Sunday, October 5, 2008

HOLY BATM-ANIME, BATMAN!?

Or Someone say ZAP! or ZOWIE! please! 

from the PRESS RELEASE:

Batman: Gotham Knight was headed by an impressive list of directors who have brought their distinctly different anime styles to the classic Batman character. The production was divided among three renowned studios – Studio 4C, Production I.G and Madhouse – and included the truly inimitable visions of directors Shojiro Nishimi, Futoshi Higashide, Hiroshi Morioka, Yasuhiro Aoki and Toshiyuki Kubooka.

With stories written by several of the most talented writers of film, comic books, and animation, including Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Josh Olson (A History of Violence), David S. Goyer (Batman Begins), Emmy-winner Alan Burnett (Batman: The Animated Series), Jordan Goldberg (Associate Producer, The Dark Knight), and award-winning comics writers Greg Rucka and Brian Azzarello, Batman: Gotham Knight presents thrilling new adventures of Batman that spotlight several of Gotham City’s most dangerous villains, including the fearsome Scarecrow, the freakish Killer Croc and the unnerving marksman known as Deadshot.


For the record, I am not an anime hater. More specifically I think the anime classic AKIRA (Katsuhiro Otomo 1988) is one of the finest films I have ever viewed. In fact, I'm terrified that it will be live-actioned into mediocrity - the impact of the hand drawn animation is SO compelling.

But I come not to praise AKIRA, but to bury BATMAN:GOTHAM KNIGHT. 

First and most annoying-ly - who the hell is this moppy-haired prissy-mouthed twink below? Certainly not Bruce Wayne, billionaire industrialist man about town? Not even young Bruce in my universe. How would he ever get all of that beach bum hair into a cowl?



Oh, I see. You give his cape and cowl a cowl-neck. Like the sweaters Judith Light wore on Who's The Boss? In fact the rendering below also features shoulder pads ala Designing Women from the same sad era of television fashion. If he had a Cliff Huxtable sweater he'd be wearing the 80s trifecta.



Thankfully, some of the animation teams chose the traditional black and gray. No armor, no wings, no rubber suits with nipples (sorry George Clooney) - oy!



On balance, however, I found more anime conventions than Caped Crusader. Why even bother wearing a utility-belt if - instead of reaching for it - things can just suddenly appear in your hand? Your trunks will hold your tights up, Bat-dude! If it doesn't DO anything it's an accessory-belt. 



I'm certain the attempt was for an edgier, younger, darker Dark Knight but it fails in the opinion of this long-time Bat-maniac. And the claim that this somehow bridged the space between Begins and Dark Knight is silly. One of the stories was a re-imaging of an Alan Burnett script from BATMAN:The Animated Series where the differing POVs of some urban tweens result in "Batmen" who fly, wear armor, drink blood, eat quiche, blah blah blah. I liked it better the first time. The others feature a cast of characters that I have enjoyed more in the Saturday Morning animated versions. And uh... JOKER?  



I'm glad I waited to watch this on Cartoon Network instead of buying my own copy. Do yourself a favor. Skip this 'toon and buy a copy of AKIRA if you want animation with edge, pathos and well, the ubiquitous tousled-haired twinks.

No comments: