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Tentacle-Free Anime: Batman in Manga & Anime

- by Kazekun, 15 September 2014

I know this is pretty late in the game, but last I checked, it's still 2014. And that means it's still the 75th anniversary to the creature of the night we know and love as BATMAN. I've actually been planning this for a couple months now, but was never able to get around to getting all the necessary material together... until now. Well, mostly everything. There are a few stories I wanted to add to this massive article but was unable to retrieve in time. That's okay though... because there's still a lot to talk about in this tribute to Batman for the last 75 years. So let's get on with it, and discuss... Batman in Japan! 75 years of the caped crusader as perceived by another country and culture! This will be a mix of Anime and Manga starring the Dark Knight.

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MANGA:
The Third Mask (1996)
Issues: 1 short story; 

Story & Art: Katsuhiro Otomo;
Translation: Jo Duffy;

Lettering: Bill Oakley

Originally published in Batman: Black & White #4 by DC Comics

Summary: Batman is called in to help with a serial killer who is on the loose in Gotham. When Batman discovers him the killer is revealed as more than meets the eye. And Batman may just have to step out from his own shadow in order to defeat the villain.

This is an 8-page story. Very short, very Otomo. Thus this review will probably be short as well, but here we go. Let's see what I can milk from it. From the creator that brought you the head-spinner known as AKIRA.

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"Batman Black & White" #4 cover
Katsuhiro's style has been, as I've been noticing, almost all about identity in his works. A main character searching for who they really are underneath their masks, whether they mean to or not. And with Batman, what better way to drive that theme home than with the character best known for hiding his true persona under a cowl? Or as some would have you believe, behind the face of a playboy billionaire?

The comic is in black & white like a manga, but reads like an American comic in format (much like Akira). I think this works in its advantage, as Batman is a character best utilized in a colorless world. I almost couldn't picture the comic being any other way. His art is striking as ever as well, you can tell in a heartbeat that it is Otomo's style. With the wide, bulky builds and faces to his characters, along with their semi-rounded cheeks. The art is probably the best thing about this comic.


You'd think putting Otomo with Batman would make the story an instant winner, and it is a nice little story to just... read. But I feel as with he could've worked a little harder on this one. That the fact that it's an 8-page story would mean he didn't have to really work very hard on the story. What is it I mean by this? Well, the story is fast-paced and very loose. With a lot of events happening, and time jumping happening in the span of a few pages. He also throws in the idea of Batman letting his split-personality widen to allow for the titular Third Mask to appear, a new personality. But this idea is never really explored as the story ends on a cliffhanger that paints Batman as something wholly different than he'd ever allow himself to willingly be. The set up to his change also isn't very well written.

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He's the Batman.

The villain is pretty 2-D but given more dimension, at least, than Batman is. Which is interesting to me. While we never get a full explanation as to how the villain became the way he is, there are hints of it like the idea of having a split personality. And we do see two sides, perhaps three sides, to his own personality. But like Batman, it's never fully addressed or explored.

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The Batmobile.

If you just want to see one of the most influencial creators from Japan tackle the Dark Knight, then I say check this out. You can find it in full for free online at a few tumblr pages. Otherwise, this is a pretty skippable footnote in the vast expanse of Batman's history. Fun for novelty, but not much else.

Final Score: 1.5 Masks out of 5



MANGA:
Batman: Death Mask (2008)
Issues: 4 (miniseries); 

Story & Art: Yoshinori Natsume;
Lettering: Rob Leigh

Summary: At a business meeting with a Japanese firm, Bruce Wayne meets a young woman who sparks a memory. She's far too young to have been around when he began his training in Japan – training that would ultimately lead him to don the mantle of The Batman. And yet... Not long thereafter, Wayne's alter ego is summoned to the scene of a grisly crime. The face of a murder victim has been removed and covered by the mask of an Oni... a Japanese demon. What follows is one of Batman's most unusal cases, one that will point the way back to his own origins and lead him to question what role he himself might have played in the appearance of Gotham's latest gruesome killer. [From the back cover of Issue #1]

While technically, this is not a manga, it does feature the American comic debut of a manga-ka (manga artist) known as Yoshinori Natsume (whose works include Togari & Kurozakuro), and it also reads like a manga. Published under DC Comics' now defunct CMX manga line, Death Mask explores a bit further the idea of the third mask that was laid out by Katsuhiro Otomo' titular story. While also delving into Bruce Wayne's duel persona and history.

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Cover art.
Death Mask sees a slightly different take on the character, featuring a much older Bruce Wayne than we're used to seeing who seems to be a bit more laid back when not under the guise of Batman. We get to see part of his trip across the world to learn different martial arts, a specific journey that ties to story happening in the modern day. And we also get a look into Japanese folklore - albeit created for this story in particular but which probably has its roots in actual folklore.

Natsume spins a slightly predictable but still pretty intriguing web around his characters. Blending the past and present together, the story never ends up feeling stagnant or stale. It's fun to see Bruce Wayne's adventures in the past mix in with his adventures as Batman today. The story also explores the idea of the Batman persona being that of a shadowy demon influencing Bruce to do what he does, which is an interesting take on the character I have yet to see played out anywhere else.

I really liked the folklore that Natsume creates in this alternate take on the Batman's history, and the Japanese demons' stories that we get to partake in in this adventure. I really dig Natsume's art style as well, it's very dynamic and clean. The action feels very solid and fluid, while the quiet moments are easy on the eyes . He also has a nice attention to detail to his style, his Demon masks are beautiful and his Batman is great to look at. I really enjoy Batman's look in this series.

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A beautiful shot of the world's greatest detective.

One thing that I didn’t enjoy, as mentioned earlier, is the predictability. The overall villain is pretty easy to see but Natsume does do a pretty decent job at hiding the character within the ensemble cast. And I found it fitting that the underlying theme of the “mask” is something that plays throughout everything. It's even better hidden than the villain. Also the character of Aya, who at one point gets to be a badass female character, but is soon done away with on that front. I think she could've been utilized more effectively.

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It always comes back to his parents.

The theme of the Batman/Bruce split persona is not a new concept, it's something that has been explored to death in almost all forms of media that focuses on the Bat. This one introduces the possible demon persona, or the third mask very slightly touched upon by Otomo. I am not sure if this was done on purpose, but the connection is pretty uncanny. This book also focuses on face stealing, another underlying layer to the “mask” theme. It's similar to the works of Professor Pyg from Grant Morrison's Batman & Robin series from the year before, although again I'm sure they're not exactly related.

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Batman versus a demon.

Batman: Death Mask feels like I am watching an anime movie from start to finish. That's pretty cool. Natsume's story isn't perfect or exactly unique, but it is a lot of fun and a worthy experience for any fan of Batman to enjoy. It may not be a “fully fledged” manga, but it's a look at the character from an outside perspective, and what he has to say is damn good.

Final Score: 3 Demon Personas out of 5


ANIME:
Batman: Gotham Knight (2008)
Episodes: 1 movie with 6 individual stories; 

Studios: Bee Train, Production I.G., Madhouse, Studio 4*C;
Directors: Yuichiro Hayashi, Toshi Hiruma, Bruce Timm, Shojiro Nishimi, Futoshi Higashide, Hiroshi Morioka, Yasuhiro Aoki, Toshiyuki Kubooka, Jong-Sik NamRating: PG-13

Summary: From the producers of Batman Begins, and The Dark Knight comes an original animated movie chronicling the establishment and progression of Bruce Wayne into Gotham City's legendary caped crusader through 6 standalone episodes: “Have I Got A Story For You” (the mythos of Batman from the minds of children), “Crossfire” (the initial distrust of  Batman and the eventual gaining of it from the perspective of the police), “Field Test” (the compassion of Batman, even toward his enemies), “In Darkness Dwells” (track down Killer Croc and The Scarecrow to foil his plot of resurgence amongst the villains of Gotham), “Working Through Pain” (a look back at Bruce's training to manage both the physical and psychological pains he would later endure as Batman), and “Deadshot” (a race against the clock to protect Lt. Gordon from a highly-renowned assassin). [AnimeNewsNetwok.com]

Speaking of anime movies: Gotham Knight is an impressive piece of animated art. It brings together several high profile animation studios to tell several incredibly good stories. The back of the DVD set boasts them as 6 interlocking stories, but really there's just barely any connection between them. Don't get me wrong, all of them ARE indeed connected, but only barely. With a few bits of passing dialogue here and there in order to say “Hey, look at me, I'm set in the same universe as the last story!”

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Promo image.
As stand alone stories though, each one boasts their own merits. Not only on superb animation, but also mostly strong stories. What classifies this as an anime? Is that these stories were animated by different anime studios.

Starting with: “Have I Got  A Story For You” - Which was animated by Studio 4*C (Berserk: Golden Age Arc, Steamboy), tells the legend of Batman through the eyes of four kids and how they personally view Batman. It's a great way to shed the hero in new light, and we get to see him as a living shadow, a creature more akin to that of the villain Man-Bat, and a robot. Each story in this feature is connected but each portrayal of Batman is different. It's one of the weaker segments in terms of overall story, but the idea is greatly executed. The animation is not the greatest, personally I like it during the Man-Bat segments and the Robot. But the living shadow, and the final segment with him as a hero are not very well done. With him looking almost completely out of shape and more of a fatman than a Batman.

“Crossfire” - This is where things start getting good. Which is no surprise, given it was done by Production I.G. (Ghost in the Shell, Blood+). This also focuses on more of the legend of Batman, were he isn't the main focus but among a mythos granted to him by the citizen of Gotham. Although the citizens that are focused on in this story is Detectives Crispus Allen who despises the Batman, and Anna Ramirez who looks up to Batman. The animation is superb here, and the story is all around great. One of my favorite segments of the piece. Batman is seen here as a giant, immovable force. Sort of a God in the way of the police who despise his existence. A nice contrasting though between the “lowly” humans of Gotham and the mythological figure that is “Batman.”

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Batman is ready to take on anyone.

“Field Test” - Animated by Bee Train (.hack//Sign, Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle), this is my least favorite segment of the movie. The story, in my opinion, just isn't that great. Featuring Batman utilizing a new force field that protects from small-caliber guns in long distance or short-range firing fields. But the biggest setback from this segment is the animation which could be miles better, given the studio behind it, but instead all the characters look awkwardly bishounen (and not in a good way), and Batman himself looks like a strange hawk-creature instead the bat-inspired being that he is. It's all very distracting and I came away not really enjoying this segment.

“In Darkness Dwells” - Animated by my love affair studio Madhouse (Redline, Tokyo Godfathers) In Darkness Dwells is another high point for the movie. While some of the animation is hard to deal with, like that of the looks of Batman himself kind of looking like an old man with ridiculously enormous abs, and the detectives all looking kind of awful. The animation for Scarecrow and Killer Croc for this are pretty great. I love their looks, although Croc is very underutilized in the story which drags it down a bit. It focuses so heavily on Croc in the beginning only to give him one actual scene of screen time and then pressing onwards to Scarecrow. I did however like how Croc and Scarecrow's stories are mixed together though.

“Working Through Pain” - Once again animated by Studio 4*C, this story has the second best animation in the movie. The style is very different than what the Studio shows off in the first segment, humanizing its characters and focusing more on Bruce Wayne the character, than Batman the God. The writing in this story is rather strong, showing Bruce as he travels to another country in order to seek a way to deal with the pain of his parents death. And also the pain that he endures as Batman in this story. The ending to this story is rather melancholy, but fitting. And thus ends up being one of my favorite segments of the movie.

“Deadshot” - The second segment animated by Madhouse, this one I thought had the greatest animation of the bunch.  And being the last segment it had a lot to accomplish in being a pleasing finale to the whole shebang. Story-wise and animation-wise Deadshot does not disappoint. Except in one area, and that's the very rushed and rather anti-climactic ending to Gotham Knight. The action is great though, and the inclusion of Deadshot the character is a rather intriguing one. But a welcome one. Overall I liked the finale segment to the movie, but the ending does leave a lot to be desired.

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Deadshot was a welcome addition.

Gotham Knight the movie is pretty great. And a wonderful piece to have in any Batman collection. The stories are strange but each one is rooted in some sort of realism. Which is unsurprising given it's brought to you by the people who brought us the most successful, down to Earth, Batman movie trilogy seen in a long time. It's also worth noting that Kevin Conroy returns to the role of Batman in this movie. He's best known as the voice of Batman in almost all animated forms of the character since the 90s animated series.

I love Gotham Knight. It has its flaws, but it's still pretty solid entertainment. There's just a little bit of something for everyone in this.

Final Score: 4 Different Versions of Batman out of 5


ANIME:
Golden Batman (1979)
Episodes: 1 (movie); 

Rating: PG-13

Summary: Three kids find themselves in middle of a nightmare, as the world is about to be taken over by the powers evil. [MyAnimeList.net]

And here it is, the coup de grace. Technically, Golden Batman is a S. Korean Animated Film, but I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to share it with the world and discuss it here. Another hidden gem from the eras of old-as-shit anime, I wouldn't classify this as a gem really... but more like a stain clutching to that gem really tightly.

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Golden Batman promo image.
I don't think I've ever laughed so hard at an anime trying to take itself seriously. In the 70s, Korea really knew what Batman was all about. This guy is half Batman/half Superman. More like the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh from the comics than he is the Batman we know and love. He can fly, he has super hearing, super strength, he can survive in space, shoot lasers out of his hand, and man... this Batman DOES NOT mess around.

I was only able to figure out one way to watch GB, and that was on YouTube. Dubbed in Spanish. With Korean text. So I don't really know much of the finer details of the dialogue to give this thing a truly serious, revie... okay. I wouldn't have been able to do it anyways. From what I could gather, the movie is about 3 children who get caught up in the mixes of Black Star, a super villain hellbent on taking over the world. And of course Golden Batman comes in to save them. There's also a fourth child who dreams of being the Bat, but he's mostly bedridden throughout the movie so I'm not exactly sure what his true part in all this is.

The story is quite hilarious, though it has a lot of really dark moments in it. There is a moment where Golden Batman chops off Black Star's arm and all he does is laugh about it. In fact, up until the final scene of the movie that's all Batman does. He laughs. This Batman laughs during every dangerous encounter, as he brings a true end to all his enemies. That's.... pretty insightful to be honest. I really wouldn't want to meet this Batman in a dark alleyway, especially since he'd probably stand out and that just makes everything seem worse for some reason. You don't WANT to see your killer coming.

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Golden Batman don't mess around...punk.

The movie focuses mostly on the kids though, and Batman doesn't actually appear in his own movie very much. I have no idea what the kids’ names are, but they travel around with a talking dog that looks more like a kangaroo and even has boxing gloves on. It's quite surreal. They don't do much except get into shenanigans and I kept sitting there thinking “Do something you little twerps!” Although the main guy character can apparently impersonate any animal with incredible precision. The noises don't sound anything like real animals, but here we are. In a movie where Golden Batman can shoot effing lasers out of his fingers.

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The "kids".

The villain of  Black Star is obviously the 1-D “I must rule all of the universe!” type of guy. He has an interesting look with small, red demon horns protruding from his mask, a white/blue/black color scheme, and a black star insignia on his chest. His sword can shoot lasers too, so there is plenty of laser action in this movie.

The animation is not good. Like at all. Everything is pretty awful to stare at, like proportions just weren't a thing known to mankind at the time. Like most old cartoons it seems. Though a lot of the characters looked pretty similar so it was a fun game to try and figure out who exactly Golden Batman is. You do find out at the end, but I won't tell. That'd be giving away the surprise.

Golden Batman is a pure frustration to watch seriously, but an incredibly glorious thing to experience if you just make fun of everything and watch it out of pure spectacle. It's also worth seeing if you're a noted Batman fan who loves to see all they can about the caped crusader. This was the 70s, and Korea was taking as many liberties as it could with the character. Probably because they didn't have permission to do this. I know very little about the movie outside of what I saw, like the studio behind the movie or any of that nonsense. It exists though. And you can see it, but  I warn you, this is not the Batman you're looking for.

Final Score: 1 Little Golden Bat out of 5

Happy 75th Anniversary, Batman! Here's to another 75 years of allowing other countries to take a swing at you and all your glorious pew-pew finger laser blast abilities!


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Told ya.

Whew! That was quite a read. Have you read or seen these Batman manga and anime? What is missing from this list? Let us know in the comments!


Tagged: Tentacle-Free Anime, comics.


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