http://independentcomicssite.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=388&Itemid=1
Batman has made it to the far east before in Kia Asamiya's critically acclaimed graphic novels featuring the Dark Knight. Now DC Comics and a variety of anime studios take it a step further: "Batman – Gotham Knight" is the first Batman Anime! See a boatload of pictures and read more about the whole thing!

During the second world war, a famous Batman cover depicts the Dark Knight and his sidekick, Robin the Boy Wonder, sitting behind a machine gun, shooting at opposing Japanese forces. Luckily, the war is long gone and even Batman seems to have forgotten the grudge he once held against the people with the rising sun on their banner. And also the Japanese have apparently forgiven Bats and now he's venturing into asian territory. Not with a machine gun, this time, but with the license to entertain. Yes, folks, Batman will become an anime in the summer of 2008.

What will this whole thing be about, you ask? Well, it's basically the Animatrix with more Batman - Concept-wise at least. "Batman – Gotham Knight" will feature six different stories, all produced by six different anime studios. As for the story, there's not too much revealed yet, but the confirmed villains - read: visible in the trailer - are Scarecrow, Deadshot, Man-Bat and Killer Croc. Apparently, from the statements of the DC-folks, Deadshot will be the main antagonist of this little series as he's played out and redesigned to be some sort of "Anti-Batman." Whatever Batman stands for, Deadshot does not stand for and vice versa. And in spectacular animation, Batman will battle all those villains. And yes, there will be blood. Lots of blood, by the looks of it, so "Batman – Gotham Knight" will be targeted at an older audience.

Of course, this whole project can't go over without a lot of propaganda, despite its amazing looks. Naturally, in the trailer, there's a lot of talking how this step was the best thing to ever happen to Batman and all that stuff we know from countless other trailers. This all is sold to us by names like Denny O'Neil - DC Editor Extraordinaire - and DC's animation Guru Bruce Timm. And I'm willing to believe those people, honestly, since Timm obviously knows what he's talking about and O'Neil has been a name that is associated with DC for ages now. But then there's this one guy who has to do the obvious thing: He followed the obvious trail of "Japan - Anime - Far East - Samurai!" and connected it to Batman. Yessir, Gregory Noveck, SVP Creative Affairs DC Comics, is calling Batman a Samurai. And not only that, because Batman has turned Japanese and regular Samurai are sort of boring, Batman must be Samurai who has lost his master - in his case his father - and is now searching for a new one only to find that master in himself. And this, I'm just going to leave uncommented.

Batman has adversaries other than the Joker, you know.