TMNT: The Last Ronin gets a visually stunning fan animation

TMNT: The Last Ronin #4 variant cover excerpt
(Image credit: IDW Publishing)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin follows Michelangelo, the last living member of the four brothers who make up the mutant teen team, as he embarks on a violent mission of revenge from which there is seemingly no return.

The Last Ronin is the darkest TMNT story in some time (and was well-received by fans and critics alike), meaning that despite its acclaim it probably won't be influencing any new shows or movies from Nickelodeon anytime soon. 

But that's not stopping Swedish fan animation YouTube channel Speedokaggen from producing their own CGI animated adaptation of TMNT: The Last Ronin - at least a version that can be told in around 5 minutes.

Here's the intricately animated short, which has an ending that is somehow even more bleak than the actual plot of TMNT: The Last Ronin:

The comic book version of TMNT: The Last Ronin goes on a bit longer and involves the final legacy of the Turtles, Shredder, Casey Jones, and more all colliding in a story originally envisioned by Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird way back in the original TMNT heyday of the late '80s and early '90s.

The story lay dormant for decades, till finally coming together under Eastman and Laird's guidance with writer Tom Waltz and artists Esau and Isaac Escorza, Ben Bishop, Ronda Pattison, and Samuel Plata working off Eastman's outlines and layouts to tell the full tale.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin just concluded in April, and unlike the finale of the incredibly well-rendered short animated fan film from Speedokaggen, it offers some hope of what may come for those who made it through the whole story.

Have you read TMNT: The Last Ronin? Then consider catching up on the best Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles stories ever.

George Marston

I've been Newsarama's resident Marvel Comics expert and general comic book historian since 2011. I've also been the on-site reporter at most major comic conventions such as Comic-Con International: San Diego, New York Comic Con, and C2E2. Outside of comic journalism, I am the artist of many weird pictures, and the guitarist of many heavy riffs. (They/Them)