NINJA BATMAN

MOVIE
Dubbed
SOURCE
ORIGINAL
RELEASE
April 24, 2018
LENGTH
85 min
DESCRIPTION
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. The villains take over the forms of the feudal lords that rule the divided land, with the Joker taking the lead among the warring factions. As his traditional high-tech weaponry is exhausted almost immediately, Batman must rely on his intellect and his allies - including Catwoman and the extended Bat-family - to restore order to the land, and return to present-day Gotham City.
(Source: Anime News Network)
CAST
Bruce Wayne
Kouichi Yamadera
Harleen Quinzel
Rie Kugimiya
Joker
Wataru Takagi
Dick Grayson
Daisuke Ono
Selina Kyle
Ai Kakuma
Jason Todd
Akira Ishida
Alfred Pennyworth
Houchuu Ootsuka
Tim Drake
Kengo Kawanishi
Pamela Isley
Atsuko Tanaka
Damian Wayne
Yuuki Kaji
Slade Wilson
Junichi Suwabe
Gorilla Grodd
Takehito Koyasu
Bane
Kenta Miyake
Harvey Dent
Toshiyuki Morikawa
Monkichi
Anna Mugiho
Oswald Cobblepot
Choo
Monmi
Juri Nagatsuma
Eian
Youji Ueda
RELATED TO NINJA BATMAN
REVIEWS
DuhShizz
1/100Deprives humanity of its value and ruins anything good that Japanese animation ever did for the world. Painful to watch.Continue on AniListSome ask "why review something you don't like". The answer is: as a warning. There are plenty of things I dislike in anime. This one movie however is the only thing in the world I can think of that genuinely has absolutely no value to it. It is appalling. When I say this movie is worthless I genuinely mean that. I don't know how anyone involved in its production can be satisfied with themselves at all. Genuinely one of the top ten worst experiences of my life which is a feat in and of itself. This is an insult to batman fans. A disgrace to anime. And an abomination to the human race. I'm genuinely ashamed to be a part of the same species that created this and I feel like every time I am reminded of its existence that my day is ruined and my life worsens as a whole. Do not watch this garbage. There is nothing to gain from doing so. No comedic value in the "so bad it's good" kind of way. No fanservice in any sense of the word. Nothing. Everything this movie has to offer is simply a waste of time.
I regret ever having watched it. I would love to get to the review where I state everything bad about it but I want to say something good first and that is a seemingly impossible task. Imagine in your head for a moment something truly awful you remember experiencing. Be it some food that made you throw up, an extremely bad video game you spent 60+ dollars on. Just anything that you can think of that was pure regret from the moment it happened. That is this movie except it's stretched out to fill the length of a film. It is a genuinely horrid experience in which you witness some of the worst art style and animation I have ever seen coupled with voice over-acting with a lousy script that has a TERRIBLE plot and no substance whatsoever. I would've rather watched an hour and a half long commercial for batman toys than watch this because at least in the hypothetical commercial the goal would be to sell me something thereby giving it purpose. Here it is as if they didn't even try to do anything even remotely interesting with the characters they were given. As a long time batman fan I have read and seen countless stories that not only managed to make me think harder about the character and life in general but also feel for fictional characters. This film did the opposite, it is devoid of feeling and made me think my emotions were being drained by a black hole that left nothing but an empty husk that only knew surviving and not living.
I cannot imagine why or how the people that made this managed to fuck up a concept like samurai batman this badly but they did. All they had to do was copy the batman Manga verbatim and that would have been lazy but at least it would've been hundreds of thousands of times more enjoyable than this.
Stay away from this unless you'd like to torture someone by having them watch it on loop.
P.S. it didn't let me give it a 0. This shit is absolutely worthless which to me warrants a 0. The only 0 I'd ever give is this. Due to the nature of the site I am forced to give it a 1.
Kehsihba
75/100Art or Disaster? Trash or just misunderstood.Continue on AniListNote: I wrote this review to offer a different perspective. I had ignored this film for a long time, as the community calls it " a worthless piece." I had been warned to avoid it at any cost, often hearing it labeled as "utter garbage." And so, I did, until a recommendation came from a more positive voice. Finally, I decided to give it a chance. And to my surprise, while the film struggles with conventional storytelling, its strength lies elsewhere. And I am here to talk about that.
Critical Takeaway:
Ninja Batman is more like an artistic fever dream loosely held together by Batman's silhouette. The film's core strength is in its refusal to play by any rules and to turn every scene into a visual playground. In that sense, it is an experiment, perhaps one that excels aesthetically, but falters as a narrative experience. I mean, this film is undeniable fun to indulge in, but once it's over, it leaves little behind narratively; except the lingering image of a giant mecha joker and beautifully stylized scenic sequences.
The Strength: Absurdity as Narrative vehicle
The film’s absurdity isn’t accidental. It’s an intentional design choice meant to upend audience expectations of a Batman story. Consider the mecha castles: on the surface, yes, they are utterly ridiculous. But are they random? .... hmmm...No. Because they function as a deliberate parody of both the Batman mythos and genre mashups. By blending feudal Japan aesthetics, sci-fi robotics, and Power Rangers–style camp, the film unshackles itself from the constraints of realism, creating a space where anything can happen and often does. This rejection of logical consistency isn’t a flaw; it’s the point. The film weaponizes absurdity, using chaos to generate surprise and humor, signaling early on: “stop expecting coherence, and just enjoy the ride.”
Mostly films use dialogue or plot beats to carry emotional weight, but here it’s the artistic flourishes that are carrying it. Style becomes substance. That wouldn’t work in a film that promises grounded storytelling, but here, the film is unapologetically an experiment. Its creative freedom is its identity.
Rather than treating its stylistic shifts as mere visual decoration, the film integrates them directly into its storytelling. Scenes transform into ukiyo-e woodblock prints, sumi-e ink washes, and flowing calligraphy, not to advance the plot, but to reflect tone and character mood. These sequences replace conventional exposition to immerse viewers in a hybrid world where Japanese tradition collides with comic book surrealism. In key moments, the film abandons literal storytelling and just uses visuals to depict psychological tension or dissolve character perspective.
Even something as ridiculous as the Joker’s mecha fortress, which is assembled from feudal architecture, serves as the ultimate rejection of narrative seriousness. The fact that such technology shouldn’t exist in the time period isn’t a plot hole; it feels like a statement. When Joker’s castle transforms into a giant robot, it's not meant for a twist but a declaration that the film refuses to honor the rules of conventional storytelling. Joker’s madness is being externalized through the world itself where logic collapses and absurdity prevails.
And that is the film’s central trick: absurdity as narrative choice. By discarding realism, it aligns itself with super robot anime tropes, where spectacle matters more than plausibility. The film isn’t asking viewers to wait for an explanation. It is daring to stop asking entirely. This disarmament is crucial because Batman, as a character, embodies reason and control. But in this world of walking castles; his tech fails, his tactics break down, and his enemies play by no rules at all. His identity here is being deconstructed. Not through dark introspection, but through displacement. The film turns Batman into a lost figure in a world that refuses to make sense, and in doing so, it reframes him in a genre-bending fever dream.
The film also pokes fun at itself and its source material through self-aware humor & symbolism:
-
Batman’s failed grappling hook mocks his dependence on urban environments. It is stripping him of his “edge” in an unfamiliar setting.
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Bruce’s haircut; it resembles a tonsure haircut which historically symbolizes humility, and renunciation of materialism. It's unusual for the film to give us a clear shot of it. Maybe it is intentional symbolism or subconscious stylized; either way the design choice, in that reading, is humbling him. Conceptually, he is now a character stripped of both narrative and cultural coherence. It's a small but clever visual cue that reinforces the film's theme- undermining his image and signaling his disconnection from the Batman archetype.
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Harley’s assistant frantically unrolling a scroll while trying to keep up with her rapid fire delivery. It's the scene where Harley Quinn explains Batman’s infiltration to the Joker. Instead of showing a straightforward montage or having Harley simply deliver dialogue, the film uses the physical scroll as a storytelling device. This sequence turns what could have been dry exposition into visual comedy, making the info-dump a part of the film’s playful tone.
Moments like these are what maintaining cohesion because they fit the film’s playful, chaotic tone. They expose how displaced Batman is in this world, turning him into a figure of unintentional parody. He is not the Dark Knight here. Therefore, the film is expecting the viewers to recalibrate expectations, positioning the story closer to parody without entirely slipping into slapstick. It's encouraging to watch for visual invention not for narrative coherence.
The Weakness:
This film is not built for plot analysis or character study. While it fully commits to artistic creativity and genre-defying spectacle, it does so at the cost of narrative depth. Beneath its impressive visual strengths, the film offers little in terms of:
- Character development
- Thematic complexity
- Narrative tension
Ironically, the film’s very embrace of creative freedom ends up limiting what it can achieve as a story-driven experience. Characters like Batman, Joker, and Harley Quinn function less as developed personalities and more as symbolic pieces in the film’s stylistic puzzle.
This disconnect can be jarring given Batman’s established identity as a figure rooted in dark, grounded stories. When we place him in a world of giant mecha battles and absurd transformations, it creates a little tonal dissonance for fans who are expecting something aligned with the traditional Batman storytelling. I'm sorry, but here, the film severs him from his thematic foundations, reducing him to a mere visual motif.
Is it not for everybody then?
I think that is the wrong question to ask. A better approach is understanding what you are getting into. If you align yourself with what the film is aiming to do, you can enjoy it; it's a visual experiment or a playful mashup. Sure, your level of enjoyment will vary but at least you won’t dismiss it outright as a "worthless piece of trash" like a someone missing the point entirely. :P
Yes, it can feel hollow or a bit superficial if judged by storytelling metrics, but at least it is clear in its identity and fully commits to it. And that is what artistic freedom sometimes looks like- embracing a creative direction and seeing it through, even if it is not conventionally satisfying. Ironically, we often claim to value artistic freedom, yet when confronted with something genuinely experimental, we judge it by the narrow standards of conventional storytelling and label it subpar. Ironic, isn't it?
So, is this film “good”? Honestly, that again, might be the wrong question. This film doesn’t try to be “good” in a traditional sense; it tries to be playful. So... if ask...
Is it fun?
Well...Yeah!__Final Verdict & Score: Stunning, narratively hollow, yet unapologetically bold. A creativity that succeeds on its own terms. For its confidence, I'll rate it 7/10 or 75/100__ -
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SCORE
- (2.95/5)
5.9/10
TRAILER
MORE INFO
Ended inApril 24, 2018
Main Studio Kamikaze Douga
Favorited by 176 Users