When people think of animated Batman films the one film that people don't think about is Batman's first ever anime film Batman Ninja. Yet the sequel to that film has just been released to very little to no fanfare which is to be expected as these animated direct to DVD Batman movies don't get talked about all that much but when even the people who love anime don't talk about this film then it makes it feel all the more special as it's like you've discovered something for the first time and so then join me as I review the film that alot of people most likely forgot was even a thing in the first place with the film in question being called simply just "Batman Ninja Vs. Yakuza League" enjoy.
The plot of this film is one day after the events of the previous Batman and Robin discover that Japan is missing and hidden in time and so have to travel to a hidden in time Japan where they have to stop a mostly evil version of the Justice League and restore Japan to it's proper place in time. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad as it's aa plot that fully embraces the fact that it's a comic book movie and just has fun with that fact and while the plot of the first Batman anime film wasn't that serious either in this film it felt like it was kicked up a notch and because of that this films plot is a really fun plot to see play out in this film but at the same time tho this kind of plot isn't one that works best with the Batman character as when you think of Batman you think of him having to solve a crime and not him trying to restore a country to it's proper place in time as that feels more like a Superman plot and with the new Superman movie coming out this year it would have made sense for the plot of this film to revolve around him and not around Batman as it's plot that does feel a bit to far fetched for this character but would be perfect for a character like Superman or even any Green Lantern for that matter with the plot of this film also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this film is Joe Daniels as Bruce Wayne / Batman and Aaron Campbell as Clark Kent / Kal-El / Superman. Also starring in this film is Annie Wild as Jessica Cruz / Green Lantern , Benjamin McLaughlin as Barry Allen / The Flash , Bryson Baugus as Damian Wayne / Robin , Cyrus Rodas as Arthur Currey / Aquaman , David Harbold as Alfred , David Matranga as Jason Todd / Red Hood , Houston Hayes as Dick Grayson / Nightwing , John Swasey as Ra's Al Ghul and Yakuza , Karlii Hoch as Harley Quinn , Molly Searcy as Diana Prince / Princess Diana / Wonder Woman , Nathan Wilson as Tim Drake / Red Robin , Scott Gibbs as Joker , Andrew Love as Ubu and John Gremillion as Commissioner Gordon.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. As all off this films actors do turn in some really good performances in this film which was shocking as alot of them are a bunch of really unknown voice actors and as a result of that is the fact that it would have been very unwise to expect good performances from any of them in this film and yet that's exactly what they give us with a special shoutout going to Joe Daniels as Bruce Wayne / Batman as he does make for a pretty good Batman with him putting on a pretty good Batman voice with him even managing to turn in a good performance as the character but with that said Karlii Hoch as Harley Quinn just doesn't work at all not due to how the character is written or acted but rather because of the fact that the previous film had regular Harley Quinn voice actor Tara Strong play her and to recast her in this movie just feels like a complete and total downgrade which is not a knock on the actor playing her in this film it's just that Tara Strong is one of the best voice actresses going and so of course anyone who plays Harley in this movie is going to always be compared to her with the acting that's in this film really being helped by the fact that this film script is just so good that all this films actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.
Doing the animation for this film is the legends and the greats that are currently over at Kamikaze Douga. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad but at the same time tho this films animation wasn't all that good either as while it does have all of the detail that sets anime apart from western animation it also lacks that extra special something that sets anime apart from western animation as while this films animation isn't bad any stretch of the imagination it's also something that could have been done alot better if they just stuck to either doing it fully 3D CGI like what they did in the Godzilla anime films or if they just stuck to doing traditional 2D hand drawn animation as this film looks like that it's trying to do both as there are scenes that do look 3D but then they have 2D explosions happen in the exact same scene and it creates this disconnect between us the audience and the film as there two styles of animation that just don't go well together and while both styles of animation work well enough on there own combing the two is something that doesn't work and if you want an example of good animation in a DC anime then you need look no further then Suicide Squad Isekai which went with the fully 2D style and just with it and while the show has it's own set problems it's animation certainly wasn't one of them.
What does make this film feel alot more fun is the fact that it does get to show us some different designs for members of the Justice League. Alot of which do fit there character really well with Aquaman , The Flash , Green Lantern and Superman all wearing Kimono's that are colored after there main hero colors and Wonder Woman wearing something that does look like a Kimono as well but not emblazoned with Red , Gold and Blue with instead being brown with small bits of white at the top and bottom but the biggest and most fitting costume change goes to Harley Quinn who in this film wears a traditional Japanese school girl outfit which is just so out there and so wild that it perfectly fits her character as it's something that her character would indeed wear just for the fun it with all of the heroes looking good in there villainous outfits but at the same time tho the film really doesn't all that much with them as the villains and a result of that is the fact that it feels like that the members of the Justice League were only turned evil just for marketing purposes as them being evil has very little effect on the plot of the film and instead felt more like an after thought alot of the time when something that's this cool and this interesting should have been the main focus of the film and not something that the film doesn't nothing cool or interesting with in the first place as the whole idea of them being turned evil would have been more then enough to carry the whole film but for some strange reason the makers of this film wanted to include Ra's Al Ghul as the films main villain which while that is good to see him getting some love from Warner Bros it makes the whole idea of the Justice League being turned evil alot less interesting or impactful either.
While this film does have some bad things for it it also alot of really good things that are going for it as well. Like the fact that this film does actually have alot more humor in it which does make the film feel very tongue in cheek with one of the films best jokes being the fact that when Alfred is showing the Batfamily and Batman how to fly this new plane that he's built for them he does so by showing an anime inspired how do training video complete with seventies or eighties inspired animation and song which gives the whole video the look of it being from a mecha anime with it even coming complete with it's title card which was just so funny so much so that I had to rewind the film just to watch that entire segment over again and then they bring it back in it's own unique way by having Diana be in a romance style anime opening this time taking inspiration from either the nineties or early two thousands romance anime only for them to then turn it on it's head by giving Harley the microphone to sing the rest of the rest of the theme song which granted wasn't as funny as that Batman training video joke but it was something that does show you that the makers of this film knew that they were making a comic book movie anime and so they just decided to lean in to it and just have fun with those kinds of ideas and that is something that does make the film a whole lot of fun to watch as for alot of the time this film is super serious which is fine as that is something that does work for both mediums but at the same time tho it's also nice to see them lean into the idea of this film being a comic book movie that just so happens to be an anime movie as well.
While this film does give Harley and Diana a romance anime inspired joke there not meant to be a couple in this film. With them being nothing more then friends and that does make for an interesting dynamic between the two characters as in alot of media these two characters never really share the screen and very rarely the page together and yet here they are in his film having entire scenes together and seeing them just talk to each other is more then enough to want to see more of them together as they do make for an interesting pairing with Diana being the kind of character who thinks of every single outcome before she even takes a single step and Harley just being a complete and total whirlwind of destruction it does make for an odd couple type of pairing and it's one that Warner Bros and DC would be smart to get using as there are alot of stories that you could tell with both of those characters being just good friends and nothing more then that and heck given the fact that Harley is pretty much an anti-hero now in the comics anyways it would make sense for her to team up with Diana be it as a member of the Suicide Squad or solo on her own adventure and while yes the new pairing would take a while for some people to get used to as we see in this film there pairing is one that can not only give us comedic gold but also give either character some good dramatic moments as well and while granted neither character gets a big dramatic moment in this film that's more due to the fact that they don't really need one in this film but in say an episode of the Harley Quinn TV series or perhaps even a comic book then they could have those big dramatic moments that would work for either character as both characters have been through alot of stuff.
Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running tie of exactly one hour and twenty nine minuets and four seconds. Which is pretty much the exact running time that you'd expect a film like this one to have and to this films credit it really does have the right amount of plot there to really cover that amount of running time but at the same time tho this film really does use it's running time all that wisely as the film doesn't really take the time to flesh out it's versions of the various Justice League members nor does it take the time flesh out Ra's Al Ghul either as while we do get to find out why he wants to destroy Japan in this film and how he's going to use Japan as a whole to destroy Gotham none of that makes him an interesting character in his won right as we don't get to find out anything about his character that's unique to him outside of the fact that he likes Sushi and that's really it as even his plan could have been the plan for any Batman or DC villain and it would have made sense for any character if the makers of this film wanted us the audience to buy into the fact that he's this films main villain then they should have gone out of there way to make him a more developed character and not rely on the fact that he's evil because of the fact that he was evil in the comics as that's just not that good screenwriting as all it does is make the writer of this film seem lazy as all they would have to do is have a few scenes with him on his own that really fully develop his character and that's really it and it's the same thing for alot of the members of the evil Justice League as well as all of them apart from Wonder Woman don't really get alot of time to put across what it is that there is personality really is meant to be like in this film either but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is an action film that really does mean that I have t actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. With this films action being alot of fun alot of the time so much so that we even get to see Batman basically in a mecha just to fight the evil version of Superman which just that idea alone makes this film worth watching as it does show that the makers of this film aren't afraid to lean into anime tropes and just have fun with them this films best action scene being it's truly epic third act battle scene as we get to see the Batfamily plus Diana and Harley team up to take on Ra's Al Ghul and the evil Justice League all while trying to stop Japan from slipping through what they call a time fisher and landing on Gotham City which does make for a pretty epic fight scene and while we do get to see the tired fight of Batman takin on Superman in a fight that's eerily reminiscent of there fight scene from Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 2 they do add enough to it that it makes it seem fresh and new again like the fact that the evil Superman does accidently help Bruce out by aligning the machines that Bruce had set up to aid him in his fight with Superman something which is used to great effect and it's stuff like that does make this films third act fight scene that best action in the whole entire movie in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall this film is a pretty good film but at the same time tho it's a film that could have been alot more better then what it actually was but at the same time for only the second ever Batman anime film this isn't that bad of a film as they do do a decent job with the characters an the animation it's just a film that really could have been alot more better then what it actually ended up being in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very film in this very review and a such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 7 out of 10 from me,
Now then as for where I personally got all pf the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from the official DC Universe fandom wiki page , IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very film that I used in this very review being the really great Google Images really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very film with alot of them being better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Google Images are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.
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