Batman Ninja vs. The Yakuza League is a sequel to Batman Ninja (2018), which is set one day after Batman Ninja, despite this movie coming out 7 years after that film’s release. In Batman Ninja, Batman, his villains and his allies are dragged into ancient Japan by Gorilla Grodd and his time machine, the Quake Engine. When Batman and his allies come back to the present, their adventures in the past have changed the present. Japan is removed from the Earth and is in a time warp above Gotham City. Also, the Justice League is missing from Earth.
Japan is ruled by Yakuza, with no real government, and members of the Justice League (Superman, the Jessica Cruz Green Lantern, the Barry Allen Flash and Aquaman) have been brainwashed into thinking they are Yakuza enforcers, working for the leader of the Hagane Family, the de facto rulers of this Yakuza Japan. The Hagane Family is led by Ra’s Al Ghul, who used the Quake Engine to rewrite history, transforming Japan into a land run by Yakuza and turning the Justice League members into his pawns. There is an amusing scene where Yazuka gangsters are literally raining from the sky and falling on Gotham to besiege the city.
How Ra’s Al Ghul obtains the Quake Engine is not explained. The only Justice League member besides Batman who is not evil is Wonder Woman; for some reason, she is brainwashed into being a Yakuza member, but her honor and nobility remain intact. I am unsure why Ra’s Al Ghul transformed all the non-Batman Justice League members into Yakuza members, but allowed Wonder Woman to oppose him.
I found the animation rather rough in parts. I think it would have looked better in traditional animation than CGI. Unlike Batman Ninja, Batman Ninja vs. The Yakuza League does not have an extended traditional animated scene, so you get okay CGI animation for almost the entire film. I thought the English dub was fine. Batman Ninja featured voice actors from the Arkham games, while Batman vs. The Yakuza League featured Funimation voice actors. The only voice actor who voiced a DC character before this film was Karlii Hoch, who voiced Harley Quinn in the Suicide Squad Isekai series. I thought the voice actors in this film did a fine job, but I preferred the dub from the first Batman Ninja movie.
I do like the Yakuza League character designs. Superman wears sinister sunglasses that make him look like a cool, menacing gangster. Green Lantern looks interesting; she wears a kimono and is obsessed with gambling. The Yakuza Wonder Woman has a lot of interesting tattoos. Flash has a fun hat. Harley Quinn wears a schoolgirl outfit, which I feel is a bit on the nose for her, considering she has gone from jester to Hot Topic sex symbol since the Arkham games.
In terms of characterization, most of the Yakuza Justice League are just mind-controlled pawns, and besides Wonder Woman, who still maintains her honor, they are just cruel and arrogant. Ra’s Al Ghul is the main villain, and he wants to destroy humanity, as usual. The problem is, we don’t know why he wants to destroy humanity. In the comics and Batman, the Animated Series, he wanted to destroy humanity because he felt humanity was destroying the planet and killing off most of humanity was the only way to save the Earth. None of that is outlined in this film. He could want to destroy humanity to save the Earth, or he could want to destroy humanity because someone cut him off in traffic last week.
The only interesting character beat with Ra’s Al Ghul was him getting annoyed with Damian Wayne for wanting a California roll when Ra’s had access to the best sushi in the world. Ra’s Al Ghul, being a foodie snob, was amusing to me. The Joker has a cameo, where he saves Batman from the Yakuza League, because he wants to kill Batman and doesn’t want anyone else to have the “honor” of killing Batman. It’s a fun cameo, but considering how important Joker was in the previous film, it doesn’t add that much to the story. Harley Quinn has more to do than the Joker here.
A great character beat is when Batman gets a hold of the Quake Engine and uses it to force the evil Yakuza League members to see their real heroic selves. This results in the Yakuza League wanting to change to be more like their heroic selves. Really evil or brainwashed versions of the Justice League are nothing new, but this film did have a great sense of style and some fun character designs, despite the animation being rough in parts. One part of the film that was supremely goofy was Batman and other Bat Family characters talking about “Science Ninja Techniques”, after they use some trick to take out a Yakuza League member. That felt too much like the Bat Family were calling out their attacks like typical anime characters.
Batman Ninja vs. The Yakuza League is perfectly fine in terms of an anime/superhero mash-up; it has some good fight scenes and great character designs. I do wish the plot and characterization were stronger and that it had more traditional animation in it. Batman Ninja vs. The Yakuza League is streaming on HBO Max and is available for rental or purchase digitally.
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