For the record, all the Japanese terms Ninjette references on this page are the names of putatively “real” ninjutsu techniques, at least according to the book Ninjutsu: History and Tradition by Masaaki Hatsumi, who credits himself on the cover as the “34th Grandmaster of the Togakure Ryu.”
Panel 1: Dang, but I’d forgotten that I occasionally used to draw Ninjette with inexplicably cat-like, slit-shaped pupils—and, in fact, do occasionally still draw her that way. Pretty sure this was just a random stylistic flourish that carried over from Dirty Pair, as my later drawings of Kei from that series sported a similar affectation. Ah, but a No-Prize-ish explanation for this phenomenon eventually arose: Later on in Empowered, we do encounter another kunoichi (female ninja) from Ninjette’s clan, and she rocks shuriken-shaped pupils, which could well imply that wearing odd contact lenses is bit of a thing with these shinobi.
Panel 2: Interesting. That chain of five shuriken across Ninjette’s top is very close to the final selection of throwing stars I would use for her costume going forward; up until roughly this point, I was slapping a random number and type of shuriken on there every time I drew the character. Only the star at far left is different from the “final draft” of her outfit, along with the order of the two stars at far right. Nowadays, whenever I draw Ninjette, I automatically rattle off the same fixed set of five shuriken every time.
Panel 3: Also, a very different shuriken on Ninjette’s shorts, here, than is currently the case for how I draw her. In fact, this particular three-pronged throwing star is of a type that I have no recollection of ever drawing again, as I must have been working from some very specific piece of photoreference that I no longer use. Mysterious!
Panel 4: Dang, but that block type spelling out NINJETTE across the seat of her shorts really, really sucks. Can hardly believe that I didn’t get around to changing the font to something less godawful until Empowered vol. 7, but that is indeed the case. Hey, your taste in “butt-logo” fonts kinda sucks, 2006-ish Me.
-Adam Warren
