‘Suicide Squad Isekai’: The Time Blackgate’s Inmates Were Isekai’d

The Suicide Squad (or Task Force X) has been sent on many a mission on many a medium. Be it in the comics, the live-action adaptations, the animated films or even video games; they’ve been everywhere. These treacherous assignments with perilous foes can be anywhere, against any kind of enemy where the team may not necessarily make it out in one piece, let alone alive. Hence the name Suicide Squad.

This time round, Task Force X is headed out to a world that’s unlike any other they’ve encountered so far — an Isekai. And in a medium they haven’t really been featured in — anime.  

Isekai (異世界) literally translates to “another world.” A popular genre of light novels and anime that take place when the protagonist awakens in a realm different from ours. Mostly, these isekai feature a protagonist that is for all essences and purposes a ‘loser’ in every sense of the term. This loser is swiftly dispatched to the other world at the entity affectionally called ‘Truck-kun’. After meeting an unfortunate end in their original world, they are reincarnated as heroes in the isekai, which is more often than not, a high fantasy world.

Technically speaking, this isn’t the first time that the DC universe has been isekai’d, for lack of a better term. The first time was in Batman Ninja (2018) where the Dark Knight and a large number of his compatriots and rogues’ gallery were transported to feudal-era Japan. Interestingly enough a sequel — Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League — has been announced, so it looks like Gotham’s residents are fated to be traversing between worlds.

There are differences between the two, of course. While Batman Ninja was an entirely 3DCG film, Suicide Squad Isekai is a 10-episode anime series. There is a distinct lack of the Caped Crusader because the focus is on the Suicide Squad.

The show is definitely in the same vein as the two live-action Suicide Squad films with the more popular cast of characters taken from both movies. It definitely isn’t a sequel because the members of Task Force X are meeting each other for the first time. Therefore, there’s no prerequisite for watching the other films first (or the other DC animated films). 

Since the Earth’s resources are dwindling, Amanda Waller has hit upon the idea of terraforming — to send an expendable team to explore other worlds and figure out how to harness the resources there.

That expendable team? It’s the Suicide Squad.

The team headed by Rick Flag, is populated with familiar faces. We have the regulars Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Peacemaker and King Shark. Clayface is the only entrant who doesn’t have a live-action counterpart.

While Waller’s plan looks good on paper (if you support terraforming, that is) the one thing she did not 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 war with the monarchy. Waller’s previous expendable team has seemingly vanished into thin air shortly after setting foot in the other world.

Now wiser, Waller decides to implant her favorite tactic to get her team of expendable felonious minions to comply — nano bombs in the neck. These bombs are set to go off if any of the members try to run, if they aren’t successful in their mission and most importantly, if Waller does not get a status update in 72 hours. In other words, failure isn’t an option.

The group however is immediately captured by the Kingdom’s forces on arrival and thrown into prison. Strangers in a strange land, this ragtag group of villains have to figure out how to not only complete their mission but also get to Waller before their heads go BOOM!

When the anime was initially announced, the public expectation of the show was abysmal. Batman Ninja didn’t deliver, so why would this? Coupled with the fact that the trailer heavily featured the Joker, it made the show seem like an animated version of Suicide Squad (2016) with an isekai twist, which wasn’t exactly something people thought they needed to look forward to.

Surprisingly, DC’s characters and the isekai setting get on together like a house on fire.

The 72-hour time limit and the pressure from the Kingdom to gain their freedom tighten the plot so it doesn’t meander too much. The isekai genre typically features a lot of worldbuilding, what with the protagonist landing up in very unfamiliar territory. In the case of Suicide Squad, it’s not only the DC characters that need screen time but also the newly introduced characters exclusive to the anime. There’s basic isekai worldbuilding done in the show, but it’s mostly kept to the minimum. You are left as in the dark, much like the characters themselves.

Generally, the good and bad in an isekai anime is cut and dry (only exceptions being perverse protagonists). But the minute you have Blackgate’s deadliest criminals footloose and fancy-free, there’s absolute chaos. Which, let’s face, it is what we expect of them. They may be forced to do the right thing but their methods aren’t exactly hero-like.

Since Task Force X comprises only five members (plus Flag), there aren’t too many characters to keep track of, so things are kept simple. They work surprisingly well together and get things done fast. Their group dynamics is a lot of fun.

WIT Studio (which was responsible for the first three seasons of Attack on Titan) is animating the series, so visually the series was guaranteed to be good. The loud colorful palette of the Suicide Squad blends in beautifully with the bright, vivid isekai world. The fight scenes are fluid and you have Task Force X cutting through their enemies like butter.

The character designs are also unique. A combination of the live-action films with the comics is neatly wrapped up in an anime aesthetic and presented to the viewer. Of course, it isn’t for everyone, especially those unused to a cutesier colorful take being brought to the table as opposed to the more mature, gritty visuals we see in the Western animation scene.

Suicide Squad Isekai is a refreshing change to see in DC’s animation releases and the isekai anime as well. It’s a series where one can just cut loose and have fun, just like Blackgate Penitentiary’s inmates.