- Episodes : 85 mins
- Genre : Action, Martial Arts, Samurai
- Airing Date : Apr 24, 2018
- Studios : Kamikaze Douga
Contains Spoilers
Batman Ninja begins our tale with the dark knight himself trying to stop Gorilla Grodd’s odd device before it causes any potential damage to Gotham. Unfortunately, something strange occurs with Batman and Catwoman—who appeared for unknown reasons—being sucked into a wormhole when Gorilla Grodd’s machine goes off. When Batman comes, he quickly realizes he’s no longer in his dark Gotham home but now in Feudal Japan! What’s worse is that several other villains have been sent into the portal as well and have begun to take over Japan using their skills and influences. Without his arsenal of future gadgets and tools, Batman will need to embrace the ways of the past if he wishes to avoid his nemeses from changing the past and possibly the future!
Batman Ninja is a rather ambitious anime movie. Taking DC’s most iconic dark hero and fusing it with several anime creators, Batman Ninja feels like the amalgamation of anime and comics combined. There are several things to love about Batman Ninja but for our review we just wish to focus on a few themes that really stood out to us here at Honey’s Anime. Let us dive into what we liked about Batman Ninja by first talking about why you should definitely check it out.
1. From several great anime creators
We personally love anime that combine different minds on one project to create a series or anime film that blends different styles and themes. Batman Ninja does exactly that by having Takashi Okazaki—the creator of Afro Samurai—and Gurren Lagann’s screenplay writer Kazuki Nakashima. Jumpei Mizusaki—known for the opening animation for JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure—even lends his hand as the director for Batman Ninja. This right away shows that Batman Ninja was helmed by some of the best creators and you can see that in every orifice of the animation and quality put into Batman Ninja. There are even more creators and teams behind Batman Ninja, but to say all of their names would take us a while in of itself, folks. The bottom line is that if you want an anime movie that has some of the best of the best then you can’t go wrong with Batman Ninja.
2. The Dark Knight goes anime
Many of us here at Honey’s Anime HQ are fans of all things geeky and nerdy like comic books, for example. That’s why we have always loved seeing various comic book icons being taken from their source material and made into anime format. Batman Ninja is no exception as seeing Batman in anime form alongside several iconic heroes and villains is a real treat to the eyes. There are a ton of wicked fight scenes where Batman fights against The Joker in ways comic books just couldn’t mimic. Plus, seeing some of the ladies of Batman—Poison Ivy and Catwoman—in anime form means they get a bit of that anime fan service we all known and love. Batman Ninja’s greatest strength ultimately is that its an anime movie rather than your traditional western comic book animation and that isn’t something any fan of anime or Batman, should complain about.
Unfortunately, Batman Ninja isn’t perfect, folks. There are actually several rather glaring issues with Batman Ninja that keep it from being what could be truly spectacular. These few reasons we’re listing down below are just some of the bigger flaws of Batman Ninja that we feel might lessen your experience of it. Let us now describe what might be some of the reasons you’d wish to skip Batman Ninja. Do these issues make Batman Ninja bad? No, but they certainly won’t be highlights of things to love about Batman Ninja.
1. This isn’t the Batman you know
Batman Ninja isn’t the DC Batman many of you readers know and love. While the anime style creates a unique version of our dark hero, it also might create a character that die-hard fans might not be able to get behind while watching Batman Ninja. In the early hours of the movie, Batman does utilize a lot of gadgets and moves he’s known for in the DC world but as the movie progresses, Batman loses a lot of these same gizmos and ends up relying on older weapons and skills. While this is a cool way to put the ninja in Batman, it will most likely irk a lot of fans and we can understand that. Don’t watch Batman Ninja if you hate seeing Batman in ways that go against his traditional comic book style.
2. Overly ridiculous plot and themes
Anime is always described as ridiculous and just downright bizarre at times. However, Batman Ninja accentuates this thirty-fold with some rather odd pacing and a really weird plot. There is a scene—one of many, to be honest—where mechs rise from traditional Japanese buildings, and it’s just weird and outlandish. To make matters worse, near the halfway point of Batman Ninja, things get even more crazed when monkeys join together and literally create a giant monkey warrior. We won’t spoil what happens when bats come along and join in on the fusion, but it’s enough to just say that Batman Ninja is flat out ridiculous in every sense of the word and it degrades the enjoyability of the movie to be honest. We almost couldn’t think that a series with bat heroes and villains who control penguins could be weirder but Batman Ninja does a good job of going beyond our imagination…and not in a particularly good way.
Batman Ninja isn’t a bad movie for those who love combined team projects and seeing Batman in a form never really done before. However, it is highly advised to leave your Batman fandom at the door when you go into watching Batman Ninja. As we said, this is a Batman story you’ve never seen before and that might cause those who love all things Batman to get overly agitated or just saddened that their iconic hero is now in a story that is extremely odd and bizarre. Equally though, if you love all things anime and are up for trying new things, Batman Ninja is a fun 85 minute long anime movie with some rather cool ideas and solid animation. Have you seen Batman Ninja yet or are thinking about watching it? Tell us in the comments below and for even more anime movie reviews and anime articles, be sure to keep coming back to us here at Honey’s Anime.
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