Netflix has announced the global premiere date for the new Japanese drama series House of Ninjas, starring Kento Kaku in the lead role.
With origins going back more than a thousand years to feudal Japan, ninjas — persons “trained in ancient Japanese martial arts and employed especially for espionage and assassinations” (per Merriam-Webster) — have operated throughout many pivotal times in Japanese history. But over time, they began to die out, as it were, with “Japan’s last true-blue ninja” being profiled in a Smithsonian Magazine article in August 2012.
But what if ninjas were still around, secretly undertaking missions in modern-day Japan?
Such is the premise of House of Ninjas, a new drama series that tells the story of the Tawara family, the last ninja clan, who abandoned their ninja roots after a particular mission. Now, the family must face the biggest crisis Japan has seen yet — one that threatens to shake the nation to its core.
Co-executive producer Kento Kaku (My Family, The Untold Tale of the Three Kingdoms) stars in House of Ninjas as Haru, the second son of the Tawara family. Although Haru is an elite ninja with unrivaled skills, his kindness led to disaster and a trauma that still haunts him.
Costarring in the series are Yosuke Eguchi (Nemesis) as Haru’s father, Soichi; Tae Kimura (It’s Your Turn) as his mother, Yoko; Kengo Kora (Shin Godzilla) as his older brother, Gaku; Aju Makita (The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House) as his older sister, Nagi; and Nobuko Miyamoto (A Taxing Woman) as his mysterious grandmother, Taki, who watches the family from the shadows.
Additional cast members include Riho Yoshioka (Gannibal) as magazine reporter Karen Ito, who covered the incident involving the Tawaras that occurred six years earlier; Tomorowo Taguchi (September 11) as Jin Hamashima, a government official who works behind the scenes to prevent a national crisis; and Tokio Emoto (The Naked Director) as Masamitsu Oki, a new recruit in Hamashima’s organization, who uses high-tech equipment in his ninja activities.
Actors in supporting roles include Pierre Taki (Sanctuary) as Zensuke Omi, a detective investigating a series of mysterious robberies; Kyusaku Shimada (Shin Ultraman) as Kosaku Kuze, the leader of a cleaning crew, who is tasked by Hamashima to cover the ninjas’ tracks; Mariko Tsutsui (Angel Flight) as Toko Mukai, the ruling party’s policy chief, who was once rescued by the Tawara family; and Tenta Banka (MIU404) as Riku, the third son of the Tawaras and the only member of the family who is unaware that they are ninjas.
What crisis threatens the nation? And how will the Tawara family — the last ninja clan that turned its back on its heritage — handle this threat?
House of Ninjas, a Netflix Series, premieres globally on Thursday, February 15, 2024, exclusively on Netflix. (You can set a reminder for it now on the show’s page at https://www.netflix.com/houseofninjas.)
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