Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League – Warner Bros. Japan’s sequel to their 2018 anime movie Batman Ninja – arrives on Digital on March 18 and on 4K UHD and Blu-ray on April 15, the studio announced Tuesday.
The film will be available in both Japanese and English-language versions. Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League will also be available as a two-film Digital collection on March 18 paired with the original Batman Ninja.
Here’s the official synopsis to shed more light on what happens in the film:
“The Batman Family has returned to present-day Gotham City after traveling back to the warring states period and saving history from being altered in the previous film, Batman Ninja. The next day, they witness a startling event – the Japanese island has disappeared, and a giant island called ‘Hinomoto’ appears in the sky over Gotham City. Soon, countless Yakuza descend from the sky and attack the people of Gotham City. And, the Justice League has disappeared.
Detecting a strange energy reaction in the sky, Batman heads for Hinomoto to find its underlying cause. There, the Dark Knight finds a world where the Yakuza war with each other, and brutality reigns without honor or humanity. At the top of the world is the Yakuza League, a group of superpowered individuals, who look suspiciously like the Justice League. The Yakuza League is invading Gotham and, to save the city, Batman and his allies are in for the fight of their lives!”
No word yet on the film’s voice cast. Warner Bros. Japan teased a first look at the film at last July’s Anime Expo.
Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League is directed by Jumpei Mizusaki and Shinji Takagi. Kazuki Nakashima wrote the screenplay, character design is by Takashi Okazaki and the music is composed by Yugo Kanno. The film’s animation is by Kamikaze Douga.
The physical and digital releases will include the special features “Bringing Justice to Japan” and “Anime Action: Choreographing the Fights”. (Please note that the digital version is not available in Canada.)
The movie runs 89 minutes and is rated PG-13 for some violence and language.
In our rave Batman Ninja review, critic David Griffin said the 2018 film “takes everything great about the masked vigilante and twists it in a way we’ve never seen, creating a visual marvel unlike any other Batman animated movie before it. DC tried something new by bringing in visionary Japanese animators to offer a refreshing take on one of the company’s most beloved characters, and the finished product not only built upon the great adaptations that have come before, but surpassed them.”
