Rebuild the Suicide Squad Trapezium - Renegade Animation #158
In this episode, Captain Kaye and the Animation Guru discuss the anime film Trapezium, the 4 episode limited series Lego Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy, and Suicide Squad Isekai!
What’s going on, everyone? This is your Captain speaking, alongside my esteemed co-host, The Animation Guru! I love recording episodes like that offer a little something for everyone, especially when a movie or series can genuinely surprise both of us. So without further ado, please tune into the podcast to hear the full discussion!
Trapezium
If nothing else, I can at least confirm that CloverWorks continues to be an amazing animation studio. This movie has some incredible visuals, and the score composed by Masaru Yokoyama is fantastic. The fact that the novel from which the film was adapted was written by a former idol suggests we’re seeing a more intimate look at the idol industry, and how that has affected our four main protagonists. I would have loved this movie, had I not been as frustrated with certain choices that made the lead unlikeable.
“Trapezium does a solid job telling a story that both takes down the idol industry and the journey of how friendships are formed, but it results in a fairly unlikable lead that could have used a bit more of an explained backstory of what drivers her. Maybe a second screening will help my experience, but otherwise, it's good, but not great.“ -The Animation Guru
LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy
To paraphrase Sebastian from The Little Mermaid, the Star Wars fandom is a mess. That’s at least one reason why I found Rebuild the Galaxy to be such a breath of fresh air! This 4-episode miniseries, developed by Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit, follows two nerf herder brothers on an adventure that flips everything we know about Star Wars completely upside down. Even as someone who has generally enjoyed the previous LEGO Star Wars specials, this one is definitely my favorite. The animation is stellar, the humor is on point, and the conflict between Sig and Darth Dev I found surprisingly compelling.
“While I wish the four-episode series did a little more with the shake-up in the Star Wars universe, it tells a compelling story and conflict between two brothers while also offering some fun sequences and great jokes.“ -The Animation Guru
Suicide Squad Isekai
Right now, two of the biggest genres in fiction are superheroes and isekai. So naturally, the two were bound to cross paths, and this is the result. Is it the best isekai I’ve ever seen? No, there are better examples out there. But did I have the most fun watching what at times felt like a heist movie set in a fantasy world? Absolutely! Between this and the upcoming film Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, I have to give a shout out to Jason DeMarco for continuing to merge anime with Western intellectual properties to tell creative stories like this.
“Suicide Squad Isekai might not fully upend the isekai formula with its chaotic inclusion of DC's most detestable and lovable anti-heroes, but it still results in a fun romp seeing Harley and friends save the day and crack some skulls in a bloody good time.“ -The Animation Guru
That’ll do it for this episode! Thank you all for joining us! We have provided resources for those who wish to support the victims of the Israel-Hamas war: https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/, https://www.ifnotnowmovement.org/, https://itch.io/b/2120/games-for-gaza, https://www.instagram.com/palestineredcrescent/, https://buildpalestine.com/2021/05/15/trusted-organizations-to-donate-to-palestine/, https://www.npr.org/2023/10/13/1205235922/help-israel-gaza-humanitarian-organizations.
