Suicide Squad is a story about a bunch of criminals who will die if they don't do morally questionable tasks for secret government agencies. Isekai stories are about the simple fantasy of escaping to a world of excitement and empowerment. But they have their similarities, too. Isekai stories are fish-out-of-water tales, a protagonist suddenly grouped up with a gang of weirdoes in an unfamiliar situation. In both cases, the groups try to make the best of their strange situation while navigating their differences. And for us as viewers, it's about finding the fun in all of that. Those Spoilers for Suicide Squad Isekai Episode 5 follow.
Suicide Squad Isekai Episode 5
The team finally manages to update their head bombs with mere seconds to spare, only to discover that their store of bullets is out. This is especially tough for characters like Deadshot, Peacemaker, and Rick Flag who depend on their guns for combat.
The show tries to take advantage of the setting in every way it can. Harley, for example, is perfectly at home in this new world. She adapts so easily to bizarre new situations as a fourth-wall-breaking antihero that the story would lose its luster quickly if it were just her. She knows, for example, that a frying pan is an effective weapon thanks to zombie movies. Because she believes it is, it becomes so. Clayface thinks he knows how any given situation will go because, like his Harley Quinn counterpart, he takes the cliched saying "the world's a stage" as a literal mantra, and how wrong he can be is a consistent source of humor. Meanwhile, Rick Flag and Deadshot are "mission" guys who treat the world they come from as the default state--the way things are.
The most interesting exchange in the episode occurs when the squad stops of at the fortress they'd destroyed and talk to the prisoners there. The squad learns that the prisoners are essentially free as long as they work for the empire; a sort of fantasy work-release program. They're happy with the consistent life they get from it for the most part. Instead of seeing the positives of that consistency, though, the squad sees only the invisible walls around the prisoners. At the same time, the squad is walking around with bombs in their bodies, and yet are blind to their own invisible walls. I was hoping the story would mine this a little further and force the characters to reckon with it, but they're soon off to the climax.
The dragon fight is a centerpiece not just for this episode, but for the story so far. This is the biggest action highlight since the first fortress battle, and it gives all of the characters a chance to both shine and stumble in different ways. The animation here is especially fun, with one standout moment being when Harley deflects a fireball back at the dragon using the frying pan--which appears to be able to change size at the user's will--making good on her previous perception of the pan as an ultimate weapon.
On the one hand, I'd like the show to tell an interesting story about these characters. Two of the three major adaptations in the last decade--the first Suicide Squad film and the Suicide Squad game--fell flat. It would be great to see Suicide Squad Isekai get the story right. On the other hand, the idea of putting this group of characters into this popular anime genre really does feel like an almost perfect fit, and I'm having a great time with the little moments here and there, even if the connecting tissue doesn't feel that strong quite yet.