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Batman Ninja Blu-ray Review

“Batman Ninja” is a wild and inventive anime film.

“Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this blog post. The opinions I share are my own.”

After Batman tries to stop Gorilla Grodd from using the quake engine (a time displacement device) at Arkham Asylum, Batman finds himself transported to ancient Japan. He soon discovers that he is not alone, however, as everyone around Arkham has also been transported there. Stranger still, Batman seems to have arrived 2 years later than everyone else. He finds that The Joker and Harley Quinn, The Penguin, Poison ivy, Deathstroke and Two-Face have already begun to take over Japanese territories and that Gorilla Grodd is crafting his own fiendish plan. Batman knows that he has to stop the criminals, fix the timeline, and return to his own time, but he needs help. Luckily, some of his trusted allies (won’t spoil who) are around and can aid him in his quest.

After countless DC Animated Batman films, it’s nice to see something different with the Elseworlds esque “Batman Ninja” anime film (a Japanese and WB co-production). If you’re familiar with anime and Japanese entertainment in general, you’ll see that everything from mechs and samurai to steampunk and giant monsters have been mixed into the story here. The result is a weird, over-the-top, creative, and energetic mixture of eastern and western animation and storytelling. The Batman universe really does blend into the anime world exceedingly well and I could see this becoming a franchise of its own down the line.

Going back to the animation, it really is the MVP here. However one may feel about the sometimes bonkers story, there’s no doubt that this film is a true visual feast. There’s so much style and artistry on display here whether it’s during the action fueled set pieces or the watercolor painting sequence with an apparently amnesiac The Joker and Harley Quinn . It’s clear that everyone who worked on this project from director Junpei Mizusaki on down had a blast doing so as they went all out in creating a unique and fully realized world.

Video/Audio:

Presentation: 1.78:1 1080p. How does it look? The animation work is flat-out stunning in hi-def.

Audio Tracks: 5.1 DTS-HD MA and Original Japanese Audio. How do they sound? The English track is decent, but I actually prefer the Japanese audio track here.

Extras: * DVD copy * Digital copy *Warner/DC trailers * “NY Comic Con Presents: Batman Ninja”- Gary Miereanu hosts this Q&A panel Kazuki Nakashima, Takashima Okazaki, Junpei Miszusaki, Leo Chu, and Eric Garcia * “East/West Batman”- A featurette on this unique take on Batman. * “Batman: Made In Japan”- An extra about the anime animation.

Overall Thoughts: “Batman Ninja” is well worth checking out when it is released on home video formats 5/8/2018.

May 2, 2018 - Posted by nicklyons1 | Blu-Ray review | Batman, Batman Animated Film, Batman Anime, Batman Ninja Blu-ray Review, DC Comics, Gorilla Grodd, Harley Quinn, The Joker, The Penguin, Two-Face