Ninjai
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| Ninjai | |
|---|---|
 Official poster | |
| Created by | The Ninjai Gang |
| Original language | English |
| No. of episodes | 12[2] |
| Original release | |
| Release | June 4, 2001[1] |
Ninjai: The Little Ninja is a Flash cartoon.[3] The cartoon has not been available online since April 2015.
Overview
[edit]The cartoon is a creation of The Ninjai Gang.[4] Ninjai is a web-based animation that centers around the life of Ninjai, a young samurai/ninja who is traveling the world looking for meaning and purpose. Along the way, his path is crossed by rogues or people who help him. Ninjai's best friend is 'Little Bird', a cute and brave sidekick with whom Ninjai often converses.[5]
History
[edit]Ninjai first appeared on June 4, 2001 as a trailer created using Adobe Flash,[1][4] and had a trademark filed for its title on June 14, 2001.[6] The animation series drew a strong following with its unique style and storyline at the time, and ended up producing a total of 12 episodes thereafter,[2] each a few minutes in length.[citation needed]
Despite being made by martial artists who did animation only as a hobby,[4] the quality of the animation grew steadily as the episodes progressed, with more time between each episode as a result. After the release of episode 12, production came to a pause, with the promise of further episodes on the way. Some time later[when?], news broke that the group was abandoning the short-form animations and aiming for a feature-length production with a complete studio. In early 2015, the group posted to their social media channels on Facebook and Twitter with media kits and wallpapers, and asked their followers to recommend blogs to advertise Ninjai in exchange for inside scoops on the series' production.[7] On March 5, 2015, a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign was announced and possible reward ideas were shared for the following 5 months,[8] but the campaign was never officially launched on Kickstarter.
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Ninjai Teaser Trailer". Newgrounds. 1 June 2001. Archived from the original on 8 August 2022. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
- ^ a b "Ninjai: The Little Ninja". Ninjai. Archived from the original on 9 April 2011.
- ^ Eastman, Susan Tyler; Ferguson, Douglas A.; Klein, Robert A. (2006). Media promotion and marketing for broadcasting, cable, and the Internet. Focal Press. pp. 239–. ISBN 978-0-240-80762-1. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
- ^ a b c "Little Ninja is a Big Hit on the Web". Black Belt. April 2002. p. 66. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
- ^ Smith, Krispijn (4 May 2006). "Filmpjes als snacks: Atom onafhankelijk platform". NRC Handelsblad (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 15 July 2012. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
- ^ "NINJAI THE LITTLE NINJA Trademark of Sunset Studios - Serial Number 76272124 - Alter". alter.com. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
- ^ "Ninjai: The Little Ninja - Home". Facebook. Archived from the original on 9 May 2017. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
- ^ "Ninjai: The Little Ninja - Home". Facebook. Archived from the original on 14 August 2019. Retrieved 20 December 2022.