“Batman Ninja” Anime Upcoming in 2018 and it Looks Absolutely Awesome

fknmayhem (70)in #comics • 7 years ago (edited)

At least so says the Internet.

It isn't often that any comic-con strikes one with genuine *Whoa* news. Sure, there are the usual trailers, sometimes panels reveal new directions or big-time future releases, but let's be honest: when was the last time you heard something at a con which truly excited you?

I'm talking genuine excitement here. Not along the lines of Whoa that blockbuster trailer was awesome!

No, not that type of excitement. I mean something that totally took you by surprise, something you didn't expect at all but are genuinely looking forward to.

Are truly excited about.

Something the con was required for and not Youtube. Unlike say, the trailer for Dr. Strange.

Of course, announcements such as Doomsday Clock are exciting, yet they weren't made at a con either and only later tend to become a part of a con. When the business usually is flowing already and the con is more hype machine than genuine news, and excitement, source.

And yet, it just happened at NYCC 2017 with a rather awesome announcement by DC and Warner.

Warner Bros. Japan that is.

The great thing about the poster above is that it is a teaser for a Batman movie, an animated movie.

Batman Ninja.

Which takes place in Japan. But not exactly your type of 'Batman goes to Japan and does what Batman does' movie.

Instead, firstly, the movie will be directed by Jumpei Mizusaki, of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure fame.

Secondly, and we have to take the word of the Internet for this, especially io9's, story writer Kazuki Nakashima and designer Takashi Okazaki seem to have created a unique, almost/apparently ballistically batshit insanely awesome look.

But maybe you could have feared that already when you saw the teaser poster.

io9 also has a nice description of the short teaser trailer they got to see.

Picture Batman, decked out in shogun’s armor and wielding a katana, charging at the Joker, who’s also brandishing a sword, but draped in a fanciful, ancient Japanese courtier’s outfit that’s overflowing with tattered ruffles that bounce along with his maniacal laugh.

On a tiled roof, the pair crash and slash at one another in a dizzying flow of gorgeous swordsmanship and the Joker taunts Batman that, even in this unfamiliar time and place, he’s still every bit the bloodthirsty killer he was in Gotham. The scene jumps to a quick montage of fight scenes and we see that it isn’t just Batman and the Joker who have been displaced. Nightwing, one of the Robins, Harley Quinn, Penguin, and Gorilla Grodd are there as well, and they all look like avant-garde, high-fashion, concept-art versions of themselves.

Harley takes on a group of enemies with an impossibly large mallet on what looks like a boat, and her fighting style here is less focused on just smashing things to smithereens and more about gracefully confusing the hell out of anyone silly enough to take her on. The animation style is an interesting blend of traditional 2D and subtle hints of CGI that give certain elements of the film—like the Joker’s hair—a dreamy, eerie weightlessness.

Just when you think things can’t get anymore fantastically off-kilter, the Batmobile revs onto the screen, crashing through the scenery and wreaking all kinds of mayhem before the teaser cuts to black.

Did we say ballistically batshit insanely awesome?

Of course, all this only makes us look forward to the concept of Batman, Ninja, and Japan even more.

And maybe it all does sound as 'Batman goes to Japan and does what Batman does' but it also does sound like it's going to be one awesome ride.

Which of course leads us to the awesomeness that is Bat Man of Shanghai.

Batman Ninja is set to be released on physical media in 2018. No specific release date has been given so far.

Normally, I tend to be able to exert patience, but what the heck but currently this is how I feel about the announcement.