It’s time to explore the world of anime Batman once more and it’s still really impressive that the first Batman Ninja got a sequel in general. This one definitely has fun going crazy right from the start and I like how over the top it is. The rule of cool is definitely the highest priority for this movie and you know what? That’s not a bad thing! It’s important to have priorities and this means we get a lot of fun fights so you can’t go wrong with that.

The movie doesn’t waste time as within a few minutes we have Batman confirm that the multiverse is intact but things have changed in the timestream. There are Yakuza cyclones that spawn on top of Gotham and Japan no longer exists. Batman and Robin will have to jump across dimensions once more to fix things but this time they have to deal with an alternate reality version of the Justice League. This will not be easy…or at least that’s what Robin says. Batman is more optimistic and admits that defeating the Justice League will be a piece of cake. Well now it’s time for him to put that bravado to the test.

You can tell that the writers are big Batman fans. Right from the start he is shown to be incredibly confident, knowledgeable, resourceful, and powerful. The fact that he doesn’t bat an eye when going up against the Justice League is impressive. Batman isn’t phased by anything that happens during the movie, if anything he always seems to have expected this in one way or another. This is definitely a Batman portrayal that his fans will enjoy. He can basically do whatever he wants. Now that’s not to say that he’s invincible. He does get saved at different points but his confidence never comes into question.

Batman just appears as a natural leader which is really hype. His assortment of Robins also do pretty well. Red Hood is able to handle the Flash quite easily and then you have the main Robin not falling for any of Ra’s tough talk. Robin knows what side he is on and doesn’t waver. Nightwing and Red Robin get a lot of fun moments too. In general it’s just nice to have all of them showing up like this. The Bat Family is really a tough force for justice and by this point they are proving to be possibly as good as the Justice League.

Now obviously you do have to excuse a ton of power level issues for a fight like this. Obviously Flash should not be losing to a few guys in costumes and Superman should be able to easily end Batman. So you just have to turn your brain off and enjoy all the big action scenes. Fortunately there is a lot to enjoy with these fight scenes so that’s not really a problem. As far as the animation goes, well that part is a bit weak. The CG looks super off putting when you first start the movie. It gets a little more manageable as the movie goes on and you get used to it but yeah this is definitely not a top tier production.

While the character models are really rough, the film does a good job with the speed effects and the shockwaves after each blow. For example, someone like Superman actually does feel very powerful with all of those effects. Naturally it also does make the fights more intense as well. The energy effects look good too so you can really feel how intense this would be if it was hand drawn. Especially with the large amounts of action that this film had. The movie does have fun with different art styles for some gags though. The biggest one was definitely when the artstyle changed to look like the Superfriends and classic anime. That was a really good tribute.

In general there are a lot of good homages to different Japan/anime tropes. You’ve also got the moment where two characters are laughing together and then suddenly a fight starts. That was a really good cut with how fast the battle started. The film is fairly short but still gives you enough time to really know all of the characters. Sometimes the editing could be a little distracting though as you would be in one plot for 5 seconds, then switch to another plot for an instant, only to go back to the first plot. Sometimes it felt like you just didn’t need to switch that often because it was only an instant like that.

As always Gotham PD looks pretty bad here. The fact that the first film just happened but Joker and Harley Quinn are already out of jail is crazy. Definitely some commentary on Arkham going on there, I can feel it. Harley is a true wild card as always with how unpredictable she is. She really comes in handy at different points in the film though. Without her, it’s no exaggeration to say that the heroes would have been doomed. Even Joker really comes through in a pinch.

As for the Justice League themselves, they were mostly likable. Wonder Woman looks the best as she retained her good soul even in the new origin. It shows what a strong character she had as she would continue to be on the side of justice no matter how things changed. Her abilities also get a great deal of respect as she holds her own with the likes of Superman and the others. Definitely not an easy feat. Superman definitely bought into the Yakuza logic wholeheartedly. He made for a fun villain though and I dare say his character had the most fun with the new role.

Some of the others are basically just the same character but evil while he had a completely different personality. It worked really well and made the guy interesting. I also liked the contrast when we got a glimpse of the real Superman. Green Lantern was another fun character here as her abilities are always fun to watch. Somehow Harley Quinn gives her a good fight for a while there but otherwise she should usually crush Harley.

Aquaman is basically the same character. He’s okay but definitely tends to be more on the unreasonable side and never backs down. I did like the way that he controls the water directly instead of having to rely on talking to animals or anything like that. Using water directly is absolutely the best way to go about it. Then for the Flash, he gets the least to do I would say. His loss against the Robins also has to be the cheesiest fight of the film. You just don’t buy that for even half a second. There’s no way that the Flash would lose under any circumstances. He’s just not that guy.

Ra’s doesn’t have a ton to do here but I thought the character was handled well enough. He actually had a bit of humor this time around like how he trolled Robin with the sushi. He’s a guy with a lot of charisma this time who likes fighting for style points. It would help if he could fight a little more though but next to the Yakuza league he comes across as more forgettable. He’s really just a stepping stone for Batman to crush once the league is taken down. They were the ones with the bigger focus and he’s basically just a final boss to fill in the numbers.

Ra’s does make sense as the final boss here with messing with reality but he just needed more time. Finally the soundtrack was pretty fun. Some real fast paced tracks like when Batman fought Green Lantern. The lyrics were more on the weak side but I appreciated the beat. It was a lot faster than anything you would have expected in this time period so that was really appreciated. You should not have to worry about the timeline when coming up with good tracks. A good track is a good track no matter what the context, that’s something you’ll want to remember for future use.

Overall, Batman vs Yakuza League was a pretty good film. It delivered on having loads of action and just got right to it without waiting for any kind of intro. It’s bonkers in all the right ways. The short runtime also works as it could probably get exhausting if it was too long but this was the right amount. I would say I enjoyed it more than the first film and this one definitely has a whole lot of replay value. Just seeing the Justice League running around in their alternate costumes is a lot of fun after all. Id definitely be down with more films in this continuity. I’m guessing it takes a while to prepare the animation with how frantic the pace of the whole thing is but it definitely ends up being worth the wait. As long as you like Batman then you’ll definitely enjoy this adventure.

Overall 7/10