A feature-length film version of the ninja comedy television anime Nintama Rantaro has been planned for a March 2011 release in Japanese theaters. Titled, Gekijō-ban Anime Nintama Rantaro Ninjutsu Gakuen Zenin Shutsudō! no Dan will open before next summer's live-action film remake that Takashi Miike (Yatterman, Crows Zero) is directing.
The new anime film will retain the same voice cast as the original anime, and Masaya Fujimori, the character designer of the original anime, is directing the new effort. Tsutomu Shibayama, the director of 22 Doraemon films, is supervising the production.
The anime is based on Soubee Amako's Rakudai Ninja Rantarō ninja gag manga (Asahi Comics) about the adventures of Rantarō and other ninja apprentices at an elite ninjutsu academy. The story is set in Japan during the tumultuous Sengoku Jidai (Era of the Warring States). As first-graders, Rantarō and his ninja-in-training friends are called "Nintama" — a contraction of the words "ninja" and "tamago" ("egg").
To those living in the Philippines, it aired back on ABC-5 as Ninja Boy Rantaro and later, it was reaired in cable via HEROtv.