Isekai Quartet

First of all, let me state the obvious: this is not an independent anime, this is a crossover project with 4 different sources. So, to fully enjoy this title, you should watch at least some (preferably all) of the sources. And when it's done - you will appreciate this title fully, cause all the characters included behave exactly the way they did in original. Or, if you don't - you will miss 90% of humor, cause it is based on originals. Art style may put some people off, but it is the same exact style that was used in short comedy spinoffs, so no problems ... here either. There is nothing much to add here, to be honest, cause episodes are short, plot is used only to make some jokes possible, but so far I am enjoying this show a lot, if you are into any of source projects - check this one out.

Who could’ve ever thought we’d get a deformed, chibi version anime from some of Kadokawa’s most popular works? At first, I thought the announcement of the anime was a joke until I saw the actual trailers and promotional images. Taking a look back, I also remember when Overlord and Youjo Senki had their own version of chibi shorts featuring goofball characters doing what goofballs what do. Maybe they were experiments to prepare for this anime. Who knows?

Without a shadow of a doubt, Isekai Quartet is based on characters from isekai shows. The character roster consists of the cast from KonoSuba, Overlord, Youjo Senki, and ... Re:Zero. Collectively, they are united as a quartet of characters in a school life setting where all sorts of shenanigans blooms. As someone who is familiar with all of those established franchises, I do recommend watching them before stepping foot into this. Character personalities carries over and in general, I do believe you can get a better experience if you knew who the characters are. But for popcorn entertainment sakes, you can also just dive right into this little gem.

Even as a crossover, Isekai Quartet stands out as a show of its own. The episodes contains skit stories that are half length. Its main purpose is to humor with the immense amount of comedy that aims to draw our attention. If someone told me this whole idea sounded absurd, I might have agreed at first. That is, I tasted what Isekai Quartet really is and it’s pretty damn delicious. That’s thanks to the drama within that showcases this like a Saturday morning cartoon. To start off, we have several foil characters which translates into some rather noticeable character drama segments. There’s Tanya and Ainz who were once a salaryman in the real world. These two are portrayed as powerful entities that others seems to fear in from their perspective shows. In Isekai Quartet, there’s a rivalry that develops between the two based on some rather absurd reasons. KonoSuba’s Kazuma and Re:Zero’s Subaru came from fantasy worlds as the two manages to establish themselves in their own ways. However, it is easily noticeable how different both characters are. Kazuma is portrayed more as a butt monkey while Subaru evolved as a dark fantasy hero. When you put all four of these protagonists together in the same show, hell breaks loose. I’m talking about the over the top comedy type of hell of course.

With the school setting, the creators aimed to bring as many as possible segments as possible. From school rules to a class talent show, there’s many opportunities for comedy. (yes, there is the infamous “beach episode” too before you ask) Anyone who is familiar with these franchises will also quickly recognize how much their personalities carry over. Make no mistake, every character remains who they are from their respective shows. This includes Overlord’s core characters such as Albedo, Shalltear, and Demiurge. KonoSuba has its own class clowns like Aqua, Megumin, and Darkness. Re:Zero’s Emilia, Rem, Ram, and Beatrice are no strangers when they sit in class. And who can forget Youjo Senki’s adorable Visha? Bringing this legion of isekai characters also means a clash of personalities. Just like at school, there are class leaders and rules. The show establishes the rules early on and as each episode progresses, it becomes more and more evident how some characters can’t follow them. The class talent shows also displays a clash of egos. At the end of the day, the audience is the real winner as the anime accomplishes its job of glorfying popcorn entertainment. In a sense, this is a deconstruction of isekai. Character behaviors are observed in the some of the most outrageous ways possible. KonoSuba’s cast is the guiltiest of this with Kazuma’s antics, Megumin’s explosive personality, and Darkness’ perverted fantasies. However, others such as Albedo, Shaltear, and Beatrice also act on actions that speaks louder than words. My only slight disappointment is how much Tanya has to carry her own franchise in this crossover. Honestly, she is probably the most credible member from Youjo Senki. Even someone like Visha feels like she’s the invisible kid in class if you don’t pay too much attention. Similarly, most of the supporting characters from these perspective franchises is overshadowed by the main cast.

Isekai Quartet ended up being an anime that I didn’t know I wanted. When it got first announced, I thought this would’ve ended up being a big fat joke to further alienate the isekai fan base. It seemed like a big risk considering how much controversy their franchises became for certain audiences. But after watching this show to finish, I’ve seen the light. Be prepared to be enlightened.

Isekai Quartet represents the most wholesome and pure type of fan service one can write. In other words a spinoff truly made for the fans of not just one franchise but four of them, more specifically KonoSuba, Re:Zero, Youjo Senki and Overlord; kind of like a 2019 equivalent of what Carnival Phantasm was for the Nasuverse back in 2011. It should go without saying that you should have seen at least some and preferably all of these series before watching Isekai Quartet or you will not be able to appreciate this anime for what it is.

This chibi crossover spinoff basically takes all the main characters ... from these various franchises and sends them to another world... again... where they meet each other in a seemingly ordinary human school and are forced to become students. Of course what the anime is actually about is simply putting all these loveable characters together just to see what the hell happens, and that is really the charm point of it all. Just seeing the crossover interactions play out is something any fan of these series should have a great deal of fun watching. After all, character relations such as Tanya's hatred for deities like Aqua and in turn Aqua's animosity towards the undead such as Ainz is unavoidably going to lead to a great deal of interesting confrontation.

It's a simple show by design but it definitely works. The only real problem with it is that there are so many characters involved and potential interactions that would have been fun to explore, but with only 9-minute episodes (excluding OP and ED duration) we only ever get a quite limited amount of exposure to a large portion of Isekai Quartet's character cast. There are so many things I would have liked to see the show touch upon that never ended up happening simply because it ran out of time. But nevertheless it is still a great spinoff which I would highly recommend any fans of the related series to watch. It may be short but it's exceptionally sweet.

This is a crossover combination of 4 anime (Overlord, Konosuba, Re:Zero & Youjo Senki), and if you've seen and/or love those anime, you will love this crossover! If you haven't seen those anime, please proceed to watch all of them and then watch this crossover in all its glory! No, but seriously if you haven't seen and/or didn't like those 4 anime, you'll have a very hard time appreciating this show.

Story: 8
True to all the anime its draws from, Isekai Quartet rises above simple fan service with its own unique mystery and story.

Characters: 10
The characters of Overlord, Konosuba, Re:Zero & Youjo Senki are ... arguably some of the best parts of those shows, all being richly developed with their own personality and quirks. Isekai Quartet does a fantastic job of using all that character development and building on it. A lot of the humor in Isekai Quartet relies on references and character development from the original animes and honestly I find it really fascinating to see how characters from the different anime interact.

Art: 7
I don't really care for the chibi designs, but I can understand its use as trying to blend the 4 different artistic styles from the 4 source anime would be down right impossible. That being said, you shouldn't be watching this for the art.

Sound: 10
Isekai Quartet sports all the original voice actors and actresses from the original animes, and a good number of them even sing in the opening and ending which is really awesome. Sound quality is nothing short of what we expect from the source animes.

Enjoyment: 10
Like I said before, seeing all my favorite characters from dealing with this unexpected situation and interacting with each other is really interesting and hilarious. I enjoy watching Isekai Quartet immensely.

Overall: 9
I never expected a crossover like this would ever be made, but I'm so glad it was! It totally satisfies my craving to see more of my favorite characters until more sequels for Overlord, Konosuba, Re:Zero & Youjo Senki are released.

Trash mixed with garbage, fused with dog farts, and interwoven with mindless stupidity.

As a word of caution, I have not seen KonoSuba, Overlord, Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World, or The Saga of Tanya the Evil.--Thus, my perspective is drastically different than a consumer who has seen these Kadokawa Corporation productions. With that said, however, Isekai Quartet is bottom of the barrel entertainment. Perpetuating the stereotype of puerile-based Japanese comedy.

As a word of caution, Isekai Quartet is a perplexing show. I understand it’s a comedy/parody of the Isekai genre, but the abysmal execution leaves me questioning the effort of the so-called ... ‘writers.’ Let’s be honest: this show emulates the writing complexity of Donald Trump’s various tweets. The jokes, if we graciously endow them as such (which we won’t), are reminiscent of those dreadful joke books that your grandfather would read to you as a child to ‘validate’ his ‘hipness.’ Dry, boring, derivative humor.

Not even one episode managed to tickle my ‘funny bone.’ The talent show was talentless. The beach planning episode was coarse — also, it was a real beaaa-itch! And field day was fieldiculous.

Ordinarily, chibi-esque animation (exaggerated versions that exemplify the characters ‘cuteness’) are reserved for intermittent moments of slapstick comedy to juxtapose an otherwise solemn situation. But when the kawaii aesthetic is the predominant art style, it becomes a sensory overload of ‘cuteness’ that diminishes the prospect of laughter. Furthermore, the plot convenience of a magical button whisking everyone away is just a lazy excuse to gather the audience’s ‘favorite’ characters in one location.

As a word of caution, crossover shows purely exist for super-fans to lose their shit as their favorite characters interact with one another. The writers often rely on this dynamic to carry the show forward, without offering any substantive character or plot progressions to occur. And when twelve, ten minute episodes orient around this concept, it becomes excruciating to watch. But…that’s just my word of caution.

FINALLY, ABOUT TIME. The outlandish short comedy that is this show.

The biggest crossover not just in anime history, but one that can be said to level off with Avengers: Infinity War (no pun intended): Isekai Quartet, the short crossover that we knew we wanted for a long time, and thanks to the people over at Kadokawa green-lighting this high-profile series, we finally can rest at ease.

For the Average Joe, Isekai Quartet combines the Isekai universe's 4 most beloved series: Re:Zero, Youjo Senki (Saga of Tanya the Evil), KonoSuba and Overlord. And combine them Kadokawa did, for a collaboration that's unthinkable at this high scale, difficult ... (or even manageable) to pull off, but what came out of it was a short so highly revered, and in time present and future.

With that said, if you haven't watched any of the 4 anime series, the references that the cast of characters in the series make will be questionable.

So, for the setting of the show, I find it iffy that the overall setting would be in a school, but it works. The part that gets us totally is the pressing of the Isekai "RED" button, which summons most (if not all) of the characters in the 4 series into an alternate timeline, one devoid of the bells and whistles of the respective shows they came from. So, with that said, with Roswaal as homeroom teacher, let the misunderstandings, running jokes and gags ensue as the characters attempt to reason with one another about trivial issues. Even better, being a short 12-min series helps us digest the setting, and gets us adapted into the occurring scenarios filled with wholesome goodness.

Being a studio that primarily works on Chibi-esque features of series that sorta needed a wide presence, it's no surprise that Studio PuYUKAI is given the responsibility to anchor this series, and anchor they did with the simple cartoonish aesthetics. And I have to say that for a high-profile series, it certainly garnered a lot of attention that creates affection and tension for the cast of characters and their countless interactions in the alternate world.

And the music. I consider it to be the Holy Grail of the series. Even more unimaginable is the collab for the leads and supports from all 4 series. So the OP features a cool and wacky song by the "protagonists" Subaru, Tanya, Ainz Goal Oown and Kazuma, while the 8-bit designed electronic-sounding great ED is done by Emilia, Tanya, Albedo and Aqua. Both songs are equally fantastic that holds equal weight on their own. Add in the background, and this series is musically custom-composed plentifully.

Overall, what a great and fantastic showing, and a short to boot! And we have the people over at Kadokawa to thank for, because we may never be sure what triggered this movement of sorts, but at the end of the day, it's the company listening to the fans, that matters. So appreciate Kadokawa for this venture project. And this is officially SOTS in a lackluster season.

Now all that awaits is a (confirmed) Season 2 showing.

An average Joe: “Avengers: Infinity War is the most ambitious crossover ever!”

Me, a cultured anime connoisseur: “Isekai Quartet says hold my out of this world sake!”

Isekai is one of the most hated anime genres of them all. Yet even so, there are a select few Isekai that are generally well received by the anime community for adding unique twists to the genre or by just being entertaining to watch. Four such Isekai anime have been brought together and chibified in order to create the awesomeness that is Isekai Quartet. And so far, it has been a pleasantly enjoyable watch.

Obviously, this is just a lighthearted comedy/parody ... series, and is not meant to be taken seriously. It’s simply a fun show to watch if you have some free time. The only preparation that I would recommend before going into this would be viewing the four source anime, since some of the jokes and scenarios will go over your head if you don’t understand the context. This is a mostly character driven series, and so far all of the characters featured have been up to their old antics again with the addition of humorous interactions with the casts of the other Isekai anime. Seeing the main Konosuba cast acting like idiots again, best girl Rem being adorable, Tanya and Ainz going head to head, all of it is just, well, fun!

Whether or not you liked the characters from the four Isekai will most likely make or break how much you enjoy this show. For me, I like practically all of these characters, and seeing them all together in a lighthearted school setting has been quite satisfying.

🔥 4 Isekai worlds being Isekai'd into another Isekai... and they said that Infinity War was the most ambitious crossover event in history

The anime itself currently presents itself as being quite capable with a good potential to become a funny series, all the most liked characters of each show featured in this show are given a good amount of screen-time right from the first episode and in the coming episodes. In other words, they did a great job at making each viewer of the show content with what they got. It doesn't matter if all you like is Overlord because you'll still love this show ... with it's many situations that the overlord characters find themselves in. I think this currently is one of the strong suits of this show.

What's also important to mention is as things are panning out at the moment, each character is as their true self, they haven't needed to change the characters motives, speech nor other way that distinguishes them making it really feel like they've created an anime that has some of the most known "Isekai" characters into one show without a compromise, except for of course the animation and design.

It's very apparent they have changed the way they animated the show just by seeing a couple pictures but what's important to understand is why they did this. Looking at this show from a animators perspective it's quite obvious fully animating characters which are differently animated in each show, with different colors and shading, and even more importantly created by way different Anime studios, it would basically be impossible to really put all the characters into one anime without destroying the whole aesthetic of the anime to begin with, and to be quite honest, with the great dialogue in this show and action I'm pretty sure this really isn't needed!


☄️Story: 8/10:
Though I of course haven't seen everything this show has to offer I think I have seen enough to be able to rate it somewhat with what we currently have.
This show feels structured to say the least.. though things happen very quickly in the show things aren't too hard to understand. One difficulty that first seemed could become a problem, is that when you're basically mushing together 4 different animes into one, many people won't understand the references from the shows... Even this, they have been able to make it easy to follow for someone who is only a real fan one of these shows. This is a great +, and therefore will currently give this show a 8/10

☄️Art: 7/10
Though it's quite apparent that most of the shows focus was not on the actual art of the show, I think it compliments the show very well. It works well together to create a show where the characters kind of feel like they belong, even with their original different art style and so on.
In fact I still really like the art style, it puts characters like the mains from Overlord and Youjo Senki (both quite a bit darker types of shows) into a very different type of "colorful aesthetic look".

☄️Sound: 7/10
I don't think there's much to say here, nothing special, voice acting like in all of these shows is great.

☄️Character: 9/10
This is basically the main part of the shows, the characters. This isn't a new standalone anime in itself, it's an anime that drags multiple animes to create one which has the same charm as the other ones. As I mentioned before, the characters really stand out as being almost the exact same characters like in the original shows.
They act the same way, they talk the same way, they do the same things in similar situations and so on and so on.
Basically a show which was easy to enjoy even with it's simple artstyle.

☄️Enjoyment: 8/10
A show I myself am able to enjoy greatly, the show seems to show no signs of becoming worse after each episode, more so, the complete other way around and only really growing with it's potential.

☄️Overall: 7.8/10
I believe this show will be able to become better over time but will have to give it a 7.8/10 (or basically the score after adding all numbers from before and dividing it by 5)

Thank you for reading my review, I hope to be able to do more reviews in the near future!

I loved konosuba. Re; zero was a fun watch. Overlord has a neat concept. Tanya is tanya (sorry haven't watched but neither has anyone else). Was getting pretty hyped after hearing this was announced, but man I should've known it would be bland. It starts off with the characters transporting themselves to a new world (iskekai of isekai's, revolutionary). konosuba crew screws around like usual, with copy-paste dialogue from previous seasons, but at least its funny and adds a bit to the ordeal. And this is the set up so I can expect more later on right? (little do I know this is the only ... good scene). Then tanya does some stuff and Ainz sits his fat ass on a button in the middle of a long boring meeting, which summarizes the entirety of overlord anyway. They all show up at school and are confused. Wow! where are we? what should we do? who are these people? then re:zero crew show up for fuck all reason. And that's the episode. WHERE IS THE FUN?! Who wrote this?

At this point, I assumed it was just a cash cow. Looks like shit, sounds terrible, boring setting and bland dialogue. But after checking the Reddit, people seemed happy and talked about how soon the characters would interact, and the 1st episode is just the intro (if that's the case it should have been episode 0). So I go into episode two, and nothing happened. And 3,4,5,6. It's pitiful that such great stories were squandered in such a cool event like a crossover. I did go in somewhat expecting too much, but I would've honestly taken anything if there was some spark or charm. And I know that it isn't weird for me to wish for something ACTUALLY interesting to happen. Something that builds on the concept to make there be a point of combining these shows.But honestly after so much sitting around has transpired, I highly doubt anything interesting will take place for the remainder of the season.

Ainz hasn't done anything to make us think he is sentient/has his personality from overlord. He just sits there. They all sit around in the desks, even though they are all ultra powerful badasses, held back by no restraints except the scriptwriters lacking brain cells. Why haven't the undead tried to take over any territory? why hasn't aqua killed Ainz? why doesn't Kazuma go home? why didn't Subaru's witches call take effect/ why doesn't he do ANYTHING (he sits in place and makes no comments). What's Subaru doing being so nonchalant in the given situation. Why is Everyone just sitting around and staying in class? What do they even do in class? Where did they go home at night? how did buttons appear? These are all questions I have that will most likely never be answered because I don't trust the scriptwriter to have an understanding of the implications of the scenario.

3/10
go watch a couple episodes of konosuba and skip this entirely.

I can't say I was expecting much going into Isekai Quartet, other than a way to waste a few minutes of my time every week. But even by those low expectations Isekai Quartet is sorely lacking in just about every area.

Despite having a cast of eccentric characters, Isekai Quartet spends much of it's time attempting to avoid having them interact. Frequently characters will stick next to characters from their own show, which makes sense from a real social dynamic perspective, but is an awful idea when your key selling point is having these characters meet each other. As a result, Isekai Quartet is dreadfully unfunny. ... Large portions of the already short running time are dedicated to characters "enjoying" a mundane high school scenario.

How a show involving Tanya, Kazuma and his band of goons, and the rest from Overlord and Re:zero manages to be dull is a complete mystery to me. Instead of magic battles and other weirdness, you have episodes dedicated to... Rem and Subaru walking to school. These characters all have strong personalities that, if in the hands of a good writer, could be an entertaining combination. But the show kneecaps itself right from the start by insisting that they follow a set of rules that seem designed to ensure that as little fun happens as possible.

Despite having a 9 minute runtime, the pace is glacial. Slowburn anime would be green with envy at just how little happens in each one of these nuggets of torture. When the show finally attempts to throw a joke your way (usually via the Konosuba crew) you can't help but get the feeling of having been there done that. And when the Konosuba gang aren't present, it feels like the show is winding up to a punchline that never comes (usually because the episode ends before it gets to the point.) Unless making you watch a bad show is the punchline.

Art? What art? I mean I wasn't expecting any sakuga, but the limitations of using this art style become clear very quickly.

I can't even reccomend this to people who like all four shows involved. And there's really not much else to say considering that comedy is the primary purpose of smashing them together. Avoid.

Avengers: Endgame wasn’t the only notable crossover last Spring. For the anime community were greeted to the ultimate Isekai crossover. A crossover that seemed too true to believe. A crossover of Konosuba, Re:Zero, Overlord and Saga of Tanya the Evil into one show. As a fan of all four of these shows, this felt like a wet dream. And as such, became a highly anticipated show for me. Did I enjoy it though? Well lets talk about it shall we?

Sit back relax and get ready to snap those fingers as I present to you the anime review for Isekai Quartet. Lets begin.


Story: 6/10 ...
The story begins with our characters all encountering a red button in their respected worlds and through either unluckiness, desperation or sheer stupidity, they press it (Except we don’t see the Re:Zero characters press it for some reason). Suddenly, they get transported to a school and have to start experiencing school life. The characters in question are our lucky idiots of Kazuma, Aqua, Megumim and Darkness. Subaru and his merry band of harem girls. The Devil of the Rhine, Tanya Degurechaff and her lieutenants. And THE GREAT SORCERER KING HIMSELF, AINS OOAL GOWN!!! As well as the floor guardians of Nazerick.

It’s as basic as plot as you can get. Our Isekai characters who get Isekaied into their own worlds suddenly get Isekaied into another Isekai and now have to experience school life in this Isekai world. What this show likes to focus on however, is the moment to moment scenes in which we see our characters interact with one another to help insinuate some humour. And when I say some, I mean a lot. This show doesn’t waste time in trying to introduce these characters again (well apart from the class introduction), you know who they are, you know what they are like so here they are reacting to a new setting. So the jokes and comedic elements all relate to the characters’ respective shows; with some in jokes from the moment to moment scenes, as well as some subtle and not so subtle 4th wall breaking. Now the humour really relies on your past experience with these shows. In context, they work well at delivering the humour, (Darkness will always be funny, no matter what). But if you have not seen every series in this show, some of the jokes will go right over your head; which will probably affect your enjoyment of this show.

Now one of the things I was concerned about is how will this show balance this large cast of characters from different shows and how they will balance their screen time? Well the show was struggling a bit at the start when it came to balancing out which characters got screen time. Re:Zero especially felt like it got the short end of the stick for the longest time. In order to highlight who is in its show, they have to have an episode dedicated to them, but Re:Zero’s spotlight should have been in the first half and not the second half. Otherwise, they feel like low end secondary characters. Of course, the latter half of the show came and it balanced out, as all things should be.


Characters: 10/10
Well I think that it is fair to say that the characters in this show are well translated from their respective shows. Their personalities still remain intact (for better or worse; depends on your opinion) but with an extra bit of comedic flair to it to add to the comedy. The interesting question though was how these characters were going to interact with each other. With such a large cast from different shows, the chemistry that could develop could be rather interesting. We kind of knew that Ains and Tanya would get along well and Aqua would try anything to kill Ains and co. But there were some interactions that I never knew would happen. Who knew that Albedo and Rem would get along with each other so well due to their understanding their love for Ains and Subaru respectively. It’s these kind of character interactions I want to see, even the small ones that last a few seconds. If you can create chemistry with these characters, then you can make for some interesting circumstances whether now or later on in the show.


Animation: 7/10
For this kind of show, the chibi art style is appropriate. Considering that Konosuba, Re:Zero, Overlord and Saga of Tanya the Evil had different art styles and were all made by different studios (Studio Deen, White Fox, Madhouse and Studio NUT respectively). Having a single art style makes it easier to animate and we don’t have a clash of art styles. The chibi artstyle though looks good and the characters are still expressive. Again, it is appropriate for a show that is meant to a laid back, comedic show and not to be taken seriously. So the animation does its job and does it to a good degree. When you compare the animation to the chibi spinoffs of each show, Isekai Quartet animates better than them. So it is nice to see them put some more effort into this.


Sound: 6/10
The soundtrack is rather basic to say the least. It has nothing of note and is merely used as background music to help the scene and set a mood. But the show also uses the more popular tracks from the respective shows to know who has got screen time here and who is taking centre stage at the moment. All I can say though is that it is used correctly at the right time.

The opening though was enjoyable. Simply titled “Isekai Quartet” and is sung by the main protagonists of each show, Kazuma, Subaru, Ains and Tanya. It is a nice way of introducing who is going to be in this show and backed up by a catchy song that you could sing along to. It helps get you into the mood of what kind of show this is going to be and has a nice pace to it to make it an enjoyable opening. Although side note, I am disappointed that MYTH&ROID didn’t do the opening since they have done the openings for all of these shows except Konosuba.

The ending sequence was also enjoyable. "Isekai Girls♡Talk” is the name of the song and is sung by the main female leads of each show, Aqua, Emilia, Albedo and Tanya. I like the use of the 8-bit art style for the characters and again, the song is catchy and matches the tone of the show. It helps keep up a light mood with its charm and, as such, was one of the more enjoyable ending sequences this season.


Conclusion
I didn’t come and expect Isekai Quartet to be the second coming of anime or anything like that. I came because I wanted to see four Isekai shows I like come together in a big a ball of fan-service. And I got that. I enjoyed what I saw from this show and got some very interesting character interactions from it. This is what I wanted and expected to see and I got it. For for fans of these shows, you are going to enjoy what you see and how these characters adjust to school life. But I think it is required that you watch all four of these shows to get the full experience and to get some of the humour. Otherwise you are missing out. So that could affect a person’s decision to watch it. But, like me, you have watched these four shows, then you are going to enjoy yourself.


My Personal Enjoyment: 9/10


Overall score: 7.6/10 Recommendation: Watch it (If you have watched the four shows beforehand)

In the realm of anime, the isekai genre has taken the stage, captivating audiences with its tales of ordinary individuals transported to fantastical worlds. Amidst this popularity, Isekai Quartet emerges, a hilarious parody that brings together four iconic isekai protagonists and their companions for a crossover adventure filled with witty humor, self-aware references, and a unique chibi art style.

A Melting Pot of Isekai Heroes

Isekai Quartet's premise is as simple as it is ingenious: Subaru Natsuki (Re:ZERO - Starting Life in Another World), Kazuma Satou (KonoSuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World!), Tanya Degurechaff (The Saga of Tanya the Evil), and Ainz Ooal Gown (Overlord) are ... mysteriously transported to a new world, forced to adapt to their new surroundings while navigating the quirky personalities and abilities of their fellow isekai heroes.

Parody Done Right

Isekai Quartet excels in its parody, seamlessly blending the distinct elements and characters from each of the source material into a cohesive and humorous experience. The anime's strength lies in its ability to poke fun at the isekai genre's tropes, exaggerated personalities, and ridiculous plot points, all while maintaining a level of respect for the original works.

Self-Aware Humor and Unique Quirks

The anime's humor is sharp, witty, and often meta, frequently breaking the fourth wall to acknowledge its own parodic nature. The characters' interactions are a constant source of amusement, as their contrasting personalities and abilities clash in hilarious ways. Subaru's self-deprecating humor, Kazuma's bluntness, Tanya's ruthlessness, and Ainz's overconfidence provide a rich comedic tapestry.

Familiarity with the Originals

While Isekai Quartet can be enjoyed on its own, familiarity with the original anime series significantly enhances the viewing experience. The anime is packed with references, jokes, and callbacks that will only land if you've seen the source material. This familiarity allows the anime to go deeper into its parody, making the humor more nuanced and satisfying.

The Originals Remain True to Themselves

Despite the parodic nature of Isekai Quartet, the characters retain their core personalities and abilities from their original series. Subaru's emotional outbursts, Kazuma's perversions, Tanya's military efficiency, and Ainz's overwhelming power are all present, albeit presented in a comedic light. This balance ensures that the anime remains true to the spirit of the original works while simultaneously delivering its own brand of humor.

Story: 6/10
Visual: 6/10
Detailed: 7/10
Characters: 10/10
Emotions: 7/10
Smoothness: 5/10
OP/ED: 4/10
Audio: 5/10
Originals: 9/10
Intense: 5/10
Uniqueness: 8/10
Fun/Laughter: 8/10
NSFW: 1/10
Boring/Idling: 1/10

Recommendation: A Must-Watch for Isekai Fans

Isekai Quartet is a must-watch for fans of isekai anime, offering a refreshing and hilarious take on the genre. Its clever parody, self-aware humor, and unique blend of characters make it a thoroughly enjoyable experience. While familiarity with the original anime enhances the viewing experience, the anime remains accessible to newcomers, providing a lighthearted introduction to the world of isekai. So, grab your favorite isekai snack and prepare to laugh out loud as Subaru, Kazuma, Tanya, and Ainz embark on their comical adventures in a world beyond their imaginations.

I mean it'd probably be easiest for me to put some kind of Avengers joke here for the intro, but I'm pretty sure that's been done to death by this point, so I'll just go onto the meat of the review.

Story:

Alright, so let's give the main cast of Konosuba, Overlord, Youjo Senki, and Re:Zero a random button that just magically appears on their respective doorsteps in order to Isekai them again into a world where now they're forced to participate in high school activities and shenanigans.  What fantasy!  What merriment!  I bet the rights holders were high-fiving each other when they came up with this ... idea.

The story for Isekai Quartet can be roughly summed up by asking the question: "How would these characters react to both the setting and the other characters if they were all put in the same place?"  Each episode heavily spotlights one or two major interactions amongst some or a few members of the four respective casts, cycling through almost every conceivable permutation possible in the high school setting featuring but not limited to activities such as: the Test of Courage, Sports festivals, School chores, Beach episode, and various Afterschool activities.

As such, Isekai Quartet doesn't really present much of anything beyond the comedic factor that comes with smashing together so many casts together.  It's comedy for the sake of comedy and fanservice for the sake of giving fans of these respective shows (and the isekai genre) a bit more extra material to watch even though it doesn't really impact anything in the long run.  Honestly, referential material makes up the bulk of the show, so much so that I'm pretty sure not knowing anything makes this show infinitely harder to watch.

Characters:

In shorts comedies like Isekai Quartet, the essence of these characters are simply boiled down to their base components/memes that most people remember them for.  Aqua's still useless, Shalltear and Albedo continuously poke each other for each other's shortcomings and how they'll never get Ainz, Ram still spits the word equivalent of fire over Subaru, and Tanya still has her...episodes.

This unfortunate byproduct of the shorts medium makes it so that really, there's not much to be said about the characters on their own due to comedy for entertainment's sake.  The main draw of their existences now only comes from the speculation of: "What would happen if Aqua met Albedo?" and numerous other interactions as each episode features roughly two major interactions between a group of 'unlikely characters' and see how they would react to each other.  While not inherently bad, it leaves a lot to be desired because their interactions feel very surface level without much going on aside from laughing at the primary shortcoming of a particular character or talking about seemingly mutual interests and then never interacting ever again.  The best of these interactions seems to exist only in occasional scenes where the main protagonists ask other protagonists questions and comparing their answers to their own realities, but even those threads don't really go anywhere past the one twelve minute block they're featured in.

Aesthetics:

Made by Studio Studio PuYUKAI, a studio whose entire repertoire is basically just these kinds of chibi minisodes, the appearance of Isekai Quartet is very cheap.  It's like they're in Flash Animation since the characters don't really animate all that much and feel very stiff when they move.  This is in part due to the style the show's presented in, as the chibi/rubber-stamp versions of these characters while crisp and clear, doesn't really make much of an effort to be beyond being 'casual' and 'serviceable' for the audience.  

There're a few occasional moments where the series makes an effort to be visually impressive, such as the one time they used Megumin's explosion and the time Tanya loses it, but aside from select points like that, the appearance of the show really isn't all that impressive.  Hell, characters mostly just slide around if they're getting from place to place since animating walking in this style is basically the same thing for the most part.

As far as the OST goes...personally I'm not a fan.  "Isekai Quartet" sung by the VAs of the four series protagonists is this super poppy and catchy song that, since the series is comedy-based, fits with the general tone of the show.  Similarly, the ED of "Isekai Girls♡Talk" has the main heroines (and Tanya...again) do the exact same thing, but changing up the formula by having a more electronic beat that isn't as joyful as its OP counterpart.
 
While these songs are ultimately just pure fanservice, my issue arises how half of each 'song' is just the characters making chide comments about themselves and their series, talking extremely fast while the track of the song is still playing in the background.  To me, this breaks up the flow of the song and it doesn't even really feel like a proper song because of it.

Personal Enjoyment:

I'm positive this show just isn't for me, and I'm confident I've made that abundantly clear in the review thus far...  I'm not big on the Isekai genre in the first place, and even less of a fan when the industry decides to spit out one of these 'shorts' series for the sake of a quick cash grab by throwing in every joke, meme, and reference they can in order to suck in the fans of these series' to be like "Hey, we got something for this show you like, but not really".

Like really, did this need to be in a school setting?  Why a school setting?  Why does everything need to be in a school setting?  What benefit do we get from having them in a school setting?  It's such a boring and overdone idea for a series crossover that part of me genuinely is surprised how much positive attention this is getting despite how lazily made the show looks on top of how shallow they're presenting these characters.  The one thing I'm most sad about however is how they never thought to put make Megumin and Emilia interact with each other once.  Japan freaking loves seiyuu jokes; I'm surprised they didn't do one this time.

If you're a fan of any of the featured series', you will most likely find something interesting about Isekai Quartet to watch.  If not, then in my opinion, it's not worth the trouble.  The show is really just fanservice for the sake of fanservice, and since practically 90% of the show is dedicated to either making fun of the show's conglomerate of a cast or referencing any of the four plots, not watching at least one (or the only) season of each of these shows will reduce enjoyment by at least 25%.

The only thing this crossover missing is TRUCK-KUN. Jokes aside this anime is doing very good with its characters, which are from different anime, 4 different anime to be accurate.

I really like how they manage characters from different anime and how this anime has integrated them, I liked that Aqua and Ainz have bit of rivalry because Ainz is pure evil and Aqua is a Goddess. I also liking how Tanya is believing that God who she hates passionately is one of the classmates. How can I forget subaru, who thinks that he is back to his daily normal life (lets be honest ... here anything is better for him than his Isekai world) .

These chibe characters get some time to before you get used to them but when you get used to them its really is a fun ride. Animation is smooth, which is always welcomed but production sure is high here, its odd because at glance this anime looks like second thought of some unknown studio but it delivers on the animation department quite well.

It have some down sides, like most of the characters do not interact with other and are there for sake of being there, which is a downer but most of the time it does a decent job here. You should watch if you want to see different characters from different anime to interact.

8/10 from me. Go give it a try and watch it.

Isekai Quartet is one of the biggest crossovers in the history of anime. As the name suggests, it’s a crossover between 4 isekai animes, namely, Overlord, Youjo Senki, Re:Zero and KonoSuba. We have all wondered at least once what would happen if a character from one anime met one from another and this anime is just that. If you are a fan of the isekai comedy genre then this anime is just right for you.

It starts out as everyone getting transported to a separate world where they are forced to attend school. In this school setting, they take part in various typical anime high school ... activities such as going to beach, sports festival, talent show, etc.

The character interactions are just as you would expect and also hilarious to watch. The great lord Ainz actually takes damage from the attacks of the useless Aqua and Kazuma just casually punches the goddess; Darkness creates misunderstandings for Subaru and Tanya’s battalion due to her masochist nature; Tanya and Demiurge bond over their love for strict rules and countless more fun interactions.

Overall it’s very fun to watch and make to watch all 4 original animes to enjoy it to the fullest.

[Prologue]

Isekai quartet is the light at the end of a tunnel for an industry that had found itself at an innovation dead-end. Also, Isekai Quartet is the most ambitious crossover event in history (and supposedly, it will become EVEN MORE ambitious in season 2).

[My initial worries...]

I was skeptical of this show at first. As a cynic, I saw many red flags:

1. Half of the quartet had sequels confirmed, with the others likely to follow.
2. The show was blatantly riding the coattails of the Isekai genre's popularity.
... 3. The show adopted a digestible, marketable presentation style (including the OP and ED).

Given those three flags (and my overall pessimistic outlook on modern anime), I *cautiously* rated this show 8/10...

[...were blown away!]

To my surprise, I was wrong. Kodokawa put out an inspired crossover that didn't take decades to establish. I have a lot of respect for those who were behind this. The pieces were there, and Kodokawa staff made the connection. The result: a solid 10/10 product.

[Worries for season 2]

Now, back to cynicism. Season 1 was great, we all know that. It was a passion project that brought our collective unknown desires to light. But what about season 2? Here are two options:

1. Season 2 was planned from the start and Isekai Quartetting may become a trend within certain subgenres. <GOOD END>

or

2. Season 2 is going to be the cashgrab that I'd originally believed this show to be. <BAD END>

Given the evidence so far, I'd like to think that Kodokawa is going to make a second season as good- if not better than season 1. We'll just have to wait and see. Despite my nature, I'm riding first class on the hype train.

[Final statements]

CHOO CHOO SEASON TWO COMING THROUGH!

So anime finally did it huh?...it did an Avengers: Isekai Anime Short Edition

Isekai Quartet is one of the FIRST animes to ever bring in four anime from different franchises, in this case, KonoSuba, Youjo Senki, Overlord and ReZero all together!, the closest thing near this feat was Carnival Phantasm with it's Type-Moon titles but nonetheless...

Here's the thing, having these four anime franchises and how the character all mingling together is one thing, but even all four of the animes have ties to one another, giving us many allusions towards each of their anime franchises counterparts and even making jokes to go along with that!. To ... say this anime short was LA favourite comedy of Spring 2019 is an understatement and heck the only anime franchise LA hasn't all of was Overlord (only finished it's first season by the time of writing this review) but LA STILL know it's jokes.

The basic plot towards Isekai Quartet is that a mysterious switch appears in each of the isekai worlds, guess what happens later and all the main cast of their respective series lands in a..high school setting, for our protagonists they did a ReCreators while the rest of the cast have been isekai'd in an anime short isekai collab!. But the school seems to have it's own secret dealings, much like the case as all the higher up characters of each series are the teachers and maintain "order"...for some reason.

Nonetheless the plot isn't where the main focus is at, of course not, it's the comedy and all the different franchise mingling with one another. LA said that all the characters have a connection with one another and this just isn't in personality, but in their respective parent stories as well. For instances, Subaru and Ainz are good friends with one another why?...well Subaru has faced death so many times and Ainz being an undead (but also embodiment of death in his homeworld) it's a given, but Ainz also wants a friend and Subaru is ok with that, the other would be Kazuma and Tanya, why do these two have a connection when one comes from a comedy while the other a violent military fantasy?, well Tanya is VIGILANT towards Kazuma as his "type" was the one who got Tanya's old self killed and well Kazuma is the butt monkey as per usual. Isekai Quartet just makes it al connect and again it's jokes especially works in a similar way.

The animation done by Studio PuYUKAI has the entire four casts in chibi mode and in a pretty decent way, sure it's all chibi but even the animation can be detailed at times for effect. Studio PuYUKAI did a great job as result.

The voice acting, well we have four voice casts together so that's an undertaking in itself but some notable examples would be the protagonists Aoi Yuuki as Tanya, Jun Fukushima as Kazuma, Satoshi Hino as Ainz and Yuusuke Kobayashi as Subaru but also to add from the protagonists, Yumi Hara as Albedo, Sora Amamiya as Aqua, Ai Kayano as Darkness and pulling double duty Rie Takahashi as Megumin and Emilia, Yuusuke Kobayashi as Subaru and Warren and Yumi Uchiyama as Puck and Mare Forte. Really the voice casts are back and that's what all that matters, just awesome.

Now if there were any flaws towards this anime short, is just two, let's get the obvious out of the way first, if you haven't watched of dipped your toes in ALL four franchises you'll miss the many nods and jokes of their respective anime franchises, sure the character jabbing is there but to fully enjoy it, at least having watched all four of the anime franchises is a given (or if your like LA and didn't watch Overlord but watched the rest, the first season is enough). the second would be since the huge cast of characters from FOUR anime franchises are coming together and this is an anime short, that means the screentime for many of the characters are limited to say the least and this even comes into play all the crazier scenarios Isekai Quartet could pull off, like LA wanted Megumin and Emilia interacting together, Darkness and Shalltear going at it, Cocytus and Visha talking about war life. BUT to this what we still got was nonetheless a crazy collab-ing comedy conundrum of craziness.

The finale was good in many aspects with it teasing with EVEN MORE characters being in this crossover anime short. But even with the finale's arc taking something soo typical of a school-comedy and taken up to an eleven with expected results from the Isekai Quartet...the ending was fun and great.

Isekai Quartet easily takes LA's favorite comedy of Spring 2019 and it was freakin' anime short, but the precedence of a collab-ing anime is unheard of, so to say that Isekai Quartet breaking ground in the anime front is actually an understatement and LA would happily put Isekai Quartet as one of LA's favorite animes of Spring 2019, WITHOUT A DOUBT and with it announcing a second season, LA will be pumped especially with the tease of more characters being in this anime short, really whenever LA watched Isekai Quartet it always brought a smile to LA's face.

What next? Shingeki no Kyojin, One Punch Man, Ao no Exorcist and Boku no Hero Academia have a collab under the Shueisha umbrella?

If you love the anime shows that crossover in Isekai Quartet then you will love this chibi-style comedy anime of the characters from KonoSuba, Overlord, Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World, and The Saga of Tanya the Evil.

I don't who first thought up this project, but whoever that person is, he or she is a genius!

The various isekai anime shows really blend together really well and the characters' interactions are always fun to watch.

There is one small problem though: if you haven't watched the anime shows that this is based on, then you probably won't enjoy it much. Isekai Quartet doesn't really bother to ... introduce every character. It just assumes that you have watched the anime that they came from. Those who stumble upon Isekai Quartet without knowing that it's a crossover anime of four different shows will most likely find that it makes no sense.

In my opinion, this is a must watch for those of us who are fans of isekai anime and love comedy.

Best cross-over I ever saw. The fact that my favorite anime and some other good ones combined got me hyped and gave me chills. The animation was ok but the story was amazing (don't know why tho), even if this is a cross-over it made me count the days and the hours until a new episode will come out.


From my point of view the best part was when Subaru tried saying the forbidden phrase, it gave me some hope that they might just understand his pain, that he made it, that even if he can't say it Ainz can tell them for him, but it ... ended up the same as it always does.

Also that opening song, I can't get it out of my head, the story,sound and characters where outstanding. The art was pretty good and I truly enjoyed it. So the overall will be a 9. This truly was a godly cross-over.

For a comedic series, it wasn't funny at all. I might have chuckled once throughout my entire watching of the show.

The plot is stupid, which is FINE, since it is, after all, a spinoff gag show, but the premise of the show wasn't what ruined the show, it was the fact that there was absolutely no content that spurred the show on. Obviously, there are 4 different series of characters in this show, and they all were forced to participate on school life. However, it was the fact that the daily school life activites they did, whether it was a field trip, electing reps, ... or doing class duties, were actually just very badly done. Not a whole lot is ever put on these aspects of the "content" of the episode. I mean, the class goes on a trip to the beach, but nothing out of the ordinary happens.
Basically, every single activities the characters do, is put to the side and the same old dialogue happens no matter what actions they are doing, which just makes this show four different casts of characters trying to be funny regardless of the setting, WHICH IS FINE, but that is also poorly done. There are a whole lot of characters for a gag spinoff show with only 12 minute episodes, and as a result, almost none of them get any sort of exposure or screen time, other than the four protags obv, or if they do, it's the same old joke over and over again. So, 90% of the cast is neglected, and the main characters of the series also aren't very funny

Essentially, everything can be mended as long as the comedy was funny. Sure, setting doesn't need to matter and side characters also don't need screen time in a comedic series, but the comedy was quite dreadful. There is no meaningful dialogue between the 4 different casts of characters, which is basically the entire premise of the series. It's like I am watching four different comedy acts at the same time. No cohesion, no interest in actually talking with the other characters, and overall, not funny at all. The same jokes get thrown over and over again that you would expect from their own respective series. People act out of character because some people need to act "funny" in order for the series to progress

It had potential, but it was ruined due to poor execution of anything at all. I am certain I could produce something of similar caliber, and I am no comedian by any means.