Batman is a character that has one of the most unique personalities, classifying as the Byronic hero. He is perhaps one of the most successful superheroes in the United States of America. There have been adaptations one after the other to tell the tale of the Caped Crusader. Live action adaptations, movies, television shows, animated and games, Batman is everywhere.
For a Japanese adaptation, there needed to be certain changes in the character of Batman, giving rise to Batman Ninja. While the unique perspective given was one loved by fans worldwide, there was a very specific reason to turn him into a ninja instead of letting him roam the nights as the billionaire playboy that his reputation sees him be.
Batman’s Peculiar Reputation in Japan
Leo Chu, the screenwriter of Batman Ninja talked about how the entire identity of Batman had to be turned upside down because of the setting and audience. Speaking with Asia Pacific Arts at WonderCon, he elaborated on the fact about how Batman wasn’t a popular character in Japan as compared to the United States of America.
Warner Bros. Japan explained to Warner Bros. that this would open up the door for people in Japan. Batman isn’t that popular; in fact, his personality is very different from what would be popular in Japan. He’s a loner and he’s a billionaire, which is very contrary to standard anime characters.
Creating Batman Ninja was made keeping in mind how different Bruce Wayne was in the eyes of the Japanese people. His being a billionaire, alongside the lonely, brooding persona made him very unlike how Japanese anime characters, especially the main characters are portrayed. They are seen as charismatic, filled with life, and although their backstories may be filled with tragedies.
The very idea of a character like that forced upon the idea to change some aspects of the Caped Crusader, such as turning him into a Ninja. To make him more acceptable and relatable, elements were changed, removed, and added, making Batman still the same hero but with Japanese aspects to keep him in touch with the audience.
The Brooding Byronic Hero
Bruce Wayne, Batman is the textbook representation of the Byronic hero. A term created as a result of the heroes created by Lord Byron in a majority of his works, the Byronic hero is driven by the cause of rebelling as a result of horrors experienced by him in the past. He is brooding, lonely by choice at most times, and melancholic. The terms came to life with his 1812 poem Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage and since then came into the picture of a moody and dark protagonist haunted by his past.
Batman and Bruce Wayne meet every single characteristic of this Byronic hero. He is haunted by a terrible past, majorly his parents’ death. He is moody and a loner, and rebels in the night as Batman. While anime characters also have dark pasts, they do not necessarily resort to solitude. They are mostly filled with life and extroverted as an attempt to make these main characters relatable to younger audiences.
While there are always exceptions, Bruce Wayne’s personal story was one that stood out too differently from that of others. As a result, it was important to change him to fit better as a Japanese hero rather than the iconic Caped Crusader.
Batman Ninja is available to watch on Crunchyroll.
