'Batman Ninja' Anime, 'Batman The Animated Series' Blu-Ray Coming in 2018

This past weekend saw this year's New York Comic Con,  which while not quite a big deal as its sister event in San Diego, is still one of the highest profile conventions in the world. The show can always be relied on for some major announcements, and usually, a fair few will be related to animation.

Two major announcements related to the ever-popular Batman. First up was the official unveiling of Batman Ninja, a Japanese animated movie about the Dark Knight. There have been Japanese interpretations of DC's biggest character before, with the anime anthology Gotham Knight and numerous comics. This, however, is to be the first time the Caped Crusader has got his own full-blown anime feature film.

It's to be directed by Junpei Mizusaki and will feature character designs by Afro Samurai creator Takashi Okazaki. Kazuki Nakashima is writing the script, and the English language version is being supervised by Leo Chu and Eric Garcia.

Batman Ninja will see Batman and other characters transported back to feudal era Japan. The film will be released in 2018. Following the pattern of other DC/Warner Bros animated features, it will probably be released on Blu-Ray and DVD but also potentially receive some limited theatrical screenings first.

Also coming in 2018, the fan-favorite Batman: The Animated Series is hitting Blu-ray for the first time. Revealed at the BTAS 25th anniversary panel, the show will be released as a remastered edition sometime in late 2018.