Review: Batman Ninja fares better vs. the Yakuza League

The first Batman Ninja movie came out way back in 2018, so I'm not sure what exactly transpired to bring us a sequel now, after so many years. I checked that movie out earlier this year in anticipation of the new entry, and walked away unimpressed. It found Batman and some of his friends and enemies transported back to feudal Japan, where they...went through the beats of a pretty typical Batman story. Even with the time period, they ended up flying around in ships, fighting with giant robots, yada yada. The setting felt like set dressing rather than an essential ingredient of the story. It was, for me, pretty lame.

So I came into Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League (I don't know why the title is so clunky) with some trepidation. Was I in for more of the same? Have the years allowed the team to make something better? The answer to both questions is a tepid "yes"!

This movie picks up right after its predecessor, or rather, the next day. After making their way back to their own time and place, Batman goes to do a bit of detecting to see if their time-traveling messed up history at all. It ends up, it sure did! Japan is fully gone. Just empty ocean where it ought to be. To make matters weirder, a yakuza hurricane blows through Gotham, literally raining men onto the city, much to the Dark Knight's consternation. After dealing with that mess, Batman and his team look skyward and, through a time-space fissure in the sky (sigh), they see Japan floating up there. And because of their recent adventure, they're able to cross that border to see what's up.

This is all established in a matter of minutes, which is a relief, because when a movie's story is this hackneyed and dumb, it's worth rushing through the narrative beats as quickly as possible. Ultimately, this isn't about telling some deep, meaningful story, or doing anything particularly emotional or substantial. It's about seeing Japan-ified versions of comic book characters fight each other. Either you're in for that, or you're not, and you probably already know right this minute which camp you're in, and you're probably right. There's no wheel re-invention happening here. The wheels that are on the thing are pretty wobbly. But it zooms along to the end, and hopes you're up for the ride.

Once Batman and Robin (and eventually the rest of the Bat-family) make it to this strange version of Japan, they find that pretty much the whole country is full of yakuza, headed up by Ra's al Ghul, who took advantage of the spacetime disruption to craft a specific version of Japan where he heads over a crime syndicate that includes alternate versions of Justice League members: Superman, Green Lantern, Aquaman, and The Flash. The only misstep in his careful planning is Wonder Woman, who stands as the lone super-powered hero facing off against this massive team, flanked by her Amazonian sisters and also Harley Quinn (sorry, Harlin the Wild Jester).

All of these characters have special names (Superman is Kuraku the Man of Steel, the Flash is Bari the Fleetfoot, etc.) and very cool designs. More than anything else, the character designs here are the main draw, much as they were with the first Batman Ninja. Anytime someone new pops up, it's so fun to see how they're been reimagined. The way they move is sometimes a bit strange -- the animation is a bit sketch-y, almost rotoscope-y, so some of the movements are stiff, especially in slower scenes. But regardless, it's a lot of fun to see all the new looks, and during action scenes, they especially pop.

Once the action gets going, it doesn't really stop. And while the characters are all sporting these nifty new threads and whatnot, they mostly still fight in the ways you'd expect them to. This makes more sense in this entry, since the characters are occupying a sort of bizarro-world version of modern Japan, fighting amongst skyscrapers, neon signs, etc. And the action is all cool, very zippy and kinetic, lots of big booms with the occasional dash of Japanese flair (such as Wonder Woman and Ra's bowing to each other before starting a duel).

As someone who very much loves Japanese culture, has gone there a couple times, is learning Japanese, blah blah blah, you would expect this to be like, right up my alley (even as a relative DC agnostic). And like, yeah, it's cool. But there's also an element of it that just feels a little cosplay-y, where I have to bite back the secondhand embarrassment watching these characters exist in this world. I'm not sure how to exactly articulate the feeling, but there's definitely a wall between me and this movie that I couldn't quite break through. I'm not sure if others will have a similar experience.

However, there are a few more playful moments that I absolutely fell for, particularly two brief musical scenes that pay homage to some giants of Japanese pop culture that hit exactly right. I honestly wish the movie leaned a little more into that silliness throughout, but as is, they're welcome bits of levity, and I'm annoyed that Shazam couldn't pick up on the songs. Very good stuff.

When you hear the title Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League, you probably already know if it's a movie for you or not. I don't know why you even bothered reading this review! You should be watching this movie, or not watching this movie, instead. Whatever seasons your sushi.