YMMV / Ninja

• Complete Monster: Masazuka was the second-best student of the Takeda ninja dojo until he was expelled for trying to kill Casey Bowman. In response, Masazuka became a hitman in the employ of Temple Industries. Later, he tries to claim the Yoroi Bitsu, a box containing the Takeda school's founder's weapons, slaughtering most of the school in the process. After killing Sensei Takeda in his interrogation, Masazuka learns that his quarry is in New York City, and has Temple send some assassins after them. Killing the sole survivor of the goons' failed attempt, he seeks Casey and Namiko Takeda, killing most of the police precinct they're in and capturing the latter. During the final battle, Masazuka poisons Namiko just to get an edge on Casey.
• Evil Is Cool: Despicable as he is, Masazuka is still a Badass Longcoat Cyber Ninja One-Man Army No-Nonsense Nemesis whom only Casey can really stand up to in a direct confrontation, and who's a blast to watch. By contrast Temple is just a slimeball with delusions of grandeur, and his super-duper top-secret conspiracy seems to exist merely to provide Cannon Fodder for fight scenes. The writers seem to have learned their lesson well, because in the 2013 sequels Goro, his right-hand man, and Nakabara are all way more interesting and badass villains.
• Moral Event Horizon: Masazuka crosses this when he slaughters most of his former school, including his master, to try and get their sacred weapons.
• Tear Jerker: Every once in a while Scott Adkins gets a chance to remind his audiences he can do more than apply boots to behinds and both films give him a chance to show it: in Ninja he discovers that the mother who gave him up for adoption died years ago and he will never get a chance to meet and talk to her, and his subsequent breakdown is painful to watch; in Shadow of a Tear he has another silent breakdown after learning of Namiko's death, and his grief comes through nothing but facial expression and on choked out word ("Everything" when a cop asks him if anything is missing from his apartment).
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Masazuka's breakdown as he's expelled from the dojo gives us a glimpse of a more complex, pitiful - if not exactly sympathetic - character in the vein of Tai Lung, helped by some surprisingly fine acting from Tsuyoshi Ihara and Togo Igawa. Sadly this is never expounded upon and, the next time we see him, he's a murderous cackling madman (who's admittedly fun to watch but the wasted potential kinda stings).

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