Turning the Justice League into Yakuza: An Interview with Character Designer Takashi Okazaki

The sequel to 2018's Batman Ninja, Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League follows Batman and the larger Bat Family as they venture into a strange land where the Justice League of America have all been warped into yakuza versions of themselves. While the film itself is part superhero action and part parody of common yakuza tropes from across the years, it wouldn't work nearly as well if not for the yakuza-fied character designs of some of the West's most famous superheroes. With that in mind, Anime News Network sat down with Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League character designer Takashi Okazaki to discuss not only the inspiration behind each redesign but also which characters he'd love to yakuza-fy if given the chance.

To start with, Okazaki felt that he had a wide area to play around in when turning the Justice League into yakuza. “The colors and [character] trademarks are already there, aren't they?” he began. “As long as you keep those, it'll look like the original hero.” However, at the same time, he didn't want to go so over-the-top as to make them unrecognizable. “I was careful about that when I designed them—so as not to overdo it. I mean, if you have the opportunity to draw DC characters, you want to draw them properly, right?”

Each member of the Yakuza League is based on a different yakuza stereotype. Okazaki broke them down one by one starting with Wonder Woman, a.k.a. Diana Prince: “Diana is a female hero from yakuza movies—or specifically, ‘ninkyo’ movies [that showcase the yakuza-based code of honor]. Typical female protagonists like Junko Fuji's character in the Red Peony Gambler series are rather well known. There's also Lady Snowblood which is famous even in America. I created Diana based on Meiko Kaji as she appears on the movie poster for Lady Snowblood. I think it worked out quite well.”

Of course, there was more to the design then just that. Okazaki had to figure out how to incorporate Wonder Woman's associated items—i.e., her Amazonian shield and the iconic Lasso of Truth. For the shield, it was obvious in Okazaki's eyes. “There's a [Lady Snowblood] poster of her holding an umbrella and a sword—and I just thought, 'Wow, that's Wonder Woman!' If she used that umbrella as a shield, she'd be Wonder Woman. She even has this hidden sword inside the shaft of the umbrella!”

As for the Lasso, it became part of her clothing. “I made it into an obi cord,” he told me. “I don't think it was used much [in the film], so there aren't many scenes where you can see it, but in terms of design, the lasso was made into an obi cord.”

Next up, we talked about Green Lantern Jessica Cruz. “As for Jessica, where should I start... Since Diana is the typical chivalrous yakuza—a big sister type—I wanted to make Jessica younger and have a slightly more pop-fashion impression. So I put her in a dressed-down courtesan outfit,” Okazaki said, breaking things down. “I wasn't inspired by any particular movie hero [when designing Jessica] but felt like going for a really pop fashion, cute girl style. […] I mean, in general, in both yakuza movies and old ‘ninkyo’ movies, the Yoshiwara red-light district and courtesans usually appear, so I guess that image was there. But with Jessica, I didn't have any particular person in mind.”

However, there is one odd note about Jessica in the film—a teddy bear motif. Not only does she make them with her power ring, she carries one on her back. “When I got the order to make a design for Green Lantern Jessica Cruz, I didn't know much about her. So I searched the internet wondering what kind of Green Lantern she was and I found a lot of pictures of her with her partner, Simon Baz. I thought that, between Baz and Jessica, there was a buddy cop-like relationship with the two Green Lanterns.” Okazaki continued, “Baz was pretty cool. I wanted to put him in the movie somewhere. So I thought it would be cute if Jessica had a stuffed animal reminiscent of Baz—and when you think of stuffed animals, you think of a teddy bear.”

Moving on to Aquaman, Arthur Curry, his yakuza redesign came from two figures—one Japanese and the other very much not. “Arthur is based on the image of someone who works at a fish market—namely the [fictional literary] character Isshin Tasuke,” Okazaki explained. “He is a violent character who works at a fish market. While it's not unique to Isshin Tasuke, people who work at fish markets wear headbands and tie them in the front.”

That brings us to the non-Japanese inspiration. “When I saw 2PAC a long time ago, he was also wearing a bandana tied like that, you know? When I saw that, I thought that that was some amazing fish market style. [...] So this time around, when I was able to make Aquaman a yakuza, I thought, 'I can finally use this idea!' and so I did,” he exclaimed. “The idea of ​​wearing gold chains like a rapper comes from my image of 2PAC—and he wears long boots because it's the style of fish market workers. Aquaman's design mixes things like that.”

Then we moved onto Okazaki's first and favorite character redesign—that of Barry Allen, the Flash. “There is a yakuza movie character that I love called Kogarashi Monjirō. He wears a cloak and a hat that doubles as a big umbrella called a ‘sandogasa’ like Barry does [in Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League]—which is the typical style of an old-timey yakuza traveler. And when it comes to The Flash, the Golden Age Flash wears a bucket-like hat, right? I thought turning that into a sandogasa would be super cool so I drew it that way—and I added wings to the sandogasa to match the Golden Age Flash.”

“I put a lot of effort into his design,” Okazaki continued. “The lines of his boots are based on traditional Japanese patterns—on the lightning bolt design of Japanese family crests. And the lines on his cloak are also in the shape of lightning bolts—I think it's got really good balance. [...] There are all kinds of little details, you know. I really like this character.”

In the climax of the film, there is also one additional set of character designs for the Yakuza League members—a design that is half their yakuza designs and half their normal Justice League designs. Okazaki made these as well.

“Basically, I wanted the Justice League—or rather the Yakuza League—who awaken at the end of the film to become the image of the Justice League that everyone has in mind. They're designed so that Flash looks like Flash, and Aquaman looks like Aquaman—but the concept was that they all have yakuza tattoos,” Okazaki explained. “If I'd gone with too weird of a design here, then they wouldn't look like the Justice League. I was conscious of that.”

However, the most striking aspect of these tattoos—how they glow—was not part of Okazaki's original design. “The fact that they are glowing is all due to the people at Kamikaze Douga—they made the tattoos shine during production. I just designed the tattoos normally.” He laughed, “'Oh! They're glowing!' That's what I thought when I saw the movie.” His only regret is that it's hard to see the tattoos in all their glory in the final film. “Idaten is a Japanese god who can move very fast. So Barry has an Idaten tattoo on his back, [...] Wonder Woman only has a tattoo on her shoulder, Aquaman has a huge carp fish tattoo on his back, and Green Lantern has a space-themed tattoo... I worked really hard on the designs, but you can't really see them well on the big screen,” he lamented.

Beyond the Yakuza League members, Okazaki also had the opportunity to yakuza-fy two of Batman's villains gallery: The Joker and Harley Quinn. “ The Joker is a bōsōzoku [a member of a biker gang]. In the 80s, when I was really little, the bōsōzoku style was still quite common. It was so much fun to draw him,” Okazaki reminisced. “Harley is a sukeban [a member of a 70s/80s gang of female delinquents]. When I say sukeban, I mean, these days characters in school uniforms tend to have short skirts, but when I was little, all the sukeban and cool girls wore long skirts. […] For my generation, when you talk about sukeban, you think of Sukeban Deka. I feel like Sukeban Deka influenced her design a bit.”

As for how Harley was chosen to be re-imagined as a sukeban: “I was talking with Kazuki Nakashima [the film's screenwriter] about various old Toei yakuza movies and started talking about the sukeban genre—and I was like, 'Sukeban are great. I want to have a sukeban in the movie. Harley would be perfect, wouldn't she?' I think that's how she ended up being drawn as one.”

To close things out, I asked Okazaki what other DC characters he'd like to turn into yakuza. “It would be interesting if there was a Supergirl design. Oh and also, Batman and the Bat Family weren't actually yakuza in the film—I was thinking it might be interesting to make some of the Bat Family members into yakuza as well.”

However, the character that truly caught his attention was a bit of a lesser-known hero. “Power Girl might be interesting—with all the pure white. There should be a tattoo in the chest window.” Okazaki said, referring to the character's infamous cleavage cutout in her costume. “A large, white tattoo would be cool... I think she'd be completely covered in white tattoos.”

He also brainstormed about turning arguably the most famous DC villain, Lex Luthor, into a yakuza. “When it comes to Lex Luthor, I guess that'd mean the modern Yakuza style?” he mused. “Like when you take off your suit, you can see the tattoos and when you roll up your sleeves, you can see them just a little. That kind of thing would be cool.”

“It feels like no matter which character we think about, it'd be so much fun—I can have fun redesigning anyone,” Okazaki concluded, showing that if nothing else, he is a man who loves what he does and had a ton of fun doing work for this film.