It’s been six long years since the release of everyone’s favorite Batman anime movie, Batman Ninja, with little to no hopes of ever getting more. However, Crunchyroll has amazing news for fans just in time for summer. Warner Bros.’ Batman Ninja is getting a surprise sequel titled Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League, and although no release date has been confirmed yet, fans will certainly be thrilled to bits to hear that production is in progress.
Directed by Junpei Mizusaki and written by Kazuki Nakashima, the 2018 prequel, Batman Ninja, stars Koichi Yamadera as Batman, Wataru Takagi as The Joker, Ai Kakuma as Catwoman, and Rie Kugimiya as Harley Quinn. The film was animated by Kamikaze Douga and YamatoWorks with the first poster revealed on October 5, 2017, followed by trailers later in December of the same year.
Meanwhile, the new Batman Ninja movie will see Yamadera reprising his role as Batman while Mizusaki is returning to direct. Shinji Takagi will join as co-director with Nakashima set to write the screenplay. At the same time, Takashi Okazaki, the creator of Afro Samurai and the character designer for the first Batman Ninja film, will return as a character designer.
The Chronicles Of ‘Batman Ninja’
Given the considerable gap between Batman Ninja’s release date and the upcoming sequel, a lot is expected from the creators, who are yet to unveil plot details. But, it is safe to agree that Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League will be just as mind-blowing as the prequel or even more so, given that its domestic home video earnings summed up to a whopping $3,643,037. Furthermore, it was released digitally in the U.S. and theatrically in Japan, with each release having two different scripts, thereby bringing about two “very different versions” of the same movie.
The first movie, Batman Ninja “takes a journey across the ages as Gorilla Grodd’s time displacement machine transports many of Batman’s worst enemies to feudal Japan – along with The Dark Knight and a few of his allies.” An English trailer was released months after its original trailer, with the voice cast including Tony Hale as The Joker, Roger Craig Smith (Batman: Arkham Origins) as Batman, Grey Griffin (Scooby-Doo) as Catwoman, Tara Strong (Batman: The Killing Joke) as Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, and Fred Tatasciore (Family Guy) as Gorilla Grodd and Deathstroke.
Not many details have been released yet regarding the upcoming Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League’s cast besides Yamadera’s return, and neither does it have a release date yet. Regardless, stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
via Collider