Suicide Squad ISEKAI

Episode 9

I'm so glad the princess got her empowering moments, the reviewer said sarcastically. OK, maybe that's a little mean. Still, the first half of this episode wasn't anything interesting, even though you could argue that it is a necessary inclusion that sets up the overall appeal of the show we've been discussing since day one. Suicide Squad ISEKAI is taking the over-the-top characters from the comics and putting them in a generic Isekai situation. This show is nothing but a bunch of setpieces and fun scenes where this group of misfits are tearing down the predictable and standard rules of this type of narrative. The natural conclusion to this type of setup is that the characters and fantasy world will either rebel against the squad or adapt to them, which we see in the second half of this episode. However, we first have to get the show at its most generic during the first half of this episode.

We get the dark twist with the generic villain, the undead army rising from the graves, the empowering moment with the passive princess who couldn't stand up for herself before, etc. We've seen all of this stuff before, and that's the point. I don't think you needed to draw all of this out for an entire half of the episode, but narratively, the payoff in the second half works. The squad shows up in a big climax to finally tear down the bullshit that permeates this fantasy world. Once again, the irony is that it takes a bunch of criminals who are forced into a situation that they didn't ask for to liberate an entire fantasy world from an evil force that seeks to subjugate everybody. There's not much to say about the second half of this episode because it's just one action set piece after another with a few moments of debatable payoff. The payoff is debatable because I don't believe that Harley's dragon grew that big in a short time. Granted, the show is also very wishy-washy on how much time has passed between this episode and the last one, so what on earth do I know? My favorite part was when the knight berated the squad. This entire show pops out with literal guns blazing, and he even has that nice moment with Deadshot.

I'm not sure how I feel about Harley specifically acting as a source of inspiration for the princess. I know the idea is that Harley is unhinged madness because the Joker helped her let go of society. The princess had a lot of pent-up aggression after years of being forced to trust a system that was ultimately corrupt from the start. It feels so weird that Harley is that symbol because, in almost every iteration of Harley's backstory, she is being gaslit and manipulated by the Joker. Maybe it's supposed to be ironic and further highlight how similar their situations are. But because the show hasn't highlighted Harley and Joker's abusive relationship, I'm not sure that is the case. If anything, if this anime is your first exposure to the Harley and Joker dynamic, you'd probably think they were the ultimate Bonnie and Clyde couple. I guess I'll chalk that up to a missed opportunity the show isn't interested in exploring. Now the question is, what kind of bang will the show go out on?

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