BatmAnime.
Released: 2008
Genre(s): Animation, Action, Crime
Batman has appeared in many various forms over the years, simultaneously embodying the roles of comic book icon, animated vigilante, and live-action hero. Some of these incarnations are obviously much better than others, with my favorite Dark Knights diligently protecting the animated streets of cartoon Gotham Cities. While thematically somber and dark (and might I add, supremely enjoyable), the brutality of these iterations generally fails to match up to the vicious heaviness found in the live-action Christopher Nolan films "Batman Begins" and more notably "The Dark Knight." Enter "Batman: Gotham Knight," a six-part, anime anthology released around the same time as "The Dark Knight" that serves as an interlude of sorts between the two Nolan movies (although its place within Nolan's canon isn't officially acknowledged). A visual treat, each short segment of this film is done in a unique, crisp animation style, by a different Japanese anime artist. Each piece also has a different writer, making this a wildly varied, supercharged romp through some of the heaviest corners of the Batman mythology. The storylines explored in this entry are not to be mistaken for Saturday morning cartoons (even with the talented Kevin Conroy of the '90s animated series voicing each iteration of The Caped Crusader) - things get seriously unsettling and twisted, with a healthy dose of savage violence to match. The movie is excellent in the sense that it both draws from the rich, preexisting Batman universe, while simultaneously adding its own wealth of vibrant lore. Both fans of anthology collections in the spirit of "The Animatrix" and fans of Batman in general will be able to appreciate this film for what it is - an intense, yet immensely refreshing, blast of beautifully-animated action, starring one of the world's most recognizable and admired heroes.
Rating (out of 5): 4
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