Batman Ninja

Dir: Junpei Mizusaki

2018

****

DC animation is hit and miss. For years the films were a bit samey, perfectly watchable but only now and again would a truly great animation come along. The direct adaptations are generally disappointing (The Killing Joke being the best example) and while I’ve been wanting to see more Elseworld-type adaptions, they haven’t been amazing either, with 2018’s Gotham by Gaslight being just okay after years of anticipation. Batman however, is still the studios best asset. The two ‘Return of the Caped Crusader’ animations featuring the voices of Adam West, Burt Ward and Julie Newmar were a brilliant nostalgic move by the studio but they really needed something a bit new and a bit different. Enter Batman Ninja. What a fantastic idea. It is the first time in many years where DC has clearly understood its fans and has given them something they really want. When you go to comic conventions these days they are full of people in cross-cosplay. If I see another ‘steampunk’ version of any comic character I think I’ll scream but an ancient Japanese version of Batman and his enemies is an idea I am all over. Takashi Okazaki, the creator of Afro Samurai, is the character designer for the film and DC did well to hire him. The original script by Kazuki Nakashima was largely re-written but I think it works. The silly idea of time travel (to ancient Japan) can be totally forgiven when each character is styled after those of historical Japanese characters, namely the feudal lords ('daimyo') whose province they are said to have taken over in this time (somewhere between 1185-1603 but probably more like the 1500s). Joker takes the form of Oda Nobunaga, Gorilla Grodd is Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Penguin is Takeda Shingen, Poison Ivy is a female Uesugi Kenshin, Deathstroke is Date Masamune - well known for having an eye-patch and Two-Face is a blend of famous characters. Bane turns up for a bit too as a modified sumo-wrestler. The characters are a perfect blend of the real lords and the DC villains and they look amazing. The script is also incredibly true to Chinese text on warfare (which influenced surrounding countries such as Japan). At one point Penguin yells "wind - forest - fire - bird", which is a twist on Takeda Shingen's personal motto "wind - forest - fire - mountain"). A reference to the Chinese text: "Be as swift as the wind, silent as the forest, fierce as fire, and as immovable as a mountain". It is anime, it’s all things Japan and all things Batman, everything a young nerd could ever want. The animation and certain ideas cross many types of Japanese culture and cults too, which was a lovely touch, even if the whole giant robot thing was baffling. It all begins in the present day. While battling Gorilla Grodd at Arkham Asylum, Batman is caught in Grodd's Quake Engine time displacement machine and sent to Feudal Japan. There, he is chased by samurai working for the Joker. During his escape, Batman meets up with Catwoman, who reveals everyone else arrived two years earlier (due to Batman being in the outermost area affected by the Quake Engine and being sucked in minutes after everyone else). He learns from her that all of Gotham City's top criminals have become feudal lords after deceiving the Sengoku daimyō, battling each other until only one state remains. In order to stop the villains from changing history, Batman and Catwoman must get to the Quake Engine in Arkham Castle (formerly the asylum). Batman discovers that Alfred Pennyworth is also in the past having been in the displacement area in the Batmobile and has built a Batcave outside Edo. When the Joker's troops ambush the hideout, Batman storms his way in his Batmobile towards Arkham Castle, which transforms into a giant robot fortress. Just as Batman confronts the Joker, he is forced to leave and save a mother and child below from being crushed by the robot's hand. He transforms his Batcycle into an armored suit to defeat a sumo Bane and stop the robot hand, only for the mother to reveal herself as Harley Quinn and knock him down. As Batman is surrounded by the Joker's minions, he is suddenly whisked away by ninjas led by Eian of the Bat Clan of Hida. He learns that the Bat Clan helped Nightwing, Red Hood, Robin, and Red Robin upon their arrival, and that the clan had followed a prophecy of a foreign bat ninja restoring order to the land. Robin gives Batman an invitation from Grodd to a nearby hot spring. There, Grodd explains that he intended to send the villains far away so he could take Gotham for himself, but Batman's interference sent them all to Feudal Japan instead. Batman and Grodd agree to work together to return to Gotham. Batman, Grodd, Catwoman, the Bat Family, and the Bat Clan battle the Joker and his forces by the river. They defeat the Joker and Harley, but Grodd turns on Batman, revealing his alliance with Two-Face before the Joker and Harley escape and blow up their own ship, taking Batman down with it. Having captured a power converter from Harley, Catwoman attempts to bargain with Grodd in bringing her back to Gotham; however, they need to obtain other power converters from Penguin, Poison Ivy and Deathstroke to complete the Quake Engine. Two days later, Batman recovers from his wounds and encourages the Bat Family to learn the ways of the ninja in order to defeat Grodd. Red Hood locates the Joker and Harley, but Batman discovers that they lost their memories from the explosion and are living their lives as farmers. A month later, the Gotham villains mobilize their castle robots for battle at Jigokukohara, the field of Hell. Batman leads the Bat Family and the Bat Clan into the battlefield. After defeating the other villains, Grodd puts them under his mind control, with the intent of ruling the country himself. The Joker and Harley, however, crash his party from above, reclaiming their castle from Grodd. The Bat Family saves Catwoman and Grodd before the Joker merges all of the castles into the super robot Lord Joker. An injured Grodd gives Batman control of his army of monkeys; Robin enables them to merge into one giant samurai monkey to battle the Joker's robot. The samurai monkey then combines with a swarm of bats to form the Batgod (basically a giant old-school Batman) to defeat Lord Joker before the Bat Family storm into the castle to battle the villains. The Joker reveals to Batman that as farmers, he and Harley planted special flowers that triggered their memories back once they bloomed. As the castle falls, Batman and the Joker engage in a sword fight. Using his ninjutsu skills, Batman defeats the Joker. With the Joker and the Gotham villains defeated, Feudal Japan is restored to its original state and the Bat Family take the villains back to the present day. In a mid-credits sequence, Catwoman sells weapons and furniture from the castle robots to an antique shop while Bruce rides a horse-driven Batmobile to a party hosted by the mayor – butting the Joker’s car out of the way as he goes. There is a lot of take in and you can’t take your eyes away for any length of time but for the first time in a very long time with a DC animation, I was captivated from beginning to end. This is exactly what animated adaptions should be doing and for the first time in a long time Marvel should take notes from what DC are doing. It opens up a whole new universe for Batman and even though there are probably enough already, it is the more creative they’ve produced in a long time. It’ll sell many toys I bet but good luck to them, they’ve done well. I’m a big Batman fan and I love ancient Japanese art and culture, so I was thrilled from beginning to end and glad to see DC animations pushing the creative boundaries.