Batman Ninja - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Studio: Warner Bros. Animation
Release Date: June 13, 2018 (Warner Bros. Japan)

Synopsis and Track List: In this groundbreaking anime adaptation of the legendary Batman franchise, Gotham City is swapped out for feudal Japan, where Batman fights his infamous foes as an armored ninja. With Catwoman, Two-Face and the Joker all showing up to battle the Bat, will Bruce Wayne be able to save the day? Music by Yugo Kanno, the representative film composer of Japan!

1. Ninja Batman
2. Prologue
3. Demon King of the Sixth Heaven
4. In the Shadows
5. NEPUTA
6. Old Comrades
7. First Assault
8. Fierce and Violent
9. Ancient Myth
10. Bamboo Flute
11. The Collision
12. Betrayal
13. Conspiracy
14. Construction
15. My mind, my body, my spirit and all of you
16. Hidden Village
17. Pastoral
18. A Sortie
19. Sengoku Batman
20. Gigant Machinas
21. Domination
22. Return of the Demon King
23. GAT-TAI
24. Monkey Magic
25. Last Assault
26. The Bat God
27. Duels
28. Final Confrontation
29. The Legendary Ninja
30. Farewell
31. To where we came from
32. Epilogue
33. Bonus Track: End Credit Medley

Batman Ninja - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Review
By James Harvey

Even though the score relentlessly throws so many different styles at the listener, the soundtrack release for Batman Ninja holds itself together as a cohesive, exhilarating adventure, much like the movie itself. Think of it as controlled chaos. For fans of Batman Ninja, this soundtrack extends and builds upon the experience of the animated movie, offering up yet another aspect of the excellent feature to enjoy. It also just might be one of the craziest Batman soundtrack releases of all time but, like the absolutely bonkers awesome Batman Ninja movie itself, it's still a fantastic end product that all clicks together ... even though it shouldn't.

Composer Yugo Kanno, of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and a wealth of other works, establishes a familiar heroic theme for The Dark Knight in the appropriately titled first track, "Batman Ninja," similar to what we've come to expect from animated Batman projects such as this. However, it's not long before we start to hear hints that this score (like the movie) is not going to go how we think it will. Traditional beats are still peppered throughout the album, working to elevate and support the musical surprises in store. As the album moves to the second track, "Prologue," Kanno creates a mysterious, almost horror-tinged sound that's very "Batman," even dropping in some heavy, deep string work (think Zimmer's work from The Dark Knight Trilogy), but then shifting quickly to the start of the madness (appropriately) with The Joker-heavy "Demon King of the Sixth Heaven." The track starts off clearly influenced by the time-frame of the movie's plot before taking a hard left and just going for something equally exciting, energetic and just bizarre. And from there, well, things really start to twist and turn even more, track by track. However, like The Dark Knight himself in Batman Ninja, our hero's heroic theme pops up sporadically throughout the score to act as our reassuring anchor.

The soundtrack holds genuine musical surprises, like the traditional-sounding string work in "NEPUTA" mixed with Joker's circus-y theme (which you'll hear a lot more in "Return of the Demon King"), the piano work in "Old Comrades," or the blaring horns in "Fierce and Violent" mixed with electric beats, which itself is immediately followed by the soothing "Ancient Myth." The surprises keep rolling as that track is followed by the Joker theme-heavy "The Collision," which kinda shifts through a few different musical styles before ending on a great heroic beat. The score zips up and down for its duration, with some of the tracks themselves sorta zip all over the place in the span of just a few minutes, but ... it works. It shouldn't, but it does.

There's a track called "Bamboo Flute," which is just 20-ish seconds of just that ... a single bamboo flute. Oddly enough, it's the perfect track to catch your breathe before the album throws it's next surprise. Same for "In the Shadows," a still, contemplative track that gets a bit of a reprisal at the end in "Epilogue." That doesn't include some of the more surprising tracks, like "My mind, my body, my spirit and all of you," which is a slow, piano-heavy number that's a beautiful piece of work. "Pastoral" is another soothing track that builds the film's emotional beats and perfectly rolls into danger-riddled "A Sortie." This leads to "Sengoku Batman," which brings Batman's heroic theme back out in full force and perfectly sets the stage for the absolutely epic "Gigant Michinas," itself a track that just builds and builds to an epic scale. As an extra neat touch, the track also drips in some horror-esque strings to sell the intensity that much more.

Keeping with the left turns and surprises this album offers, there are two tracks that exemplify that perfectly. Simply, you are not ready for the "GAT-TAI" track. It's unlike anything else in the album, and that's saying something, but it also fits right in with all the chaos. The lyric-heavy, J-POP-sounding track wouldn't be out of place in a dance club but, holy smokes, it gets you amped and it is awesome. "Monkey Magic" is also another out-of-left-field track with its upbeat, bizarrely enjoyable flute-heavy sounds that's clearly having piles of fun while also not ignoring the scale of the events being scored.

To wrap things up, "Final Confrontation" expertly lead into by "The Bat God" and "Duels," is exactly the track you'd expect it to be for an epic showdown between the Batman Family and the wealth of foes he needs to vanquish. It's big, fast and sounds like something out of a big-screen summer blockbuster. It serves as a great, final hurrah for the score before it, like the movie, starts to right itself (for lack of a better term) now that the day has been saved. Batman Ninja's end credit themes and epilogue tracks are a welcome breather and a perfect cumulative cap to the album.

 Kanno's work on Batman Ninja is incredible from start to finish, with every track bringing something unique or key to the album's overall feel, sound and themes. There's so much here on the Batman Ninja soundtrack that it basically requires repeat play-throughs. There always seems to be something new coming to light with each listen. Even with that, though, it's amazing that as the album wraps, it manages to feel like a consistent experience, even with how it goes in some wildly unexpected directions. Batman Ninja - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack honestly might not be for everyone, as it goes in some directions you wouldn't normally associate with Batman (much like the movie itself), but for those willing to try something a little new, prepare to get swept up in a legitimately unexpected, surprising and even hypnotic listen. Highly Recommended!

Please note the author purchased and imported a copy of this title from Japan for review.

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