LEGO Ninjago is an animated kids show that follows 6 ninja as they protect their home from various evil threats. Some may ask, “Wait, is that show still going on?” Yeah, it is, and it has a lot of seasons and even got a whole other series. One of the installments in the show’s history is a 45-minute special set in between the 6th and 7th seasons, called Day of the Departed. It’s essentially a Halloween special. However, this special is looked on in a rather negative light by the fanbase for what actually happens in the special, and as a fan of Ninjago, I agree that Day of the Departed is not the greatest. Since it’s around Halloween time, I’ll be taking a look at this Halloween special and explaining why it has such a poor reception.
The narrative of the special is that it’s the Day of the Departed, and the earth ninja Cole, who is a ghost, has been having some trouble with his ghost form recently, and after hearing the voice of Master Yang, the one who turned him into a ghost, he is apparently departed as all his friends walk right through him as if he’s not even there. Cole decides to pay Yang a visit at the floating Temple of Airjitzu. Trying to strike at Yang with his own weapon of the Yin blade, Cole breaks a vase, which unleashes dark magic that is able to bring the statues of some of the Ninjas greatest enemies to life, and looking for revenge. Master Yang has a different goal, however: to return to life. Now Cole has to stop Yang from achieving his goal while the rest of the Ninja fight the returning villains.
Now, one of the obvious big problems with this special is the narrative. It’s a great idea, but it really should’ve been a full-fledged season. Because the special is only 45 minutes long, the story in regards to the returning villains is incredibly rushed, with most of them being defeated in rather quick and unsatisfying ways. General Cryptor literally trips and dies. Aside from fighting the villains, all the Ninja except for Cole don’t really do that much, and some of their interactions with their respective villains aren’t really that interesting. If this were a full-on season, they could’ve done a lot more interesting things with the returning villains and their feuds with the Ninja, especially in regards to villains like Samukai and Kozu, who haven’t been seen in a long time. In fact, later in the season Crystalized, they did do the concept of bringing past villains back, and it was done better there than it was here.
As for Cole, he actually does the most in this special as his wanting for revenge against Yang is the catalyst for the events that happened in the special, and he does get a pretty cool fight scene against Yang’s students and Yang himself. He even unlocks a new power in the form of his Earth Punch. With that being said, he was done dirty in the fact that Cole’s moment in the spotlight was relegated to a special while the previous season focused heavily on Jay and the season that takes place after this focused on Kai and Nya. Cole wouldn’t have a season all to himself until Season 13. Cole also turns back into a human after he gets Yang to see the error of his ways. Yang throws Cole through the rift he opened and Cole barely makes it, giving him a ghostly green scar. While this isn’t a terrible ending to Cole’s ghost arc, it will be pretty confusing for viewers who go from the end of season 6 to the beginning of season 7, where Cole is suddenly human again. Overall, Cole was great in this special, but this really should’ve been his season.
As for the special’s main antagonist of Master Yang, his motivations both make sense and don’t make sense at the same time. Yang wants to return to the land of the living because he doesn’t want to be forgotten… except people already remember him because he created the technique of Airjitzu. It’s an understandable motivation to have, but this makes Yang look like an idiot because two seasons earlier, the Ninja went to his temple so they could learn Airjitzu, which is what caused Cole to become a ghost. His temple is also a tourist sight, so it really doesn’t make sense why he would think people would forget about him. What makes this really bizarre, though, is the special actually brings attention to this, as Cole tells Yang that people will remember him because of his creation of Airjitzu, which causes Yang to put his hands to his face in embarrassment. So, while his motivations don’t really make sense as to what as been established, the fact that the special actually acknowledges this contradiction is kinda funny.
Let’s talk about the returning villains. The villains who return are Samukai, Pythor P. Chumsworth, General Kozu, General Cryptor, Master Chen, and Morro. While it is great to see these villains again, I do find some things odd in regards to the Ninja they decided to go after. Cryptor goes after Zane, which makes since as they’re both Nindroids. Morro goes after Master Wu, which again, makes sense. Pythor takes Lloyd, which I found odd at first, but does make sense as Lloyd was the one who released Pythor from his tomb, and he justifies it by saying he more or less destroyed the father, so it’s the son’s turn. Master Chen, however, gets Kai AND Nya (which Pythor rightfully asks, “How come you get two?!”). Chen also makes it appear that he’s got more beef with Nya when Kai did more to foil him, like getting Chen’s own daughter to turn against him. Which leaves Samukai to take Jay (which he doesn’t seem too thrilled about), and Kozu to take… Dareth. I mean, it does make some sense as Dareth wore the Helmet of Darkness to control the Stone Warriors at the end of season 2, and Cole is preoccupied with Yang, but I can’t help but think that it’s a little lame. It’s also weird that they didn’t even consider Cole because they went over every other Ninja and Yang didn’t tell them that he was dealing with Cole, so it just makes it seem that they forgot he existed, not that he was off the table for them.
Now, I want to talk about Pythor real quick. Out of all the villains, he feels the most out of place. His biggest problem isn’t the fact that he seemed to regress back to a villain even after he helped the Ninja stop Master Chen in Season 4. He never said that he was fully reformed; we all just assumed he was. His biggest problem is that he has nothing to gain from Yang’s plan outside of petty revenge. The rest of the villains are promised that once they defeat their respective Ninja, they’ll take their place and be alive again. Pythor, however, is still alive, so he’s just doing this for the heck of it. This adds to Pythor’s seeming regression because it just feels out of place that this is when he would decide to make his evil comeback: when a grand plan to resurrect the departed is taking place. When he fails to get rid of Lloyd, he just decides to dip, and wouldn’t be seen again for a long time. All of these factors just make this one of Pythor’s weakest appearances in the series, which is a shame because Pythor is one of my favorite villains.
Now, while I have been very negative towards Day of the Departed, there are some things that I do like about it. Morro is one of those things. He’s basically the opposite of Pythor in this special. At first, it seems like he’s just like the rest of the villains, wanting revenge. However, when Wu tells Morro that he will fight his former student again despite how much it pains him, Morro tells him that he’s not actually there for revenge. Instead, he tells Wu about what Yang’s plan is, and then they set out to tell the rest of the Ninja. As the Ninja prepare to head to Yang’s temple to help Cole, Wu thanks Morro, with Morro wishing him a happy Day of the Departed. Morro then returns to being his statue. I like this because at the end of Season 5, Morro died while seeming remorseful, so it was unclear if he had a change of heart or not. This special shows that Morro did have a change of heart, and is trying to redeem himself. This was a nice conclusion to Morro’s character as he made amends with Master Wu and then returned to the Departed Realm.
While Day of the Departed isn’t my favorite installment in the Ninjago franchise, I actually do get some enjoyment out of it. The action wasn’t too bad, Cole was very good, and it was nice to see the Ninja remember some of the people they’ve lost throughout the show, like Zane with his father, and Lloyd with Garmadon. Another good thing about this special is the LEGO sets, they were pretty cool and I also really liked the Ninja suits as they’re a nice mixture of the original Ninja suits and their ZX suits. Overall, Ninjago: Day of the Departed is a mediocre special that I still get some enjoyment out of, and that’s really all there is to it.
