Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou Recap

It seems that lately, most if not all (especially) crappy series trying to push a recap episode in the midst of being aired, probably as a call of desperate cash grab because they can't pull up a complete 12 episodes to seal the traditional seasonal mark. Or maybe it's one of those “Here is where the series picks up, so you might as well recap what happened so far”. But when you're presented with a trashy, lazy and extremely low-quality series, the last thing you'd want is more of the same garbage. That's one of my complaints as a completionist, I can't leave out the ... smallest of related content to a series no matter how bad I hate it, it's both a curse (in this case) and a blessing on rare occasions.

“Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou” has managed to hype up a massive selection of the Isekai fans prior to its release, however, the disappointment was far greater than anyone had anticipated, and with this recap episode, you only get to see how much rushed and incomplete the storytelling was. So slow you could space out most of the episode, and suddenly, it jumps into being a fast-paced shitfest that requires more energy to follow up with than necessary.

The recap doesn't come up with anything new but a couple of teases for a new character at the end, however, you do get to see how much potential this story had, as they stripped off everything that was filling up the air time of each episode, leaving you only with the highlights. This series could have been at least decent, it turned out it carried more trouble than it was worth.

While I did see some announcements about Arifureta here and there, I didn't pay too much attention to it till it finished airing. Since it got confirmed for a second season, I decided now would be a good a time as any to watch the show. I haven't finished watching the whole series, and this review will only discuss things that have happened in the first 5 episodes. So, is Arifureta good? Well, let's hop on and find out!

Story
After being trapped deep within a large labyrinth filled with monsters, Hajime Nagumo tries to do his best to survive. We also get scenes that focus on ... Hajime's classmates from high school as they cope with Hajime's disappearance. The most affected of them is Kaori, who seemed to be one of Hajime's closest friends back in high school. Personally, I found Arifureta most enjoyable when it focused on Hajime and Yue's struggles and the scenes with Kaori and the other high school kids often detracting from the main story. I'm not saying they're bad, it's just that I found them distracting from the main characters' battles and the bonding between Hajime and Yue. (5/10)

Characters
Anime adaptations of light novels, for better or worse, have this reputation of featuring OP protagonists that never lose a fight and are always looking forward to help anyone in need. Hajime breaks trend by not being overtly selfless. He's almost perpetually angry, suffers defeats aplenty and the only person he cares about is himself, at least before he meets Yue. I get it, he is trapped in a cavern filled with ferocious monsters, but we don't even get to know the person he used to be before he got trapped in the labyrinth. According to the flashbacks, Hajime used to be a shy and awkward kid who wouldn't even hurt a fly, but that characterization gets thrown out of the window as soon as the main story starts. It's as if Arifureta is telling us "you shouldn't care about who Hajime used to be because this is who Hajime will be from now on." The change in personality is so sudden that it's bound to leave viewers confused to.

That said, his relationship with Yue has been one of the most enjoyable aspects of Arifureta, so far. Despite enduing similar circumstances, Yue doesn't seem to have become as bitter and cynical as Hajime and functions as his moral compass. If it wasn't for Yue, Hajime would completely lose his morals and the only thing he'd care about is survival. Their relationship gives the series so much pathos and a much-needed emotional anchor.

Aside from Hajime and Yue, there doesn't seem to be any other major characters in the show. Sure, there's also Hajime's classmates, but the only one who gets any substantial characterization is Kaori. I guess Shizuku is important too, but most of her screentime is devoted to provide Kaori with emotional support.

Since we're only 5 episodes in, there's still a chance the supporting cast can evolve, but as it stands right now, only Hajime and Yue seem to be the only memorable characters in Arifureta. (6/10)

Art
The visual quality of Arifureta is fine. It's not the best, but it's not bad either. The character designs are passable, the fight scenes are average and the backgrounds only have enough detail to avoid coming off as ugly and lazy. Also, I liked the symbols and circles used to indicate the activation of magic and superpowers. (6/10)

Sound
The opener was amazing, the best thing to come out of the show, in fact. I also liked the saxophone music. I'm not exactly the biggest fan of saxophones but Arifureta used this kind of music to great effect. I'm not familiar with Matt Shipman's work but he does a fine job as Hajime. Not great, just fine. His voice often sounds a bit rough sometimes, as if he's trying too hard to make Hajime sound badass. Tia Ballard is one of the finest VAs of her generation and I don't think there could have been a better choice to voice Yue. Some people think that Tia is being typecast as small, cute girls, but let's face it, if she wouldn't be typecast if she was good at it. Skyler McIntosh also deserves props for her performance as Kaori. (8/10)

Overall
I'm not the biggest fan of clips shows or recaps. They tend to break the narrative flow and frustrate the pre-existing viewers for halting the story just so that new viewers can catch up, not to mention they remove a significantly remove a lot of content just so that the episode can fit into a half-hour format. Watching this recap felt like a chore to me, I only watched it because I had nothing better to do. It wasn't bad, but I definitely recommend the full episodes over this. (6/10)

This tweet sums it up perfectly

Waited a whole week for a shitty recap as last 2 episodes were also having recap as hell they should change this anime name to 'ARIFURETA NO RECAP'

Now we have to wait a whole fucking week for another episode.

I just don't get it what they were thinking while making thid recap just after 5 damn episodes. just as I thought I would finally see the MC flexing, I was so much dissappointed. How can someone in their right mind thought of doing this is beyond me.

if this delay means that the next episode will be ... better than the last 5 then im fine with it otherwise I would be so angry. I hope they improve the CGI or entirely do away with it, either is fine. I just dont get the concept of CGI in anime. I hope they improve on that.

Truly this episode sucks








This Sucks