Headless Horrors, Devil Monks, Love Potions & The Most Bonkers Ninja Movie You Never Knew You Needed

Well, ToyRobot Video...You've done it again.

After kicking off the label with Guyver: Dark Hero, taking us on a glorious genre detour with Roaring Fire and then dropping the surprisingly modern Marshmallow into the mix, the first month of ToyRobot releases concludes with something that feels like it was specifically engineered in a laboratory to test the limits of my ability to explain what I've just watched.

Ninja Wars, A 1982 Japanese fantasy-action extravaganza featuring ninjas, samurai, demonic monks, mystical powers, head-swapping, exploding bodies, romance, revenge, supernatural conspiracies and enough wire-work to make gravity file a formal complaint.

And this was a first-time watch for me. Which meant that for a considerable portion of the runtime I had absolutely no idea what was going on.

And, frankly...I was having a bloody great time.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN FEUDAL JAPAN...

Ninja Wars, originally titled Iga Ninpōchō, is based on the novel by Futaro Yamada, with a screenplay by Ei Ogawa, and is directed by Kōsei Saitō. On paper, it sounds relatively straightforward.

A wandering ninja called Jotaro becomes embroiled in a conflict involving rival clans, a prophecy, a beautiful woman and a power-hungry lord who wants to become ruler of the world.

Pretty standard ninja-movie business. Except that before very long, we're dealing with a group of Devil Monks, each apparently equipped with their own personal supernatural nightmare.

One spits acid.
Another possesses some particularly unpleasant abilities.
There are mystical transformations.
There are people losing their heads.
There are people getting new heads.
There are magical potions.
There are tears being used as ingredients.

And there is a general sense that somebody involved in the production walked into the writers' room one morning and said….“Right, we've got the ninja stuff. Now let's make it weird.”

And then somebody else said…“Weirder.”

THE PLOT…GOOD LUCK, EVERYONE

The basic setup involves Jotaro Fuefuki, played by Hiroyuki Sanada, becoming caught up in a sinister conspiracy after a brutal attack leaves him seeking revenge and at the centre of the scheme is Lord Matsunaga Danjo, played by Akira Nakao, whose ambitions extend considerably further than the average feudal warlord.

There is also Kagaribi, played by Noriko Watanabe, whose connection to the story provides the romantic and emotional core and then there's Kashin Koji, played by Mikio Narita, the mysterious illusionist and mastermind pulling many of the strings.

Simple?…Absolutely.

Easy to follow?…Not remotely.

The problem with Ninja Wars isn't that it lacks a story, quite the opposite.

There is so much story being thrown at you that occasionally it feels like the film has forgotten to tell you which bit you're supposed to be paying attention to.

Characters appear.
Characters disappear.
People reveal secret identities.
Others reveal that those secret identities weren't particularly secret.
The supernatural elements keep escalating.

And just when you've finally got your head around one plot development, somebody turns up with a sword and completely changes the subject.

It's convoluted. It's occasionally baffling, but there's something rather charming about the sheer confidence with which it commits to the madness.

ENTER THE DEVIL MONKS

If you're coming to Ninja Wars expecting grounded martial arts action, you're probably going to have a slightly different experience.

This isn't really interested in realism….This is ninja fantasy.

The Devil Monks aren't simply particularly nasty martial artists. They're monsters, supernatural assassins, walking special effects sequences and the film absolutely loves giving them increasingly bizarre ways to kill people.

This is where the movie starts feeling less like a traditional samurai epic and more like somebody has crossed a period action film with dark fantasy, Japanese folklore and a particularly feverish Saturday-night video rental.

The violence is stylised, action is exaggerated, wire-work is gloriously obvious.

People leap…People fly….People spin through the air with the sort of confidence normally reserved for superheroes.

And I wouldn't have it any other way.

SANADA…BEFORE THE HOLLYWOOD YEARS

At the centre of all this insanity is Hiroyuki Sanada, and it's always fascinating to watch performers before they become the international stars we know today.

Sanada had already been building an impressive genre pedigree by this point, having appeared in films including The Shogun's Ninja, Samurai Reincarnation and, naturally, Roaring Fire (please see my review of this title, 002, in the Toy Robot Video collection).

He had also worked with some serious names in Japanese genre cinema and Ninja Wars gives him the opportunity to demonstrate exactly why he became such a formidable action performer.

Jotaro needs to be convincing both as a warrior and as the emotional centre of this increasingly ridiculous supernatural saga and Sanada manages it.

Even when the film is throwing something completely absurd at him, he plays it with enough commitment that you believe Jotaro believes this is all perfectly normal.

Which is probably the correct approach.

If your co-star has just had their head magically removed and replaced, you don't question the logic.

You simply draw your sword.

AND THEN SONNY CHIBA WALKS IN...

Because apparently having Hiroyuki Sanada wasn't enough, Sonny Chiba is here too.

Chiba plays Yagyū Shinzaemon, and his presence gives the film another enormous dose of martial-arts credibility. By this stage Chiba was already a major figure in Japanese action cinema, and his involvement is more than just a bit of stunt casting.

The man knew exactly how to make an action sequence hit.He was also credited as an action coordinator on the production, helping shape the film's physicality.

And then you've got Seizō Fukumoto, one of Japanese cinema's most celebrated stunt performers and sword-fighting specialists.

If you recognise the face beneath the masks, you may well know him from an enormous range of Japanese period productions.

The supporting cast is packed with performers who understand this particular cinematic language.

Which is just as well, because the movie doesn't stop.

THE THREE AWARD-WINNING NINJA

Here's a funny little detail about Ninja Wars.

For all the insanity happening in front of the camera, this is not a shoddily made film…Quite the opposite. The production design is genuinely impressive.

The cinematography by Fujio Morita gives the film a scale and visual richness that its more outrageous elements can sometimes obscure.

And the film was recognised by the Japanese Academy Awards, winning for:

Best Art Direction
Best Cinematography
Best Lighting

That's not exactly a bad haul and once you know that, you start watching the film slightly differently.

Because beneath the flying ninjas and acid-spitting monks is a film that has been very carefully constructed.

The lighting is particularly striking, sets and locations give the film an appropriately heightened fairytale quality and then we reach the finale.

THE TEMPLE OF FIRE

The climactic temple sequence is where everything comes together.

The action.
The production design.
The lighting.
The pyrotechnics.
The supernatural elements.
The swordplay.
The sheer ridiculousness.

It’s spectacular and this is where Ninja Wars earns its place as more than simply a collection of increasingly strange ideas.

The filmmakers clearly knew how to stage a large-scale action sequence and they knew how to make it look good.

You can forgive a lot of narrative confusion when the film suddenly delivers a sequence like this.

It's the cinematic equivalent of being lost in a maze and then discovering somebody has installed a fireworks display at the exit.

WHEN THE FILM CHANGES GENRE EVERY TEN MINUTES

One of the most entertaining things about Ninja Wars is its inability to settle down.

It starts as a historical action movie, then it's a revenge story. Then there's romance, then fantasy, then horror then supernatural martial arts, then we're into something resembling outright sorcery and occasionally the film seems to be flirting with comedy.

It's not always tonally smooth….In fact, sometimes it's spectacularly unsmooth, but I found myself enjoying that more than I expected.

There is a particular strain of Japanese genre cinema where the question isn't…“Does this make sense?”

It's… “Wouldn't it be cool if this happened?”

Ninja Wars is firmly in the second camp and if you approach it that way, the film becomes much easier to enjoy.

Don't try to solve it. Don't build a flowchart. Don't pause the Blu-ray every fifteen minutes to explain the political structure of feudal Japan to yourself.

Just...go with it.

THE BIZARRE STUFF

And yes, we need to talk about the film's more outrageous supernatural elements, because Ninja Wars doesn't simply give you ninjas who can disappear in smoke.

No.

It gives you head-swapping.
It gives you acid-spitting monks.
It gives you a love potion involving tears.
It gives you supernatural creatures and powers that seem to operate according to whatever rules the filmmakers fancy at that particular moment.

This is where the film is at its most psychedelic and it can be genuinely difficult to follow, but the imagery is so strange that you almost don't care.

There are moments when I was watching and thinking…“I have absolutely no idea why this is happening.”

Followed almost immediately by… “But please don't stop.”

And that, ultimately, is Ninja Wars.

KŌSEI SAITŌ

Director Kōsei Saitō had already established himself within Japanese cinema before Ninja Wars, and his filmography demonstrates a willingness to move between genres and styles.

With Ninja Wars, he takes material based on Futaro Yamada's popular novel and gives it the kind of lavish, fantastical treatment that allows the film to sit somewhere between period adventure, horror and supernatural fantasy.

It's not a restrained piece of filmmaking, but restraint would probably have ruined it.

The movie needs that excess, elaborate costumes, strange creatures, dramatic lighting, theatrical performances, huge action sequences and increasingly bizarre supernatural mythology.

Saitō understands that the audience isn't necessarily here for historical accuracy. We, the audience, are here to see ninjas doing completely unreasonable things.

Mission accomplished.

THE TOYROBOT EXTRAS

AGAIN!!! This is where the ToyRobot release really starts adding something substantial.

The headline extra is a new audio commentary by Jonathan Clements, which should provide plenty of useful context around the film and its place within Japanese popular cinema.

Then we get A Japanese Ninja, with author Matt Alt discussing Ninja Wars, and The Way of the Ninja, with author and academic Daisuke Miyao examining the ninja in Japanese cinema.

Those are exactly the sort of extras I want on a release like this, because if you're going to throw a film this strange at somebody, it helps to provide a little context afterwards.

And then...THE VHS VERSION…In standard definition…Because obviously.

There's something beautifully appropriate about ending ToyRobot's opening month with a film like Ninja Wars and then giving us the VHS version as part of the package.

For a label that seems increasingly interested in the weird, the obscure and the slightly forgotten corners of genre cinema, that feels entirely on brand.

FINAL VERDICT

Ninja Wars is not a film I would recommend to somebody looking for a straightforward samurai adventure because you will probably have a nervous breakdown.

There are too many characters, schemes, supernatural abilities, twists and too many moments where somebody develops a new power that apparently wasn't mentioned in the previous ninety minutes.

But if you approach it as a wild piece of early-'80s Japanese genre cinema, something rather wonderful happens. The confusion becomes part of the fun, absurdity becomes part of the charm, wire-work becomes part of the spectacle, Devil Monks become something you'll remember long after the plot has evaporated from your brain and that is why, despite all the convoluted narrative choices, I had such a bloody good time with this.

This was my first time watching Ninja Wars and I came out the other side thinking…“What the hell was that?” followed shortly by…“Can I watch it again?”

That's probably the best recommendation I can give it.

ToyRobot Video has rounded out its debut month with a film that perfectly captures what makes this label so potentially exciting.

We've had superhero rubber suits.
We've had bizarre genre mash-ups.
We've had contemporary indie horror.
And now we've got acid-spitting devil monks and flying ninjas.

If this is what ToyRobot considers a warm-up...I'm very interested to see what comes next.

THE TOYROBOT SCORE

Ninja Wars – The Movie: ★★★ / 5

Special Features: ★★★½ / 5

Overall Release Score: ★★★½ / 5

A gloriously strange, visually impressive and frequently bewildering slice of Japanese supernatural action cinema.

You may not understand everything, you probably won't, but if you surrender to the madness, there's an enormous amount of fun to be had.

Go with it.

NINJA WARS
Original title: Iga Ninpōchō

Director: Kosei Saito
Cast: Shin'ichi ‘Sonny’ Chiba, Jun Miho, Akira Nakao
Country: Japan
Genre: Action / Adventure
Release Date: September 28, 2026
Catalogue Code: TR004-UK
Format: Blu-ray
Discs: 1
BBFC: 15
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio: DTS-HD Mono
Language: Japanese
Subtitles: English
Runtime: 100 mins

THE FILM

Ninja Wars is a dark, supernatural action film set in feudal Japan, blending ninja lore with horror and fantasy elements.

The story follows Jotaro, a wandering ninja who becomes entangled in a deadly conflict between rival clans after a brutal massacre wipes out his comrades. As he investigates, he discovers that the violence is tied to a sinister conspiracy involving a demonic sect seeking power through forbidden rituals.

This group employs grotesque, otherworldly abilities — blurring the line between human and monster — to eliminate their enemies and dominate the region.

Jotaro joins forces with a mysterious female survivor whose own past is steeped in tragedy and vengeance. Together, they confront increasingly bizarre and terrifying foes, each wielding unnatural powers. As the battles escalate, Jotaro must rely not only on his physical skill but also on inner resolve to resist corruption and defeat the dark forces threatening to consume the land.

Known for its stylised violence, eerie atmosphere, and imaginative — often shocking — supernatural elements, Ninja Wars is a standout entry in early 1980s Japanese genre cinema.

SPECIAL FEATURES

NEW Audio Commentary by Jonathan Clements
NEW A Japanese Ninja, author Matt Alt on Ninja Wars
NEW The Way of the Ninja, author and academic Daisuke Miyao on the ninja in Japanese Cinema
Theatrical Trailers
VHS version (in standard definition)

RELEASE INFORMATION

Distributor: Toy Robot Video
Release date: 28th September, 2026
Catalogue code: TR004-UK
Format: Blu-ray
Discs: 1
BBFC: 15
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Audio: DTS-HD Mono
Language: Japanese
Subtitles: English
Runtime: 100 mins

TOYROBOT VIDEO REVIEW #004 - NINJA WARS (1982) - Released 28th September 2026