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Koei Tecmo Registers New Trademark For ‘Ninja Gaiden’ Spinoff
While Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z wasn’t exactly the perfect mash-up of zombies and cyborg ninjas, that’s apparently not stopping Koei Tecmo from possibly trying again. The company recently filed a new trademark for the Ninja Gaiden spin-off series. The first game was developed by Spark Unlimited, and was released on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC back in March 2014 to mediocre reviews.
It’s also worth noting that this new trademark is specifically for “Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z,” while the game’s previous trademarks, filed in August 2012, were just for “Yaiba”.
Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z followed Yaiba Kamikaze, a ninja killed for massacring his own clan by main series protagonist, Ryu Hayabusa. Later, Yaiba is resurrected by the mysterious organization known as Forge Industries as a cyborg in order to stop a zombie plague (as well as exact his revenge on Ryu).
In the grim darkness of the far future there is only war, but it was a cheerful illustrator from England who helped to define the terrifying war-torn imagery that inspired what we now know as Grimdark (a hybrid genre combining horror with sci-fi/fantasy).
Unfortunately for fans of Warhammer 40,000, Trench Crusade and countless other sources of Grimdark thrills, veteran artist John Blanche passed away this week after struggling with health issues for the past few years.
While the artist retired back in 2023, he leaves us with an enormous legacy of iconic artwork that continues to inspire gamers and storytellers around the world to this very day.
The news is especially gloomy as it was only last year that Daniel Lowman and Napoleon Dynamite himself Jon Heder released The Grim & the Dark: The Search for John Blanche, a documentary following Heder’s exploration of the Grimdark genre culminating in a heartwarming encounter with Blanche in his own home.
Below is one of my favorite pieces by Blanche, his highly influential depiction of Warhammer 40k’s God-Emperor of Mankind on his Golden Throne.
We send our deepest condolences to John Blanche’s family, friends, and fans.
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