simply and inexplicably fades away. She could have been seen to re-emerge as a hero alongside her son, while providing present inspiration for Nya – but, instead, Nya is forced to sit through a lengthy male bonding session between father and son.

This is made all the more noticeable by the fact that, Misako remaining in retirement means that Nya is the only female Ninja – and this gives rise to a very particular handling of her character. Yes, she is presented as a cookie-cutter ‘badass’ type, but she is singled out in the way the news report seen at the beginning of the film describes her. Each of the other warriors gets an introduction specific t their character, while Nya is described as a Ninja, “who’s also a girl!”

None of the others are described as Ninjas...

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