Ninja Warrior is a sports entertainment and reality television franchise that began airing in 1997, and has since aired in 157 countries and been adapted in a total of 26 countries. The series began as a segment called Sasuke on the show Kinniku Banzuke. It began airing internationally in 2005 which led to massive expansion and widespread success. Adaptations began planning immediately, with American Ninja Challenge, Sasuke Malaysia and Sasuke Singapore being the first small-scale adaptations which sent their winners over to Japan. The first large scale adaptation was the fourth season of American Ninja Warrior in 2012, with twenty-two more adaptations launching between 2014 and 2019. In Ninja Warrior, a group of competitors attempt to complete a four-stage obstacle course. Falling any obstacle, falling in the water, running out of time or losing a head-to-head race results in the competitor being eliminated. Many seasons operate an additional qualification system where as many as 1000 hopefuls take on a series of one to five qualification heats to earn a spot in the finals course.
History
1997–2006: Sasuke and Kunoichi
During the 1996 run of Kinniku Banzuke, a small event called Spider Walk appeared. The course featured a short, 9 obstacle time trial based on the Ninja skill of stealthily walking between walls in alleyways and hallways. Later in 1997, following the debut of the first multi-stage course Hand Walk Tower, assistant producer Masato Inui was tasked with creating a larger, multi-stage course that expanded upon Spider Walk to cover a full array of other ninja skills. Despite being intended as a one-time event, the heavy success of Sasuke led to its ongoing renewal with a new tournament every six months, as well as a full array of spinoffs, most notably with Kunoichi, an all-women's season. After Kinniku Banzuke ended in 2002, and its sequel Taiiku World ended in 2003, Sasuke and Kunoichi were launched as standalone specials which have continued ever since.
2007–2019: international expansion In Summer 2007, G4 launched American Ninja Challenge, a reality show where contestants could audition and take part in a series of challenges to win a spot on Sasuke. After four successful seasons, interest in America grew high enough that G4 decided to ramp up production. 2009 saw the debut season of American Ninja Warrior, where hundreds of competitors competed in shorter preliminary stages to win one of ten spots in Sasuke's 23rd tournament. In November 2011, Ushio Higuchi's Monster9 filed for bankruptcy as a result of financial mismanagement, legal disputes and settlements with stage acrobat group Muscle Musical and plummeting viewership. As a result, Sasuke, Kunoichi and Sportsman No. 1 all went into hiatus during legal proceedings, and were subsequently cancelled by TBS. As a result of this cancellation, G4 made the decision that for the first time ever, they would host their own full scale tournament in Las Vegas, and as a result American Ninja Warrior's fourth season saw 100 competitors complete a course in the US, with Japan cut out of the format. Due to the higher production costs, G4 decided to move the program to NBC to attract higher viewership. This new format was a massive success, however G4 would shut down at the end of 2014, two years after an end to Japanese Sasuke broadcasts in the United States. Behind the scenes, the success of American Ninja Warrior led TBS to believe they could market the series to a much wider audience, and the idea of the ASEAN Open Cup was conceived. Sasuke would expand into ASEAN countries which would feature shorter courses and special events, which would then act as qualifiers for Sasuke. The project was piloted with the launch of Sasuke Singapore and Sasuke Malaysia in 2012, sporting half length 1st Stage courses followed by the Final Stage tower. The first ASEAN Open Cup was held in Malaysia featuring teams from ASEAN regions, Japan and the United States, giving competitors a chance to win a spot on Sasuke. Following this event, interest died off, and the ASEAN Open Cup was discontinued as a failure. Despite the previous failure to expand into ASEAN countries, 2015 saw massive expansion through Europe and Asia, with localized versions being produced in China, Denmark, Indonesia, Sweden, Turkey, the United Kingdom and Vietnam. This trend continued with France, Germany and Italy in 2016; Austria, Australia, Egypt, Hungary, Netherlands, Russia and Spain in 2017; and Israel, Romania and Switzerland in 2018. 2017 additionally saw a full reboot of Kunoichi, featuring redesigned courses more akin to Sasuke. In the United States, NBC decided to expand the portfolio of the series by creating several spinoffs. The international crossover series American Ninja Warrior: USA vs. The World featured top competitors from each international version competing in a head to head competition. Team Ninja Warrior saw teams of three racing against other members for the fastest times. American Ninja Warrior Junior featured kids racing each other for the fastest times. These formats proved popular and saw their own international adaptations in China, Denmark, France, Germany, Israel and Vietnam. In Japan, Ushio Higuchi had created a new company called GoldEggs following the dissolution of Monster9, and in 2017 attempted to launch his own unlicensed successor to Viking called KuroOvi: The Ultimate Hero. He would once again use Sasuke and Kinniku Banzuke content in an attempt to promote his series, as well as featuring many competitors from Sasuke, Viking, and Kunoichi. The series would also feature simultaneously released English dubs. The series was a financial failure, with the English broadcast being cancelled after only one month due to an average viewership of under 150 views per episode. 2019 saw new versions licensed in Mongolia and Poland, which to date are the most recently produced new adaptations of Ninja Warrior.
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
