DC villains aren’t recognized for the practicality of their evil schemes: laughing fish, stealing stuff by twos, abandoning a clue within the type of a riddle, issues of that nature. But it says one thing concerning the sensibility of Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League that, when confronted with the villainous plot of the primary dangerous man (which includes firing gangsters into the air with a large gun), a kidnapped Damian Wayne quips, “This is so dumb. You guys are out of your rattling minds.” You might hear “Batman combating yakuza” and suppose it feels like a badass crime drama, however this isn’t that. And it’s all the higher for it.
Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League is a gleeful tribute to American comedian e book nonsense and – that is meant with nothing however affection – silly anime tropes, much more than its 2018 predecessor, wherein the Bat-Family went again in time to feudal Japan and needed to combat a number of robotic castles fused collectively into a large Joker mech. There’s an impromptu musical quantity so one character can clarify her feelings, one hero will get a Super Sentai-esque go well with improve that’s by no means defined, and the trusty Batwing is changed with a needlessly difficult, multi-vehicle combiner factor that’s launched in a genuinely incredible 2D-animated homage to Super Robot cartoons like Voltron.
That sequence particularly often is the standout second of Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League, which revolves across the Dark Knight battling evil legal variations of his closest buddies. Presumably as a result of time-wrecking occasions of the earlier Batman Ninja film, Japan has disappeared from the Earth and reappeared floating within the sky above Gotham City. Batman wants a method to fly as much as it, so Alfred introduces… not the brand new Bat Phoenix combiner car itself, however an OVA about how cool the Bat Phoenix is. The total prolonged start-up sequence of everybody being carried to their seat by the sort of large tubes that anime followers have seen numerous instances isn’t actually taking place inside Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League. It’s simply Alfred saying “Look at this video I made.” As Damian says: It’s so dumb, however it’s additionally very enjoyable.
Nobody concerned on this undertaking appears to have taken any a part of it significantly significantly, however they do play it as straight as they’d if this had been a extra regular Batman story – which makes it all of the extra entertaining. It’s a film that begins with the Gotham police pressure combating off a “Yakuza Hurricane” (suppose Sharknado, however with gangsters), and everybody acts like that’s a standard factor. Batman Ninja takes some time to get goofy, leaving its meant tone a bit unclear. Its sequel doesn’t trouble checking to see if you happen to’re in on the joke. You both are otherwise you aren’t, and if you’re, you’re in for fairly a experience.
Comedy apart, that is additionally an motion film, and a reasonably good one at that. Granted, Batman or the Bat-Family combating the Justice League is a factor we’ve seen many, many instances now, however there’s some added depth right here because of the truth that the Yakuza League isn’t essentially evil. Batman doesn’t need to kill and even imprison them, he needs to try to save their souls, which ties in with the film’s repeated references to “ninkyō,” or the supposed code of honor amongst yakuza.
The character designs aren’t fairly as dramatic because the samurai armor and katanas of Batman Ninja (a present-day setting will try this), however the eponymous Yakuza League members all pull from a barely completely different aesthetic, and so they’re all nice. The yakuza Superman wears formal blue robes and has a pink coat over his shoulders (to reflect his cape, after all), and he completes the look with huge aviator sun shades to make it clear that he’s a gangster. It could also be among the finest “evil Superman” appears ever. Going with the Jessica Cruz model of Green Lantern relatively than the higher recognized Hal Jordan or John Stewart opens up some attention-grabbing costuming avenues, too. She wears layers of inexperienced robes with some sort of maniacal-looking teddy bear strapped to her again, however the standout characteristic is her hair, which is held up with pins that appear to be the Green Lantern emblem and had been clearly conjured by her energy ring. It’s a considerate design that takes her powers and character under consideration.
If there’s one thing adverse to say about Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League, it’s that it doesn’t have an entire lot to supply past the face-off promised within the title. It’s junk meals, like quite a lot of superhero stuff and quite a lot of anime, however it’s scrumptious and tooth-meltingly candy so far as junk meals goes. And at a time when well-liked tradition is dominated by superheroes, ideas like this one are considerably uncommon. The viewers for a film with Batman in it’s so huge {that a} much less severe outing like this runs the chance of alienating viewers who anticipate one thing huge and necessary from the Caped Crusader. It’s a constructive signal that there’s nonetheless house for foolish enjoyable on this fictional universe.
Case in level: This film doesn’t even actually care about Batman Ninja canon. The beforehand defeated Joker naturally seems in Yakuza League, however it’s simply to assist get Batman out of a scrape to allow them to sometime combat one another once more later. Batman’s response? “That’s dumb.” Everything’s a bit dumb on this film, however Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League is about how a lot enjoyable it may be when all the pieces is a bit dumb.
