On an animated television level, DC animated television has had some absolute bangers recently. My Adventures With Superman Season 2 hit the airwaves and I really liked it. Batman: Caped Crusader also appeared recently and I've really been digging its noir, more unique grounded take on Batman. We don't talk about non anime around here though, even if Superman is heavily, heavily influenced by it. It's time for Suicide Squad Isekai, the anime series that Studio Wit created and at least had its first season end last Thursday. It's a good time because it was everything I expected it to be and a little more.
Suicide Squad Isekai starts with, as you would expect from the two films, Harley Quinn. Except, it starts with Harley Quinn and the Joker as a lovey dovey couple robbing a bank. Except it goes wrong as you would expect with it going wrong, Harley facing off against Katana, then Harley getting captured by A.R.G.U.S. under the brutal Amanda Waller. The mission? Going to another world through a portal into a fantasy land for resources and Harley isn't going alone. She comes with a group that has a 72 hour time limit to report back on their progress or they die.
The newly sent suicide squad members, because there was previous ones, is Harley Quinn of course, Clayface, Dead Shot, Peacekeeper, and King Shark. Eventually, Flag joins on to lead them. All very flat characters in terms of development, but I think they are genuinely pretty fun. Harley is a beacon of pure insanity and freedom, but she deeply loves Joker who is very charming in this one. Deadshot is a bully, Clayface is an unpopular actor who gets wrongly meta all the time, Peacekeeper is very mission focused, and King Shark is the biggest, little guy. Their interactions between each other are so much fun.
From a story standpoint, it's different from the usual Isekai stuff. You know, because they are treated as suspicious because they dress weird and use modern weapons in a pretty standard European fantasy world. But, they are treated as assets as the squad fights for the kingdom against the empire that suspiciously has the previous suicide squad members fighting for them. Or should I say, manipulating the empire to wipe the kingdom off that fantasy world's map.
Most of the main plot involves what happens in the Kingdom's royal court. I mean, the squad is thrown in prison a lot because the queen is very non-trustful and controlling. There is also a very good, but simple arc between Harley and the very cowardly princess Fione in which the princess is discovering her free will. Otherwise, the show is mainly a vehicle for the suicide squad to fight medieval monsters and armies and other DC villains. Which, you know, is fun enough by itself and is enough reason to watch this in my opinion.
Visually, Suicide Squad Isekai looks pretty good to me. I love the character designs because they have so much personality. The animation itself is pretty great overall though I think the direction isn't as legible and elegant as it wants to be. As a whole, this entire idea is pretty simple and it's not like Isekai is outside the realm of DC things because we are talking about a comic book franchise that is a multiverse situation. It's the suicide squad in an Isekai setting and it does this concept pretty well and a lot more interesting then I thought it would be.
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