Ninja Sentai Kakuranger is a Japanese tokusatsutelevision series. It was Toei Company Limited's eighteenth production of the Super Sentaimetaseries. The name given to this series by Toei for international distribution is Ninja Rangers. Action footage from the series was used in the third season of Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers. The core Kakuranger costumes were used in Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers. In January 2016, Shout! Factory announced that they would release "Ninja Sentai Kakuranger: The Complete Series" on DVD in North America. Kakuranger was released on DVD in North America on May 17, 2016. This is the third Super Sentai Series to be released in North America. In addition on May 22, 2017, Shout! streamed the series on their website.
Plot
Four hundredyears ago, the ninja and the Youkai had a great war. The legendary Sarutobi Sasuke and four other ninjas sealed the Youkai Commander Nurarihyon and all his Youkai's energies away in a cave protected by the "Seal Door". In the present, one of the few remaining Youkai, Kappa, tricks Sarutobi Sasuke and Kirigakure Saizo's descendants, Saizou and Sasuke, into releasing the Youkai by opening the "Seal Door". Now these two, joined by three other descendants of great ninjas, become the Kakuranger to fight the reinvigorated Youkai with the aid of the Sanshinshou. However, the Kakurangers have their work cut out for them as the Youkai are slowly being united under one banner.
Characters
Kakurangers
Each member is named after a legendary ninja and master of the Hidden Style Ninjutsu. ;Sasuke/Ninja Red: 26 years old, descendant of Sarutobi Sasuke. ;Tsuruhime/Ninja White: 15 years old, the twenty-fourth protector of the Seal Door and the first female leader of a Sentai. ;Saizou/Ninja Blue: 22 years old, descendant of Kirigakure Saizo. ;Seikai/Ninja Yellow: 24 years old, descendant of Miyoshi Seikai. ;Jiraiya/Ninja Black: 20 years old, descendant of Jiraiya. ;Ninjaman: The pupil of the Sanshinshou, who was trapped within a blue pot as punishment a millennium ago for allowing himself to be fooled by Daimaou to attack the humans.
The Yōkai were sealed away 400 years ago by the Kakurangers' ancestors and have now changed their forms in order to keep up with the times. Most Youkai have a human form and use the Ninja Arts themselves. When defeated, they summon lightning made of human despair and misery to strike them, causing them to grow into giants.
Episodes
Movie
The movie version of Ninja Sentai Kakuranger, directed by Shōhei Tōjō and written by Noboru Sugimura, premiered in Japan on April 16, 1994, at Toei Super Hero Fair '94. It was originally shown as a triple feature alongside Kamen Rider J and the feature film version of Blue SWAT. The villains in the movie consisted of the One-Eyed Brothers and Ōnyūdō. The movie was filmed between Episodes 7 and 8, but is actually set between episodes 8 and 9.
Crossovers
The Kakuranger team was the main focus in the 1994 3D featurette Super Sentai World, which features them teaming up with the four previous Super Sentai teams. A second crossover film was released in the form of Chōriki Sentai Ohranger: Olé vs. Kakuranger, a 1996 direct-to-video movie which features the Kakurangers working together with the Ohrangers to defeat a common adversary.
:Takashi Tsushimi performed under the name "Tu Chee Chen", which is the Japanese approximation of his surname as read in Mandarin Chinese: Dōu Zhì Jiàn.
