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Masked Ninja Akakage (2025 TV series)

Masked Ninja Akakage is a 2025-2026 Japanese jidaigeki TV series directed by Takashi Miike and starring Taiki Sato, leader of the J-pop group Fantastics from Exile Tribe, and Takahiro Tasaki from EXILE. It a live-action adaptation of the manga Ninja Akakage by Mitsuteru Yokoyama.

Plot
As Oda Nobunaga (Takahiro Tasaki) is working to unify Japan, his servant Akakage, a ninja from the village of Hida, combats the evil forces of the Golden Eye cult that is thriving south of Lake Biwa and is led by Genyōsai, a man who is plotting to take control of Japan. ==Cast==
Cast
Taiki Sato as Akakage (赤影; "Red Shadow") • Keito Kimura as Aokage (青影, "Blue Shadow") • Ryō Katō as Shirokage (白影; "White Shadow") • Hideyuki Kasahara as Oribe Tamon • Masaki Nakao as Ishida Mitsunari • Atomu Mizuishi as Fukushima Masanori • Keisuke Shiba as Katō Kiyomasa • Keito Takahashi as Mori RanmaruTokio Emoto as Hashiba HideyoshiShūgo Oshinari as Takigawa Kazumasu • Unknown actor as Genyōsai • Takahiro Tasaki as Oda Nobunaga • The Seven Sacred Men of Kasumi Valley: • Chihiro Yamamoto as Yamihime • Katsuya as Oninenbou • Hayato Onozuka as Ikkan Oboro • Seiya Motoki as Akudoji • Riki Motoyama as Toad Priest • Ryunosuke Hosoda as Puppet Jinnai • Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi as Yumedo Hitotsume • Masayuki Deai as Matsunaga Hisahide • Tyson Oya & Yuki Umehara as the Golden Eyes • Yui Suwa as Okuni ==Theme songs==
Theme songs
The opening theme is "SWISH DAT!" by PSYCHIC FEVER. The ending theme is "Marmalade" by WOLF HOWL HARMONY. ==Production==
Production
The series was produced in the spring of 2024. The series was announced by TV Asahi on September 7, 2025. In an interview, Miike described seeing the 1969 live-action film adaptation of the manga as a child, saying, "It was a pioneering superhero film, and the ninja Akakage suddenly entered our lives, and it pierced my heart as entertainment. [...] Rather than forcing my own internalized Akakage on myself, or thinking that my childhood dream of 'Akakage must be like this,' I feel like I've come full circle and am now reviving Akakage and creating a film with a young cast." Describing the production, Katō said, "The filming was so intense that one day felt like a week, and I already have a feeling that the sense of accomplishment will be the greatest of any leading role I've ever played." The role of Nobunaga's page, Mori Ranmaru, was decided through an audition hosted by LDH including participants from EXPG, a dance school run by LDH, as well as members of the dance performance group RAG POUND. The audition documentary Golden Dream was broadcast on October 9 at 2:36 AM. The website natalie.mu stated that TV Asahi and Toei had teamed up for the new adaptation to "reinvent it as a 'hero period drama' for the Reiwa era", and the October 2025 issue of World Screen called the series "a modern remake" and stated that there would be 20 half-hour episodes. Discussing the modernization of this adaptation, Miike stated, "I think it's because it's not a simple story of good versus evil. It's set in the Warring States period, so the victor becomes good. And as the ninjas struggle with who they should serve and what they should accomplish, they form a team, and within that teamwork, they form friendships not unlike modern-day relationships, and they even end up talking nonsense... (laughs). I wanted to portray those aspects as well." ==Broadcast==
Broadcast
The series airs Mondays from 12:10 AM to 12:40 AM (following the Sunday night programming) on TV Asahi. Following its terrestrial broadcast, it is streamed on Telasa The first episode aired on October 27, 2025. The first episode was streamed on YouTube for free without audio as a preview. Episodes ==References==
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