Suicide Squad Isekai Episode 8 Review 

The gang head to the pub, and wait for all this to blow over in Suicide Squad Isekai episode 8, now that the show is at its most repetitive.

“They escaped from prison”, “but they’ve vanquished two of the enemy’s lieutenants”. And on it goes. Just a recap of what we’ve seen so far really, delivered using variations of dialogue we’ve heard before too. 

Our suicide squad, though, not yet aware of these ongoing divisions, reckon they’ve finally done it. They’re expecting some pats on the back, many congratulations, and a big celebratory feast. They reckon they’ve finally got themselves into the Kingdom’s good books. But no.

Rolling into the throne room, our motley group of villains are met with icy stares, and then one of those advisor people declares that all this ‘good’ the squad think they’ve been doing has only been to clean up their own mess, before slapping Harley Quinn (Anna Nagase) clean across the face. That’s never going to be the smartest idea, and King Shark (Subaru Kimura) eats the bloke for his idiocy. This lands ole Nanaue in a cell, awaiting execution, and after Harley gives Princess Fione (Reina Ueda) some stern words on standing up to her mother, herself, Deadshot (Reigo Yamaguchi), Clayface (Jun Fukuyama), Peacemaker (Takehito Koyasu) and Rick Flag (Taku Yashiro) skulk off to a pub to get drunk. 

And that’s… kind of it for Suicide Squad Isekai episode 8. I’m ashamed to write it, but I’ve become a bit of a hater. The music that previously made me smile now makes my eyes roll in its repetition. Clayface’s awareness of isekai tropes, that once made me think of Scream (1996), now makes me huff out of my nose in its repetition. And the odd verbal jabs that the characters make at each other now feel forced in their, you guessed it, repetition. The drama and sincerity that was once shadowy and mysterious now overwhelms and sidelines everything else. 

All of which is perhaps most frequently demonstrated here, in episode 8 – a sort of late-stage bottle episode. King Shark is to be executed, the rest of the squaddies are drunk, and here’s a sequence passing by that’s supposed to feel… melancholic? It feels more like Suicide Squad Isekai has become one of those adaptations that it was previously making jokes about. 

Then, after getting into a bar fight with each other, the crew are headed towards the gate again in the morning, this time apparently to talk us through today’s plot. Rick reports to Waller (Kujira). Waller’s not happy that the mission is a failure and starts activating the neck bombs – Clayface’s first. Conveniently noticing the Queen’s castle aflame in the distance, Rick then desperately manages to talk Waller down by suggesting the group head back there and help out – this possibly being a last opportunity for them to prove to the Kingdom that they are of immense value, and thus finally establish a relationship between this magical world and their own. 

Which, if you haven’t been following, is something I think has been said aloud in every single episode so far. I mean, every excursion the squaddies have made has been for that purpose. Maybe the final twist in Suicide Squad Isekai is to be that Harley and co. didn’t only wind up in a land of magic, but a land of magic stuck in a time loop. 

So Waller gives them twenty-fours to sort it all out, and oh, don’t worry, Clayface isn’t dead. Being made of clay, he simply moved his brain to another part of his body before the bomb went off. Isn’t that terrific? 

At least it feels like we’re in the final stretch now. The first four episodes were fun and intriguing, and the next three all involved the suicide squad going someplace and fighting someone or some thing. Now there are only two episodes left. In which the stakes are higher than ever! In which the suicide squad carry the weight of a world on their shoulders! The most I’m hoping for is that all the threads reappear – the magical power enhancement stuff, the mystery of Waller’s first squad – and that they all get wrapped up with as much colour and absurdity as possible. 

But this grumpy, no fun anime reviewer (that blames Suicide Squad Isekai for its sudden appearance) predicts that the next episode will be about freeing Nanaue before he’s executed, that it ends with a Queen vs squad boss fight, and then that the final episode will hurriedly resolve things, but leave enough loose ends to justify the release of a second series in the next year or two. Like I wrote: grumpy and no fun. 

Still, I’ll always have The Suicide Squad (2021). Oh, wait, I didn’t much like that one. Well, I’ll always have Suicide Squad (2016). Hm, no, not that one either. Alright, how about Batman: Assault on Arkham (2014)? No. The Batman (2022)? No. You know, maybe I just don’t like these characters. Wait, what about Harley Quinn (2019)? And Birds of Prey (2020)! Ooh, yeah, I like those ones. So, correction: at least I’ll always have Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn). 

Episode 8 of Suicide Squad Isekai is now available to watch on Max and Hulu.

Suicide Squad Isekai Episode 9 Review  – Loud And Clear Reviews

Suicide Squad Isekai starts drawing to a close in episode 9, with the big bad revealing themselves and an army of zombies to tussle with.

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