"Suicide Squad Isekai" Season One Talkback (Spoilers)

[Yojimbo]

Super-Villains sent to ISEKAI!? The most dangerous & bizarre fantasy adventure unveiled!!

In the crime-ridden Gotham city, Amanda Waller, the head of A.R.G.U.S., has assembled a group of notorious criminals for a mission: Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Peacemaker, Clayface and King Shark. These DC Super-Villains are sent into an otherworldly realm that’s connected to this world through a “GATE”. It’s a world of swords and magic where orcs rampage and dragons rule the skies ―― an “ISEKAI”

Harley and others go on a rampage after arriving in ISEKAI but are captured by the Kingdom's soldiers and sent to prison. They only have 72 hours before the bomb on their neck explodes. The deadline is fast approaching. After negotiations with Queen Aldora, the condition for liberation was the conquest of the hostile Imperial army. They have no choice but to throw themselves head-first into the front line of battle.

They run; they die. They lose; they die. With their lives on the line, can Harley Quinn and The Suicide Squad survive in ISEKAI?

Brace yourselves for the pulse-pounding saga of the elite task force known as the “Suicide Squad” as they embark on a jaw-dropping adventure! Let the PARTY begin!

​

Episode 1 - June 27, 2024

"A new world" - After going on a rampage with her partner-in-crime The Joker, Harley Quinn is sent straight to Belle Reve Penitentiary.

Episode 2 - June 27, 2024

Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Peacemaker, Clayface and King Shark find themselves in a new world of swords and sorcery, known as an "ISEKAI."

Episode 3 - June 27, 2024

Harley Quinn and the Suicide Squad strike a deal with Queen Aldora of the Kingdom to deactivate the bombs in their necks.

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[Frontier]

Episode 1:

Kind of fitting to kick off this DC Isekai anime with Joker and Harley talking about going to another world (albeit in a "we live in a society" type way you'd expect from Jared Leto's Joker) while Amanda Waller is trying to actually enter into another world...using someone's body? Is that Enchantress .

Joker was about in it as much as I expected...which is, like, the first 10 minutes. I'm kind of wondering if we'll see him again...either he finds his way into the other world or Harley gets back only to find out he replaced her. Either way, it's kind of surreal to see Yuichiro Umehara, who I know from more straight-laced, heartthrob, roles to play the Clown Prince of Crime. Also driving a car with a piano is so extra .

(Though Orochimaru as Amanda Waller sure is something .)

You completely understand why the marketing has promoted Harley so much because she absolutely steals the show and Anna Nagase injects her with so much character and seems to be having as much fun voicing her as the animators do animating her. And this is pretty quintessential Harley, being a vivacious and carefree wild woman who is quick with a quip as she is with bashing someone over the head and is as feisty as she is madly in love with a psychotic clown. This is Harley Quinn .

Also I love how "Pudding-chan" has now been added to the anime lexicon .

"Noonan's" is funny because the Kite-Man spinoff where he owns the bar is coming up in a few weeks

The Joker and Harley aren't stopped by Batman but instead...Katana and an Argus team! In a surprisingly fluid and cool action-sequence! Katana didn't even need to say a word! And of course it wouldn't be a true DC anime without their main Japanese hero .

But I honestly thought they were apprehending Harley to recruit her into the squad, it was half a year before they actually used her in the group. I don't think they caught her because she was breaking the law otherwise they would have left her for the police, so did Waller just want to have Supervillains in her backpocket ?

How many WB franchises can Harley reference in one episode? We've got Looney Tunes, Game of Thrones, even Lord of the Rings .

Wade seems like the type of guy you want to kick in the balls .

Look, it's black Deadshot! Still trying to make that happen. And just like Will Smith we barely see him with his mask outside the OP and the scene confirming who he is .

It wouldn't really be Deadshot in the Suicide Squad without them using his daughter against him !

Clayface is quite the charmer, especially with Jun Fukuyama's sultry tones. And he's the most self-aware character in the whole thing and knows what an "Isekai" is which convinced me he is not only a thespian but an anime fan. It's too bad he's an "unpopular actor" but at least he's entertaining .

I love how this Peacemaker is so serious about peace he won't even let people see his real face...and he's got this strong conviction yet simpleminded personality that is perfect for the legendary Takehito Koyasu !

King Shark is...well, King Shark. And will eat literally everything that shows up on-screen .

If you missed Peacemaker and Bloodsport's dynamic...well, here's what it would've been like had Will Smith been in The Suicide Squad .

How full-circle that they started off in prison in the normal world only to end up in prison in the fantasy world .

Episode 2:

The OP is pretty simple but jazzy, featuring all the players and their colliding in a fantasy world .

I love how we have some anime heavyweights on the fantasy side. Mamiko Noto as the Queen Aldora, Reina Ueda as the princess Fione, and Jun Fukushima (himself a star of an iconic Isekai franchise) as Cecil .

I'm wondering if the kingdom isn't completely on the up and up. The nobles obviously seem corrupt, but beyond the obvious income inequality and food shortage it feels like they're also prejudiced against the non-human races considering they're at war with them and they fill up their prisons .

Harley's not a great person, she has no hesitation to commit crimes or kill people for her "Pudding-chan," but that doesn't mean she deserves to be assaulted while she's already in custody and in handcuffs. That's probably part of why she's so fixated on Joker, she thinks he's the only one that's got her back .

Who knew the acting skills of a third-rate star who is also a primadonna wouldn't be enough to break through a language barrier? Or that insinuating you would escape while leaving behind your cellmates because that's just how these stories work would cause them to screw you over ?

Move over "Pudding-chan," now we have "Nana-chan" for King Shark .

I love how the Squad got in a cafeteria brawl and a jailbreak all in one episode .

Rick Flag finally shows up! He's the straightforward and on-point commander who while not as colorful as the rest of the cast is probably the only one who can keep them on mission and actually doing anything, especially when he has more of an idea of what's going on. I'm not expecting him to survive this though .

Interesting that Flag assumed Waller would send Katana next...and we see her in the Isekai world but working with the empire. Did she get sent in solo only to jump ship? Or is she being brainwashed? Her eyes looked more blue than when she fought Harley .

"We're some kind of Suicide Squad?" They really went there. You know they knew exactly what they were doing because Deadshot is the one that said it .

Impromptu Clayface dance sequence...go !

The ending...just...the ending. I was expecting Harley Quinn or the Squad dancing not Amanda Waller busting a move and making me feel things I never wanted to feel about Amanda Waller .

Episode 3:

I need more Harley and Rick Deadshot colorful commentary! They're the two members of the Squad vibing the most together .

Poor Rick Flag. His original team abandoned him to join the Empire, his new team want nothing to do with him, and the only thing keeping him from getting his head lobbed off is they need him to get back home .

Harley and the princess are both blonde and have the same face...do I smell a switcheroo plot? They definitely seem like they'll hang out more as the show goes along .

Harley has the best and smuggest "can you finally get these cuffs off me?" expression .

Everyone is finally back in their costumes and gear! Complete with Clayface looking like he read so much Demon Slayer he tried to imitate Muzan .

Harley finally using her psychological skills to notice the brainwashing of the wolves, but she also acts like she was brainwashed as "Harleen Quinzel" when others would probably say that she was brainwashed by the Joker into becoming Harley .

The action in this episode was a lot more carrtoony, especially anything involving King Shark .

I didn't expect to see Deadshot and Ratcatcher as homies...or Deadshot to be kind of a terrible homie. If it wasn't insulting him while standing up for him, or stealing his food while leaving him with bad cheese, or giving him a mohawk while he was on the john, or making people think he's into watching rats breed...yeah, Floyd is not a good a good friend .

It seems like in this world Metahumans get their natural abilities boosted while baseline humans get boosted when they use magical weapons (like Harley did and Katana with her new weapon). And Harley wants payback against Katana for beating her and stealing her from her man .

I wonder if the Squad will ever grow on Cecil...probably not .

 

[PicardMan]

This series seems like it might avoid the fate of the early 2010s Marvel anime, but those shows had the issue of airing when the when the Western anime market was in a major slump and aired on a dying G4 channel. I wonder how this will do on the Max charts. Wow, at the reviews from Anime News Network as this is getting really good scores a Western coproduction as those almost always get low scores, The Summer 2024 Anime Preview Guide - Suicide Squad ISEKAI.

As for my thoughts on the show's content, it seems odd to have a series based on the premise of a series based around the possibility of characters dying and being transported to a genre known for omnipotent protagonists and little to no stakes or suspense. The series is isekai in the sense of it being about the Suicide Squad being transported into a fantasy world, but the series seems to have excised the power fantasy and harem building elements that have been ubiquitous in the isekai genre. This seems mainly an excuse to have the Suicide Squad fight orcs and other stock fantasy monsters. WIT's action scenes are on point as expected. Looks like the plot is Harley Quinn's squad on team human vs. Katana's squad on team orc. This series should bring some silly fun supervillains vs orcs fun.

 

[PinkieLopBun]

From the front page of AnimeSuperhero.com:

“Suicide Squad Isekai”: Episodes 1-3: Episode Recap​

"Every Thursday, a new episode of Suicide Squad Isekai will release on Hulu and Max and episodes one through thee have already been released June 27. Did you miss these episodes? We can get you up to speed on what happened in these premiere episodes with some analysis about what I thought worked and didn’t work. To summarize the premise of this superhero/anime mashup, this is the story about the iconic supervillain team being trapped in an alternate universe with magic, orcs, and other fantasy tropes. So without further ado, let’s recap Episode 1."

Read the full article here.

 

[Yojimbo]

Episode 4 - July 3, 2024

The war between the Kingdom and the Empire has been raging for decades. Hoping to end the carnage, Princess Fione enlists Harley and her team's help.

Note: The English dub begins July 4 on Hulu with episodes 1-3 and on July 11 for episode 4 and so on.

 

[Frontier]

Joker lived a pretty blessed life, luring in gangs trying to kill him into killing each other all the while getting a Harley lap pillow as she adores watching him work. The Clown Prince of Crime is too lucky.

Despite their prior success, the Squad is still in prison (with 12 hours left before they blow up), I guess when you destroy the base that you were supposed to liberate, people are less willing to let you free. At least they've got Princess Fione believing in them, even if they can't do much. Though while Clayface is really into having a princess involved in the plot, Harley could care less for her...especially because she reminds her of Harleen.

No wonder Fione cares about the people so much, she'd hang out with commoners and see exactly how much this war was negatively effecting them, and had to grow up with them dying or their people jumping ship while she was powerless to do anything about it. She knows her duty, but how can she fulfill it?

Why am I not surprised the other fantasy races joined the Empire? It seems like the wolfmen did it because Ratcatcher brainwashed them, but is that true for the elves?

The Squad still have to attend a war council in handcuffs, but they're also the only ones who can come up with a plan to turn the tide...especially when Harley gets some inspiration from Puddin-chan. Also I love how Nana-chan gave her a banana.

I should've known the Squad would recruit their old prison pals to help. Bossbabe Harley is a good look for her!

At least Rick and Cecil can bond over being the only two soldiers with their head on straight in this show.

Deadshot finally wears his mask! For all of five seconds, but that was enough to destroy the jewel Ratcatcher was using to control the wolves...and leave him as wolf chow. Guess he shouldn't have become homies with Deadshot or insulted the wolves.

Well, the Squad is free to go on their own now so they have to get back before their heads blow up. Though I don't think it's going to be an easy extraction.

The queen looks less than happy about their success. Were they...not supposed to win this fight?

 

[Yojimbo]

Why am I not surprised the other fantasy races joined the Empire? It seems like the wolfmen did it because Ratcatcher brainwashed them, but is that true for the elves?

I'm think the elves probably sided with Enchantress believing she's a goddess from their mythology. Or they're under some mind control spell.

The queen looks less than happy about their success. Were they...not supposed to win this fight?

Well, they played her and the council for fools in making the deal with the ogres and pigmen at the Great Prison for essentially standing there and looking tough (rather than fighting as the council was led to believe) so when Ratcatcher saw the big army he would activate his magic staff in turn giving Deadshot the target. All without telling her or Cecil what the real plan was.