New Tokyo Ronin

New Tokyo Ronin is an American animated action-adventure TV series produced by Nickelodeon Animation Studios. The series was co-created by Ciro Nieli, showrunner of Nick's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Bryan Andrews, storyboard artist and co-creator of Sym-Bionic Titan, and ran from August of 2018 to February of 2023. Most of the series is set in the fictional New Tokyo City, which is a composite city of Tokyo and New York City and has a mix of Japanese and American people and culture.

The series focuses on half-Japanese high school student, Jake Amamiya, who comes into possession of the magical blade Masamune (named after the Japanese swordsmith) and becomes the new protector of New Tokyo, who the media dubs "The Ronin". Along the way, he faces off against countless enemies, such as superpowered criminals and people who have been mutated into beasts. But before he can truly defeat his enemies, Jake must learn discipline, honor, and the ways of the samurai.

Main

 * Jake Amamiya/The Ronin (voiced by Kaiji Tang) - the main protagonist of the series who is a high school student attending Musashi High and lives a double-life as the mysterious protector of New Tokyo City, The Ronin. He begins the series cocky and snarky but slowly learns discipline and patience. He wields the magical Masamune Blade, which is able to extend to any length and grants Jake several superhuman abilities.
 * Kenko (voiced by Cristina Vee) - Jake's companion who is the spirit of the Masamune Blade, represented by a little girl. She is very dry-witted and has a love/hate relationship with Jake, who she sees as immature and stupid. Later on, she warms up to him but still takes jabs at him on occasion.

Supporting

 * Mike Fitz (voiced by Greg Cipes) - Jake's incredibly intelligent best friend who spends a lot of time on the internet. He is very eccentric and doesn't think through his actions a lot of the time, which causes people to find him weird. Later on, he becomes Jake's tech support and helps him on his adventures. A recurring gag is that he believes several insane conspiracy theories.
 * Jezebel "Jez" Keen (voiced by Kimberly Brooks) - Jake's other best friend and the head cheerleader at Musashi High. She is very upbeat and charismatic but is prone to worrying and has trouble being patient. In her spare time, she practices martial arts and is thus surprisingly strong.
 * Akira Oda (voiced by Andrew Kishino) - a friend of Jez's who Jake doesn't get along with. He and Jake often butt heads but are forced to get along for Jez's sake. He is the star player of the school's football team and seems brash and confrontational but has a very strict moral compass.
 * Naoko Oda (voiced by Xanthe Huynh) - Akira's sister who, unlike him, is very shy and timid. She has trouble talking to people and can't come out of her shell. She also doubts herself a lot and it somewhat of a ditz, not being very street smart. She gets along with Jake very much though and develops a crush on him in later episodes.

Antagonists

 * The Entomologist (voiced by Jeffrey Combs) - one of the main antagonist of the series who is a well-dressed man with solid white, slightly glowing skin. He is cold, calculating, and incredibly intelligent. He is also very powerful, being a master of mysticism who is able to use magic to somewhat bend reality. Throughout the series, he turns several people into monsters (Yokai) using magical wasps of his own creation.
 * Shogun (voiced by Keith David) - one of the main antagonists of the series, Shogun is a very powerful person in crimson samurai armor. He is very large and imposing and is incredibly gifted when it comes to manipulating magical energy. He wields a magical blade of his own, known as the Muramasa Blade, which has the same abilities as Jake's blade.
 * The Oni King (voiced by Ron Perlman) - an incredibly large demon and ruler of the ogre-like race known as Oni. He is a megalomaniac who is obsessed with conquering the world and stealing the Masamune Blade. He is extremely powerful, able to manipulate fire and carrying a magic kanabo that can cause earthquakes if he strikes the ground.
 * Dr. Hoshiko Yamada (voiced by TBA) - a genius scientist who, initially, doesn't believe in magic but after discovering it's existence becomes obsessed with unlocking its secrets. She is well-respected in the public eye and an idol to many, as well as being the head of the Yamada Corporation, founded by her father. Her powers come from her cybernetic arm and eye, which she created herself.

Notes & Trivia

 * In the world that New Tokyo Ronin takes place in, Japan didn't join the Axis in World War II and thus the attack on Pearl Harbor and the subsequent bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki didn't take place. Due to this, Japan and America had a much closer relationship and it eventually led to the New Tokyo Ronin world.
 * Kenko's name is a combination of the Japanese words ken (剣), meaning sword and ko (子) meaning child. The "ken" part of her name is a reference to her being a sword spirit and "ko" is often put at the end of girl names in Japan.
 * Akira Oda is named after Japanese Mangakas Akira Toriyama (creator of Dragon Ball) and Eiichiro Oda (creator of One Piece). His sister, Naoko Oda, is named after Sailor Moon creator Naoko Takeuchi.
 * Jake Amamiya's Masamune Blade and Shogun's Muramasa Blade are based on a Japanese legend which said that the swordsmiths Masamune and Muramasa challenged each other to create a sword to see who was more skilled. Masamune's blade was built with patience and goodness while Muramasa's blade was built with wrath and bitterness.