English Dub Season Review: Super Crooks Season One

Overview:

A down on his luck superpowered miscreant, Johnny Bolt, decides to seize the day with one last big thrill as he pulls together a unique group of supervillains who are past their prime, but hungrier than ever to prove that they’re not quite yet down for the count. Johnny and his team set their sights on a massive haul that pits them up against a notorious superpowered crime kingpin, yet somehow these forgotten misfits might just be able to pull off this heist…That is if they don’t all get in the way of each other.

 

Our Take:

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There’s a certain unpredictable awe that washes over the audience as the busy action scenes from Super Crooks play out, which is exactly the sort of energy that superhero storytelling like this is supposed to conjure, but has been in such short supply as of late due to how this genre has become so homogenized and beaten down. Super Crooks is anything but hackneyed and pedestrian and it ultimately feels like a bizarre combination of Invincible meets The Great Pretender, but with the tone of a “Reverse Watchmen.” Super Crooks begins with a confident start, but by the final third of the thirteen-episode season it elevates itself to something that’s truly excellent. It’s one of the most gripping superhero series of the past few years, which have been particularly ripe with transgressive and creative subversions of the superhero genre. Super Crooks accomplishes this while it also simultaneously crafts a clever and engaging heist narrative. It’s an ambitious, dense, bewildering masterpiece of animation.

The superpowered elephant in the room here is that Super Crooks is the second part of Netflix’s interconnected “Millerverse,” which already seems to be on its way out after the cancellation of Jupiter’s Legacy. The biggest compliment to Super Crooks is that it really feels like more of an off-shoot from Invincible than it does Jupiter’s Legacy. Distancing itself from Jupiter’s Legacy is honestly probably the best thing that Super Crooks could do right now, despite how that may be antithetical to what the initial goal was for this series. This is still for the best and it allows Super Crooks to properly break free and become its own thing, just like a superpowered individual who thinks that they’re a hero, only to learn that their true calling is as a villain.

Another one of Super Crooks’ secret powers is that it adopts a reverent point of view of Western superhero stereotypes, yet through an idealistic Japanese perspective. It’s a fascinating twist that allows the subject matter to become much more reflexive and loaded considering that the original Super Crooks series came out of Western comics and it isn’t a Japanese property. The mere decision to present Super Crooks through the medium of anime immediately gives the original property more to say and it turns it into a more precise commentary on not just superhero culture, but the values that different societies idolize, whether they’re superheroes or celebrities.

Super Crooks immediately stands out with its San Francisco backdrop, which adds such flavor to the series and gives it all a little something extra than if it were just set in Japan, New York City, or some fabricated superhero society. The story eventually migrates to Chicago as a new mission looms and the criminals come together, but this also becomes an opportunity to provide some enlightening backstory about how the first supervillains grew out of Prohibition Era Chicago during the 1920s. It’s such a rich, fascinating idea that supervillains existed far before the advent of superpowers, but it’s just that the world has grown more fractured and complicated that superpowers are now necessary to pull off feats that were just taken for granted back during the “golden age of supervillains.”

The first episode of Super Crooks is really such a brilliant exercise in playing with genre and expectations. It elegantly sets up the series, the themes that it explores, and the thin line that can exist between hero and villain. It makes for a very strong, unique premiere, but on its own it’d be an excellent standalone short film. There’s such a sweet earnestness in play as Johnny Bolt discovers and hones his electricity powers, only to then pull the rug out from under the viewer. 

Super Crooks transforms into a story that’s not about some budding hero who learns the ropes of their powers and superhero career, but rather it’s a series that’s interested in people who are at the end of the line and only have enough left in them for one last big thrill, which is decidedly more exciting territory to occupy. It’s gripping to watch a cute coming of age story receive a staggering reality check that’s enough to turn a hero into an embittered villain. It immediately establishes Super Crooks as a different variety of superhero story that forges its own path and won’t take the stereotypical route, even when it seems like it will. It’s the perfect way to subvert expectations.

Super Crooks begins in a small, intimate place, but gradually balloons into a colossal heist story, which is such an interesting approach that’s not typically seen. Super Crooks really takes some time to show its full hand, which is an asset here. It’s a series that definitely makes full use of all thirteen of its episodes. It doesn’t feel like any time is wasted and a shorter six- or eight-episode season would lose this nuance if it immediately started deep in heist mode. The result is that Super Crooks almost functions like a character-based anthology series that allows the audience to get to know each member of the team on a Phase One Marvel Cinematic Universe level, before they all come together and pool their efforts for the series’ larger mission. 

There are a lot of ways in which this series’ story could be structured and Super Crooks takes a thoroughly creative and challenging approach to it all that really works. Super Crooks is consistently faithful to the heist and superhero genres, but episodes still find ways to lovingly indulge in different categories that continually keep Super Crooks fresh. It even finds a way to verge into a temporary zombie outbreak in a way that would give Marvel Zombies pause.

Pacing is a real triumph in Super Crooks and the anime really gets into the nitty gritty of one heist that goes wrong and its corresponding fallout. This very boiled down and tense timeline adds urgency and is more effective than if this was just par for the course for these supervillains and one of their many mischievous antics. There are also genuine cliffhangers at the end of each episode that will have the audience immediately clicking the button to dive into the next chapter in this sprawling saga without any interruption. There’s such an addictive rhythm to the show’s flow and it’s a rare occasion where thirteen episodes feels like the perfect amount of time to tell this story and let each of its separate elements properly breathe and develop.

Episodes of Super Crooks aren’t afraid to take their time and let certain themes, concepts, or even characters sink in, where the bulk of an entry can sometimes be devoted almost entirely to a getaway chase. It’s these atypical decisions that build the series’ voice and play to its strengths rather than trying to censor its impulses and attempt to cram too much into one episode. There’s absolute confidence and faith in Super Crooks to establish its world and tell this story on its own terms, which is one of the series’ greatest assets. There’s such a rich universe with wildly diverse characters from different generations and walks of life. It’s all handled so effectively and with shockingly little exposition, especially for a heist genre story that also ostensibly has to operate as an origin story for a dozen separate superheroes/villains.

A lot of the time the merit of superhero stories comes down to its action sequences and Super Crooks makes sure to not disappoint in this regard. There are sublime car chases that feature brilliant cinematography, which capture these moments from endlessly inventive perspectives. Rubberball is one character who is a real delight and the action sequences that surround him feel like levels from out of a video game, especially with the chaotic manner in which he’s animated. Another strong example of this is with Praetorian, a hero who has endless superpowers, which is a fascinating type of hyperbole to explore, especially when it’s in contrast to Johnny and company. Praetorian is technically the hero in the scenario, but his delight over his ability to torture the villains speaks to the crucial dichotomy that Super Crooks brings forward.

One of the most effective sequences from the entire series is a glorious action setpiece that’s on top of an in-flight plane. It features delirious levels of carnage with a crew of superheroes that are especially durable and designed to endure heavy levels of brutality. This moment, and many others, get quite close to the heights of extreme violence from Invincible, although excess never feels like it’s the agenda of Super Crooks, just an occasional byproduct of these overpowered characters. The scene is creatively paced and choreographed that if it were in a Marvel or DC movie it’d be heralded as the action sequence of the year. City-wide spectacles are taking place by the third episode and Super Crooks is not a series that saves all of the best action and superpowered showdowns for the final installments. Super Crooks hits the ground running and then only continues to accelerate until the pavement is left smoking.

Super Crooks additionally benefits from how these are adult characters who don’t just say that they’re villains, but actually embody it — they swear, have sex, and are crass in a way that’s often not depicted in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s more sanitized depiction of heroics, or the other anime that dabble in the field, like My Hero Academia. In that sense, it’s appreciated to get this dose of maturity and see how the series uses mature perspectives to guide its story rather than the constant awe of a child. As soon as Super Crooks flips the switch on the inspirational moment of a juvenile origin story it immediately jumps ahead to a cold and harsh reality where those superpowers become commodified or are the source of pain and frustration, not wonder and freedom.

All of this pushes Super Crooks to ask more important questions, like what it means to be a hero, and a villain, alternatively. Despite all of the superpowered theatrics, Super Crooks tells a very human story at its core where Johnny Bolt and Kasey work through their trust issues as he’s dragged down by bad influences and she aspires to something greater. These are real life problems that plague everyone, not just superheroes or villains. This ebb and flow of trust issues naturally extends into the general public’s rebelling against “The Network,” a commodified system that’s supposed to broker and facilitate work for supervillains. Super Crooks builds on these themes and in doing so it addresses a lot of the thought-provoking material that was present in HBO’s Watchmen. It’s high praise that Super Crooks is able to engage in conversations that are even slightly as textured and deep.

It’s very easy to want to write off all superhero material at the moment, especially when its prevalence is at an all-time high, yet not necessarily conquering any new territory. Super Crooks may look like more of the same, or a needless extension to an already-failed Netflix prospect, but it’s series like Super Crooks that prove that there’s still more to do and say with superpowered maniacs. It’s not just one of the biggest surprise highlights of the year, but one of Netflix’s very strongest anime productions.

 

This review is based on all thirteen episodes of the first season of ‘Super Crooks’

The first season of ‘Super Crooks’ premieres November 25th, only on Netflix