Shuriken Sentai name discussion topic

[takenoko]

手裏剣戦隊ニンニンジャー

So I thought it'd be good to discuss the naming for next year's series. The shuriken and sentai part are obvious, they're just Japanese words that we all know.

ニンニンジャー Nin-nin-jaa however is written in katakana. It could made up of a few words. Since it's a ninja series, I feel like the middle Ninja should be emphasized, thus nin-ninja or Ninninja as a potential spelling. I know there's a dash at the end, but there've been instances where that dash gets ignored when romanizing a word into English.

Ninninger is the other way it can be romanized. In this case, it's a portmanteau of Nin, ninja, and ranger.

While we're at it, let's talk about the ninnin. Nin by itself can mean 仁 "Virtue", 忍 "To endure (or the first kanji in ninja)", 認 "To acknowledge/Confirm". There is a Ninnin 人々 which means "everybody", but I don't think that makes sense.

On the poster, we see the kanji for nin/shinobi:
忍びなれども忍ばない Shinobi naredo mo shinobanai
"We are shinobi, but we do not suffer." since the word shinobi (spy, thief) comes from the verb shinobu (to endure, to suffer).

EDIT: "not suffer" is a bit of a stretch, it's more likely the second meaning of shinobu which means "to hide"
"We are shinobi, but we do not hide."

So the puns are rolling already with this one. I can only imagine how many different meanings of Nin we'll go through.

[VerusMaya II]

I'm okay with Ninninja. I fear if it were romanized Ninninger, English-speaking people would put the emphasis on the "jurr" sound (at least, that's what I do, when trying to say that word out loud).

Anyway, if that shinobi/shinobu catchphrase is taken seriously at all, and not just as wordplay, how are they going to address suffering in this series!?

[chimmy]

One of the reasons I prefer TV Nihon is for the general keeping with japanese names. (BTW thanks for never translating sentai to "squadron")

I think it would be best to keep it traditional with the -ger. Go-Onger, Shinkenger, etc.
I assume it was Toei's intent to keep it that way as Ninninger. I'm not really expecting another Toq or 555 type deal.

[Glutinus]

Thanks for all the explanations. As all we can guess, chosing a name for a show requires a lot of knowledge about language. It's richer that we can think !

I might look a bit conservative bug the -ger suffix is a constant, like "sentai" in the middle.

However it's your choice and I would prefer watch your version than other ^^

[takenoko]

I had another friend online who wanted it to be -ger because all the other shows are about rangers.

I'll be fine if Toei writes it out as Ninninger. I just think it'd be disappointed since it'd be nice if the word ninja was in their name considering that's the big theme of the year. Like for the English speaking audience, how many of you realized that Ninninger even had the word ninja in it?

[Battlesword902]

I strongly approve the idea of changing the name to Ninninja. It's sounds more bad-ass to the original show's admittedly ridiculous sounding original name (it sounds like a La Blue Girl spin-off), plus you got away with renaming the Wizard grunts to "Ghuls". So why not?

[Quetzalcoatl]

I say leave it as the way it is written in katakana. Ninninjya sound way better.
Though I thought that katakana are only use when saying/spelling foreign words though?

[Digifiend]

Or made up words, which is the case here.

[takenoko]

I'm not a fan of spelling out "known Japanese words" in full Japanese. When people see Ninjya for Ninja, they think you're spelling it wrong. I also try to avoid the y unless necessary, which you might have seen in the Gaim Overlord name translations. I think it's just a bit neater that way.

[FaeQueenCory]

"Ninninjer" is probably what will be "correct".
That hanging stress mark at the end of a usually makes that a an er when katakanaing things.

Which I've never understood with romanji rules.
Why do the Japanese make er into a-? (eg: maker is meika- instead of meikeiru)
I suppose it makes sense to their ears, but it's always been a thing that's struck me as weird.

So ultimately the possibility of the a- being er is what I suspect will be most likely.

[takenoko]

You have to think about how it works phonetically. Meikeiru would be may kay roo when you pronounced it. Whereas Meikaa would be closer may-car which is how maker would sound more or less when pronounced with Japanese phonemes.

[Kogashi]

Ooooh boy, already punning in the teaser image... So much for a 'more serious' ninja sentai series.

[Lunagel]

On the poster, we see the kanji for nin/shinobi:
忍びなれども忍ばない Shinobi naredo mo shinobanai
"We are shinobi, but we do not suffer." since the word shinobi (spy, thief) comes from the verb shinobu (to endure, to suffer).


This is a little inaccurate since shinobu means "to endure, to put up with suffering" which is slightly different. It's more likely the second meaning of shinobu, which is "to hide", in which case it should be

"We are shinobi, but we do not hide."

[Eric]

That reminds me of Hurricaneger.

[Quetzalcoatl]

Part of me hopes that we get a leader that is just a different color, like in Kakuranger with NinjaWhite and Timeranger with TimePink.