Back in 2018, Batman Ninja placed the Caped Crusader in a time-travel adventure to feudal Japan. A direct sequel, 2025’s Ninja Batman vs. Yakuza League brings the Dark Knight back to modern times to deal with the repercussions of those events.

In this altered setting, the island of Japan no longer exists. Neither does the Justice League, and Yakuza men literally rain from the skies.

Batman (voiced by Koichi Yamadera for the Japanese version and Joe Daniels for the American translation) discovers Japan does continue to exist but it floats above Gotham City in a weird shift of the time/space continuum. Batman and his colleagues need to figure out how to restore the prior order, a challenge amplified by the existence of the Yakuza League, a group of super-beings awfully similar to the Justice League.

When I went into Batman Ninja seven years ago, I did so with skepticism. An anime Dark Knight sent to feudal Japan sounded like a recipe for disaster.

Happily, my pessimism proved unfounded. The 2018 film offered a surprisingly vivid and creative adventure that seemed much less gimmicky than I anticipated.

When I went into Yakuza League in 2025, I did so with skepticism. Sure, I liked the 2018 flick, but I thought lightning couldn’t strike twice, as the nature of the Batman Ninja concept seemed like it could work once and not again.

Happily, my pessimism again proved unfounded. While not quite as enjoyable as the prior tale, Yakuza League nonetheless provides another pretty delightful tale.

Perhaps I should’ve gone into Yakuza League with fewer qualms given the personnel involved. It brings back the same director and writer as the 2018 effort along with some of the same actors.

This means we get a sequel that pairs with the original well. However, Yakuza League doesn’t act as a simple rehash of 2018 glories.

Yakuza League comes with its own story, but like the prior flick, I can’t claim it delivers a lot of narrative coherence. To enjoy this film, one must abandon all hope of logic.

Normally that would bother me, but the giddy energy and wild creativity of Yakuza League obscures these “sins”. Does it make a lick of sense? No, but who cares when the end result seems so relentlessly entertaining?

I do remain surprised the filmmakers pulled off this trick twice. I figured the quirks of the 2018 movie would succeed once but turn stale if tried again.

However, directors Junpei Mizusaki and Shinji Takagi brings such gleeful anarchy to the project that it keeps us engaged from start to finish. Yakuza League gives us a delightfully bonkers superhero adventure.

Footnote: a short and goofy tag scene appears early in the end credits.

Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League appears in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. As expected, the Dolby Vision image looked great.

Outside of some intentionally “handmade” elements, sharpness looked immaculate. Virtually no soft spots emerged during this tight, concise image.

No issues with jagged edges or moiré effects materialized, and I saw no edge haloes. Source flaws also failed to manifest.

Yakuza League came with a broad palette that threw a wide variety of hues at us. The disc replicated these colors in a vivid, dynamic manner, and HDR gave the tones added oomph.

Blacks felt deep and dense, while low-light shots offered appealing clarity and smoothness. HDR brought extra range and dimensionality to whites and contrast. Across the board, the film looked great.

While not quite as strong, the movie’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack fared nicely as well. This meant a fairly involving soundscape.

Unsurprisingly, action scenes became the most engaging. Nonetheless, the general soundfield showed a nice level of activity and formed a solid core.

Audio quality worked fine, with dialogue that seemed natural and distinctive. Music boasted nice range and impact.

Effects also came across as vivid and accurate, with good dynamics and no signs of distortion. This turned into a worthwhile soundtrack.

Two featurettes appear here, and Bringing the League to Japan spans seven minutes, 27 seconds. It offers comments from character designer Takashi Okazaki.

“Japan” looks at the ways the filmmakers altered the American superhero characters for the anime setting. Okazaki gives us a good look at these choices.

Anime Action goes for nine minutes, eight seconds. This program includes remarks from writer Kazuki Nakashima and directors Shinji Takagi and Jumpei Mizusaki.

The program covers the movie’s fight choreography. We find another useful little reel.

Seven years after the prior flick offered a pleasant surprise, Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League brings us a worthwhile sequel. While not the most coherent tale, the movie comes with such crazed energy and creativity that it delights. The 4K UHD brings excellent visuals and solid audio but only minor bonus materials. I hope we get a third Batman Ninja project.