Merging Western Comics and Anime: An Interview with Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League Writer Kazuki Nakashima

Batman Ninja and Yakuza Alliance It’s a superhero anime movie DC Comics“American Justice League and reimagine it as Yakuza. But it’s just the beginning of this movie’s over-high. From the sudden musical numbers to “Yakuza Storms,” ​​it all – Yakuza rains from the sky. To learn more about these crazy ideas, and the whole process of Western superheroes and Yakuza – I talk to the writers of the movie, nakashima kazuki of Gurren’s song and Kill Lar Fame.

Nakajima was first introduced to DC Comics Seven years old. “My first experience DC Comics In 1966, [Batman] The TV series starring Adam West aired in Japan,” Nakashima [Batman] comics. I still remember the scene where Batman was given the drug he turned into King Kong. Looking back, this is an unconventional story, isn’t it? ” He smiled. Superman The TV show starred George Reeves, so I’m impressed DC Comics It is about promoting goodness and punishing evil heroes. ”

“When I met it, everything changed Batman: The Dark Knight is back,” Nakajima continued. “I happened to run into this comic while working in California in about 1990 and was shocked by the originality of the story. It’s in original English, so I don’t understand at all, but the plot and realistic tone of Batman’s struggle with Superman is fresh to me. Since then, my opinion has changed and I remembered it DC ComicsSince then, Nakajima has become other groundbreaking fans DC Comics like Alex Ross-illustration The Kingdom is here and Batman: Killing Joke.

Nakajima has the opportunity to write his own DC Comics Anime movie story Batman Ninja. The sequel soon began after the release of the film in 2018, although that’s very different from what we’ll end up with Batman Ninja and Yakuza Alliance. “At first, I thought the plot with Suicide Squad was the main character. However, the setup I created was very similar to that of another project developed at DC at the time, so the plot was cancelled,” Nakashima lamented. “What I thought of was an environment that wouldn’t overlap with anything else and put forward the idea that Justice League would become Yakuza in Japan.”

In the film itself, every member of Justice League is twisted into a new, Yakuza version. For example, Wonder Woman becomes a Mrs. Snowbring– Type, Aquaman is the Isshin Tasuke-type of fish market work, while Flash a Samurai-er-ner-kogarashimonjirō-type. This leads to interesting interactions between characters, such as those between Wonder Woman (Diana) and Aquaman (Arthur).

“When I think of Diana’s idea of ​​being born on Benten Island on Lake Inokashira, I think it would be fun if a water human race lives at the bottom of the lake,” Nakashima told me. “Friends in childhood fighting each other is a popular plot in Japan. It’s an effective way to deepen the relationship between characters in a short 90-minute runtime.”

But, the more interesting aspect of the film is that the merger of Yakuza Tropes and Superhero Comics is a sister relationship between Harley Quinn and Yakuza-Fied’s Wonder Woman.

“when [my version of] Harley appeared for the first time Batman Ninjashe is in the position of the clown’s companion Batman: Animated Series. But since then, in live-action films starring Margot Robbie, she has been mostly portrayed as an independent character. So I want Harley Batman Ninja Series to reach the same position. “This time, I thought of a story where Harley met Diana in Hinomoto and gained a view on how to live without relying on the Joker. ”

Unfortunately, with the achievement of honor, this unlikely friendship seems to end. In Nakajima’s own words: “Wonder Woman and Diana are different people, so I don’t think that affects the relationship between Wonder Woman and Harley when Batman returns to the world.”

Of course, adapting American comics into Japanese anime is far from a simple task. The localization needed to make this story hit at home is more than that. “There are many different aspects, such as religion and culture. If we follow the original manga accurately, then as Japanese, we will not be able to fully understand some aspects, such as the motivation of the character,” Nakashima told me. “So I try to make these aspects as general as possible so that they can be understood universally.”

Luckily Batman Ninja and Yakuza Alliancethis is a relatively simple task. “Especially in this work, the Yakuza Alliance is the Japanese who have the same Japanese as JLA, but they live in different pocket reality, so I can portray them relatively freely.”

When I asked Nakajima about his Yakuza League character and what they could tell us about the nature of their Justice League, he had a surprising response, which gave him a unique insight into the author’s role in creating the novel: “I think a creator is rude to the creator of the character if people can talk about their own character.

To end the interview, I asked Nakashima where some of his advanced ideas came from. “Sometimes inspiration just comes out of nowhere (like ‘Yakuza-STORM’), while other times it takes a lot of effort to work hard.” “At that time, I store stories, characters, plots and ideas in my mind’s drawers. I then pull them out and rearrange or combine them, trying to expand them in the direction as unexpected as possible.”

Batman Ninja and Yakuza Alliance Available to buy Amazon Prime Video.