.jpg){kind=small}
A sequel has been announced to a beloved Batman anime movie, with the news coming as a shock to fans who weren't expecting it.
Batman Ninja vs Yakuza League currently has no release date, but with the turn-around of DC animated projects it's likely that the movie will be released next year in a straight-to-DVD format. Currently, the studio is in the middle of a multiverse spanning trilogy adapting George Perez and Marv Wolfman's beloved Crisis on Infinite Earths, the story that reset the entire DC multiverse and allowed for a reboot of each of its characters, while still providing a warm and fitting send-off to beloved characters such as Supergirl, Barry Allen, and the original Superman from the 1930s.
Batman Ninja was released six years ago in 2018, and was extremely warmly received at the time. Indeed, the movie is currently sitting at 82% on review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes, and is one of the better received animated movies that DC has released in the last decade.
"More information is set to be announced at the 'Warner Bros. Japan presents Suicide Squad Isekai and Batman Ninja vs Yakuza League' stage event at Anime Expo 2024 in July," Crunchyroll wrote in a blog post. Per the same blog post, voice actor Koichi Yamadera will reprise his role as Batman, with Junpei Mizusaki returning to direct the sequel. The screenplay is written by Kazuki Nakashima, the characters are designed by Takashi Okazaki and the film will be co-directed by Shinji Takagi.