Film

Shuriken Sentai Ninninger vs. ToQger the Movie: Ninjas in Wonderland

Name: Shuriken Sentai Ninninger vs. ToQger the Movie: Ninjas in Wonderland
Genre: Science Fiction, Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Released: 2016
Cast: Shunsuke Nishikawa, Gaku Matsumoto, Kaito Nakamura, Yuuka Yano, Kasumi Yamaya

A gleefully absurd crossover where two Japanese Super Sentai teams—ninja-powered Ninningers and train-riding ToQgers—collide in Wonderland to fight a villain stealing souls. It's pure kinetic joy: rubber-suited heroes, practical stunts, colour-coded chaos, and the kind of earnest sincerity about friendship that makes you believe in it. For anyone who loves action that doesn't take itself seriously but commits entirely to the bit.

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love the giddy pleasure of a Super Sentai crossover, where two casts of colourful heroes share the screen, trade banter, and treat a fairy-tale premise with cheerful seriousness.

Skip it if you want a tight, serious story; this is a fan-service crossover that prioritises spectacle, familiar team dynamics and goofy stakes over character depth.

What it asks of you: Sixty-four minutes at a quick, bright pace; it moves fast and expects you to keep up with two teams of heroes, not to settle into slow drama.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie1995

The English-language ancestor of what you just watched. Same practical stunt work, same colour-coded team dynamics, same willingness to be ridiculous while remaining sincere. Season two especially crackles.

But The rubber suits are visibly awkward and the green-screen work is occasionally painful. If you need slick, this isn't it.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie poster

Ultraman Tiga & Ultraman Dyna & Ultraman Gaia: The Battle in Hyperspace1999

Japanese tokusatsu at its most confident. A giant hero in a suit fighting rubber monsters each week, but the character work and worldbuilding elevate it far beyond what the premise suggests. Genuinely moving at moments.

But It's 52 episodes of monster-of-the-week storytelling. Some episodes are stronger than others, and patience is required.

Ultraman Tiga & Ultraman Dyna & Ultraman Gaia: The Battle in Hyperspace poster

Godzilla vs. Destoroyah1995

Practical effects work at the highest level: men in suits performing genuine choreography against miniature cities. The final battle is heartbreaking. If you love the texture of real stunts over CGI, this is canonical.

But The human plot is perfunctory and the dubbing ranges from charming to actively distracting. You're watching for the monster fights.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Shuriken Sentai Ninninger vs. ToQger the Movie: Ninjas in Wonderland

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Tetsuo: The Iron Man1989

Both are Japanese genre films that treat their rubber-suited protagonists and practical effects with complete sincerity, using stunt work and physical transformation as emotional language. The difference is Ninninger celebrates the body and Tetsuo weaponises it.

Japanese body-horror science fiction that uses the same kinetic, tactile filmmaking language as tokusatsu but weaponises it for nightmare. If you love the texture of practical effects and weird Japanese genre cinema, this is essential.

But It's a 67-minute fever dream in black and white with incomprehensible plot, disturbing sexual violence, and no narrative comfort. You will not enjoy this in the way you enjoyed Ninninger.

Kamen Rider Den-O: Singing, Dancing, Great Training!!2007

Proof that the tokusatsu formula can sustain genuine emotion and invention. It's weird, occasionally hilarious, absolutely sincere about its characters, and has more ideas than it has time for. Irresistibly charming.

But The early episodes are rough and the comedy doesn't always land. The show finds its feet slowly.

Kamen Rider Den-O: Singing, Dancing, Great Training!! poster

Shuriken Sentai Ninninger: AkaNinger vs. StarNinger Hundred Nin Battle!2015

The series this film spins off from. If you loved the movie's energy, the weekly show is even more generous with stunt work and character moments. Takaharu's growth from cocky to genuinely heroic is satisfying.

But It's 48 episodes and the first arc meanders. You're looking at a real time commitment for diminishing returns after the midpoint.

Shuriken Sentai Ninninger: AkaNinger vs. StarNinger Hundred Nin Battle! poster

Pacific Rim2013

Giant robots fighting giant monsters with the same commitment to practical stunt work and colour-coded team dynamics. Guillermo del Toro clearly understands why people love tokusatsu.

But It's trying very hard to be prestigious and serious. If you want the rubber-suited joy of Ninninger, this is too po-faced.

Kill la Kill2013

Both use colour-coded costumes and transformation sequences as the visual language of heroism, and both understand that radical sincerity about fighting for others is genuinely radical. But Kill la Kill is using that language to deconstruct power structures where Ninninger is celebrating teamwork.

Anime that captures the same anarchic energy and visual excess as Ninninger but weaponises it for social commentary. The action is relentless, the emotional stakes are real, and it commits so hard to its premise that it loops back to sincere.

But It's deliberately provocative about bodies and sexuality in ways that will make some viewers uncomfortable. The first episode is actively shocking.

The Forbidden Kingdom2008

Both are ensemble action films that treat colourful costumes and elaborate practical choreography as the primary storytelling device. They share a willingness to be visually excessive in service of pure kinetic joy without apologising for it.

Jet Li and Jackie Chan in a fantasy-action film that plays with the same tone—adventure, colour, practical wirework that shows you the stunt performers' commitment. It's silly and earnest in exactly the way Ninninger is.

But It's a Hollywood film that wants to be a kung fu movie but isn't quite sure how. The tonal whiplash between American irony and genuine action sincerity is sometimes awkward.