10 Best Anime Like Shinobi no Ittoki
Shinobi no Ittoki is an original anime series produced by DMM Pictures and animated by Troyca. The series premiered on October 4, 2022, and is currently ongoing. Shinobi no Ittoki is a surprisingly popular title and the otaku community keeps talking about the series that shows us how one would live like a ninja in the modern world. If you’re a fan of the series, we have decided to compose a list of the 10 series like Shinobi no Ittoki for you to enjoy while you’re waiting for new episodes of the show.
1. Samurai Champloo
Original Run: May 20, 2004 – March 19, 2005
Number of Episodes: 26
Fuu, a 15-year-old girl, worked in a tea house until it was destroyed after a violent three-way fight between Mugen the vagabond, Jin the wandering samurai, and the bodyguards of the Daikan’s son from that town.
At the end of the fight, Mugen and Jin are arrested to be executed the next day. Fuu helps them escape in exchange for helping her find the “samurai who smells like sunflowers.” Despite agreeing to the deal, Mugen and Jin are always trying to end each other, in an almost professional rivalry. Both samurai have a blurred past.
Thus, the story tells of their travels between paths and dark passages, and how they fix the trouble they get into. Samurai Champloo employs a mix of historical settings from the Edo Period, with modern styles and references. It incorporates various elements of modernity, especially hip-hop cultures, such as rap, graffiti, bandits with “gangstas” influences, Adidas and Converse logos, baseball, and references to the atomic bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
2. Ninja Scroll: The Series
Original Run: April 14, 2003 – July 15, 2003
Number of Episodes: 13
The series immerses us in feudal Japan, 14 years after the defeat of Himuro Genma the immortal warrior, showing the hidden and mystical world of the ninjas (also known as shinobi), the honorable and brave world of the samurai and rōnins, in which highlights the duels to the death and the camaraderie between rivals with a common goal.
In the story, there are two clans, the Hiruko and the Kimon that face each other. One of the members of the Hiruko (Roga) steals the sacred stone of the dragon from the clan and tries to find the princess of light, Shigure, to give it to her. However, during the escape, he is chased by the two clans who want to get hold of the stone and destroy the princess’s village.
When the Kimon clan destroys her, Jubei, the protagonist, defeats them while the princess escapes. The thief of the stone, Roga, entrusts it to Jubei before he dies, for that to give it to Shigure and protect her from it. During her journey, she must face multitudes of enemies from both clans, until they discover that the Hiruko really only wants to defend her and the stone and lead them into a new age. However, the ambition of the Kimon clan destroys the Hijoko clan and everyone who crosses their path.
3. Himawari!
Original Run: April 8, 2006 – March 31, 2007
Number of Episodes: 26
In the fictional village of Kasumi Kogen (literally “Village of Mist”), the Shinobi Gakuen is an academy specializing in the training of kunoichi, or female ninja, which brings together the best students from all over Japan. New to the school, the young Hinata Himawari has sworn loyalty and protection to the one she considers to be her mentor, Marikouji Hayato, and to whom a mysterious past may bind her.
4. Blade of the Immortal
Original Run: July 13, 2008 – December 28, 2008 / October 10, 2019 – March 25, 2020
Number of Episodes: 13 / 24
The story is set in Japan in the Edo era. The protagonist, Manji, is a warrior who has a great advantage over his rivals: no wound can kill him. In the past, he eliminated 100 other samurai, including his sister’s husband. An elderly nun, who is said to be 800 years old, grants him the gift of immortality through worms called kessenchū, which heal any wound and even restore limbs even though the loss happened hours ago.
The death of his sister leads him to accept the mission that will end his immortality: he must eliminate 1,000 evil men to redeem himself. Manji crosses paths with a young woman named Rin Asano and promises to help her avenge her family, who was brought down by a group of expert swordsmen led by Kagehisa Anotsu. Anotsu killed Rin’s father and her entire dōjō.
Anotsu’s mission is for his dōjō, the Ittō-ryū, based more on individual skill than technique, to unify all fencing schools in the country, and he has already begun to take or destroy other fencing schools. In addition, another group called Mugai-ryū is created and opposed to Ittō-ryū. His true leadership and motivation are a mystery, but his methods (any tactics that lead to victory) resemble those of the Ittō-ryū.
5. Rurouni Kenshin
Original Run: January 10, 1996 – September 8, 1998
Number of Episodes: 95
The story of Rurouni Kenshin takes place in 1878 in Tokyo. Kenshin Himura, a former assassin nicknamed Battôsaï, literally “master in drawing the sword”, during the time of the Tokugawa reign, hides a very heavy past. Having become a wanderer since the establishment of the Meiji era, he travels the country armed with his sword with an inverted blade, with the desire not to kill anymore.
He meets a young girl who seeks to protect her dōjō, Kaoru Kamiya, and ends up moving into her home after helping her. Little by little, they will meet their future companions: Yahiko Myôjin, a boy from the samurai class who becomes Kaoru’s disciple, and Sanosuke Sagara, a street brawler. Despite his desire not to kill anymore, Kenshin gets caught up in his past and the government often needs him.
Indeed, even if peace is restored in Japan, some men are still seeking their place in this new, far-from-perfect society. Also, despite Kenshin’s new place alongside Kaoru, a dark and painful thought lingers inside him. The first fight that will really mobilize all the forces of the Kenshin gang is the one against Aoshi Shinomori and the Oniwaban group.
Then, Japan is coveted by Shishio Makoto, also a former assassin, whom the Meiji government tried to eliminate when he no longer needed it, and who keeps burns all over his body as after-effects. Kenshin must then go to Kyoto, it seems that it is difficult for him not to break his vow not to kill again. But Kenshin wins. Sometime later, a man named Enishi Yukishiro seeks particular revenge for Battôsaï. Indeed, he is the brother of the late wife of Kenshin Himura, Tomoe, who died at the hands of the Battosai by accident.
6. Ninja Resurrection
Original Run: February 27, 1997 – March 27, 1998
Number of Episodes: 2 (OVA)
Around the year 1600, the Tokugawa clan prohibited the practice of Christianity in Japan, fearing a possible cultural invasion. This practice has since been secretly led by the son of God, Amakusa Shirō. His death is the goal of the Tokugawa, who send the ninja Jubei Yagyu to assassinate him. But according to a legend, if anyone gets in the way of the son of God, he will reincarnate as Satan for total destruction.
7. Laughing Under the Clouds
Original Run: April 8, 2006 – March 31, 2007
Number of Episodes: 26
In the Meiji Restoration, the carrying of swords is banned and feudal society in Japan is abolished. But many of the earlier samurai do not want to put up with it and become criminals. In order to get the increasing crime under control, the government is building a new prison in the middle of Lake Biwa, which is said to be escape-proof. The Kumō brothers become the ferrymen of the prison, which is only accessible by boat.
But they are also secretly tasked with catching escaped convicts. The eldest of the three, Tenka, always goes alone to protect his teenage brothers. But one day this is too much for the 16-year-old Soramaru and he secretly sets off with the youngest Chūtarō to catch a runaway. They trust in their skills, which they have acquired in daily training. Nevertheless, the two get into trouble and are rescued by their house manager Shirasu Kinjō.
8. Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
Original Run: April 5, 2017 – present
Number of Episodes: 271
Since his father became Hokage and holds the highest office in the village of Konoha, Boruto Uzumaki, son of Naruto Uzumaki and Hinata Hyūga, lives in his shadow. Always seeking to attract the attention of the latter, he took the firm resolution to surpass him. But the life led by high-flying ninjas is punctuated by complex missions and rigorous training, he will also learn the hard way that becoming the best ninja is not an easy task.
In the company of Sarada Uchiha, the daughter of Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno, and Mitsuki the son of Orochimaru, Boruto will therefore discover the universe of ninjas, as well as its foundations.
9. Basilisk
Original Run: April 12, 2005 – September 20, 2005 / January 8, 2018 – June 18, 2018
Number of Episodes: 24 / 24
When the feudal lord Ieyasu Tokugawa finds himself unable to decide which of his two sons should replace him at the head of the empire, his adviser suggests an atypical contest. Just let the Emperor’s two ninja clans (one from Iga province and the other from Kōga province) fight, with 10 ninja masters from each clan fighting for one or the other of his sons.
The winning clan will determine who will succeed to the throne. Ieyasu accepts this competition, stating that the Iga clan will represent his eldest son Takechiyo, and the Koga clan his second son Kunichiyo. The leaders of both clans happily accept the fight, having been in a Cold War situation for generations until then. Finally freed from the non-aggression pact forged by leader Hattori Hanzō, the members of the Iga and Koga clans immediately begin the contest.
However, to complicate matters a bit, the heirs of each clan – Gennosuke of Koga and Oboro of Iga – are deeply in love with each other. Thus begins a cruel war in which two lovers are turned against each other, forced to confront their loyalties, and meet on the battlefield.
10. Strike the Blood
Original Run: October 4, 2013 – March 28, 2014
Number of Episodes: 24 + 37 OVA
Strike the Blood follows the story of Kojō Akatsuki, a vampire high school student, and Yukina Himeragi, a young swordsman shaman, living in Japan on the artificial island of Itogami, also nicknamed the Demon District. A treaty was drawn up there in order to establish peace between supernatural creatures and humans; supernatural creatures are forced to remain within the confines of the Demon Districts for experimental purposes.
Yukina Himeragi is sent to the island to monitor Kojō Akatsuki, suspected of being the 4th Primogenitor, the most powerful vampire, who could threaten the balance of this sacred treaty put in place thanks to the collaboration of the first three Primogenitors.
