Generally, I don't take great pleasure in harems (due to their shallow plots), however, the music and visual design for this anime is through the roof. The beginning starts off well, however, many of the MC's problems disappear once he finds himself to be extremely skinny after he's leveled up.
Plot wise: relatively shallow. All the characters are extremely forgiving, and although there's a struggle, there are none who have any actual insecure conflict with proper development. Of course, I have somewhat of a guilty pleasure for an overpowered-MC, but the MC quickly forgives people.
[SPOILER FROM EP 3-5]
Spoiler, click to view
Specfically who have bullied him since his young childhood rather than sitting with the trauma for a while. The idea that "I won't forgive you for the things you've done to me, but I will choose to forgive you because you're my family" is an atrocious value to have—especially since he has no parents who care + other siblings to boot, at that.However, I liked watching the beginning and how Yuuya struggles with obesity as an issue. He breaks a mirror, has a crisis, and the show displays how long he's lived with the issue for. Even shortly after the beginning, he shows how he's in denial about he looks wildly different. How he thinks he looks normal, and when he meets Ryou and Shingo, he actually questions whether they actually want to be their friends.
[SPOILER FROM 7-8]
Spoiler, click to view
Isekai-harems also have a reputation for not ever having an actual plot, sadly. I get it, Yuuya's a kid, Kaede's a kid, but then there's a point around Episode 8 where things get weird. Like seriously, his teacher asks her to marry her while she's drunk out of her mind on a school field trip? Pedophile to the maximum, and nobody actually reported her for her actions. Also... why does everyone have such huge boobs? And most of them are arguably minors... Miu (the model) is fine. But Kaede and Rin and Sawada and Lexia and the few mentions of Glena and Luna.My thoughts on how I would've liked to see the plot to progress:
Spoiler, click to view
I related a lot to Yuuya on multiple levels. The insecurity of wondering whether people actually want to be your friends, when people want to be friends with you because they think you're pretty, and also bullying you because they think you're too fat. It fucking sucks, and the psychological damage even affects you deep into your romance life. Although romance in this anime is a very shallow topic (because he just gets kissed by multiple girls without their consent (because he doesn't know)), I want a second season just to progress on his morals and values. Deep down, I am rooting for Kaori because out of everyone, she's the only one who knows that he is still the same as he was before (the true side, if you will).Spoiler, click to view
I want to see how much deeper the trauma affects him than just the surface level. The bullying, arguably, stopped once he moved schools and became the peak-tier romanceable protagonist; but if you're bullied by your parents, family, and high school peers (by being told to go off yourself and other details), I'd imagine that it'd affect your psyche really, really bad. If people vandalize his house, wouldn't someone be paranoid that they're going to get beat up in their sleep if they know where you live? And being near-beaten to death, wouldn't some people intentionally try to avoid school? Perhaps these are details that are better answered in the manga that I haven't read yet, but still; more insight (but not an info dump) at the beginning gives a better setup to how a character would respond in the times of need of other people.Spoiler, click to view
Ending felt a little abrupt, and I was really, really hoping that Kaori and Yuuya would have way more screen-time on the last episode (because the episode name is literally called "Yuuya and Kaori"), but she appeared for about a minute total for the entire episode, and didn't contribute much to that episode's plot except for her presence.Overall, I'd give the show a 7.6/10 when you pit it against other harem-isekai's. If we remove the points for visuals and audio, overall, I'd (maybe) say it was a 4.5-5/10? If your type is isekai-harems and children with huge boobs, then this is your anime. If you want to watch for the plot development of Yuuya and can overlook the huge assets of every character (except for Kaori), there isn't much, but I think it's worthwhile. While I'm here, let me list off the entire cast and a quick few words about their trope (listed in order that they appear) with minimum spoilers.
- Kaori (a nice girl, in highschool)
- Lexia (princess in another world)
- Miu (a supermodel)
- Rin(?) (friend of Kaede's)
- Kaede (in highschool)
- Luna (mysterious girl who trains with Yuuya in another world)
- Sawada (teacher) [initially appears shortly after Kaori]
Visual-design: awesome. The lighting and design in eyes and hair is phenomenal. Ate up every bit of it.
Sound and opening-design: the choice for a Tsukuyomi song as an opening and Hachimitsu as the ending was amazing. The opening was eye-catching, and beautiful to watch.
