Batman Ninja Vs. Yakuza League [4K Ultra HD]

Directors: Jumpei Mizusaki, Shinji Takagi

Release Date: April 15, 2025

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Film Rating: 6/10
Disc Rating: 5.5/10

Synopsis:

The Batman Family has returned to present-day Gotham City after traveling back to the warring states period and saving history from being altered in the previous film, Batman Ninja. The next day, they witness a startling event – the Japanese island has disappeared, and a giant island called “Hinomoto” appears in the sky over Gotham City. Soon, countless Yakuza descend from the sky and attack the people of Gotham City. And, the Justice League has disappeared. Detecting a strange energy reaction in the sky, Batman heads for Hinomoto to find its underlying cause. There, the Dark Knight finds a world where the Yakuza war with each other, and brutality reigns without honor or humanity. At the top of the world is the Yakuza League, a group of superpowered individuals, who look suspiciously like the Justice League. The Yakuza League is invading Gotham and, to save the city, Batman and his allies are in for the fight of their lives!

‘Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League’ rejoins the Bat-Family shortly after their return to modern day Gotham following their quest to stop history from being altered in the previous film. But when they realize that the Japanese island has mysteriously vanished and an island now lingers above Gotham that only they can see, things become far more concerning when a swarm of Yakuza begin to drop from the sky and attack the city. With the Justice League also having mysterious vanished, Batman and his ward head into the heart of the chaos to try and find answers and are confronted with a new world where the Yakuza wage a constant war with each other and many of the Justice League heroes are now working as deadly enforcers. Naturally, it will be up to Batman and a woman mysteriously like Wonder Woman to find a way to set things right once again.

Directed this time around by Jumpei Mizusaki and Shinji Takagi from a screenplay written by Kazuki Nakashima, Mizusaki and Takagi do a solid job at the helm of ‘Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League’ guiding along the anime sequel with action, fun and visual splendor around every turn. The voice cast of course various based on whether you choose to view the film in its native Japanese language or English Dubbed, both of which are included.

‘Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League’ is a fun, wildly action-packed, yet somewhat jumbled follow-up to 2018’s ‘Batman Ninja’ that improves upon the previous installment in many ways by simply letting go of many elements and just delivering a wild, hard hitting good time throughout. I should note that I wasn’t a huge fan of the first film necessarily (you can read my Blu-ray review for that Right Here!) and opinions always vary as we know. The sequel just seemed to have a better handle on what they wanted to do and it also felt far more willing to just go nuts with the visual fun and action instead of trying to develop an intricately detailed story and after being somewhat bored with the first one (I even gave it another whirl before checking out this one) I can say that this one was a wild ride from nearly start to finish.

Just as the original did, ‘Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League’ may get somewhat silly and over the top with the action at times (and if anything even more so this time around) but it just seems to work for the animated film and I repeatedly found myself grinning throughout. It still isn’t a tremendous film by any means and has its issues with story, pacing and some elements that are hard to swallow even for a Batman movie, yet I was consistently pleased with the path this sequel took and fans of action-packed anime with a similar style are probably only going to enjoy and appreciate it far more than me.

Overall, ‘Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League’ is an exciting, fast-paced sequel that’s loaded with action and fun around nearly every turn, upping the excitement and explosive enjoyment compared to its predecessor. It’s still not a perfect film and can struggle with its jumbled story but the stellar visuals resulting from the often gorgeous animation and the willingness to just go all out with the thrilling action this time around help it to excel beyond the underwhelming first film to say the least. ‘Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League’ is recommended for any fans of Batman and especially for those that were fonder than me of the first ‘Batman Ninja’ movie and will therefore almost certainly appreciate this one even more than I did. It should at least be worth the price of a rental and 90 minutes of your time for anyone that’s already tempted to check out this anime sequel.

VIDEO:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of ‘Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League’ features a full 2160p Ultra High Definition presentation with Dolby Vision and HDR-10 presented in its original 1.78:1 Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks pretty fantastic as a whole and it provides a clean and gorgeously detailed presentation from start to finish that looks sharp and stellar down to nearly every animated line within and is absent of any substantial issues or problems. Detail is spectacular throughout on everything from the characters and vehicles to the backgrounds and other various tidbits, much of which is complemented by the Dolby Vision HDR which provides more vibrant and lifelike colors on clothing, surroundings and more, with capably deep and rich black levels throughout. Overall, this is a great Ultra High Definition presentation that never loses its way and should easily excite fans.

AUDIO:

While the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release was listed as including a 5.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack (which is even noted on the rear of the case) the lossless audio is absent and the release instead somewhat disappointingly includes only lossy 448 kbps Dolby Digital 5.1 channel soundtracks available in English and Japanese. While not confirmed, this is likely a mistake in the production as word is that the Blu-ray features the proper audio format. The lossy multichannel soundtrack still delivers a largely clean, sharp and immersive audio presentation that frequently takes advantage of all five available channels in order to send a whirlwind of activity whipping throughout the various speakers including music, action, vehicle and character effects, plus plenty more, while never causing any simultaneously occurring audio elements to become negatively affected in the process. Overall, this 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack does still sound pretty solid in its own right, but the obvious restrictions of the lossy presentation are evident throughout and it unfortunately does detract from the expected experience which will surely disappoint many fans.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of ‘Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League’ includes a couple entertaining extras in the way of Behind the Scenes Featurettes that explore bringing the sequel to life and both of which include subtitles. The included Featurettes are ‘Bringing the League to Japan’ (running approximately 7 minutes in length) and ‘Anime Action: Choreographing the Fights’ (running approximately 9 minutes).

*Please note: The above images are taken from the film’s Trailer and are not reflective of the actual 4K Ultra HD release or its quality. A standard Blu-ray copy of the film was not included in the release that could be used for screenshots therefore the above images were utilized. All content and images from the film are the property of DC Studios, Warner Bros. Discovery and any other respective owners.

–

Film Rating: 6/10
Disc Rating: 5.5/10

–

‘Batman Ninja Vs. Yakuza League’ is Now Available to Own on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD & Digital from DC & Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment

–

You can purchase ‘Batman Ninja Vs. Yakuza League’ on 4K UHD at Amazon HERE!

*Screen-Connections.com is an Amazon Associate that earns from qualifying purchases