At Annecy International Animation Festival this week, Adult Swim announced that Ninja Kamui has been renewed for two more seasons.
An original series directed by Sunghoo Park (known for Jujutsu Kaisen Season 1 and Jujutsu Kaisen 0), Ninja Kamui premiered in February 2024 on Adult Swim's Toonami block. The series, which received mixed reception from critics, became known for its ultra-violent action and stylish fight choreography, even drawing comparisons to John Wick. Unfortunately, this heavy focus on action led to some uneven pacing and narrative incoherence.
The series follows former ninja Joe Higan who escapes his clan and tries to live a peaceful life in rural America. But after his family is brutally murdered by a team of former assassins from his organization, Joe returns to the shadows as Ninja Kamui, looking to exact revenge. Adult Swim's exact synopsis for the series reads:
Ninja Kamui follows Joe Higan who is a Nukenin - a former ninja who escaped his clan and is hiding from his violent past in rural America with his family. One night, he is ambushed by a team of assassins from his former organization who exact a bloody retribution on Joe and his family for betraying their ancient code. Rising from his seeming “death,” Joe will re-emerge as his former self - Ninja Kamui - to avenge his family and friends. Kamui is a 21st century ninja, a shadowy anachronism who pits his ancient skills against high-tech weaponry with brutal finesse. He must face off against trained assassins, combat cyborgs, and rival ninjas to bring down the very clan that made him.
Ninja Kamui was directed by Sunghoo Park while Takeshi Okazaki (Afro Samurai, Star Wars: Visions, Batman Ninja) designed the characters. The series was produced by Park's studio E&H Production along with Sola Entertainment (Lord of the Rings: War of The Rohirrim, Blade Runner, Black Lotus, Ultraman).
Today's announcement was accompanied by the first visual poster for Season 2. According to the limited details, Ninja Kamui Season Two: Red Vendetta "will follow Higan as he uncovers a new conspiracy of cataclysmic proportions."
"Annecy, with its unique and global mix of industry professionals and passionate fans, is the perfect place for us to share what we are up to and most excited about," said Michael Ouweleen, president, Adult Swim, regarding the festival's announcements. "We're not just announcing new series, but also new ways of creating – from Adult Swim SMALLS to a special done in an unconventional way – all that hopefully help push the boundaries of animation. As always, we will be creator-driven and chance-taking until such time someone puts us in handcuffs. Literal ones."
The first season of Ninja Kamui premiered on Adult Swim with both its English dub and Japanese audio with English subtitles during the Toonami programming block. It became available to stream a day later on Max (soon to be called HBO Max).