The Dark Knight’s found himself in a place that’s both familiar and oh-so-different at the same time.
Earlier today, the official Batman Ninja anime website updated with a new teaser trailer, as well as several cast and crew members. We break the details down below.
Trailer
The 30-second promo focuses on the feature’s action scenes, culminating with a shot of a duel between the Dark Knight and the Joker atop a burning rooftop.
Cast
The series will add the following:
- Alfred: Houchu Ohtsuka
- Bane: Kenta Miyake
- Deathstroke: Junichi Suwabe
- Gorilla Grodd: Takehito Koyasu
- Nightwing: Daisuke Ono
- Penguin: Chō
- Poison Ivy: Atsuko Tanaka
- Red Hood: Akira Ishida
- Red Robin: Kengo Kawanishi
- Robin: Yuuki Kaji
- Two-Face: Toshiyuki Morikawa
Staff
Newly confirmed crew members include:
- Mechanical Design: Shinji Aramaki
- Mechanical Design: Yoshihiro Sono
- Mechanical Design: Daisuke Sajiki
- Mechanical Design: Takashi Okazaki
- Mechanical Design: Akira Gonpei
- Part Director: Junichi Yamamoto
- Part Director: Shinji Takagi
- Part Director: Shuhei Morita
- Storyboards: Shuhei Morita
- Storyboards: Junichi Yamamoto
- Storyboards: Romanov Higa
- Concept Art: Michi Suzuki
- Imageboards: Fuminori Kizaki
- Imageboards: Jooyo Chang
- CGI Director: Satoshi Sawada
- CGI Director: Takanobu Mizuno
- Chief Modeler: Yūki Ishikawa
- Chief Robo Modeler: Akira Gonpei
- Animation Chief: Kōichi Yoshino
- Animation Chief: Ryūsuke Sakamoto
- Texture Chief: Hiromitsu Saitou
- Color Design: Satoko Kimura
- Art Director: Masanobu Nomura
- Editing: Kiyoshi Hirose (EditZ)
- Composite Director: Miho Sakina
- Sound Director: Yoshikazu Iwanami
- Sound Effects: Yasumasa Koyama
- Setting Research: Mitsuyasu Sakai
- Animation Producer: Tetsuro Satomi
- Producer: Kazutatsu Shimizu
- Production Cooperation: Lapiz
Warner will release Batman Ninja on DVD, Blu-Ray (Steelbook), and a Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack. The film will hit North American retailers on May 8.
Junpei Mizusaki (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure – Opening Credits Producer) was tapped to direct Batman Ninja at his Kamikaze Douga studio. Takashi Okazaki (Garo -Vanishing Line-, Summer Wars – Oz segments) will provide character designs, while Kazuki Nakashima (Gurren Lagann, Kill la Kill) will write the scripts.
Yuugo Kanno (Blame!, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders) will score the title’s soundtrack.
Batman Ninja is a project from Warner Bros. Japan and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, which is slated to be released in 2018.
Takashi Okazaki was the author of the original Afro Samurai manga, which launched in Nou Nou Hau magazine in 1999. Leo Chu and Eric Garcia both served as executive producers on the Afro Samurai anime, as well as sequel film Afro Samurai: Resurrection.
Warner Bros. describes the film as:
Batman Ninja takes a journey across the ages as 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.
