“Batman Ninja” Japanese anime Nikko Toshogu Shrine! ? What made this over-the-top masterpiece anime possible? ※note! Contains spoilers.

Condensing and reducing overseas fans' ``misconceptions about Japan''

This work originally started with an offer from Warner Bros. to create an original Japanese Batman work. Director Junpei Mizusaki and screenwriter Kazuki Nakajima did not aim for the domestic audience from the beginning, but developed the idea entirely for overseas anime fans. The main point is to present Japan as it is, as it is misunderstood by overseas fans. When Japanese people see Japanese culture portrayed in Hollywood movies, they are sometimes fed up with the way they misunderstand it. However, the production staff took this misunderstanding into account and decided to take the project further. Thanks to this (?), Batman manifested his power as the ``Yomeimon'' of Japanese anime, which is the most over-the-top and over-the-top, unlike anything I've ever seen before.

"Batman Ninja" Batman and all related characters and elements are trademarks of and © DC Comics. © Warner Bros. Japan LLC

However, the biggest factor that made this ``excess'' possible may be the ``tolerance'' of DC Comics. The content of the work had to be checked and approved by DC Comics, which owns the rights to Batman. When presenting the script to DC Comics, director Mizusaki was worried that they would reject it. Certainly, I would think so if I were in the same position. I'm especially interested in how they wrote the climax, and even if it was skillfully written, I don't think it would be immediately understood (for example, the monkeys coalesce and become gigantic!) I don't think so.

However, despite such concerns, the script seems to have been quickly approved by DC Comics. Of course, this was probably the result of more than two years of communication with DC while working on the pilot film and confirming the plot. On the other hand, if you think about the culture and values ​​that support the world of American comics, including DC, it may be natural for the Batman they created to be accepted.

American comic characters' deep pockets