The Suicide Squad anime continues Japan’s history of improving American superhero stories

The more you think about it, the more Suicide Squad Isekai makes sense. The new anime from Wit Studio, currently streaming in the US on Max and Hulu, sees some of DC Comics’ most famous villains, including Harley Quinn, Clayface, Deadshot, Peacemaker, and King Shark, thrown into a isekai world of knights, magic and dragons. As you might expect, the effect is immediately humorous. But it is also to work in ways that may not be immediately obvious. Unless, of course, you are already familiar with Batman: Gotham Knight, because there is a clear path of lessons learned, analyzed, and improved between that 2008 American-Japanese co-production and Suicide Squad Isekai. And along that path, one could find more examples of Japan improving American superhero stories. Let’s back up a bit.

Isekai Anime usually involves characters from the modern world being transported to a land of magic. In series like The Rise of the Shield Hero or Mushoku Tensei: Unemployed ReincarnationThis results in disruptive violence that comes from the protagonists’ modern sense of morality or a talent or tendency that was useless in their previous lives but proves surprisingly useful in fantasy settings. The basis of the genre is a clash of worlds and ideas that results in chaos.

And that whole premise apparently works incredibly well when the protagonists are super-powered villains, especially well-established ones. The villain cast of Suicide Squad Isekai gets right to the bloody heart of the genre by raining fire, death, and destruction upon a fantastical world of orcs and werewolves, not for gratuitous reasons, but because that’s simply their nature, as introduced and explored in other properties. At the same time, director Eri Osada along with writers Tappei Nagatsuki and Eiji Umehara do an excellent job of introducing Harley and the gang to viewers who may be seeing them for the first time. They especially capture their abrasive personalities that result in near-constant bickering, another common trope of isekai that’s because the entire genre is built around conflict.

The combination of Suicide Squad and isekai seems like such a natural fit. It’s surprising it didn’t happen sooner, especially after the creative forces behind Batman: Gotham Knight proved that having Japan take on American superheroes pays off in surprising ways. The 2008 anthology film consists of six segments that loosely follow a plot developed by Jordan Goldberg, with individual parts written by American industry veterans like Greg Rucka and Brian Azzarello. But each story was directed and animated by Japanese studios like Madhouse, Studio 4°C, Bee Train, or Production I.G., each of which put their own unique spin on Batman.

For example, “Have I Got a Story for You” (written by Josh Olson and animated by Studio 4°C) explores Batman as an urban myth: human to some, supernatural to others, and somewhere in between for the rest. In the short, we see him through the eyes of four children, each of whom encounters the real character in the real world but projects their own theories and imaginations onto him. So one child sees him as a shadow demon, another as a humanoid bat-monster, a third as a robot/cyborg, and the last as a real, wounded human. Each perception encompasses a crucial part of the character, but it’s all taken to new heights by the animation. By using an intentionally unpolished, gritty style that makes this segment feel very… malleable, the more fantastical elements fit in perfectly with the setting, adding to the immersion factor.

Image: Warner Bros. Animation/Studio 4°C

Image: Warner Bros. Animation/Studio 4°C

Image: Warner Bros. Animation/Studio 4°C

Image: Warner Bros. Animation/Studio 4°C

Something similar happens in “In Darkness Dwells” (written by David Goyer and animated by Madhouse) with a hallucination sequence caused by Scarecrow’s fear toxin, which feels much more organic thanks to a unique animation style that combines realistic and illusory imagery. These are not only the advantages of animation in general, but Japanese animation specifically, which tends to take bigger risks and experiment more with the medium.

The lesson the team behind Suicide Squad Isekai what i took away from this was not to waste the incredibly rare opportunity to try new things when working on a superhero adaptation that wasn’t meant to be part of something bigger. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has done wonders for superhero cinema, but one of the unintended consequences has been a flood of comic book movies that don’t seem to exist to tell a cool story, but to tie into a franchise. The sometimes It feels like there are no standalone superhero movies in the US anymore, just unannounced cinematic universes. And that prevents filmmakers from getting too creative and instead opting for styles and stories that have a common denominator.

A good example of this is the Suicide Squad Isekai funky, dance outro reminds me of the Peacemaker opening that offered viewers something new in a superhero story. But the only reason Peacemaker The reason why he got away with it is because of James Gunn, an established creator with enough clout to do his own thing. Unfortunately, a lot of creators aren’t James Gunn. However, when a superhero property gets the anime treatment, it doesn’t have to fit into the next phase or anything, so everyone involved in the project can be their own James Gunn.

And it’s not just DC superheroes who are benefiting from this. Although largely forgotten now, Marvel had its anime phase with the Marvel Anime anthology developed by Madhouse. Of particular note is the X-Men anime (2011), based on the Dark Phoenix saga, possibly the most filmed X-Men plot ever. But director Yuzo Sato and writer Toshiki Inoue did something interesting with it. They opened with Jean Grey’s death after being taken over by the cosmic force of the Phoenix. It was certainly a bit confusing for those unfamiliar with the Phoenix saga, but clues scattered throughout the series allowed the story to be pieced together while keeping the focus on Cyclops, Wolverine, Storm and others overcoming their grief after the death of a dear friend. There is action in the X-Men anime, but there is also a lot of humanity (or mutandis) in it. Much more than in any other X-Men adaptation.

Image: Marvel/Toei

Finally, let’s look at a non-animated example: Japan’s live-action films Spider Man series, which aired from 1978 to 1979. Created by Toei with permission from Marvel to do what they wanted with the character, the Japanese Spider-Man gets his powers from the blood of an alien from Planet Spider and battles the evil Professor Monster with his giant robot Leopardon. At the time, giant robots in live-action Japanese shows were relatively new, but the success of Spider Man proved that they could be a big draw. And so, after Toei’s idea for a Captain Japan show failed and evolved into Battle fever J, the third part of the popular Super Sentai franchise about brightly colored masked heroes, Toei made sure the team got a giant robot. This became one of the staples of Super Sentai, which the American public would later know as Power Rangers, the result of merging original Japanese battle scenes from Super Sentai with images of American actors.

In summary, Power Rangers exists because of Spider Man, Because when you let Japan take on American superheroes, amazing things can happen.