My Top Five

Every once in a while, I let the uber nerd in me run loose. I stop being the cool person that I am for about 3 weeks to a month and I let my inner otaku reign free. And I say "otaku," cause thats really what I am. I re-immerse myself back into the world of Manga and Anime that I grew up loving.  For those that don't know, my trusty source Wikipedia, defines Otaku as: a Japanese term used to refer to people with obsessive interests, particularly anime, manga, or video games.
The video games are no excuse, cause I play that year round, but I love spending a full week catching up on a year's worth of manga that I haven't read and then getting into anime mode to refresh why I love all of this in the first place.
Hence, in celebration of my current nerd phase, I shall be naming my top 5 ninja loves of all time. Let the countdown begin:


5. Ayame from Tenchu (Video Games)

 




Yes, a female makes the list first and I'll tell you why. Cause she's the best female ninja out there! When I was younger, back in 1998, it was rather empowering to be able to play as a petite kick ass ninja girl, who could take on anyone. Who wouldn't want to be Ayame?!


4. Gaara of the Desert from Naruto (Manga/Anime)

 


I know, Gaara should be higher on my list, but my top 3 are reeeeally good. I love Gaara, from the first time he showed up in Naruto, even as the main villain, his childhood was a heart wrenching tale and you couldn't help but feel sorry for the guy. When he reforms and becomes good, then all he does is kick butt. He's also a rather special ninja, cause he doesn't really combat like you'd think a ninja combats. In the Naruto Universe, he controls special sand infused with his chakra and just basically stands in one spot and fights. Just go with it guys...he's really awesome.


3. Raphael from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Comics/Cartoons/Video Games, etc)

Perhaps my most ancient of all ninja loves, sure, he's a turtle and his origins are American, more so than Japanese (thus slightly debunking the "otaku" term), but that doesn't mean I can't love him! Although, as a child, I kind of loved ALL of the Ninja Turtles. Over the years, Raph has become my favorite as he seems to be the most interesting turtle, with so much room for character development and growth. In my opinion, he is the richest character in the Turtle Universe, with so much too him, albeit slightly Emo. 


2. Rikimaru from Tenchu (Video Games)

 


Now, I know I've blogged about Rikimaru before. He was in my Top 10 favorite VG characters a while ago. See here. He was my number one then, because Rikimaru was my first ninja crush ever! Anyway, with that, he still deserves to be on this list. I feel like the kick ass ninja pool has shrunken quite a bit over the years and I haven't seen many that are totally awesome. None so awesome as Rikimaru....


Except...


1. Hatake Kakashi from Naruto (Manga/Anime)

 

Oh yes, another Naruto ninja, but even from the start Kakashi has been the best. He's probably everyone's number one Ninja and thus deservingly gets the number one spot in my heart. The manga/anime has just made him way too cool for school with his mysterious "never going to see his full face" look and a bad ass scar. Oh wait, Rikimaru has a bad ass scar and a "never going to see his face" look too! I never realized how similar these two ninjas were until I started to look for pictures for this post. If Kakashi and Rikimaru are almost one and the same (at least in character design) does it mean they're both my number one? I think Kakashi is the evolved version of my original #1, and thats why he wins. Trust me on this one, Kakashi is the best.

But here's a cool picture I found.

Kakashi vs Rikimaru

Who would win, I wonder. Seeing as how Kakashi has chidori and can copy any technique, plus already has a database full of other techniques, I think the winner is a given. Sorry Riki. 


And finally, its time for me to nerd out once again. Because of this otaku funk I'm going through, I went out to buy Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm. The video game that came out back in 2008. Even after so long, the graphics are amazing. Its like I'm playing through the anime. Good thing I decided to get it, cause once I finish it there are a whole slew of sequels I can continue playing. I finished all of the new games I set out to play at the end of last year, especially Uncharted 3 and Assassin's Creed Revelations. So yay for having more interesting games to catch up on! Okay, now I feel like my train of thought has been crunched. Back to gaming!