Manga DC 2012: Batman and Robin

On a roll! Here's my versions of Batman and his sidekick Robin. Batman was the first DC character I redesigned when I did the initial set back in high school.

Rurouni Kenshin was playing on Toonami back when I did the original Manga DC, and Batman takes a lot of visual inspiration from that series. The premise remains roughly the same:

In feudal Japan, the boy Masahiko's prominent parents were killed by ninjas and the child, with nowhere else to go, was taken in by an aged samurai (my version of Alfred). The kind old samurai, sensing the boy's pain and rage, taught Masahiko the values of bushido, in hopes of channeling the boy's anger into something productive. Masahiko grew to be an accomplished warrior, and using his prominence in society as a ruse, began his sacred mission to rid the land of evil. Having sworn to not use the sword (the weapon used to murder his parents), Masahiko uses cunning, martial prowess, theatricality, and deception to wage war on the corrupt of the shogunate as the vigilante known as Koumori, the Batman!

One day Masahiko was sent for by the Emperor's council. While in court, Masahiko came across a boy named Sho, a young acrobat with his family for the Emperor's royal court. However, corrupt officials attempt to use Sho's parents to get to the Emperor, and kill them for refusing to cooperate. Like the aged samurai before him, Masahiko felt the boy's despair and wished to help him. Taking the young orphan as his apprentice, Masahiko revealed his identity to the boy and trained him. Clothed in father's old scarlet tunic, Sho became Akahige, the Robin.

Notes:
- "Masahiko" means "just prince," which seemed fitting as Batman's all about justice, and Bruce Wayne has been called the "prince of Gotham"
- "Koumori" means "bat," and "Akahige" means "Robin"
- "Sho" means "to fly/soar," and it seemed a good name for the young acrobat.
- While initially set in feudal Japan, I had an idea that the mantle of the Bat is handed down generation by generation, until the present day. It makes the Batman seem more immortal and demon-like to his foes.

My short premise differs from the extensive storylines set up by ; no discredit to him, he's gone above and beyond with my initial designs, you should check his gallery out for his take on the MDCU.