| abstract | - Ninku(NINKU -忍空-Ninkū) is a Japanese manga series by Kōji Kiriyama. The original manga spanned 9-tankōbon volumes and was serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump manga magazine between 1993 to 1995. A second manga titled Ninku Second Stage: Stories of Etonins(忍空 -SECOND STAGE 干支忍編-) ran from 1994 to 1995, but recently restarted in the seinen magazine Ultra Jump in October 2005, with its sixth tankōbon volume being issued in November 2008. It ranked number 21 among the top-selling manga volumes during the week of its release. Shortly after its release, Ninku was adapted into an anime series, produced by Pierrot and directed by Noriyuki Abe, spanning 55-episodes and a movie. The anime series, originally running between 1995 to 1996, premiered on the Fuji Television network, and was broadcast by the anime television network, Animax, across Japan, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and other regions. Geneon Entertainment has released the series in two DVD boxsets in Japan. The first set containing the initial 28 episodes was released on February 25, 2005 and the second set containing the remaining 27 episodes was released on March 21, 2005. The anime series spawned a movie in 1996, entitled Ninku: The Movie (also called Ninku The Movie: Knife no Bohyou), which was a "double bill" (the other movie being a YuYu Hakusho film) release, produced by Pierrot. Media Blasters's AnimeWorks brand released both movies in their original "double bill" format across North America in 1998. A DVD version was released in early 2001 as a result of a poll conducted by Media Blasters. A number of video games based on the series have been released for platforms such as the Game Boy, Game Gear, Sega Saturn, and PlayStation. Jump! Ultimate Stars, a fighting game for the Nintendo DS released in November 2006, has three participants from Ninku, including Fuusuke as a selectable fighter.
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