Inside Part-Time Ninja

Andrew, a seemingly ordinary man, works at iBerries. Little does anyone know he lives a secret double life. At night, he conquers the injustices of Palos Verdes in “Part Time Ninja.”

The show, a locally produced mini-series, is an action-comedy about a character named Andrew and his daily struggles. Andrew finds it hard to adjust to the real world because of his conflicting ninja instincts.

Senior Ryan Watanabe, the series’ writer and executive producer, made short comedy videos for his YouTube channel and wrote the script for a ten-episode web series during the summer between his underclassman years.

“I came up with an idea of a guy that works at Starbucks during the day and became a ninja at night,” Watanabe said. “I’ve written 40 to 50 drafts of it. I decided I could take this idea and add certain aspects, like romance, and make it much bigger.

“The theme is to accept who you are, to learn to adapt to new situations and that it is possible to get through struggles. Even if you come from a different world, society will learn to accept you.”

Another member of the video production team is senior Christian Falstrup, the director and editor.

With over 60 students and graduates involved, Falstrup and Watanabe are making “Part Time Ninja” mainly to bring people together.

“It connects us as a school,” Watanabe said. “It creates friendships between the people involved that never knew each other before.”

Senior Shogo Komiyama, one of these students, plays the main protagonist.

“There have been many speed bumps and conflicts in the filming production,” Komiyama said. “But we have powered through any complication and the results should be above and beyond.”

According to Falstrup, time constraint was the main difficulty. Filming days had to be pushed back because of conflicting schedules. Another complication the team experienced during filming was its lack of technology and equipment.

“Independently, it shows that we can work and be creative on our own,” Falstrup said. “Despite our lack of resources, we can still make something as big as this happen.”

Watanabe began production in March 2011 and rebooted filming in June 2012.

“I’m ecstatic to see the release,” Komiyama said. “We have put in so much time and hard work, and I hope viewers will enjoy it.”

The web series is set to release on YouTube in early 2013. There will be a premiere hosted at iBerries.