It's been a few weeks since Batman Ninja was released! The digital version was available on April 24, but I held out for the Blu-Ray on May 8. I watched it as soon as I purchased it and had tons of thoughts. Overall, I really enjoyed it for what it was, a crossover of Batman and anime. I've been seeing a lot of mixed reviews on Twitter with a lot of people talking about how they absolutely hate it and think it's the worst Batman animated movie ever. If you're considering watching this movie, just understand that it's not for everyone. The style is very unique and, if your'e not a fan of anime, you may not appreciate all the references. I grew up with some anime and even I saw many things that I couldn't fully appreciate. If you can get past that this isn't your typical Batman art style or storyline, you can definitely enjoy it, which several of my friends and I did.
The following goes into more detail on my opinion and reaction to the movie. It contains plenty of spoilers so read on at your own risk if you have not seen it yet!
***SPOILERS AHEAD***
I had so many reactions to this movie that I had to jot down all my thoughts immediately after so I wouldn't forget anything for this blog post.
To start, the plot is based on time travel (and spacial travel in this case), which is how all your favorite Batman characters end up in Feudal Japan. Right off the bat (no pun intended), I'm already hesitant because any storylines that have to do with time travel and magic have never truly appealed to me including the recent Avengers: Infinity War story line. I always think time travel and magic are cop outs and can leave stories with so many plot holes. Maybe that's why I'm drawn to a superhero like Batman or maybe it's the other way around where I lean toward non-magical stories because I already love Batman so much. Despite the premise of the story, I thought it was fun. It's actually ridiculously and purposely over the top so you really do just have to sit back and enjoy the ride.
There were so many Japanese and anime references that there was no way I could catch them all, but I'll describe what I can! If you're a big fan of anime, you will absolutely appreciate the art style. Toward the end of the movie, there's a huge fight scene (go figure) where Batman and the 4 Robins (Nightwing, Red Hood, Red Robin, Robin) are running into battle. I really half expected them to start running like the characters from Naruto with their arms behind them. 😂
Also in the final battle scene, all the villains are controlling giant robots, which is a very prominent anime genre. Their robots combine to make an even bigger robot. Sound familiar? Think Power Rangers and Voltron. It was pretty obvious the design of the villains' combined robot was inspired by the design of Voltron. I thoroughly appreciated that bit.
So at this point, if you're not familiar with anime, you're probably thinking this all sounds crazy. After all, GIANT. ROBOTS. BUT it gets crazier... or better. Both. We'll say both. To combat the bigger robot, Batman's side of the fight ends up with a GIANT BATMAN made out of, get this, ACTUAL BATS AND AN ARMY OF MONKEYS. You can't make this shit up, people. Japanese people are amazing. 😂 It's so extra and I am here for all of it. You really have to watch to see how the bats and monkeys get together. I can't give away ALL the fun stuff.
Wait, there's more. At one point, Batman needs to get to the head of the villains' robot and ends up making an entrance via a colony of bats (low key, I had to Google what a group of bats was called because I forgot). Picture this colony of bats flying very closely together into a room and then dispersing only to reveal Batman right where they just were. Okay, my initial reaction to this was "WHY DOESN'T BATMAN TRAVEL BY BATS ALL THE TIME?" That's just a great party trick.
With regards to Batman as a character in this movie, to be honest, I thought he was a little soft. He was too quick to forgive Gorilla Grodd and Catwoman. Actually, I think Batman in any other storyline wouldn't have let Grodd get the better of him in the first place and he wouldn't have cared to include Catwoman as much as he did. I still ship Bat and Cat, though. Forever. Any place, any era. Also, this Batman wore the bat symbol too freely outside of his costume. I get they were trying to provide additional nods to the character, but it was out of character (i.e. SUPER NOT STEALTHY) and a bit unnecessary. Luckily, at this point, I've already realized how far removed this storyline is from everything I know about Batman that I really just have to let it slide.
As far as art style goes, I really loved all the character designs. Nightwing, Red Robin, Eian (leader of the Bat Clan), and the Bat Clan ninjas were my favorite designs! Nightwing had that quintessential Dragonball Z hair. I adored it. These character designs give me a cosplay itch. I would love to dress as a Bat Clan ninja! They look so bad ass. In terms of villains, I personally thought they were all well designed especially the Joker. He was a great mix of the psychotic, insane Joker that we all are familiar with, but with this amazing Japanese inspiration that I warmed up to surprisingly quickly.
Deathstroke was hot, I loved that they made Bane a sumo wrestler 🤣, Poison Ivy reminded me of Queen Beryl from Sailor Moon, which I 100% approve of. I just love that they included so many characters. On top of these characters, we also had Harley Quinn, The Penguin, Two-Face, and Alfred! I love that they somehow incorporated Alfred.
A couple of things that I didn't quite understand was Robin's hair and the basket that was meant to replace Red Hood's helmet.
After viewing some of the extra content that came with my steelbook Blu-Ray copy from Target, I learned that these elements are very specific to Japanese culture. I can't speak to the hair style as much, but the basket is a nod to Japanese buddhists!
Robin's little monkey pal was so cute! I could not stop gushing every time Monkichi was on the screen. At the end, they introduced another random monkey for no reason named Monmi. Her introduction served no real purpose for the storyline, but I don't even care. I love them both.
I did have qualms about the change in art style when Red Hood was finally introduced, when he finds Harley Quinn and the Joker on a farm. In the extra content, the creators do mention that they wanted to change up the art, but didn't go into detail into exactly why. I don't feel like it was necessary. I thought it was distracting because my eyes and my mind were trying to adjust to the new art style while still trying to follow along with the story. It also made me wonder whether or not that scene was real or even part of the same timeline. If they were to change the art style in any scene, I suppose I understand why they did it here. At the same time your mind is trying to figure out whether or not the scene is real, this part of the story also makes you wonder whether or not Harley Quinn and the Joker are lying.
Speaking of the Red Hood, his introduction happened very late in the movie and I wish they included him earlier on. I don't think there was any reason to leave him out at the beginning when you meet the rest of the Robins. It's so much fun to see all 4 of them together! I would have loved to see that throughout the entire movie. I also wish you got to see Jason's face more. He does glance out of his basket in the scene where the art style changes, but the fans demand more Jason. Always more Jason.
I saw the movie in English and intend to re-watch in Japanese with English subtitles at some point. I want to compare the English and Japanese voice acting. I don't have any strong opinions about the English voice actors at this point, but I didn't hate it! A friend of mine mentioned they were not a fan of the English Joker (Tony Hale, aka Buster from Arrested Development), but it wasn't as bad as I thought given he told me this before I watched the movie. Roger Craig Smith was fine as Batman for me. I know he voices Batman in some of the Batman Arkham games, which I don't have a lot of experience with, and I surprisingly haven't seen too much of the other animated content he voices Batman in so I'll withhold any judgment until I've seen a bit more of his Batman work.
OVERALL AND IN CONCLUSION, Batman Ninja is a dope movie. I would recommend it if you're a fan of Japanese culture, anime, Batman, and/or cute cartoon monkeys. The things I didn't like definitely didn't take away from how much fun I had watching it. Check it out if you haven't already or, if you've already seen it, let me know if you agree or disagree with my thoughts above.
And Happy Memorial Day Weekend, Bat Fam!
