Seirei Gensouki

*This review contains any spoilers*

This text will be an analogy. Actually, a generalization.
What is your favorite food? This can be a difficult question. In fact, it is a varied subject and depends on many external and internal factors, personal tastes, experiences and expectations. Anyway, imagine that you have the opportunity to eat the same thing every day.

Well, this is somewhat of a dream. Who wouldn't want to spend a moment of their life overindulging in what they like most? I myself feel that it is something unique and that this utopia would be nice eventually. However, think how nauseating it can be to live ... with the same thing over and over again. It is uncomfortable, isn't it? Now think that this analogy resembles Seirei Gensouki, a show that started out delivering interesting ideas and was managing to be a good (almost utopian) experience, but that lost its rhythm, got out of hand, and is now another one of the animes that today is just... cloying.

To begin with, Seirei Gensouki starts out like many other shows of the genre and of light novel adaptations of isekai: a boy who, with a noble and honorable occurrence, changes his life and becomes a special person in a Kingdom of his Universe. Saving the princess was something unexpected for the character who still had memories of his past life, but this first stage follows with a chance at the Royal Academy, becoming a respectable person, even with the interpersonal problems and scorns by other classmates.

Oh, I forgot to mention that in his other life, Rio ("Haruto" in the real world) died as a result of a bus accident, with two other girls. One of these girls was apparently the same person with whom Rio was friends in the past. Well, fate prevented this reunion from happening amicably. Generic, no? However, even with these simple and expected archetypes, the show was not exposed in a negative way at first. In fact, it really felt like a utopia this introduction. The anime inserted a teacher named Celia as Rio's tutor while he learned for 5 years, from reading and writing, to the art of fighting and social etiquette. The universe of the show is a medieval fantasy, but it possessed its beauty, even if this very beauty was more evident than the story of the show itself. All expectations were projected to build 12 episodes that would guarantee a good experience, right? Wrong!!!

What if Rio has some trouble along the way and ends up escaping from Bertram's Kingdom? Well, that's what happens. The monotony and coexistence nurtured for five years within the story collapses at an unexpected moment. Flora, the same princess saved by Rio in the past, is saved in a near disaster during a test, by Rio. The problem is... Rio starts to be accused by evil people of being the very culprit of this incident. Rio then decides to flee the kingdom and begins his adventure, far from his classmates and especially far from his teacher Celia, his best friend during all his life. This kind of thing was quite unexpected frankly. For those who remember, Rio had already been through moments like this and it would not be very difficult to reverse the situation and graduate from the school. Even so, he did not wait and continued to follow his own path.

The protagonist really was unfortunate to make this illogical choice, yet Rio was never a meddlesome character or one who conveyed scenes where he turned into a "two-face." His courtesy and formality is a unique trait and one that captivated me throughout the show. Celia also had her charisma and striking presence that enveloped the story, even though she was far removed from the events surrounding the anime.

Time passes and Rio is attacked by Latifa, a slave girl ordered to kill him, but who is saved by himself from this cruel fate. Latifa is a demi-human, yet another common element in isekais today. Over time, their trust and trustworthiness becomes a relationship between two brothers and they spend time together, until they find a region where other demi-humans live in harmony. This is an interesting moment, as it is in this place where Rio is able to discover more about his amazing powers.

Rio then goes on to live a life where living still was impossible, after all, the character had one objective: to visit the place where his mother was born and who had promised to take him, if she were alive. There, in this village, more friendships and relationships made Rio known as a humble young man who always liked to help people.
His strength and affinity with various types of fighting is a unique ability that had a fair highlight at the time it was introduced, and the existence of a Spirit that made a pact with Rio is the cause of this being a story recounted in the future. And this is where I begin to question the show.

So far, Rio thought little of remembering what he experienced in the real world, much less wanted to know what occurred so that it was his main goal. As much as he wanted to, his honesty was enough to convince him that it was something beyond his own control. Then the unexpected occurs. During his return to the Kingdom of Bertram, Rio is contextualized about an unexpected political marriage. And this involves his teacher and dear friend, Celia, and one of the knights who mistreated Rio for a long time in the past, when he was still a suspect in the kidnapping of Flora, the princess. As much as the anime tried to make the story more intriguing, it was rushed, forced, and purposefully moved to end open-ended without much explanation.

I don't know what really went on in the heads of the staff at TMS studio (the same as Dr. Stone, Furuba, Takagi-san, and other always interesting titles), but the story's inability to possess a longer pacing time hampered the realization of this outcome. Even though the ending was a moment of glory for Rio managing to help Celia and not getting married and fleeing the Kingdom, yet another new context is invested in order to progress the story, but it was a deplorable execution.

Remember the bus accident and the two girls who were with Rio on this fateful day? Well, Latifa was one of them and the other was still far away from Rio. However, a great amount of power appears without much explanation and Rio, advised by his Spirit (who is now called Aishia), helps a group of humans who have also been summoned into this fantasy world. The problem is that one of the girls is possibly Rio's best friend and... the show ends.
Yes, the show ends. Nothing happens to explain the last 5 minutes, there is nothing to explain the blue-haired man's goals about the Kingdom, there is no conclusion. The show ended in a pathetic, immature way and was pretty much left aside, as if we, the viewers, had to continue the story for ourselves.

Look, I know that the Light Novel has more plot and that the anime has its reasons, but this kind of thing really is a disappointment. It's not bad to put the anime at a point where it can move on without losing momentum, but when Seirei Gensouki is planned to end this way without a precise sequel announcement, we have problems. It is clear that the project wants to continue, but this moment has drastically shaken the future of the show, as the reception towards this has not been good. In fact, for an anime that started out average and was doing well, continuing to improve would be a must, which in fact did not happen.

I don't really blame the studio entirely for this, much less the author of the original material, but it is a really uncomfortable feeling to wonder what could have been done instead. Some filler episodes, some side story, but that would help and not give the feeling of wasted time, but in the end it will be a utopia again.

Seirei Gensouki was a decent production and one that I recognize the value it had during its time here this season, but unfortunately it is another one of the animes that you can compare to a favorite food. You love it, you love it, you always want to be enjoying it even though you know it can be bad for your health and cause nausea, but you still have hope that it will be profitable, just like isekais, just like Seirei Gensouki. Whether we will ever have a show that can again have such a chance I don't know, but until then you have to accept the deep sadness that is a show being wasted by the end of time.

Overall it's a decent show, not trying to sugarcoat it since it's basically every isekai anime and it has every cliché moment possible but it's an enjoyable relaxing watch even if the story is absolutely horrible and everything is the exact same for some people they desire that so if your looking into watching an anime with zero context of how anything happened and having a generic ass plot and overall a generic isekai anime then this is for you. Animation is decent ig, that's basically all about it besides having an op mc.

thats basically about it
tl;dr watch if you watch every isekai anime in ... the book

Cliché anime where the protagonist revives in a world of magic and fantasy. The typical isekai, I expected something more from the series but no, it was a disappointment. The most normal and predictable thing I could see. The only thing that stands out is its ending which sucks. The animation is normal, the soundtrack too but nothing to recommend seeing this shit. If you're thinking of seeing this do yourself a favor and don't watch it, it's a waste of time.


En español:
Anime cliché donde el protagonista revive en un mundo de magia y fantasía. El típico isekai, me esperaba algo mas de la serie ... pero no, fue una decepción. La cosa mas normal y predecible que podía ver. Lo único que destaca es su final que es una mierda. La animación es normal, la banda sonora también pero nada como para recomendar ver esta mierda. Si estas pensando en ver esto hacerte un favor y no lo veas es una perdida de tiempo.

The biggest problem with Seirei Gensouki is that it seems that despite his 'hardships' everything seems to come up Rio. Rather than feeling like you're following along for the ride, feeling the hardships along the MC, it's like you're listening to someone tell the story about their D&D character that never really had to struggle for much. Rio just takes everything in stride, and never actually loses. The one thing that made him interesting, his backstory in the alternate world, could've been reflected somewhere in the story at some point, but they never utilize it.

There's some interesting worldbuilding and characters to play around with, ... but the story focuses so much on Rio we never really get a chance to see where any of it could go, which is really unfortunate. There seemed to be so many interesting and whimsical characters, but other than some stereo-typical anime humor and fan service, there's no meaningful connection there. There's one point where he actually has some decent interactions with other characters, but we don't see much of them afterwards.

Never do we see any interesting use of any of the important plot elements, the things that you learn through the series could have had some interesting implications, and the entire show just makes extensive use of the 'overpowered protagonist' trope.

This could have been a good show, if not for the poor treatment of the various 'tools' the author had at their disposal. The show uses one 'tool' as far as narrative goes and it is no better for it. Lot of subtle things could've made this into a top tier show, but apparently they were left on the tool bench as the author continued to slam square pegs into every shaped hole.

Final thoughts: I started watching because of an interesting premise, I continued to watch even though I saw some red-isekai-flags, and I finished watching because I thought I could learn something as an author myself: how not to tell a story. So I can't fault this show too much, because it's use of tired and true tropes with decent character design is pretty stereotypical of an anime that's just trying to tell a story. I wish I read the light novel for this, so at least I could have a comparison of tone between the anime and the source. If the anime is anything like the source, then the author needs more practice making the story stand out from the rest of the isekai trash we muddle through.

Overall Score: Mediocre (5)

All I can say about the anime is it is very cliche, you definitely seen some of the most common plot and troupes in anime and yes, they are all *almost* here. Some of the examples are being reincarnated by "train-kun", being the lowest status and getting bullied by royalties, cute girls, op mc and many more.

If you don't like that then you definitely shouldn't watch the show but (very bias opinion coming), my take on this one is I personally enjoyed it. It's pretty fun and it's called fantasy for a reason, maybe it has overused troupes but it definitely has a good story ... and characters. Will recommend to watch it if you have some time to kill.

I'm 4 episodes in and, having not watched a lot of isekai anime, even I can tell you that this anime is very generic. However, it's not offensively so and I think I can at least manage to watch the 12 episodes of this series without the urge to quit it. The protagonist is your usual overpowered polite guy and, aside from the handful of pretty women he's with, the rest of the characters are cartoonishly evil and needlessly bully the main character for being different - there's very little nuance there. The characterization in this series really isn't that great, and the most I ... can say about the main characters is that they're nice.
The main gimmick of this series is that it's an isekai where in the first episode a group of people on a bus die in a collision with a train and then mysteriously are connected to the people in the fantasy world. At the point where I'm at in the series, this aspect of the anime isn't really developed, but it looks like it will be in future episodes.

tldr: this anime is "fine", nothing special nor offensive. I'm just happy the child character they announced is treated like a child and not added to the harem.

NOTE: I am an anime only and I will not hold back from spoilers. I also won't organize this like a typical review. I will simply talk about what I liked and what I didn't like. Also, since I'm not knowledgeable on academic terms for more obscure anime-related archetypes, I will coin them as I go along. Also, this review is very subjective (notice all the first person); however, I do provide reasonings for my opinions, so please stick around.

Sometimes I find myself in a perpetual cycle of consuming isekai anime. To be more specific, by "find," I do not mean "become" as much as ... I mean "notice." It is a genre that I am familiar with (to a some extent), so I enjoy being amused by all the small details I see in the new isekai releases. This title in particular has quite a few of them that I'd like to talk about.

I noticed that the "loli magic teacher" character archetype is getting quite popular these days. It's really something you only see in "reincarnation-type" isekais, but I don't remember seeing them before last year. I enjoy this character archetype because it is a clever blend of the "childhood friend" and "magic teacher" archetypes to bring out the appeals of both in an additive way. My only qualm is how easily these types of characters fall for the main character because they seem like a type of character who would be more interesting if they would show some independence from the main character. This archetype more so than other archetypes with that similar characteristic. For me, that's the only downfall.

I also found the Japanese village quite an exciting change of scenery. The only other isekai I remember doing this is Re:Zero during Arc 5 (not yet in anime form as of writing this). I enjoy this because I watch anime because I enjoy Japan. Seeing more Japanese scenery is a plus. Also, the likeable characters during this part were quite likeable, even if the character dramas never really went anywhere.

The part of this anime that sticks out the most is how the main protagonist retained both their "before" and "after" memories. This idea was explored in a sort-of melodramatic way as the author isn't a literary master (and that's really what it takes to get a unique idea like this right on the first try). Since this release is quite small, I'm not sure if this idea will go anywhere, but I'd like to see how it develops in the future.

I also found it strange how the "noble bullies" archetype was never a primary focus of the show. Instead, the relationship between the protagonist, his teacher, and himself were the primary focuses. As a result, the bullying could be considered as a sort of "setting" perhaps. This might just be a result of how common that trope usually plays out, but it is still something I found interesting to think about.

All of these small things make isekais enjoyable to think about. I hope this review may have pointed something out that you haven't noticed yet.

The first episode was pretty cool. Being able to follow the progress of the main character could be interesting but I was wrong because it is an umpteenth anime where the hero development is done over two episodes and where the rest of the anime is going to be mainly to follow the unbeatable character without no surprises, no comedy or no real intense fighting to compensate. This is the caricature of a basicand uninspiring anime. The characters are simple and boring: there are the typical enemies without personality and not charismatic and the allies of the character are useless and are almost part of ... the scenery. The hero helps a girl who will fall in love with him but he doesn't know her feelings, seen and seen again. There is no suspense and the main character never finds himself in a situation that puts him at even a little disadvantage. This is typically the type of story that some animes denounce in a humorous way. The universe, the story and the characters make this work really average and without interest, an anime in addition which merges in the mass of "other animes" as I call them, animes which do not stand out because they are neither original nor really bad enough to be lynched.

It's a reasonably high quality but uninspired isekai show. Fortunately, there is no RPG trash, system menus etc. It's a vanilla isekai, Mushoku Tensei style.

The story would be sort of rationally oriented, if not for the fact that the MC is a freaking Chosen One.

It wasn't enough for him to be reincarnated - he also has an unholy amount of cheats and plot armours. He has a super rare secret contracted spirit (hot girl ofc), then right after regaining his memories, he saves a random noble from kidnappers - it turns out (what a twist! lol) she was a princess. ... Apparently, he has some special spiritual magic and was a martial arts genius, can kill a professional merc at seven years old, gets to study at the magic academy. Then, a random beast-race slave-assassin (girl ofc) attacks him, gets defeated, and joins him - and she also happens to be a reincarnated person (of the royal blood of the beast-people). Then it finally turns out MC himself is a crown prince of some fantasy version of Japan - his mom was a princess in benevolent exile. His grandparents are still ruling their country and are very well-intentioned towards him. Add to that him being a girl magnet and a typical harem protagonist.

There is a limit to how many cheats you can use before the plot becomes boring. If he had no cheats (or at least a few, not ALL of them) and survived and persevered by using his wits and grit alone - then it could be an exciting story.
But in reality - meh. A high quality meh.

I would rate the novel overall at 8, but the anime would be only 6.

The story would be only 5. This anime is focused on romance instead of the adventure. Unfortunately, even if they focused on romance, it's unclear who would be the main heroine. I would prefer if they made it to a harem with proper character build-up instead, similar to Mushoku Tensei. We don't even know the direction of the MC. Does he want revenge? Does he want to go back to his original world? Does he want to rule the kingdom? It's like along the episodes, he initially wants to go to ... point A, but suddenly the story is being pulled to another point B, and again to point C. Original novel is focused on his adventure, and the stories of his adventures are the strong points, but then I guess you can't compress all of those chapters and volumes to a 12 episode anime.

Art would be 5. The fight scenes makes you cringe and power/ability is not reflected properly. You will think the MC is nerfed even with training.

Sound is average 7.

Character only at 5. They introduce characters who seem to be important. Like in the early episodes wherein the antagonists were somehow given importance, but as the story progresses, they just disappeared along with the story. Same is true with the so-called "younger sister" of this MC who was given a whole 3 episodes, but in fact, just a side chick.

Enjoyment at 5. Cringe fight scenes really pulled down the enjoyment. If you enjoy overpowered MC, you may ignore the character development and just dive into action, but sadly the action is very mediocre. I hoped the production would have at least scored on the action.

I will rate overall at 6, just for respect on the novel.

I usually try to have mercy on anime of mediocre quality, as I realize that it's quite hard to come up with a very fluid story that contains little to no flaws. I'd rather spare myself the unhappiness of focusing only on the cons, and try to focus on the pros as well. With no regrets, I'd say that Seirei Gensouki deserves a 5/10.

I gaze upon such a low score, and ask: Why is that? Well the answer is quite simple. The story pretty much has no direction.

The show started off fairly well, as the Rio (the main character) is Isekai'd to this new world ... as a poor orphan in the kingdom's slums. As he started to form relationships, climb the ranks, and gain more power and recognition, the story was truly beginning to develop.

Then all of a sudden, poof. He gets framed for a ridiculous reason, leaves the kingdom, and then embarks on a journey to where his parents are from, which was his original goal, or rather, the original goal of the body that he had begun to inhabit. Once he had completed his goal, there was just nothing else for him to do. The story relied on the pointless side characters that had been introduced previously to add new goals for him, but at that point, the new goals weren't even really "goals." It was just "filler" to give Rio things to do.

In addition, the pacing was quite horrendous. A two year time gap would be glossed over like nothing had happened, which puzzles me just a bit. I think we all know that two years is quite some time, so it just feels ludicrous to have such a long period of time hold almost no weight.

With all of that said, the world building was quite pleasing. It's easy to feel like you are part of the world as Rio traveled the land. From the fictitious magic and spirit art systems in place to the realistically historical kingdoms mirroring the olden days of Europe and Japan, the setting had developed quite nicely in only twelve episodes.

I enjoyed this anime as a casual anime, but it didn't stick out to me as much as I hoped it would. If you're looking to expand your knowledge of possible stories and ideas out there, I would recommend watching this as that was the main reason that I had decided to do so. If not, I don't really see much of a reason to, unless you'll just consume anything, no matter what it is.

Seirei Gensouki is an isekai fantasy show with an interesting premise and tons of potential that was all squandered through erratic pacing, limited worldbuilding, and generally poor handling of characters. This review is going to focus more on the fundamental pros and cons of the show and less on each arc and episode as I feel like that would make this review 10x longer.

When I say that this show has an interesting premise and lots of potential, I mean it. I haven't read the light novel series but I've read up on some of the lore from it and I really think that with the ... right kind of skill and talent, this could be the next Rising of the Shield Hero. Unfortunately, it did not have the right skill or talent. In fact, I'm kind of having a hard time trying to think of anything genuinely positive to say about the anime itself. That isn't to say that I think the show is complete garbage, I still think it's at least worth watching when you're bored. I just wish that this IP was given to a better studio that has the ability to properly adapt it to its fullest potential. Before we get into the actual pros and cons I want to say right off the bat that because I have not read the light novel series, I will be coming into this purely from the perspective of the anime.

PROS:
1. The setting of this fantasy world is pretty well developed. Though we never actually see any physical map of the land, you get a good idea of where the different nations are and how they interact with each other. Within the limited scope of the show itself we only get to see about five different places: Beltrant, Amande, Seirei no Tami, and a couple places in the Yagumo region, all of which sort of line up west to east respectively. I feel like more fantasy shows, especially isekai ones, should to take the time to establish the lay of the land and really push the feel that it's a living, breathing world.
2. The premise of how Haruto, the main character, ends up in this fantasy world as Rio is really interesting and could lead to a lot of very cool moments that we don't really get in most isekai shows. Like almost every other isekai show in existence, Haruto dies in the real world and is reincarnated into a new fantasy world as Rio. While most shows would just have the main character retain their memory and just have them draw endless parallels to some video game they spent thousands of hours playing, here we see that the main character has become another existing person within this fantasy world. However, this isn't like there are two different minds in one body. Instead, Haruto and Rio have essentially become one person with memories of both being retained. This starts to get really interesting around episode 7 when an incident with assault triggers a memory that only Rio had that has been his main motivating force behind his entire journey, that being revenge. We see Rio do something seemingly out of character and the Haruto side of himself reacts the same way yet also knows that this was his motive the entire time. This was the first thing that seriously caught my attention while watching this show.

CONS:
1. While the setting and premise are grounds for a promising show, the poor execution of the story's overall pacing kills the momentum of any emotional stakes whatsoever. Not even three episodes in we get a five year time skip that basically glosses over an entire arc of the story just because they wanted to get to the certain season finale cliffhanger. Time skips run rampant throughout the show and we basically get zero time to settle into any single arc.
2. The animation quality fluctuates GREATLY from smooth, high quality action with fantastically choreographed fight scenes to being some of the most unintentionally funny moments I've seen in anime alongside season 3 of Seven Deadly Sins. Something tells me that there was something going on with the third episode because the animation in that one was also the worst in the show. I know that we can't expect every show to be Demon Slayer but at least be consistent with the animation. It's not that I have an issue with the quality of the animation as a whole, 80% of the time it's actually completely fine, but the fact that it's so inconsistent makes that 20% look even worse by comparison.
3. Besides the actual physical land, worldbuilding in this show is almost completely lacking. I don't expect this show, or any show for that matter, to be like an entire D&D source book, but SOME kind of explanation to ground the story is necessary. This links into the pacing issue I stated before too. Episodes 2 and 3 are focused on Rio attending school and they didn't use that as an opportunity to explain the world and its mechanics beyond explaining the existence of magic. Even then, the explanation they gave was essentially "use magic essence to create magic formulae" which is literally the most basic explanation of any magic system ever, one that we've been using in video games since the goddamn 80s. Throughout the show, they try to somewhat explain the magic system but they never actually set any rules or reason as to why Rio can do the things he does beyond "he's a special boy". A part of me says that it's because the writers want the freedom to write whatever they want but if that's the case then why would they bother trying to explain anything at all in the first place? Again, this is probably only an issue in the anime but that's what this review is for.
4. The potential that I originally mentioned in pro #2 has been utterly squandered. Apart from the first episode and episode 7, the duality of having Haruto and Rio being one and the same was never touched on beyond the absolute most surface level. It's not used as a reason to explain why Rio is so powerful and it certainly isn't used to tell a more compelling narrative. It's like they forgot that Haruto and Rio were supposed to be conflicting in some way until episode 7 and then immediately forgot it again like a monkey with ADD on crack. There were implications of Rio going down a darker path near the final 3 episodes but they're so vague and directionless that they might as well be fan theories.

Final Thoughts:
Despite the apparent disparity in numbers between pros and cons, I actually did enjoy watching the show for what it was. It wasn't fantastic or even great but didn't put me to sleep or make me feel like my time was being wasted (except for episode 11). I was never all that emotionally invested except for that one scene in episode 7 I keep bringing up, but I at least finished it which is a lot more than I can say about a lot of other shows of this done to death genre. I guess the best thing I can say about this show is that it still isn't done and I believe there's still a chance for it to realize its full potential. The show isn't terrible and genuinely has some really good moments but it's overshadowed by the overwhelming sense of meh that dominates the rest of the show as a whole. Again, I would still recommend this show if you're bored and are looking for something to watch but don't go into it expecting it to be your next big obsession.

Score Breakdown:
- I give the story a 6. Not the most compelling thing but does the job to move the narrative along and even has its moments of intrigue.
- Art was decent for the most part but terribly inconsistent with it being absolutely comical at its worst and downright impressive at its best. 6 for its inconsistency, would have been higher if it wasn't.
- Sound was perfectly fine. Never had any audio balancing issues and the voice acting was well done. Soundtrack was completely forgettable and the OP and ED aren't my favorite but that's all subjective. That's a 7.
- Characters were pretty decent but mostly lacked development aside from Latifa. Some characters did have their moments which coincidentally happen to line up with the story's best moments as well. I would have scored it higher if we got to see more of Rio conflicting with Haruto, but as it is I give it a 6 as well.
- Enjoyment is a 7. This is a very subjective rating but I like explaining this anyways. I did enjoy my time watching the show. I feel as though certain scenes and episodes really did carry this show as a whole but I'm okay with that.
- Overall score is a 6, see my final thoughts for a full explanation of that. Apparently, this show's been confirmed to be releasing a second season so let's just hope that they can improve upon where the first one fell flat. TL:DR, the show's good enough for a casual watch, you probably won't despise it or love it, just wish that it could have been more.

*Spoilers ahead*

I want to scream so bad.. what's with this anime? I mean, first I'm so sorry if this review offended anyone but this anime is so rushed. I know that tensei trope is so mainstream already and everyone knows the flow of the story from top to bottom. But that shouldn't stop you from making good plot line (sorry if I perhaps used wrong terms since english is not my native language). Like I was so immersed at the beginning of the story, like how the ml got reincarnated and what is ml's new condition now that he's transported into this fantasy world. But ... the middle part though... there's too much time jump happening, no fillers, and pretty much just main plot and ml's growth from start to end, and that's it, final fight, and it's not much of a fight too since it only took me 5-10 minutes to see it? Don't get me wrong, I love how they animated the fight scenes in this anime, it's so cool, but it's so short you know? like would it be too much of me to say that I want more of that scene? This anime is great, it has so much potential, but I do hope from the bottom of my heart that this anime will have its second season, just to clear this up, I feel like it's not enough. I was very confused at the end, and my literal reaction was "what, that's it? that's it?" over and over, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Call me dramatic but this is how I feel. Thank you.

An outstanding premise and world creation that has been reduced to half of what it should be by shocking pacing of the story. In my opinion this had all it needed to enter anime royalty if it had been delivered properly but the studio has obviously had doubts over its success or rushed production leaving me scratching my head over why they felt the need to destroy great material with shoddy development. The main character is the only one who has had any meaningful development and even his actions are at times unexplained I'm guessing due to cuts from the original story. No other character ... gets enough screen time to create any affinity with, case in point the (I'm guessing) 3 years of schooling is done in 2 episodes and his deep bond with a teacher is contained to about 6 minutes of screen time.

The first 6 episodes of content should have been 12 to 15 in order to capture the protagonist's beginnings and motivation as well as properly introduce the side characters who influenced him.

In general I'm over the isekai genre but this had my hopes up a little. While this is by no means bad and worth a look if you want something to fill some time, don't get your hopes up too much. The studio obviously considers this a 1 and done and outside of the art which is fantastic not much has been invested into making this a success.

Dude! It's Kirito! Again!

But for real all this show is, is a generic cookie-cutter isekai with literal kirito doin his haram thing again and again. So of course, being the trash that I am, I plan on watching the whole thing. Maybe it will get better in the final episodes? Probably not. I will not say it is a bad show, but it is certainly not a good show. The writers didn't intend for it to be great probably. Just a corporate money-grab in the booming isekai anime market.

A perfect show to go brain dead to and just let play. Perfectly predicable, completely average, comfortably ... unsurprising. Everything you expect from a modern isekai. With the added bonus of The One, The Only, Kirito. Rio. Whatever.

5/10

This anime was recommended by a buddy of mine who said it's going to be the bomb of the season. having not read the source material I thought to myself , "this may actually be good as I don't know what happens in this show".
am at episode 6 as of today and I have to say this episode just lagged . boring fights , pointless dialogues . every other minute I found myself drifting to other thoughts and then'd realize am watching something only to drift away. so far this seems like your average run of the mill isekai , could be great but ... the script is too generic

Decent story, there is a lot of harem and some romance included in it. There are 3 main stories which are there in the series. decent art style and animation was there throughout the series, the ending surprised and confused me. The pacing is really slow but sometimes it becomes fast, If you like to watch a decent isekai anime where romance and harem are less with not a broken MC you can watch this series. and a lot of plot points was confusing. The characters should have been more improved, only the Main MC is overall improved and takes most of the screen time ... but you can see some characters take the screen time for a short amount of time. It is more like an adventure isekai series where the main MC is trying to earn and suit to the new world and its surroundings
It was pretty decent for me to watch through it, it could have been better.
I give it 5/10.

Ok welcome to the seasonal isekai trash, this time... It's this dumster of a show.

(very little spoilers)

So the premise was good, my man having memories from both of his lives, and other isekai'ed people. Like most isekai harem, mc is the most op dude in the land and he collects girls with zero effort. However, 1 MAJOR problem, it's so damn boring.

This is actually the first show i dropped, my man travels back and forth and saves heroines (which happens in all isekai harems), the leaves them because, 'I need to do this alone, for I am the embodiment of E D G E". ... All I'm saying is, the story is bland and stale (like the mc) and its just borring to watch, all you'll see is Mr. mc flexing is OPness and edgiess.

So, the characters, *sigh*... Ok we have the mc, Mr. edge himself, Kirito..I mean Rio. This man is so ducking bland, his character is all edge, and thats it. Other chracter aren't even momorable, all we get from them is, "omg Rio is so cool, I wanna bang him".

I heard, episode 10 (where I stopped) is where things change and they add a new character, that actually stays, but damn the plot before that was so stale. It just brings down the how so much.

Anyway, yesh that's about all I have to say, this show is basic isekai, and it had more potential.

This show started really really good. It took me by surprise to be honest. I saw score of ~7 and then everything was good. Pacing, characters, world building, background story, nice little details and I thought to myself, this can't be right, someone made a mistake.

Well, no, they didn't. Half-way through it turns from fantasy adventure with perfect pacing to issekai harem wanna-be with some part of the story added just because and it all turns into one confusing mess that is never explained in the remaining episodes. Second season might explain things more, but to be honest I am not sure if I'll follow ... through. Am not going to go into details to avoid spoilers but things stop making sense really fast. Ending also felt like there were 5 more episodes left, when in fact there are none.

It's a show with score stuck between 6 and 7. There are some things they did extremely well and some that were downright incompetent and rushed. As a means to pass the time, it's okay but it doesn't warrant second watch.

Unfortunately from quite good beggining it quickly became less than medicore isekai show.

There is no character progression, characters are the same as you are seeing them first time exept one - sisterlike figure in in their own half of episode became sisterlike from assasin, after being defeated. Everything has no plot and just only very event-driven story, almost no connection between events. Nothing comes out of characters - everything just happens and MC reacts - thats all. Its like poor game - nobody does anything - things just happens and MC has to react so there is no plot overarching from this or main ... theme - just weak isekai thropes all around.