A 'Suicide Squad Isekai' Anime From WIT Studio Has Been Announced
Jujutsu Kaisen animation director Eri Osada is directing the series announced at Anime Expo
WIT Studio and Warner Bros. Japan are ready to take the Joker and Harley Quinn to a whole new world of adventure. The companies announced Suicide Squad Isekai at Anime Expo 2023.
The trailer shown off during the panel saw very stylized 2D for Harley and the clown prince of crime chaotically rampaging through Gotham City before it cuts to a fantasy world with dragons, knights, hulking orcs, and giant pig mutants. With Joker and Harley as leads being shunted off to whatever world makes it an isekai, there’s not a lot of what actually makes this a Suicide Squad series besides Harley and a brief shot of Amanda Waller. Jujutsu Kaisen chief animation director Eri Osada will direct the series, and he partook in the panel while dressed as Squad member Katana, but did not elaborate on the character’s involvement. He also said they received "express permission from DC to have the characters use magic." Tappei Nagatsuki and Eiji Umehara are the series’ writers, while Akira Amano and Naoto Hosoda are the character designers and Kenichiro Suehiro is composer. WIT Studio is best known for animating the first three seasons of Attack on Titan.
Isekai, where a typically normal human protagonist gets transported to a fantasy world populated by creatures just as fantastical, has skyrocketed as one of the biggest, most popular anime genres in the last decade. However, it’s always been around, even for western audiences. Classic titles like The Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland and The Chronicles of Narnia to the more modern Digimon, Amphibia, and The Owl House all fall into the genre. It could probably be argued Spider-Man Unlimited is one too.
IGN put great emphasis or highlighted such emphasis from the panel that the series is not connected to the new DC Universe, but the fact is, any DC animated series, Western or not, is more likely to not be connected anyway. No DC Universe project has been announced since the universe’s plan was laid out in January. This isn’t the MCU that still hasn’t announced Wonder Man or scheduled Armor Wars or announced its format change. In addition, Teen Titans Go!, Batwheels and Harley Quinn are still running, the latter getting a spinoff in Kite Man: Hell Yeah!, My Adventures with Superman premieres tonight, and Batman: Caped Crusader and Bat-Family are coming soon-ish, and none of those are connected.
