Creating a New World with Familiar Characters in Suicide Squad ISEKAI

Wit Studio's original Suicide Squad ISEKAI anime kicked off summer with a high-action romp as fan-favorite DC characters found themselves trying to survive in a fantasy world unlike anything they'd ever seen in Gotham City. Led by agent of chaos Harley Quinn, the series sees Peacemaker, King Shark, Clayface, and Deadshot transported to another world where they have 72 hours before the bombs on their necks explode. ANN checked in with director Eri Osada and scriptwriters Tappei Nagatsuki and Eiji Umehara about crafting this adventure with familiar characters.

Director Eri Osada

When we last spoke, it was right after the announcement of the Suicide Squad ISEKAI project at Anime Expo. Can you describe how the project has developed in the last year?

Eri Osada: During AX [2023], the first episode had some movement, and it felt like we were still exploring various aspects. Now, with information about the Suicide Squad members gradually being revealed, it feels like we are steadily moving toward completion.

While Suicide Squad ISEKAI could introduce DC Universe fans to “isekai,” is it also a good entry point for anime fans to meet these villains for the first time?

OSADA: I believe that Suicide Squad is already a well-known work, but apart from the original charm of DC, it focuses on depicting the villains. I think it would be wonderful if people who watch this anime came to like the characters and, from there, more fans developed an interest in the world of DC Comics.

Did you face any challenges when it came to meshing the concept of “isekai” with these already-established characters?

OSADA: I believed that it was absolutely unacceptable to depict abilities differently from their original nature in another world, so I paid very close attention to that aspect.

How did you approach the action scenes for this anime? Is there one particular confrontation that was a particular highlight?

OSADA: We didn't impose too many restrictions on the animators Wit Studio requested, allowing them to try out the actions they wanted to explore. As a result, I think there are many varied actions.

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Screenwriters Tappei Nagatsuki & Eiji Umehara

After previously working together on Vivy -Fluorite Eye's Song- and the Re:Zero anime series, how would you describe your collaboration process? How did this process work while writing the scripts for Suicide Squad ISEKAI?

Tappei Nagatsuki: Just like when I had the opportunity to work with Umehara on Vivy, we constructed the overall plot together. After that, I created the plot for each episode, which Umehara then turned into scripts. After the initial drafts were completed, we did a read-through and refined the details. Of course, we both had a hand in the plots and scripts for each episode; we were constantly discussing things.

Eiji Umehara: First, Nagatsuki created the plot. Following that, I took charge of writing the initial drafts of the scripts according to that plot (Tomomi Kawaguchi handled episodes 5, 7, and 9 from WIT STUDIO). From there, we repeatedly held meetings with Nagatsuki and the director to refine and polish the scripts.

The Suicide Squad ISEKAI characters each have big personalities and backstories. How did you decide which parts of a character's history to focus on and what to cut to keep the story flowing smoothly?

NAGATSUKI: There were two major differences from previous Suicide Squad works: We borrowed characters from American comics, and Japanese creators were crafting the story this time. Naturally, these characters aren't as well known in Japan as they are in the U.S. Therefore, we made sure to include popular and well-known characters and emphasized clear character traits so that viewers unfamiliar with them could understand without needing to do any prior research. The more we delve into these characters, the more fascinating their stories are, but before we went into that, we aimed to first present elements that would make viewers fall in love with these characters.

UMEHARA: Given the episode runtime, we decided from the beginning that it would be impossible to depict every detail of each character's entire backstory. So, we focused on what each character values most and how they ended up being a villain. Regardless of the focus, we were very conscious of portraying the characters in a way that would not detract from the atmosphere of the Suicide Squad series. Each character has an extensive background and history, and we could've depicted the series in a deep, weighty manner, but going too far with that would've diminished the entertainment value of the Suicide Squad.

Did you refer to any specific comic storylines or films in the DC Universe while crafting the story for Suicide Squad ISEKAI?

NAGATSUKI: I had watched many DC-related films, and naturally, I revisited them when I started working on the script. The Suicide Squad had not yet been released when I was working on the script, so if I had seen it beforehand, both the allies and enemies might've been portrayed differently.

UMEHARA: Basically, I used the movie Suicide Squad and its sequel The Suicide Squad as references. I had originally thought that I would have to refer to the original work and all the subsequent works that the villains had appeared in to adhere to the various settings. However, the DC Multiverse concept was quite helpful in this regard. We, of course, maintained the essence of each character, but we were fairly liberal in the interpretation of other aspects.

Note: They were working on the plots and scripts before, during, and after James Gunn's The Suicide Squad (2021).

What was the most exciting part of bringing this cast of characters into a fantasy world? Were there any points while writing when you thought, “Having THIS character encounter this common isekai plot development would be really fun!”?

NAGATSUKI: Since we are sending these unique characters to an isekai, I thought simply having them face the typical isekai tropes would make for fun times. So, I made sure to throw at them the classic obstacles and unreasonable challenges (language barriers, supply issues, differences in status or race, etc.). I hope viewers will enjoy seeing how the Suicide Squad overcomes these challenges and what kind of snarky remarks they make along the way.

UMEHARA: The most exciting part was wondering what kind of trouble they would cause, given that these characters are truly one-of-a-kind. If anything, this entire work is based on that. Nagatsuki often mentioned while creating Vivy and Re:Zero, "Let's do everything typical in time loop/isekai stories." Similarly, for this project, we frequently said to each other, "Let's do all the classic isekai tropes (within the limits of our runtime, of course)."

Suicide Squad ISEKAI is currently streaming on Hulu and Max. The final episode will air on August 15.