Before getting into this review, I would like to clearly state that I’m not much of an anime fan. In the past, I’ve tried to watch a number of series and movies, but with the exception of a few of the Street Fighter releases and Afro Samurai, I haven’t found many that have grabbed my attention. On the other hand, I am a huge Batman fan, enjoying a number of the stand-alone releases that have taken him out of his element or showcased some of the more intriguing villains.

The film begins in present day Arkham Asylum, where Gorilla Grodd is attempting to use a device to transport himself into the past to create a gorilla army to change history. Needless to say, Batman intervenes and causes things to not go as planned, resulting in Batman, Grodd, and a number of other inmates being transported to ancient Japan. After 2 years have passed, the rogues have each taken over huge chunks of Japan and the ruling the cities, with the Joker trying to unite them under one single banner.

There is a decent amount of variety in the enemies shown, with many fan favorites making appearances including Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, Two-Face, and the Penguin, as well as some lesser known antagonists such as Grodd and Deathstroke. Batman is not alone, as 2 Robins (?????), Red Hood, Alfred, and Nightwing have somehow been transported as well. While the story explains how the additional caped sidekicks were transported, I missed the explanation of why there were 2 Robins, and they never explain why Alfred is present.

The film lost me around the midpoint, where the enemies miraculously cause their respective areas to transform into giant, walking structures of death. This made the film feel more akin to Voltron or The Power Rangers than an old school Japanese feel the film is emulating. I’m not sure if this just a staple of anime or poor design choice, but overall I found it to be a bit dumb, despite the story revolving around a talking gorilla and a guy who dresses up as a bat to stomp people’s face in.

The character design is fairly decent, meshing old school Japanese armor and designs with the characters’ normal costumes making it easy to determine who is who despite having a total makeover. While some of the characters look a bit stupid, Robin #1 with his emo mohawk and Nightwing with his equally emo grey hair, my biggest complaint are the women. While I love me some busty ladies, each and every one of the female rogues looks like they are about to fall over due to their chests reaching comically large proportions.

While still images from the film look simply amazing, the animation appears to be very rough and most of the motion appears to be jerky, which often took me out of the immersion. Additionally, around the midpoint of the film, the art style changes completely for around 15 minutes and takes on a much more stylized, simpler design. The scene ends on a satisfyingly creepy high note that the design fits well, but it is a jarring change. The film is also dubbed, so the lips will be out of sync throughout the film; if you’re like me, this will likely annoy you just as much, if not more, than the jerky animation.

Growing up watching Batman: The Animated Series (my first big experience with Batman), Kevin Conroy will always be Batman to me. While he is not included in the voice cast, Roger Craig Smith does a commendable job bringing the same tone to the character. The film does include a number of past voice actors returning to voice their respective characters, such as Tara Strong (Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy) and Will Friedle (Red Hood) which do their characters justice. I found Tony Hale’s Joker to be the weak link – his portrayal of the character is way too over the top. In my opinion, having Mark Hamill or Troy Baker return to the character would have brought much more substance.

If you’re an anime fan, you will probably find something to enjoy in the title, or at least find it to be a good jumping off point into the world of the caped crusader. If you’re like me and never really found anime to be your thing, you should probably pass on Batman Ninja.

4 out of 10

Pros

• Decent Voice Cast
• Beautiful Design
• Impressive Amount of Characters

Cons

• Jerky Animation
• Huge Plot Holes
• The Joker

Batman Ninja was written by Kazuki Nakashima and directed by Junpei Mizusaki. It was released digitally on April 24th, 2018. The film was not provided to us for viewing.

 

Here at GBG we use a rating method that you are more than likely familiar with – a scale of 1 to 10. For clarification, we intend on using the entire scale: 1-4 is something you should probably avoid paying for; 5-7 is something that is worth your time, but probably not at full price; 8-10 is a great movie that you can feel confident about paying money to see in theaters or at home. If you have any questions or comments about how we rate movies, please let us know.

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