Newtype exclusive interview:Suicide Squad ISEKAI Director Eri Osada × Producer Sho Ohtani

A team of Super-Villains on a rampage in another world!

The Suicide Squad, also known as Task Force X, is a special task force of Super-Villains forced to undertake top-secret government missions in exchange for lesser sentences. The nano-bombs implanted in the squad members' necks mean certain death for any who disobey the orders of their commander, Amanda Waller. They fight fire with fire. While they may be villains with no regard for lives or any sense of morals, there are some threats in this world that only they can handle.

The Suicide Squad, which one might call the dark underbelly behind the Justice League, quickly gained worldwide recognition with the live-action film adaptation released in 2016. The key figure in its success was indisputably Harley Quinn, played by Margot Robbie. Now Harley Quinn and the Suicide Squad have become inseparable. The anime adaptation is no different, with Harley at the center of all the action. How will Gotham City's baddie queen fare when she finds herself thrust into another world?

Director Eri Osada × Producer Sho Ohtani (WIT STUDIO)

Portraying Harley Quinn as an Independent Woman

–How did Osada end up getting involved in this project?

Ohtani: A lot of it was simply that I knew about her skills and character, but I also felt that the project would go more smoothly if we had someone with knowledge about DC Comics. I was looking for someone who fit that criteria when I heard that Osada was a DC fan (laughs).

Osada: Actually, I don't know that much about it. I had watched The Flash television series after hearing that it was interesting and ended up getting hooked. Then when I started putting merch I'd bought from Comic-Con and whatnot on my desk, it seems that people took my liking The Flash as being a DC fan and then word got around (laughs).

–Is it true that this project has actually been in the works for a long time?

Ohtani: Yes. We began working on Suicide Squad back when only the first movie had been released.

Osada: They announced that director James Gunn was making his next movie (The Suicide Squad) and I had heard about the characters that would be appearing in it. There was a Harley Quinn movie (Birds of Prey) in the interim as well. I remember talking about how the Joker and Harley had split up in the film. We were like, “What do we do?!” (laughs).

Ohtani: In the end we settled on a portrayal of Harley as a woman who is with the Joker but who clearly stands on her own two feet.

Osada: I watched a lot of cartoons that featured Harley for study purposes, but even in those she had her spats with the Joker, so I felt like it should be fine to change things. We decided to take it a step further from there and add some color by making her an independent girl who's in and out of relationships and has a boyfriend.

–What did you pay the most attention to when creating Harley's character?

Osada: I wanted to make sure her legs looked beautiful. After seeing so many Harleys I decided not to go with the voluptuous look this time. So I asked the character designer Akira Amano to make her more of a gender neutral look …except still feminine and with slender, lovely legs.

–Naoto Hosoda is also credited as character designer in addition to Amano.

Osada: We could only ask Amano for designs on up to ten characters, so we really wanted to get someone else whose designs would be on par with his. We got a really unique look for the knight commander Cecil.

Ohtani: The Joker was quite popular as expected, and all the animators wanted to draw him, but Cecil not so much (laughs).

Osada: I like him, but he does have a funny face and is an original character to the series. Also King Shark's whole overalls getup was Hosoda's idea, too.

–The design of the Joker with side swept bangs over his left eye is a bit of a new look, huh?

Osada: At first I wasn't sure which of the past Jokers I wanted to lean into. But since his relationship with Harley has progressed to the next step, we decided to look for a completely brand-new image for the Joker to go with it. Rather than the usual cackling jokester type, I requested a Joker who looked like he was trying his best to come off as normal while actually bursting with insanity. That's why I also wanted to also step away from casting someone who had played him already. Although when Takehito Koyasu (who had played the Joker in the Japanese dubs of both Suicide Squad and The LEGO Batman Movie) auditioned for the part, I did waver.

Ohtani: But in the end, I'm glad we got Koyasu to play the Peacemaker instead. I thought Peacemaker's craziness really suits Koyasu's voice perfectly.

–On that note, what was your criteria for choosing the members of the Suicide Squad?

Osada: I thought that if we just used the same members as in the movie, the viewers who weren't really interested would think it was just a remake, so at first I was like, “let's change everyone except for Harley!” but that was way too rash (laughs). There were people who had latched on to other characters like Peacemaker as well, so I thought changing it only slightly from the movie's cast would strike the best balance. I had actually put out the suggestion for Captain Boomerang, but everyone said “he's just a guy who throws a boomerang” and turned me down (laughs).

–Finally, how are you feeling about it all at this point?

Osada: Things are really moving all the time! We did get concerns with the art budget during the scripting stage and had to take some measures with which episodes to take breaks and whatnot (laughs).

Ohtani: Even though we asked to reduce costs, I was surprised to see how clearly much more dynamic the work was than before (laughs).

Osada: I do feel some anxiety about my own directing approach. I've done directing on various individual episodes in the past, but I'm the type who wants to stay true to the director's intentions to keep the overall balance, which is something I think I am appreciated for. But since I'm the primary director this time, I think maybe I ended up doing too much of what I wanted, which conversely threw off the overall balance. For instance, in the scene in the first episode where the Joker comes out in a car, there was actually no mention of it in the script but I turned it into a car chase (laughs). But when it was finished, I found myself thinking to my surprise that maybe it actually worked that way. Or at the very least, the flow keeps the audience on their toes!

This interview was originally published in Newtype's July 2024 issue.

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