Isekais are a dime a dozen these days, and it’s not every day you find a really special one. I wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend this one, but what I will say is, it’s above average by isekai standards for sure, with good animation and lovable characters that make this show very chill and easy to watch. It has some good concepts, but the overarching video game aspects do hold it back a little. There are also some very unnecessary aspects of the show other than the game mechanics, such as the telepathy, which I’ll highlight below.
STORY:
It’s pretty basic, but it doesn’t really do anything very wrong, or step out of their lane. The one thing that stands out is that the person who gets isekai’ed isn’t really the main protagonist, but the helper to her. I really wish that the way people get isekai’ed get a bit more creative, but perhaps no one really cares about those few minutes of the plot. The levelling up mechanic is one thing that I can never really get behind in most shows, because it’s just a plot device to skip any sort of training, or more meaningful character development. The characters just get stronger by gaining materials and slaying enemies, not by genuine training.
ART:
Genuinely way better than I expected, but seeing that studio C2C adapted this was already a good sign, given some of their previous work, for example, Majo no Tabitabi, which looked very solid. Some very sharp sakuga in some episodes that could even rival shounen fight scenes, but also some parts weren’t that well animated, especially near the end. Overall, the animation was still a big highlight to this show.
MUSIC:
The OP and ED were very good, although the OP would hint that the show would potentially be pretty dark, which didn’t necessarily hold true. The soundtrack itself was pretty basic, which very video-gamey sound effects and music that didn’t really stand out.
CHARACTERS:
Fran carries this show on her back, and anyone who has watched this knows it. She’s adorable, and just a little cinnamon roll. She has her moments to shine, though I wish things got a little darker than they did. The relationship between her and Shishou was very wholesome as well, though I don’t really get why they talked in telepathy mode, especially since a lot of the time, Fran is talking out loud. I do understand using telepathy to speak during battles, but when they’re just talking normally, the telepathy was quite unnecessary, and because of that, Shishou’s voice actor, Shinichiro Miki (voice of Kaiki from Monogatari and Kisuke from Bleach) had that filter over his voice which made it a little strange hearing it for the whole episode every time.
The side characters are alright, but other than Amanda, none really stood out, as they just kind of existed. As for the villains, once again, they fall into the category of “evil just for the sake of being evil”. They’re just simple bad guys, with no real motives, which is a bit underwhelming but expected, for the nature of this show.
Overall, other than Fran and Shishou, quite a forgettable cast of characters, but it was still enjoyable to watch their shenanigans.
ENJOYMENT:
For the most part, I did enjoy this series, other than a few segments near the end of the series. Very cute and wholesome.
THEMATIC EXECUTION:
I really wish the show emphasized more on the darker themes. We saw shades of them, with the whole slavery aspect in the beginning, and when Fran was killing the villains, but I think the show would have benefitted more from extending those scenes and really fleshing out the world a bit more, because from what I saw in this show, there were definitely a lot of dark elements present in the world.
OVERALL:
Not the most unique show by any means, but a good effort here for sure. Pretty great animation, and seeing Fran and Shishou’s wholesome relationship develop was a nice treat to see. I would definitely be happy if a Season 2 ever was announced, because Fran eating curry is life!
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