#6: Season 9: Hunted Very climactic story that wrapped up what happened in the previous arc extremely satisfyingly, even if it had some stupid aspects (basically the “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” of Ninjago). And that finale? One of the most satisfying for sure. The Hunters were more interesting villains than the Sons of Garmadon (even if that’s not really saying much), and the ending fixed the plot hole of where Lloyd got his green energy powers after season 3 (looks like they’re the “purified” version of Garmadon’s dark powers, inherited from him). Easily my favorite of the post-movie seasons so far.
#5: Season 3: Rebooted What this season did right, it did really well. I loved the futuristic vibe, and the story was good, minus the multiple romantic filler subplots. All that screen time with the love triangle could been spent developing Zane’s existential conflict in light of the Nindroid Army’s creation. I also didn’t like that my favorite ninja got the shortest season to be the main character, but oh well, at least he got one. The ending was even more satisfying than Hunter’s (as long as the Overlord doesn’t come back).
#4: Season 5: Possession Just a great story all around. Morro’s motivation made perfect sense, and I love how the season‘s lore mirrored season 4 by focusing on Wu’s past, while season 4 had focused on Garmadon’s during the same time period. This would probably be my second or third favorite season, had it not been for the retcons that caused plot holes. Why didn’t Wu tell Nya about her powers, I don’t know, maybe right after the Pilot episodes?! Did he not know for sure that she’d inherited the water powers yet? How did he even find out then?
#3: Season 4: The Tournament of Elements Yuh, everyone knows why this season is awesome. The only season that ended with a giant battle between two armies, for one thing (season 7 was just a handful of the Elemental Masters fighting the Vermillion). I wish Chope and Kapau had appeared among the ghosts in season 5, because those two were actually funny, and relatable.
#2: Season 2: Rise of the Final Battle of the Ultimate Spinjitzu Master Green Ninja— Whatever this season was called, it was great. There’s a common misconception that the first half was filler, but the only episode that didn’t contribute to the plot at all was Double Trouble, and even that was a fun episode.
There were some questionable writing choices in this season, like the Serpentine generals becoming dumb despite originally being characterized as menacing masterminds (especially Skales and Acidicus), how the destruction of the Ultra Weapon was handled, the Overlord basically just being Pilot Garmadon, and the Misako retcon. (What kept her from at least writing to her son all those years?)
I would’ve ranked seasons 3, 4, and 5 higher than season 2 because of these things, but Lloyd’s character development, how Garmadon was written, the simultaneous hype introduction of the Stone Army / satisfying and subversive way the Serpentine were defeated, the Golden Ninja, the Zane arc, the much-needed lore additions, and the overall story balanced out the flaws.
#1: Season 1: Rise of the Snakes Nope, not nostalgia. Even watching it back to back with newer seasons, season 1 is still the best in my opinion. The story, the character development for every single one of the ninja (well, every ninja at the time) in only 13 episodes, the perfect balance between comedic and serious scenes (season 2 had this as well), the Serpentine absolutely having the most understandable motivation out of the collective villain armies... just excellent. No other season of Ninjago has captured the charm of season 1, other than season 2 (and season 3, if you edit the episodes to remove the love triangle). Season one will always be my #1 (though seasons 2-5 all come close, for sure).
#3: Season 4: The Tournament of Elements Yuh, everyone knows why this season is awesome. The only season that ended with a giant battle between two armies, for one thing (season 7 was just a handful of the Elemental Masters fighting the Vermillion). I wish Chope and Kapau had appeared among the ghosts in season 5, because those two were actually funny, and relatable.
#2: Season 2: Rise of the Final Battle of the Ultimate Spinjitzu Master Green Ninja— Whatever this season was called, it was great. There’s a common misconception that the first half was filler, but the only episode that didn’t contribute to the plot at all was Double Trouble, and even that was a fun episode.
There were some questionable writing choices in this season, like the Serpentine generals becoming dumb despite originally being characterized as menacing masterminds (especially Skales and Acidicus), how the destruction of the Ultra Weapon was handled, the Overlord basically just being Pilot Garmadon, and the Misako retcon. (What kept her from at least writing to her son all those years?)
I would’ve ranked seasons 3, 4, and 5 higher than season 2 because of these things, but Lloyd’s character development, how Garmadon was written, the simultaneous hype introduction of the Stone Army / satisfying and subversive way the Serpentine were defeated, the Golden Ninja, the Zane arc, the much-needed lore additions, and the overall story balanced out the flaws.
#1: Season 1: Rise of the Snakes Nope, not nostalgia. Even watching it back to back with newer seasons, season 1 is still the best in my opinion. The story, the character development for every single one of the ninja (well, every ninja at the time) in only 13 episodes, the perfect balance between comedic and serious scenes (season 2 had this as well), the Serpentine absolutely having the most understandable motivation out of the collective villain armies... just excellent. No other season of Ninjago has captured the charm of season 1, other than season 2 (and season 3, if you edit the episodes to remove the love triangle). Season one will always be my #1 (though seasons 2-5 all come close, for sure).
Nice! Good choices. I really think season two is underrated, tbh.
#3: Season 4: The Tournament of Elements Yuh, everyone knows why this season is awesome. The only season that ended with a giant battle between two armies, for one thing (season 7 was just a handful of the Elemental Masters fighting the Vermillion). I wish Chope and Kapau had appeared among the ghosts in season 5, because those two were actually funny, and relatable.
#2: Season 2: Rise of the Final Battle of the Ultimate Spinjitzu Master Green Ninja— Whatever this season was called, it was great. There’s a common misconception that the first half was filler, but the only episode that didn’t contribute to the plot at all was Double Trouble, and even that was a fun episode.
There were some questionable writing choices in this season, like the Serpentine generals becoming dumb despite originally being characterized as menacing masterminds (especially Skales and Acidicus), how the destruction of the Ultra Weapon was handled, the Overlord basically just being Pilot Garmadon, and the Misako retcon. (What kept her from at least writing to her son all those years?)
I would’ve ranked seasons 3, 4, and 5 higher than season 2 because of these things, but Lloyd’s character development, how Garmadon was written, the simultaneous hype introduction of the Stone Army / satisfying and subversive way the Serpentine were defeated, the Golden Ninja, the Zane arc, the much-needed lore additions, and the overall story balanced out the flaws.
#1: Season 1: Rise of the Snakes Nope, not nostalgia. Even watching it back to back with newer seasons, season 1 is still the best in my opinion. The story, the character development for every single one of the ninja (well, every ninja at the time) in only 13 episodes, the perfect balance between comedic and serious scenes (season 2 had this as well), the Serpentine absolutely having the most understandable motivation out of the collective villain armies... just excellent. No other season of Ninjago has captured the charm of season 1, other than season 2 (and season 3, if you edit the episodes to remove the love triangle). Season one will always be my #1 (though seasons 2-5 all come close, for sure).
Nice! Good choices. I really think season two is underrated, tbh.
Same. I think a lot of people don't like it because of the "filler episodes", but they weren't really filler.
