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‘DC’ and ‘isekai’ aren’t two words one would expect in the same sentence, but here we are. It’s not a bad thing, too — Suicide Squad Isekai transports Harley Quinn and Joker to an anime fantasy, with the pair looking hella stylish in a brief trailer unveiled at Anime Expo 2023.
💗#SuicideSquadISEKAI💙
— DC (@DCOfficial) July 3, 2023
Suicide Squad rampages into Japanese anime in SUICIDE SQUAD ISEKAI, an all-new original anime series collaboration with Warner Bros. Japan and WIT Studio!
▶️ https://t.co/uFZHWuwmt9 pic.twitter.com/n8mDoL1RQV
Presented by Warner Bros. Japan and WIT Studio at the event, the teaser shows Harley and Joker wrecking bloody havoc on the streets of Gotham, before getting whisked away into a fantasy world with dragons, knights, orcs, and more. Not much else is known, but fans can be sure it will be an isekai through and through.
Having grown into one of the biggest and most prominent genres within anime in the past decade, isekai typically involves a protagonist — an everyday person with a pretty normal life — getting transported to a fantasy world full of magical, dangerous creatures, perils, and more. The Western equivalent would be titles that thrust their characters into a stranger, more other-worldly realm, such as Alice in Wonderland and The Chronicles of Narnia.
Suicide Squad Isekai will be helmed by Jujustsu Kaisen chief animation director Eri Osada, with Tappei Nagatsuki (Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World) and Eiji Umehara (Vivy – Fluorite Eye’s Song) serving as scriptwriters. WIT Studio, the studio behind notable anime series like Spy x Family, Ranking of Kings, and earlier Attack on Titan seasons, is responsible for animation. Akira Amano, best known for her work on Katekyo Hitman Reborn!, illustrated the announcement art featuring Harley Quinn.
And in case you’re wondering, Harley and Joker will be the leads of the show. Highlighting how the team’s portrayal of the Clown Prince of Crime is different from existing iterations, Osada said on stage: “Everybody has their favorite version of Joker. We ultimately decided to not copy any particular iteration and have something completely unique.”
One such difference is, of course, the use of magic as seen in the trailer. Osada shared his team got “the express permission from DC to have the characters use magic,” and it seems there will be plenty of that to go around. No release date for Suicide Squad Isekai was announced.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
Edwin Teo
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