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"Apparently the 'traditional Japanese arts of ninjitsu' don't include stealth..."
Word of advice. White isn't a good color for stealth.
— Dragon, Antihero For Hire
I wish Ryu Hayabusa would go back to his NES era costume. Blue is a more badass color for a ninja since it says "I'm so sure I can kick your ass I don't even need to blend in!"
The result of Mook Chivalry when applied to Ninja.
While suffering from the law of Conservation of Ninjutsu, Ninja mooks not only forget how to fight properly and how to take advantage of their superior numbers, they also forget what a ninja is.
Back at the dojo, didn't their sensei explain that the whole point is to be stealthy, secretive, even invisible? Why do they suddenly feel the need to appear in stereotyped kabuki-theatre stagehand costumes in broad daylight, yell kiai, perform gymnastics, and twirl their weapons like a student performing kata?
Even worse, they feel the need to do these things from a distance of about fifty meters, even when they know the enemy have guns. Although sometimes this isn't a problem.
The real reason is the works need to make sure the audience sees the ninja.
There's also this funny paradox. Ninja are assassins, assassins traditionally killed people through underhanded methods; stabbing In The Back, poisoning, etc.; not direct battle. Not only isn't this honorable, it's not as exciting as a full fledged fight. Heroic ninja don't resort to this, while villainous ones still need to entertain the viewers.
Typically the justification for visible assassins are that if you can actually see the ninja, then you're either going to die soon, or you are a Worthy Opponent.
The Theme Park Version of ninja. Often seen in Mc Ninja. See Highly Conspicuous Uniform for the military version of this trope.
Examples
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Anime & Manga
- Quite a few members of the cast of Naruto. Even ignoring the title character's road-cone orange Limited Wardrobe, it sometimes seems ninjutsu in the Naruto universe is less about stealth than showing off flashy, awe-inspiring jutsu (although really, the Ninja in Naruto are more like mercenaries than anything else). Of course, they do have a lot of other forms of trickery like illusion, duplicates, smokescreens, and replacing yourself with A LOG. Let's just say that the term "Ninja" in Naruto means something completely different than in
reality most fiction/folk lore and leave it at that. In fact, Masashi Kishimoto stated that he wanted to do something different with the concept of a "ninja".
- Kakashi's ultimate move was supposedly created for stealthy assassinations because of its high speed. You'd think emitting a sound similar to a car alarm when its used would ruin the "stealth" aspect.
- Not to mention the fact that it's a BALL OF FREAKIN' LIGHTING!
- And it's stated in-series that the attack literally sounds like a thousand birds. THAT'S WHAT ITS NAME MEANS!
- Kakashi even tells a filler arc villain that disguises and sneak attacks aren't part of the ninja way. What?
- That's blatant subversion of canon. Kakashi spends all of episode three pounding into Team 7's head that they should keep each other alive at all cost, trickery or otherwise. But he doesn't use many sneak attacks himself...
- 'Cept hiding underground, which is sneakier than most. The main sneaky thing that characters do in the show are the various clone substitution tricks.
- And may I remind you that he was the first one to remind Naruto that "The Shinobi's art is deception" whenever Naruto did something stupid?
- That Samurai comment? Funny you should mention that. All we have to do now is wait to see the differences between the two in-universe.
- Read the Land of Waves arc. Apparently, Samurai are bloodthirsty swords-for-hire, who have no problem taking people hostage and killing kids. Though Zouri and Waraji might be disgraced ronin, who knows.
- Organized samurai seem to guard the land of Iron, but not much is known about them.
- They seem to be expies of the Swiss Mercenaries as the Land of Iron is one to Switzerland.
- The worst offense to stealth has to be the headbands. You know, the steel headplates worn by all ninja, each of which has the symbol of the ninja's village on it. To the ninja's enemies, that headband is as good as a nametag that reads "I am a ninja, and this is where all of my friends and loved ones live." There has been approximately one instance of a (filler) ninja who used a headband that didn't belong to him in order to disguise himself, and that was treated as an overly sneaky and underhanded move.
- Not always. Kabuto uses a headband that indicates he is an from the Leaf village but it turns out he is a spy for another village entirely.
- There are "real" ninjas in the form of the ANBU Black Ops and their equivalents in other villages, who hide their faces behind masks (also hiding their headbands of allegiance) and specialise in espionage and assassination.
- It ought to be noted that Naruto proves in canon to be quite capable of sneaking around despite the road-cone orange jacket, and with a few exceptions he proves to be very talented at stealth, in fact. Being a highly-visible ninja seems to have paid off: nobody expects to fail to notice him.
- Of course, it's unknown how much "stealth" you need when you're weeding people's gardens or babysitting as Naruto & team spend assumably much time doing in the beginning.
- Kisame deserves credit for using a jutsu that would likely be visible from outer space in the middle of an ongoing battle. This directly leads to big damn heroes showing up before he can finish off his opponent, whom he probably could've defeated without that insane technique.
- In the Naruto Universe, ninjas are not just spies and assassins, as they are popularly thought to be in the real world. They are many things, like doctors and, most importantly, they are soldiers (since the samurai, as the soldier class, does not exist). For soldiers fighting in a battlefield, stealth doesn't do much.
- As I remember, the characters use plenty of stealth when it is appropriate for the task at hand.
- The truth of the matter is that the shinobi in Naruto practice the art of stealth by hiding in plain sight. Their usual attire (headbands and chuunin/jounin vests notwithstanding) isn't some kind of uniform that says "I AM A NINJA"; they just wear regular, everyday street clothing. In effect, they look like pretty much everyone else on the street, and if you're not savvy enough to notice their hitai-ate, or simply aren't paying attention to the more conspicuous aspects of their attire, you're not going to know they're ninja. (Unless you yourself are one, but that's another matter entirely...)
- Averted in Nabari No Ou: Most of the ninja wear normal clothes and don't look all that much out of the ordinary. One of them even pulls a gun on another ninja trying to be impressive. Even the rather large Fuma village was hidden by illusions and can not be reached by the general populace unless a ninja is there to dispel them. It was also lampshaded, when Miharu ran a traditionally dressed ninja who stood out.
- Superbia Squalo. UUOOOOOOOOOOOIII.
- Black Star from Soul Eater not only calls his attacks out, but also screams loudly before he enters a scene. "YA-HOOOOOOOO" indeed. All while his Empathic Weapon Tsubaki reminds him that he's supposed to be stealthy.
- " I CAME HERE TO MURDER YOU, YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"
- Although he can be stealthy when he needs to, as we see at the end of his prolog. He just has to be stealthy in a flashy way.
- He may or may not be an intentional parody of Naruto.
- Ninja Master Gara from Bastard. Not only is he a 7'7, 320lbs man, but he also throws shurikens the size of an aircraft tire and wields Murasame, a legendary 2-metre-long katana. He also has a knack for making long, drawn out speeches before a fight (so drawn out his allies don't even wait for him to finish and attack their opponent before he's done) and later in the story he gains a bunch of overpowered light based abilities. Not very stealthy.
- Subverted by Ranma 1/2's Konatsu the Kunoichi. Even though his uniform is bright red, he's incredibly stealthy, surprising even the most sensitive martial arts masters in the series.
- Also subverted, surprisingly enough, by Sasuke, who despite his cringingly obvious ninja outfit often manages to be incredibly stealthy even though he's totally incompetent at anything else.
- Ninja Ninja in Afro Samurai is loud-mouthed and ridiculously visible (although he's somewhat stealthy in the second episode, hiding in the rafters of a house), especially considering that he's hanging out with a samurai who kills everyone he meets. But then, he's a hallucination anyways.
- In New Getter Robo, the main characters are attacked by a ninja Oni. Doesn't sound so bad at first, but since the protagonists are Humongous Mecha pilots, and said Oni is around 200 feet tall...
- Sora Wo Kakeru Shoujo has Bougainvillea and Mintao. They seem like semi-regular ninjas at first, complete with identity-concealing masks... until they discover Itsuki Kannagi's apparently dead body and completely freak out, at which point the masks come off (fall off, actually) and never get put on again, and the two become comic relief characters.
- The title character of Ninin Ga Shinobuden wears pink. The only time she even attempts to be stealthy is in the first episode when she fails to make herself invisible when sneaking into Kaede's house, leading to a You Can See Me moment.
- In Rurouni Kenshin, the Kyoto owanibanshuu under the leadership of Misao's grandfather has gone more or less public, winning the support of the townspeople.
- In Ninja Senshi Tobikage, you have robots designed as after ninjas. Somehow they can pull off the stealth, though.
- Sayoko in Code Geass, whose ninja outfit is pink, white and has a flowing scarf.
- Flame Of Recca, anyone? The main characters are supposed to be ninjas. They are also as Hot Blooded as someone can be, and start the final battle by throwing fireworks. Right in front of the Big Bad's fortress. Now that's highly visible.
- Surprisingly lampshaded in Pokémon, of all things. In episode 32, The Ninja Poké-Showdown, Misty asks Aya (a supposed ninja clad in bright pink), "Don't you think that color is a little bright for a ninja?"
- Soi Fon is actually good ninja who gets the drop on AIZEN at one point, but her bankai... isn't, something that she expresses annoyance about. Its a Bazooka that is bigger than she is.
- In Shina Dark there's Hajime. Seriously, is she even trying?
Comic Books
- Ninjette from Empowered. Girlfriend, if the shuriken-themed headband, necklace, earrings, and navel-ring were not bad enough, wearing short-shorts with "NINJETTE" printed across the seat is a bit of a red flag. Of course she noted that her look was at least in part to tick off her father and the squad that eventually tried to haul her back to her New Jersey clan were rather more subtle.
- The t-shirt she occasionally wore that said "Ninja Princess" might just have been Refuge In Audacity. Might.
- Ghost Rider villain Deathwatch had an army of red-clad ninjas. Somewhat justified in that they were actually just street thugs who he'd picked up and had trained.
- 'The Hand' from Marvel Comics. A secretive cult of ninjas into all sorts of evil stuff. They run the gamut of ninja cliches but in one instance, they subvert this trope by walking around in broad daylight as accountants. Which, considering The Hand, they probably are.
- Elektra, Daredevil and their (now dead) teachers prefer bright red (or bright white) costumes.
- Many of the ninja in the G.I. Joe comic book series (and related media) wear bright, primary or even neon colors (like most of the trained fighters). Of course, the most famous ninja, Snake-Eyes, is all in black (some of his costumes even give him drab grays and greens). Weirdly, during the late-series Re Tool of the comics where it was retailed as GI Joe Starring Snake-Eyes With Ninja Force, his suit started off with a bright blue vest over the charcoal-gray suit underneath (this was eventuallychanged).
- The Marvel Comics character Night Thrasher and related ninja in his oh-so-weird life tend to wear black armor plating... with -red- highlights.
- In-canon the armor (and colors) are based on those worn by a group of ceremonial temple guardians from Vietnam. Thrash's colors are actually a more subdued version.
- Anna Feeple from Ninja High School is one of the top five ranked ninjas in the world, kicks ass on a regular basis, and does housework in her gi. Given that she's also a Hot Shounen Mom, nobody's complaining.
Film
- Most 80s movies with "Ninja" in the title, especially the American Ninja series and any ninja movie from Joseph Lai and Godfrey Ho.
- Oh, the American Ninja movies... At least some of them have brains enough to use some degree of stealth, but the majority are less stealthy than the bikers the Big Bad hires as extra mooks!
- Lampshaded in the second Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie:
Splinter: Were you seen?
Leonardo: Of course not, Master Splinter.
Donatello: We practiced ninja.
Michaelangelo: The art of invisibility.
Splinter: (holds up newspaper with a picture of the Turtles on the front page) Practice harder.
- Also occurs in one of the Ninja Turtles video games. Splinter explains that they must move silently and invisibly. Is the player in for Metal Gear Solid type stealth? No, the game is a standard Beat Em Up in which the heroes walk through the streets in full view, beating enemies up.
- This Troper recalls an episode where Splinter had to steal a Mac Guffin from a museum to prevent Shredder from getting it. He was quick, he was quiet, and he was unseen.
- There is a reason he's the one doing the teaching, Grasshopper.
- Spies Like Us: In the woods at night, they turn on floodlights, so that they can show off better! Then, when the Scary Black Man general wants to show how tough he is, they obligingly rush him one at a time.
- Meaning either that the "ninjas" were under the General's employ from the start, or -the less logical but more entertaining explanation- they were just a pack of wild ninjas with a portable floodlight setup roaming the forest.
- Spoofed in Surf Ninjas, in which Rob Schneider's character comments sarcastically on how the ninja's camouflage uniforms really give them a "chameleon-like ability to blend in with their surroundings."
- In Lady Ninja: Reflections in Darkness, the female ninja wear (or almost wear, as the case may be) brightly coloured Stripperiffic ninja outfits.
- Averted in The Hunted with Christpher Lambert where ninja actually disguise themselves to blend in and wear the stereotypic ninja outfit exclusively for night missions. The one instance they become highly visible is on a moving train where they intend to kill all passengers anyway.
- The "evil" ninja in the movie "3 Ninjas". I'll leave it to the Nostalgia Critic to explain. "You're only supposed to wear [ninja outfits] in the dark, you morons!"
- High Noon at Mega Mountain takes this to a whole new level - three men called "Big Dawgs" chase Colt and Tum Tum to the set of a Western play. The Big Dawgs actually take off their clothing to reveal their ninja outfits underneath! In the middle of the day, and in plain sight of the kids, too! Subverted, however, late in the movie, where the boys are appropriately fighting off ninjas in a dark basement.
- Subverted, averted, played straight, inverted, and subverted again in Batman Begins. In no particular order...
- First, the League of Shadows are ninja, culled from all over the world, and apparently living in the Himalayas, not Japan. Henri Ducard notes to him that while Bruce has learned to conceal himself, they can teach him to become truly invisible. Bruce repeats this in surprise almost as if expecting them to reveal some technology or mystical technique... only for a pair of League of Shadows members to drop down on command from the low ceiling he had passed under not a moment before.
- Second, when the League of Shadows leave their mountain monastery, they are dressed as is appropriate — whether as police, well-to-do members of society, or what-have-you.
- Third, "theatricality and deception can be powerful weapons". The general idea here seems to be: if you are to be seen, make it so that they don't remember you specifically, just the tricks you used. Explosive powders as distractions, distinctive but concealing costumes... when Bruce becomes Batman he deliberately dresses up as his own worst fear and cultivates an aura of almost mystical terror.
- Fourth, when the League of Shadows launches their attack, some of them are dressed up as cops, though their behavior gives them away. Others are dressed in ninja gear. "Ducard" (see below) wears his dapper suit with cane, as do several of his minions, when they ambush Bruce at his birthday party, with nothing concealing their face. However, the masked ninja types only come out when the fear toxin is already in the air, meaning people will just remember something terrifying anyway; dudes wandering around sedately in armor and masks probably won't draw must attention.
- However, since Ducard is wearing a mask in this scene (presumably to filter out the toxin), it's possible that the "ninja" types are also wearing masks to allow them to breathe.
- Fifth, there is the deception of Ra's al Ghul. Ken Watanabe's character is supposed to be Ra's, but he's not, just a body double. The real Ra's al Ghul — assuming it's a name, not a title — was Ducard all along.
- Beverly Hills Ninja starring the late Chris Farley.
- Full Metal Ninja has a ninja with a pink uniform and other brightly colored ninjas who wear a bandana that says NINJA on their foreheads.
- Ninja Assassin. Ryu Hayabusa would be proud. Also averted, however, as the enemy ninjas do take advantage of darkness and surprise at times. When they lose those advantages and need to fight soldiers with automatic weapons...
- Cheerleader Ninja. Yeah. "By popular demand!"
Literature
- Averted in Discworld's Night Watch, where a young Vetinari is able to assassinate the Patrican by shunning the traditional, stylish (and comparatively conspicuous) assassins' black for green paint and tiger stripes. However, he still carries the black for the final inhumation (like exhumation but before you're dead) as it would be terrible form not to.
- The point of the outfit was that it was the firing of a Chekovs Gun from earlier in the book, where the young Vetrinari had been reading about camouflage in the wild. The facepaint would have been to dull the shine from his skin, whilst the tiger stripes would have been to make him look like a blur from a distance. It's pointed out that members of the Assassin's Guild wear black during missions, despite the fact that it is often more visible than other colors. In fact, the Assassin's Guild, being "gentlemen", adhere to a number of rules which are inefficient. Commander Vimes mentions that they seem to always try to kill him at his booby-trapped home, refusing to easily shoot him down in the street "like a common criminal". Vetinari is the exception, in that he will wear gray rather than black because it actually blends in better; he cares about results, not image.
- Vetinari also failed his camoflage classes in the School of Assasins, because the teacher marked him as absent for every lecture, having never seen him in class.
- Very averted in Seeker's Mask by P.C. Hodgell (book 3 of Chronicles Of The Kencyrath), in which the Shadow Assassins are highly invisible; they wear clothes that make them invisible, while higher-ranked assassins in their guild progressively cover themselves in tattoos of invisibility ink.
Live Action TV
- Deadliest Warrior hasn't been mentioned? They had an episode pitching a ninja vs a Spartan, in the open. The ninja lost hard. However, the show then lampshades this: The ninja consultant (Being one of the people hired by the show to explain how and why ninja do things) points out that, in real life, the ninja would see the heavily armored Spartan, hide until wall of bronze goes away, and then kill him later that night. Also, the fight as shown was admittedly Rule Of Cool. They determine the victor through te use of a computer program, the action is just a show they put on to entertain the audience; it is explicitly stated that this is not meant to be an actual representaion of the coputer simulations.
- This troper is still not completely convinced the Spartan would dominate a ninja in a straight fight. The lampshading aside—a real ninja WOULD hide until cover of night and slit the Spartan's throat in his sleep—there are any number of methods a ninja could use to nullify the Spartan's notorious defense. Remember Pirate VS Knight? That's what SHOULD have happened to the Spartan.
- Any Power Rangers instalment that featured ninja, even their Super Sentai counterparts.
- Not really, if you consider the Ninja Sentai Kakuranger and Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger "civilian" clothing. Heck, Kakuranger ninjas have full black clothing (save for Tsuruhime, who is all white) and only have a small scarf representing their color. Also, Ninja Black - Jiraiya's ranger form is full black.
- This troper was just bugged by the two "ninja competitions" seen in the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (one which was used as a vehicle to get Jason and Tommy to work together, the other used to introduce the first replacement Rangers). They seem to be just regular martial arts tournaments, except one or both sides are dressed in stereotypical ninja costumes.
- In the lonelygirl15 video "My School Project" - actually Danielbeast's school project, "When Ninjas Attack" - two highly visible ninja sneak stealthily into a house... then stand in the kitchen drinking water until they get spotted.
Tabletop Games
- Space Marines from Warhammer 40000 take pride in their chapter colours to Honor Before Reason levels, with the overwhelming majority of them refusing to wear camouflage, resulting in things like the yellow-clad Imperial Fist marines trying to Infiltrate, The latest scout models justify this by having the bright yellow scouts come with camo cloaks that can cover them.
- The Tau stealthsuit can be painted bright purple without negatively affecting its stealth. Of course, it does have a cloaking field...
- And then there's the Blood Axes, an Ork clan. While camouflage is generally considered un-orky, they manage a decidedly orkish approach anyway: Since camouflage is good, more camouflage has obviously got to be better. And since camouflage is based on the enemy seeing the camouflage's colours instead of yours, the effect can be improved by using clashing colours so the enemy can see how well-camouflaged you are from farther away!
- The grand prize for this trope goes to the bioengineered ninja of the Shadow Sun Syndicate in Monsterpocalypse. How visible are the ninja? As soon as a fight breaks out, they suddenly become the size of buildings. The Zor-Raiden and Zor-Maxim reach sixty feet tall.
- In Scion, there are titanspawn called shinobi. Their job is to Zerg Rush you. They do have a power that lets them hide in the shadows, but unless they're stronger than average, they can only use it once an encounter.
- An issue of Dragon Magazine introduced elemental-based ninja variants, one of which was the fire ninja. The text noted that while a flashy ninja seemed counterproductive, it doesn't matter whether you turn invisible or blind your opponent with flashes of light — the end result is the same.
- Ninja Burger, a series of games about ninja delivering hamburgers, has as their prime protagonists the "white ninjas", legendary masters of stealth that dress in bright obvious white suits.
- Warhammer has an Ogre Ninja model. An ogre. As in, a thing large enough to swallow a horse!
- It's a maneater, a mercenary that adopts ways to fight from the culture it fights with and is a highly elite type of unit. You might laugh at the disguise but big things can be stealthy. Otherwise the game averts this as Skaven and Darkelf assasins wear dark clothing and disguises and the opponent won't find them before it's too late.
- Possibly inspired by the "Ogre Ninja" from the Ogre boardgame published by Steve Jackson Games. It's a stealth tank which just happens to be the size of a warehouse, with a lot of ECM...
Videogames
- Averted in Red Alert 3. The Shinobi unit of the Empire of the Rising Sun is a stealth unit foremost, and not very useful in direct combat.
- Most 80s video games with ninja villains, especially Bad Dudes vs. Dragoninja.
- All the ninjas of Ninja Town especially the Anti Ninja.
- Joe Musashi in every Shinobi that came after the original arcade game. It seems difficult for a ninja to blend in when he's decked out in high-contrast red and white pajamas (not that he ever really tries to), let alone when he's walking around with his Ninja Dog in tow. His contemporaries also have an impractically loud fashion sense: Hibana wears a red-and-white ensemble similar to his own, while Hotsuma wears spiky black armor topped with a bright red scarf that's thirty feet long.
- Hotsuma at least has the excuse that he's armed with a sword that routinely glows bright red, so concealment isn't much of an option. This doesn't do anything to explain the Oboro clan's routine use of ridiculous colours among their rank and file mooks, some of whom are wearing bright orange outfits.
- Even in the arcade game, Joe was hardly trying to blend in; he was waltzing around in broad daylight.
- None of the enemy ninja in the first three games are particularly difficult to spot either. Shinobi III had a few somewhat hidden enemies, but this was usually due to them hiding behind layers, as opposed to effectively camouflaged character designs.
- Ninja Gaiden's Ryu Hayabusa fights in the open with a wide variety of impractical-for-stealth weapons, pulling off moves that are flashy and all-too-obvious, including casting spells where he stands still while fire or electricity swirls around him. In fact, some fans have reportedly called him more of a samurai than a ninja. Probably not too much of a falsehood.
- It might also be added that even though Ryu might sort of at least dress in the black pajamas, even if he WAS somewhat stealthy in his actions,following where he's been would not be a difficult thing to do.
- On the other hand, if there are no surviving witnesses within a several mile radius. . .
- Best one has to be when he apparently gets a ticket for an airship, rides in the airship, and is seen in his cabin reading a magazine... ALL IN HIS NINJA OUTFIT!
- While we're on the subject of Team Ninja games, none of the "ninja" in their Dead Or Alive series seems all that eager to avoid notice (not just Ryu).
- Rikimaru from the Tenchu series typically has no problem hiding from his enemies, though you'd think he might have an easier time about if he'd cover up his BRIGHT WHITE HAIR!
- In part 2, his outfit was green.
- In one of the versions that has multiplayer, isn't it possible to be a ninja panda? I guess it could work if the idea is that pandas are cute, but in those days it was pretty much known that bears=pain.
- Averted in Tenchu Z, where you can wear a 'traditional' ninja outfit with a mask and everything. Or you can wear a real traditional ninja outfit and make yourself look something like a farmer. Or you can run around in a loincloth. None of these make you any easier or harder to spot.
- Mai Shiranui from Fatal Fury. Come on, she's practically half-naked as well as *really* well-stacked. And in fact, in the SNK vs. Capcom series, several characters call out on her (namely Ryu, Ken, and Chun-Li) in their introduction dialogues. Ultimately, even SNK has made fun of this: Maximum Impact 2 has Hattori Hanzo as a playable character, and when he faces Mai, their intro has him question what the hell has happened to ninjitsu since his day.
- At least one Fan Fiction presented the theory that the whole stripperiffic "nimbo" persona was a form of hiding in plain sight. Anyone who hears she is a ninja, or sees her at all, would dismiss her as a bad joke until she caves in his head.
- Also, like anybody is going to be looking at Ms. Gainax's face in that outfit.
- Fan fascination with Mai has prevented mention of the much more obvious Andy Bogard, who wears mostly white and doesn't even tie back his long blond hair.
- Maximum Impact 2 also introduced Nagase, "The Ninja Computer Geek", who dresses in what can best be described as a bright yellow J-pop bumblebee dress. However the trope is justified in that Nagase has no intention of being stuck in the shadows all her life: she wants to become famous.
- Yeah, the "fanservice ninja" thing seems to fit Sheena Fujibayashi pretty well, too.
- The Tales of Phantasia counterpart of Sheena, Suzu Fujibayashi isn't a fanservice ninja girl. But that doesn't take away the fact that she wears a bright red outfit along with a bright Yellow scarf.
- To be honest Mai seems more like the Kuniochi types aka seduce your foes then burn/cut/maim them minus the kill yourself part their kin is known of
- Similar case with Taki from Soul Calibur. She wears a red skintight suit and jumps around screaming a lot. But then again it might be hard to spot the ninja hiding behind those enormous, uh, talents of hers.
- Those "talents" of Taki's jiggle so insanely that you have no choice but to notice.
- Seriously, it seems more like she's naked and simply painted her whole body red, rather than wearing a skintight suit.
- Frank the Polish-American Brazilian Ninja from Shadow Hearts: From the New World is about as stealthy as a clown (and kind of looks like one too). In his introduction scene he attempts to hide himself by using the classic ninja trick of holding a piece of wall-patterned cloth in front of himself (the "Art of Hiding" he calls it) - but uses a brightly-coloured flag. Obviously it doesn't work. His new teammates immediately call him out on how much he sucks at it. His clanmate Britney is almost as bad, being a blonde who wears a bright pink gi.
- In the ending, Johnny notes that Frank's appeared on TV a few times... then muses, "Aren't ninjas supposed to be invisible?"
- The ninja of Mortal Kombat wear brightly-coloured vests that aren't exactly conducive to stealth - Scorpion's canary yellow outfit leaps to mind. Ironically, some ninja in real life really did wear blue, so maybe Sub-Zero could get away with it. In this case, though, this was probably just to differentiate between them in the earlier games. On top of that, to be fair to Scorpion, the original story (before it was retconned) was that when he was brought back from the dead he specifically chose a yellow version of Sub-Zero's outfit as a Take That, calling Sub-Zero a coward. This was Ret Conned when we actually got to see Scorpion before his death and they put him in that outfit anyway. A lot of the other "ninja" aren't actually ninja, like bright red Ermac, or all-black Noob Saibot (pity since he's got the best costume for a ninja). Sadly, Cyrax and Sektor (clad in bright red and yellow) are ninja, even if they're also robots now. In Mortal Kombat: Mythologies, Sub-Zero asserted that the Lin Kuei are absolutely not ninja - and hey, he'd know. So it's presumably fine for him and his posse to wear technicolor uniforms and jumpkick people under the midday sun. Maybe that's how your average stealthy assassination goes in China. Of course, this is mostly moot, as these are costumes they were to a fighting tournament where there's little to no stealth involved.
- Every Ape Escape game has at least one Japanese-themed stage with traditional dojos and ninja paraphernalia, usually including a few monkeys decked out in ninja garb. Of course, they still have helmets with large flashing lights on top, and start screaming and running around as soon as you approach.
- Namco's arcade and PS2 light gun game Ninja Assault. Long story short, you play a ninja with guns!
- Destroy All Humans 2 had an island in Japan where black and white ninja were fighting. Not surprisingly, they wore complete black, or complete white in public. Every time Crypto questioned or lampshaded this or the existance of ninjas in 1960's Japan, everyone would reply "Everybody loves ninjas."
- Yukimaru and Fubuki from Disgaea 2 are members of a ninja clan whose village is perpetually covered in snow, making an all-white uniform the perfect camouflage. Well, at least it would, if the Snow Clan did all of their missions within their village.
- Of course, their traditional outfits also include light blue and even magenta, so...
- Done very deliberately with Kyoko Needleworker, a ninja who makes a point of always challenging her opponents in broad daylight.
- The ninja class from the first game also have very few "ninja-ish" traits: they use the same weapons any other class does and are best with fist and axes and the only thing that would be good for stealth (which the game really doens't have) are their high speed and movement.
- A.N.V.I.L. saboteurs in Evil Genius are Highly Visible Ninjas wearing (in order of increasing ability) black, red, blue and white uniforms. Actually, the white uniforms blend in well in the brightly lit stainless steel hallways of the Elaborate Underground Base, but that advantage is lost when they step into any other type of room.
- In Final Fantasy Tactics your male ninja wear blue, and your female ninja wear read. They walk in plain sight in the vast open fields of Mandalia to battle monsters. On the other hand, they do have reaction abilities that makes them invisible.
- Final Fantasy Tactics A2 contains a ninja that, in order to assassinate someone, walks on screen, talks to them, and then shoots them with a gun. This makes even less sense in the context of the game, where it is illegal for ninja to use any weapons but swords.
- The important thing is, you weren't expecting it. Isn't that the key ability of a ninja?
- Kasumi from the Suikoden I&II wears a quite pink/red outfit for no real reason.
- Then there's Fuma, also from the first Suikoden, who claims to specialize in invisibility and stealth... while wearing an outfit so incredibly red that staring at it too long would make your eyes bleed. But on closer inspection, Suikoden tends to avert this trope (aside from Kasumi and Fuma), as the Suikoden ninjas (of which there are at least two in every game) tend to dress either like traditional ninjas (I's Kage, II's Mondo and Sasuke, and III's Watari and Ayame), or more like normal people (IV's Akaghi and Mizuki, V's Shigure and Sagiri).
- Slightly subverted by Guilty Gear's Chipp Zanuff, who can actually turn (partly) invisible with a special move. Hilariously, as he does so he yells, "Find me!" Other than that, though, he sticks heavily to the trope... but then he's an American who just really wants to be a ninja. The quote at the top of the page is directed at him, and follows a Cluster F Bomb Chipp gives when Bridget reads off a very unflattering description of his "ninja skills".
- Bang Shishigami from Blaz Blue is one of the most highly visible ninjas of all time, sporting a bare midriff(on a male character), a flowing red scarf, a 5-foot long NAIL on his back, and prone to frequent hot-blooded yelling. He also subverts typical ninja characters in fighting games by being more of a well-balanced brawler than a Fragile Speedster, having the 3rd highest HP in the game.
- In fact, if you fight him with Arakune in one of the single-player modes, Bang Shishigami's wardrobe is one of the first things he notices with the line "Very...loud. Oddly...red."
- Izuna, the Unemployed (and Very Hot) Ninja dresses in a bright red outfit with thick hose and fishnets.
- After stealing a village's crystal and upsetting the gods, the villagers (specifically, the innkeeper) starts a tab for the protagonist and her ninja clan and declares they must stay until it's paid off and the villagers won't let them leave. One of the ninja point out "But hey, we're ninja. We'll just sneak out." To which another ninja declares "But they'll just find us. We'll never get out of this."
- She's not at all helped by her voluminous assets. As she so succinctly puts it in the manual for the first game, "That's me, Izuna, big as life and twice as hot!"
- Shino seems a bit more like a traditional ninja, however. There's also the very visible Mitsumoto, but at least he wears a proper ninja outfit, even if it makes him look completely bland compared to the rest of the cast.
- Lampshaded in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice For All in the final case with the "Jammin' Ninja," a ninja with a bright red guitar whose goal in life is to become a rock star. Phoenix himself notes just how ridiculous the concept is.
- It should be pointed out that within Phoenix's world, the Jammin' Ninja is a TV character. Also, his bizarre choice of path in life is explained as being because he's not actually a very good ninja, so he chose a career that wouldn't need him to be able to do ninja things.
- Investigations gives us Kay Faraday, a Highly Visible Phantom Thief who spends much of the game stating she is a Phantom Thief, the Yatasaguru while doing very little actual theft, and even wears a badge in shape of the Yatasaguru's symbol on her scarf. She's also a fan of the Jammin' Ninja rather then the Steel Samurai.
- The Jougenshuu Sennin in Beat Blades Haruka go as far as to announce their presence to the enemy Noroi prior to doing battle. Somewhat justified in that Mission Control reasoned that the best way to get the public on their side was to follow Magical Girl tropes.
- Dark Ninja, mooks from Painkiller. Some charge at Daniel, others hang back and toss shuriken. None bother to hide.
- Lampshaded in Ninjatown. The second basic unit is the Anti-Ninja, which is a super-strong ninja that dresses in bright orange. The other characters in the series are Wee Ninja, Business Ninja, Sniper Ninja, Ice Ninja, Forrest Ninja, and Fire Ninja. Among others.
- This troper wonders if he was the only one to laugh at the apparent parody of [[Naruto]]
- Averted in Live A Live. Oboromaru's chapter is similar to Metal Gear Solid; while you can get through it by beating some or all of the baddies, you can get some of the best stuff by getting through it without fighting anyone at all, by use of your awesome ninja hiding tactics (press the Y key to turn invisible).
- Happens in Bahamut Lagoon. Sajin and Zeroshin are technically "Assassins", but their technique is called "Ninjutsu", and it consists of elemental attacks and attempted insta-kills. All in plain sight, as a good strategy RPG would do. When you hire them, you're also given the option of picking an assassination target for them, the 3 choices being the main heroine, a military captain and a random NPC: the first 2 both fail miserably and only the last one is successful.
- Lo Wang, the eponymous character of Shadow Warrior, operates more like a Asian Duke Nukem than an actual ninja. The ninja Mooks also apply, their main weapon is an Uzi.
- Taki, of Soul Calibur fame, wears blue, red, magenta, white, hightlighted armour, and occasionally a lot of bare skin.
- Yoshimitsu from Tekken (and his Soul Calibur incarnation) is...difficult to ignore. He has been entirely metallic, been partially metallic and in forest green pants, usually had some sort of skull for a face, looked like a giant beetle man, green and gold samurai armour, and blue skin with yellow and red pants. And his sword glows.
- You forgot his Evil Counterpart Kunimitsu, who fought in royal blue, yellow, pink and purple in her different incarnations, always wearing a white fox mask (excludng her Tekken Tag Tournament third costume, which had a gold, demonic half-mask).
- And Tekken 5 introduced Raven, a (supposed) spy who dresses (sometimes) in a bright silver jumpsuit and Cool Shades, and looks like Wesley Snipes with a noticible scar on his face. Beating up every contestant he comes across while "investigating" the King of Iron Fist Tournament does not help his case, unless he's trying to blend in with all the other insane fruitcakes participating in this competition.
- Elite Beat Agents plays this for a joke. One of the characters, Ken Ozu, is an amateur ninja/car salesman (...it could happen!) If you fail, he gets spotted and messes up amusingly; but if you do well, he succeeds in completing his mission of taking back the plans from a rival company. Slightly subverted with his blue camouflage, which works because the stage is at night. One has to assume people in the EBA world have learned not to pay attention to the Agents most of the time...
- To be accurate, Ozu isn't a ninja, just a Spoiled Brat whose Dad threatened to kick him out of his cushy CEO job if he didn't recover the lost plans. He doubtlessly learned all about ninjitsu from TV.
- Spoofed in this artwork for World Of Warcraft: the Trading Card Game.
- In Final Fantasy XI, ninja are the second most common "tank" job in the game, whose primary purpose is to get the enemy's attention and keep it. When this troper first started playing a Ninja, she had something of a "WTF!?" moment upon discovering this.
- They weren't originally meant for that. They were suppose to be ranged/melee hybrid damage dealers and use their "stealth" to avoid damage should they pull hate. After players figured that their shadow clones makes for good tanking, Square Enix just went along with it.
- Sengoku Basara brings us Kasuga, whose Stripperiffic outfit with its gold accents and Absolute Cleavage make her a very attention-getting ninja. On the other hand, Sarutobi Sasuke wears forest camouflage and generally has a very good grasp on the concept of ninja stealth.
- Galford in Samurai Shodown. Unlike Hanzo, he doesn't cover his head, he wears blue, and he fights with his dog, Poppy. Earthquake tried ninja training, but quit because he had to be with Galford, whom he hated. For the record, both of them are Mc Ninja (Hanzo, the Japanese Ninja is much more Badass and stealthy).
- The ninjas in Oni are a bit eccentric: the three different classes of ninja (like all other groups of enemies) green, blue and red armour in ascending order of skill - not overly inconspicuous. However, they are also fairly skilled at hiding and surprise attacks and are bloody fast. Probably averted by the boss ninja, Mukade, who can actually turn invisible (which is itself probably a homage to Ghost In The Shell as much as anything else).
- The ninjas from Nikujin don't wear any clothes. So yeah...
- Ninja Jajamaru-kun wears a bright red uniform. But gost darn it, is he ever CUTE.
- Taito's eponymous Ninja Warriors dress in bright primary colors. They're unstoppable killer robots though, so that matters little. Plus it's a suicide mission anyway.
- Averted in Half-Life. While not really ninjas, the Black Ops agents in Half-Life wore black skin-tight suits and used similar tactics quite successfully. The female agents were agile, fast, used silencers and often ambushed in dark areas, making them one of the most potent enemies encountered in the game, even in small numbers. The male agents were more direct-combat oriented though still took advantage of darkness.
- Well...mostly averted. While not highly visible, the female agents made a heck of a lot noise when they ran, making them Highly Audible Ninjas, at least. Likely this was to make up for the fact that they were so damn hard to catch, otherwise. Additionally, the male agents were the reverse: despite attacking in a manner similar to that of the basic army grunts, you couldn't hear their footsteps or even their radio chatter, making getting the drop on them or hiding around corners a tad more difficult.
- Assassins Creed main schtick is stealthy assassinations... but alas, it would seem no one informed Altair, who walks around in plain veiw covered in knives, engaging in highly visable street comabt.
- Except for spending much of the time working to blend in with the crowds, the fact that it's better to avoid notice then the highly visible combat, and the fact that your basic attack action is the stealthy kill, (which draws no attention at all unless someone is RIGHT THERE,) except when you switch from stealth to highly visible actions. So this trope is used and averted.
- It's a mistake to think of him as a 16th century Japanese ninja; he's across the board. He can be invisible and silent when quiet work is called for (which isn't often). He can slug it out with multiple swordsmen when they pick a fight with him (which is often). And he can run like a madman and bulldoze through any bystanders in his way when he has no choice (which is very, very often).
- Samurai Warriors pick any of the ninja. You will be able to see them.
- Mega Man X: Command Mission got party member Marino, an Highly Visible Thief. Her armour's PINK, along with other eye-catching features.
Webcomics
- Subversion: You'd think Dr. McNinja would have a hard time sneaking around, dressed like a doctor with a traditional ninja outfit underneath that. Nope, actually, he manages to keep to close-quarters combat most of the time... If he gets shot at or has to throw a soda machine at a team of security guards, it's generally implied that the situation is a pretty rough one. Of course, most non-villains who recognize him just accept that he's eccentric. "Yeah, he's using someone else's ID as a disguise again."
- Played straight in a flashback comic to his college days. He justifies it via the alt text: "I wore bright colors because I was a young, cocky ninja. And because it was 1989."
- In the Mc Ninja comic There's a Raptor in my Office, Dr Mc Ninja meets a strange silhouetted man in a darkened warehouse. Alt text lampshades this by pointing out that the only person you can see in a darkened room is the one who is a ninja. And the Raptor riding banditos but that is neither here nor there.
- The good doctor's father at least justifies always wearing a mask so every ninja, if they ever get too in deep and have too many enemies, can just take the mask off and escape the life. Since it wouldn't be effective after repeated uses, it means that they have to learn to eat through their masks.
- The Doctor also has a bunch of paintings which include lots of ninja on them. However, the ninja are so exceedingly well-painted that you can't see them anywhere.
- Memorably lampshaded in the first
Thanksgiving Katanaka arc, in order to get into his parents home he has to sneak past his mother(who is a much better ninja than he is) and he's speculating on his death.
"But if he wanted to enter the cave undetected," the coroner will ask, " Why did he wear a white lab coat?"
"Because he was a doctor and he knew science" someone will reply.
- Ninja on a plane in Yosh!
- Subverted in Freefall with, of all things, French ninja waiters. Warren and Florence never actually see any of them, except for one short, portly, otherwise indescript man who distracts them while other ninja deliver their food. As the apparent head of the restaurant explains when a waiter complains that the man looks nothing like a ninja, that is exactly what a ninja should look like.
- Order Of The Stick has ninja that are highly visible to the reader, and should be highly visible to other characters, but since it's set in a Role Playing Game Verse, they're effectively invisible anyway.
- From http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0003.html:
Belkar: Wait, I think I just failed a spot check.
Haley: Really? I don't see anything.
Belkar: Exactly.
Ninja: (Standing right in front of the group) Um... we're like RIGHT here.
Belkar: Wait, I think I just failed a listen check!
- Seriously lampshaded in Elf Only Inn.
- Partially subverted in 8-bit Theater by Thief's gang of "law ninja". Despite wearing bright red, they remain completely unseen unless summoned by Thief himself.
- Oddly, the Ninja class in the first Final Fantasy wore bright red in the first place, at least in the original version. They're probably an example of this themselves, if it comes to that.
- Referencing this, the three strips or so after Thief first became a ninja, he wore the bright red Highly Visible Ninja suit from the original. They were then remade, and the strips replaced with him wearing a black ninja suit from the class change onward.
- Randy Milholland pokes fun at the trope in this con sketch◊.
- Raymondo Person recently introduced "Barry Scrumbles, Non-Stealth Ninja". He has business cards.
- White Ninja, although this is possibly not an example because he may not even be a real ninja for all anyone knows. White Ninja is not something you can or should try to apply regular logic to.
- He's a white ninja because black ninjas are harder to ink.
- This page of Torio lampshades this trope.
- Furry webcomic Macropod Madness/Macropodia (the name changed during a particular arc) had Tree Ninja, a tree kangaroo with a habit of hiding in barren, leafless trees. This was lampshaded in one episode.
Western Animation
Real Life
- Historically, ninja used multiple disguises to appear as everyday members of Japan's social castes, which involved training themselves in the target speech patterns, lifestyle habits and mannerisms - quite a lot more than wearing a costume. They went as far as burning specific incense or spices into their clothes so they would smell like the person they were impersonating. In the sense that they were walking around in full public view, these ninja were Highly Visible, but also hiding in plain sight. That, my friends, is invisibility.
- If the history is to be trusted, junior ranking ninja often would dress up in Highly Visible ninja clothes and arm themselves with stereotypical ninja weapons. Their purpose was not to be stealthy infiltrators, but rather to be the distraction. The guards end up chasing the Highly Visible Ninja who just flung a couple of shuriken their way, allowing the real ninja agent to sneak in and get the job done.
- The sterotypical ninja costume is actually the costume of a Kabuki theatre prop handler, or Kuroko. Since the handlers were on set all of the time and simply ignored by the audience, it was high drama for one to suddenly brandish a weapon and attack the hero.
- This troper has also run an RPG during the height of Mortal Kombat popularity, resulting in several characters cropping up loosely based on that game's Palette Swapped and elemental-themed ninja. He drew the line, however, when someone wanted to play 'Sol, the Ninja of the Sun', who glowed radiantly wherever he went. His first attempt to climb a tower guarded by Mooks with crossbows tragically cut short his stellar (solar?) career.
- This troper repainted some Heroclix ninja to help differentiate them during large games. While the dark green ninja drew some comments, not one person thought there was anything amiss about the white clad ninja.
- This troper's character in an RP was a career ninja who was hired by someone who turned out to be the Big Bad to catch the rebels. For the first few sessions he got to do ninja stuff, but after a while, the character was more developed and did indeed turn into a Highly Visible Ninja, who used his combat prowess for showing off (as well as in combat). Owing as his character was one of the two Chosen, he hasn't been able to do sneaky ninja missions for quite a while, but his refusal to remove his self-proclaimed "ninja" status has led to some rather humorous Lampshade Hanging by the other characters to his Highly Visible Ninja status. Rather than view this is a bad thing, I've embraced it, because it's far more in character for him to show off than to try and hide.
- This troper would like to point out that sneaking up on people while wearing bright colors is actually easy, having done so repeatedly. Squeaky shoes, however...
- Near Halloween in the United States, check out the kids' costumes available. There will inevitably be a few "ninja" outfits that mimic the Mortal Kombat/Power Rangers style.
- Debateably "real life," one SCA War had a member dressed in "standard" ninja attire, muttering "I am ninja, you cannot see me" whenever anyone spotted him. While several warriors played along for fun, he apparently ticked off one Scotish Highlander too many, who clobbered him hard enough to lay him out for several minutes (ninjas don't wear armor), then claimed that he "didn't see him there."
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