Aw, it’s another edgy isekai with an overpowered MC? Wait, there’s a guy in the show whose actual name is called Perv Asshat? Another guy called Imatry Nottaloos? Sign me up!!!

Fundamentally, this show has quite a garbage formula, but did I enjoy it anyway? Yes. At the outset, it has most of the isekai tropes. Protagonist gets truck-kun’d, he’s really OP, has a harem of sorts, so what’s different about this one? The main character is a chuunibyou, whose wild ideas come to life in the new world. The cackling cult of baddies that he’s always thought of is actually in this world, and he constructs an organization called Shadow Garden to loom in the shadows, not to destroy bad guys or anything, but… actually, I have no idea what their goal is.

If you are coming in expecting a well-told story, you won’t get that, at all. I won’t say the story was a huge mess, it definitely wasn’t the best part of the show. At its core, this is a self-aware “parody” of isekai, that is mostly a comedy. The show balances itself between some serious politics and stories, mixed with very dumb comedy, which works sometimes, and sometimes falls flat. One of the gripes I have with this show overall is its tonal inconsistencies, and while the tonal shifts work sometimes, it detracts from the serious undertones the show has as well. It delivers solid entertainment value at a consistent quality, but I can’t say I was ever really interested in the politics or even a bunch of the characters, because there were just too many of them.

What did draw me in though, was the uniqueness of Cid’s character. He clearly does not care what happens in this world, it seems like he was just there to mess around and be the background character he always wanted to be. However, as much as he might not know it, his actions drastically impact the world around him, and while some of his chuunibyou ideas come to life, the world is still fluid, and you can see with the politics and the other plot lines, that he doesn’t control the world at all, and the world doesn’t revolve around him. The fact that he believes that doesn’t take anything seriously even in such a dangerous world made it fun to watch, at the very least. A guy who actively celebrates terrorists invading a school so his band of Shadow girls can save the day, a guy that celebrates getting defeated by others so he looks weak, a guy that practiced the Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven just to look cool? Certainly, there’s no one like you, Cid.

Though, I do wish some other characters got more development than they got, especially the girls in Shadow Garden. I wish there was a better balance in some of their screen time for sure. There were some other characters that piqued my interest as well, such as Iris and Alexia, who had some genuinely strong character moments, but the show didn’t really capitalize enough on those moments, which was a shame. The large cast definitely made it difficult to care deeply during the more serious moments.

The production behind this was alright. It was pretty consistent all the way through with no real bumps along the way, which was good. It wasn’t a sakuga-laden series by any means, but it had its share of hype moments that got me engaged. The sound design was also decent, and the voice actors did a nice job, especially Cid’s voice actor.

Overall, it was a decent ride that had too much of a rocky start for me to care deeply for the more serious parts in the second half. It was entertaining for sure, but the comedy mixed with serious plot just didn’t work all the time. When the show was on, they were really on. When it’s off, it can be a snoozefest. Not a series I would wholeheartedly recommend, but it was fine, and I still look forward to Season 2.