Being an anime and cartoon fan, I have watched a lot of cartoon series and anime in my life. Anime like Doraemon, Naruto, City Hunter, Pokemon are some of my favourites. However, there are a few cartoon series that just seem to lack creativity. Ninja Hattori is one of them.
Set in Tokyo, this series is about a 10 yr. old Ninja named Hattori-kun who lives with a 10 yr. old kid named Kenichi Mitsuba. Why does Hattori lives with Kenichi is still an unknown? Since Hattori is a ninja, he can perform all the tasks with ease and usually helps Kenichi in getting his work done.
Ninja Hattori has an arch rival named Kemumaki( Amara in Hindi version). Ninja Hattori hails from the Iga Valley and Amara from the Koga Valley. Since the ninjas of these two valleys have always been bitter enemies, the same rivalry forms the crux of this cartoon series. Usually Amara tries to bully Kenichi and tries to foil his plans to impress Yumeko( Kenichi’s classmate and the love interest of both Amara and Kenichi). Ninja Hattori comes to the rescue of Kenichi and ruins the plans of Amara in the process.
Hattori has a little brother named Shinzo and a loyal dog named Shishimaru. Both of them hate training with Hattori and often find excuses to skip that. Along with these characters, we have Kageyo( Kiyo in Hindi version) who is Amara’s pet Ninja cat. Kenichi’s parents are lovable, though, always try to save money and try to hide this fact from each other.
Almost all of the episodes are formulaic in nature. You would usually find Kenichi in a spot of bother and Hattori coming to his rescue. Usually, Amara locks in battle with Hattori during this and always loses( which is really disappointing!). Unlike Doraemon which has a lot of informative content, Ninja Hattori is completely bland with almost similar episodes. Kenichi irritates you more than anyone else. He is lazy, unintelligent, poor at sports and always tries to ask Hattori for a favour. There is little creativity in the way episodes are presented. The storylines are usually similar and the episodes are not as humorous as that of Shinchan or Doraemon. Overall, an average cartoon that quickly becomes predictable.