The Suicide Squad (or Task Force X) has been despatched on many a mission on many a medium. Be it within the comics, the live-action variations, the animated movies and even video video games; they’ve been in all places. These treacherous assignments with perilous foes could be anyplace, towards any type of enemy the place the workforce might not essentially make it out in a single piece, not to mention alive. Hence the title Suicide Squad.
This time spherical, Task Force X is headed out to a world that’s not like another they’ve encountered to this point — an Isekai. And in a medium they haven’t actually been featured in — anime.
Isekai (異世界) actually interprets to “another world.” A preferred style of sunshine novels and anime that happen when the protagonist awakens in a realm completely different from ours. Mostly, these isekai function a protagonist that’s for all essences and functions a ‘loser’ in each sense of the time period. This loser is swiftly dispatched to the opposite world on the entity affectionally known as ‘Truck-kun’. After assembly an unlucky finish of their unique world, they’re reincarnated as heroes within the isekai, which is most of the time, a excessive fantasy world.
Technically talking, this isn’t the primary time that the DC universe has been isekai’d, for lack of a greater time period. The first time was in Batman Ninja (2018) the place the Dark Knight and a lot of his compatriots and rogues’ gallery had been transported to feudal-era Japan. Interestingly sufficient a sequel — Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League — has been introduced, so it appears to be like like Gotham’s residents are fated to be traversing between worlds.
There are variations between the 2, in fact. While Batman Ninja was a completely 3DCG movie, Suicide Squad Isekai is a 10-episode anime sequence. There is a definite lack of the Caped Crusader as a result of the main target is on the Suicide Squad.
The present is unquestionably in the identical vein as the 2 live-action Suicide Squad movies with the extra fashionable solid of characters taken from each films. It undoubtedly isn’t a sequel as a result of the members of Task Force X are assembly one another for the primary time. Therefore, there’s no prerequisite for watching the opposite movies first (or the opposite DC animated movies).
Since the Earth’s sources are dwindling, Amanda Waller has come across the thought of terraforming — to ship an expendable workforce to discover different worlds and work out how you can harness the sources there.
That expendable workforce? It’s the Suicide Squad.
The workforce headed by Rick Flag, is populated with acquainted faces. We have the regulars Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Peacemaker and King Shark. Clayface is the one entrant who doesn’t have a live-action counterpart.
While Waller’s plan appears to be like good on paper (in case you assist terraforming, that’s) the one factor she didn’t account for was the state of the world she was planning on exploiting. The Kingdom of the isekai world is in a state of chaos. Beastmen and the elves have joined forces and are busy waging warfare with the monarchy. Waller’s earlier expendable workforce has seemingly vanished into skinny air shortly after setting foot within the different world.
Now wiser, Waller decides to implant her favourite tactic to get her workforce of expendable felonious minions to conform — nano bombs within the neck. These bombs are set to go off if any of the members attempt to run, in the event that they aren’t profitable of their mission and most significantly, if Waller doesn’t get a standing replace in 72 hours. In different phrases, failure isn’t an possibility.
The group nonetheless is straight away captured by the Kingdom’s forces on arrival and thrown into jail. Strangers in an odd land, this ragtag group of villains have to determine how you can not solely full their mission but additionally get to Waller earlier than their heads go BOOM!
When the anime was initially introduced, the general public expectation of the present was abysmal. Batman Ninja didn’t ship, so why would this? Coupled with the truth that the trailer closely featured the Joker, it made the present seem to be an animated model of Suicide Squad (2016) with an isekai twist, which wasn’t precisely one thing folks thought they wanted to sit up for.
Surprisingly, DC’s characters and the isekai setting get on collectively like a home on fireplace.
The 72-hour time restrict and the strain from the Kingdom to realize their freedom tighten the plot so it doesn’t meander an excessive amount of. The isekai style usually options quite a lot of worldbuilding, what with the protagonist touchdown up in very unfamiliar territory. In the case of Suicide Squad, it’s not solely the DC characters that want display time but additionally the newly launched characters unique to the anime. There’s primary isekai worldbuilding accomplished within the present, nevertheless it’s largely saved to the minimal. You are left as at the hours of darkness, very similar to the characters themselves.
Generally, the nice and unhealthy in an isekai anime is minimize and dry (solely exceptions being perverse protagonists). But the minute you’ve got Blackgate’s deadliest criminals footloose and fancy-free, there’s absolute chaos. Which, let’s face, it’s what we anticipate of them. They could also be compelled to do the suitable factor however their strategies aren’t precisely hero-like.
Since Task Force X contains solely 5 members (plus Flag), there aren’t too many characters to maintain observe of, so issues are saved easy. They work surprisingly effectively collectively and get issues accomplished quick. Their group dynamics is quite a lot of enjoyable.
WIT Studio (which was accountable for the primary three seasons of Attack on Titan) is animating the sequence, so visually the sequence was assured to be good. The loud colourful palette of the Suicide Squad blends in fantastically with the intense, vivid isekai world. The struggle scenes are fluid and you’ve got Task Force X reducing by way of their enemies like butter.
The character designs are additionally distinctive. A mix of the live-action movies with the comics is neatly wrapped up in an anime aesthetic and introduced to the viewer. Of course, it isn’t for everybody, particularly these unused to a cutesier colourful take being dropped at the desk versus the extra mature, gritty visuals we see within the Western animation scene.
Suicide Squad Isekai is a refreshing change to see in DC’s animation releases and the isekai anime as effectively. It’s a sequence the place one can simply minimize unfastened and have enjoyable, similar to Blackgate Penitentiary’s inmates.
