacon, Robin." "Hey! No problemo, Batman!"
You can tell Bruce is proud to have finally defeated his enemy, which puts him in a much better mood around Dick and Alfred, even admitting that he needed help.

Bruce Wayne has always aspired to be the best at whatever he did. When murder took his parents, he knew that only perfection would prevent that kind of thing from happening to others. He cannot fail, he cannot afford to be defeated, he needs to be 'the best.' During his training in Japan, he wasn't the best—Kyodai Ken was. This fact haunted him and made him push himself even harder. It later turned out that while Kyodai was a better fighter, Bruce was clearly the better person. But this was not enough for Wayne to feel better about his losses to the ninja. He isn't even willing to admit his defeats to his most trusted friend many years later.
Once he defeats Kyodai and the ninja runs away yet again, Bruce has received his ultimate vindication for all those times he was thrown to the ground in the dojo. This is not a victory for Batman the hero, but Bruce Wayne the man.

 

[Calico]

I'm either being overly generous tonight, or CN picked two outstanding episodes.

"Night of the Ninja" was great for so many reasons, which Penguin so eloquently pointed out previously, so I'll just say ditto. My favorite part is when Bruce is free to fight (after Summer is covered with the carpeting), Kyodai Ken keeps running his mouth and Bruce says, "Shut up and fight." Gave me goosebumps. Also seeing younger Bruce was a real thrill.

Two nitpicks, however. First, even though Summer couldn't see the action while covered, I'm betting she could probably still hear what was going on (since we could hear her), and from what Kyodai Ken was saying it would be pretty obvious that he was still fighting Bruce and no one else entered the room, ie Batman. Second, Bruce took quite a beating at first, so much so that he's sporting a very nasty black-eye at the end of the fight. But he didn't have it at breakfast the next day.

Still this got ****1/2 stars from me.

 

[Carrieattheprom]

Ah, the magic of animation! Wounds heal by the next scene and clothes mend by the next shot! Watching this on DVD was soooo cool. Robin's line is hilarious! I love at the beginnig of the episode you you Bruce and Dick training. Poor Dick keeps being thrown to the floor. And when Alfed mentions the break-in and Bruce corrects Dick on the number of times it happened, Dick makes a face behind Bruce's back.

 

[Phantasm]

This was good fun!A solid storyline and great characterization! It was great to see Bruce and Dick interactions...so sad that they had to end up so tragically!

 

[Batman Fan]

This episode was great. It was nice to learn more about Bruce's past and the training he took to become the Dark Knight. Robin was hilarious in this episode and he and Batman worked well in this episode. I think Kyodai Ken is a great villan and the animation in the fight scenes with Robin and him and Bruce and him were done really well.

My favorite part was when Bruce got back up and Kyodia was taunting him and Bruce says "Shut up and fight!" Great line

 

[Stu]

I really liked this episode. I'm especially fond of the fact that someone in the world is slightly better at Martial Arts than Bruce. I always liked seeing the flashbacks of him training, whether it's here, as a ninja, or in episodes like Zatanna, as an escape artist.

I have to admit, I liked Kudeo's second appearance more, the highlight of which was his death.

That wasn't a very nice thing to say...

 

[Beat]

I just love the end part, where we see Bruce beat up Kuedo without any sort of bat-related stuff on. The fight in the second episode is more dramatic, however.

 

[Harley Quinn]

"Kudeo"..? Do you guys mean K'yodai?

 

[Caswin]

I'm probably missing something obvious here - it wouldn't be the first time - but something's confused me since I watched this and probably taken a lot out of the episode. What exactly was holding Bruce back about having Summer watching the fight?

 

[Crow]

This episode was one of the more overt examples of Bruce 'acting' during his playboy Bruce Wayne time instead of showing his true colours - single-minded unyielding dedication to fighting crime.

Other examples include him faking clumsiness in Robin's Reckoning Part 1 - he pretends to accidentally knock over his popcorn and spill his drink. Later of course you see him scaring the s*** out of people to find Tony Zucco.

Bruce Wayne - the facade.

Batman - the real deal.

In Night of the Ninja, the creative team postulated someone (a reporter in this case) questioning how much of Bruce's buffoonery is real, and could he be hiding something, a secret identity perhaps?