Seirei Gensouki

This anime is good. 10/10 in fact. I too am surprised when i first watched this anime. I mean, who wouldn't? In terms of overused materials, this anime got them all. Cliché plots, generic kirito-type character (they even got the same seiyuu wtf), cringe and emo MC, i mean damn, you name it all.

But the real reason why i rated this anime a 10/10 is because of the plot itself. It's clean, it's bland, and it doesn't even have any new contribution to the isekai genre. I might have rated this anime a little bit too high but please listen to what i have ... to say.

This might be a little bit too scientific. If you're one of the people who said "SAO is bad because tons of people say it's bad." then you're free to not read this essay.

What i want to explain, is about how clean the plot is. You might think it's lazy to make such a simple plot, but being simple in the world of infinite possibilities is actually the hardest thing to do. The author brilliantly starts and ends an arc without a single space for the sense of "uncomfortableness" to fit in. Yes, it might be cliché, but the cleanest of it is also something we need to give credit to the author. (I mean, making a long story without once making the readers feeling weirded out is extremely hard.)
Diving from one arc to another. It's really clean that you could even see the plot structure and it's especially good if you're learning how to write an engaging story. Basically like Nemo and other Disney movies that are also clean and solid in terms of plot structural management, but in anime version.

I'm not the type of person who would say "try making a story and see how hard it is". I understand that Seirei Gensouki is lacking in some parts like the art and the sound quality. I also understand that people are trying to find newer and more engaging stories to watch and were certainly disappointed after watching this. But if someone were to ask you how is Seirei Gensouki, you can say "Yeah it's pretty bad but it also got some good points in it" so you can sound a bit more intelligent. Or don't follow my advice im not your mom

I feel numb. It's like my eyes glazed over and my mind shut down. I sometimes thought that the anime might be buffering while watching, but then realized that the animation is just so stiff that every scene feels like a still shot. I would occasionally be awoken by the hallowed voice and visage of Kirito, only to realize that no, it's just Rio, who has the same voice actor and a strikingly similar design to everyone's favorite Gary Stu, except worse because the proportions in this anime are awful. I thought I fell asleep from time to time and missed something important since characters ... would suddenly be like 5 years older, but then realized that no, it's just the horrible pacing and random time skips.

Well, at least the girls are cute, right????? Would be a lot better if they were actually animated decently...

This has been my experience with Spirit Cronicles, and as you can probably tell, I'm not a fan. But you'll also be surprised to hear that I think this anime has the potential to actually be decent for what it is.

The good news is that I went into this expecting absolutely nothing, and so far, the anime has been able to perfectly live up to my expectations. Yay! Now I actually thought the first episode was pretty alright as it introduced some interesting concepts into this world. I like how the isekai aspect of this series is at least being handled differently. The idea was a little intriguing and I was interested in seeing where things were going. But then the protagonist went to school.

Everything about Rio's academy life that didn't involve Claire Celia was the most uninspired, bland writing I've experienced in a work of fiction in awhile. It's just...so bad. You have to watch it to fully understand. Even though the reason behind Rio leaving the school was pretty poor, terribly forced, and completely avoidable, I'm kind of glad he left because it just wasn't going anywhere. The male students are the most stereotypical noble douchebags imaginable and the female students do literally nothing. Luckily, the 2 episodes featuring the school went by quickly (though I hope that isn't a bad sign for the overall pacing of the anime. Ah, who am I kidding, it totally is). These 2 episodes only served to show that our protagonist has the potential to be a completely overpowered character. Hooray...

Episode 4 is the best one so far and the reason why I haven't lost faith in this series yet. And no, it's not because Rio acquired an animal girl loli...ok, that's part of it, but it was the execution of it all that pleased me. The combat sequence was actually passable, and Latifa's backstory was well done considering the lore of the series. Yes, it's nothing amazing, but it's a step up from what I've seen previously.

The only character who's been good in my mind is Celia. I like her design, personality, and voice actress. Though that's not to say she's great or anything, it's just that Celia actualy has...character. Plus I probably won't forget about her a week after the show ends, though two weeks MIGHT be pushing it. At least that's more than I can say about the rest of the cast thus far. So the author was able to make a cute, white haired waifu girl. Does that alone make the show a resounding success? Yeah probably. But as a boring semi-critic, it's nowhere near enough for me.

Quick shout out to the ending theme song which is actually pretty solid. They should have switched it with the opening in order to at least attempt to hype up viewers before watching each episode. But then again, this show's placement of music has been quite questionable, so I shouldn't expect anything. I just don't feel like the songs match up with their corresponding scenes a good portion of the time.

I'm not scoring Spirit Cronicles lower yet because I'm an optimist who has hope that the upcoming episodes will be able to improve upon the anime's current shortcomings. Though it's a pretty slim hope. Fingers crossed that I'm not TOO disappointed!

Seirei Gensouki (2021)

One day a show won't skip the fight or make the MC move faster than fast, they will show it to you and that shall be a statement. I do find it funny when he asked if he could run faster then it zoomed out like he was jogging lightly.

The show itself is a typical Isekai style show but has more connection to the previous world especially as evident in the final episode. I must say the show is very typical throughout and rushes a few bits like the school arc but it isn't that bad necessarily.

The art is pretty good ... overall, it is very consistent and nicely animated in fight scenes.

The OP and ED are both fun, the general sound is good with voices but the combat is a bit hollow.

Characters are wide and that means not so developed. One minute they are important and then suddenly don't matter at all for a few episodes but then the story does move quite quickly.

The show is fun from start to finish. I do wish the MC had a bit more of a struggle to gain power or showed you gaining it more than straight to the elders for a party. I would say the show is good, it sort of hints at a second season or something but then it could be a really great set-up for the manga since it switched to that before saying thank you.

7/10.

*Spoilers be warned, this review will have some context that's relevant to the overall story*

What comes to your mind when you hear of the word "Isekai"? As a genre made famous from the tropes it originated from, the popularity that literally started its rise and downfall with SAO, and the momentum of shows like it has never stopped. Giving us the great likeness of Re:Zero to the horrendous worsts like Isekai Smartphone, there exists an Isekai for everyone, but not all of them are masterpieces of their own right. Seirei Gensouki on the other hand, touts to be just that and more: a carbon copy ... of SAO, but there is a major key difference that sets it apart.

Let's get the similarities out of the way for most of the anime-onlies being simpletons for comparison: Haruto Amakawa a.k.a Rio (in the fantasy world) is pretty much a less-refined version of Kirito, from the behaviour (which looks more lax than said character) to even the costume which looks eerily similar the the Black Swordsman coat. Rio no doubt has a harem of girls kissing up his ass, but just hold that thought for later on. Most of the baddie villains are similarly one-toned evil with boisterously filled egos that are meant for the MC to trump justice with good against evil, but most of the time he does nothing against it. Which begs the Gary Stu of a character of questioning why wouldn't he be rescuing those in danger, but like the others before it, there's a very specific reason behind all of this ordeal.

If you can get past all the blatant similarities of how Seirei Gensouki is just another work of literate copy-and-paste Isekai tropes, then this is where the proof of the redemption story of novelist Yuri Kitayama's writing capabilities lies at: it's not just your typical, generic Isekai story plot, but something that will have you going back and forth of reading between the lines of what was presented and piecing those plots together in the span of different timelines. I would like to give a shoutout to Typecero, because this guy is a devout fan of Seirei Gensouki, and most of the analyses done was in no small part his work, and this review is made possible because of his episodic breakdowns which made the big picture clearer between the anime adaptation and its changes when compared to the source material.

So, in the beginning, characters do get brutally Isekai-ed in a wayward bus onto an incoming train, but the thing is that the characters in the bus are not one-trick ponies who are just Isekai-ed into the fantasy world. See, for the main character Rio, he isn't just some generic Isekai character, but one that's of reincarnation and fused with the original person's (Haruto Amakawa) memories. An orphan living in the slums of the new world, and wanting to find revenge on the person whom killed his mother at a young age. To make things more complicated, the kidnapping of princesses gets him unequivocally involved (which he saved), which lands him in the walls of royalty for a commoner such as Rio to attend school, only to get ridiculed by the usual hierarchy social status of commoner and arrogant nobles, children or adult, they're all the same. Being falsely accused of anything and everything of noble status, Rio is labelled as a fugutive to the point of literally being forced to escape from the Bertram kingdom, which continues smearing his name left and right.

It's not just Rio who suffers this kind of usual historic barbarism of instigating the superiority of nobles. Take the young fox girl Latifa for example. Like Rio, she was subjected to slavery, and being a tool for the royal family as their controlled assassin to hunt Rio down to kill him when he was forced to flee from the kingdom. Thankfully Rio was able to get her out of her predicament, to which then she followed him on his lone journey, becoming his adoptive sister. If anything (and this might come off as a spoiler) that you should pay attention about, Latifa is one of the passengers on the bus with Rio (the real world Haruto), and she is known as Endo Suzune, another charcter reincarnation into the new world. See, I told you that characters in Seirei Gensouki aren't just walking tropes.

The thing that's so interesting (but sadly generic for a "prologue" of sorts) about Seirei Gensouki is the world-building that's between characters, the factions within kingdoms and not to mention, Rio's "harem" of girls that admire him for what he does like Maou Gakuin's Anos Voldigoad. Most of the content would already be going into spoilers since the anime's plot had one major development skipped that made or broke the overall tone of the series, but I can share a few details while keeping vague. Let's take Rio's teacher, silver loli Celia Claire for example: she was the one whom took care of Rio when he was being taught at Betram Royal Academy, overseeing his progress to the point of gradually being in love with him. Yes, you saw that right, a teacher-student relationship that built up to a point where the anime resurfaced back again with the passing of timelines to make it relevant. Another significant character is the pink-haired Aishia, whom is Rio's spirit of a contractual awakening of a "special power", and for better or worse, this is where novel fans went all gaga about her. Because from the time she appeared in the original source material, everything appears to have a drastic change of course within the timeline of its spectrums, and for good reason to shift the tonal direction of the novel. Even villains (or rather antagonists) like noble Charles Arbor accumulated all karma from oppressing Rio at the initial stages of the anime, get their break from being served that under their noses. You see, the various intertwinings of the factions and the characters belonging to the faction they come from, carries the weight of the name they bore, So for Rio to sense any injustice and fight back, he literally cannot do so as it would be treason on the part of the family and people held responsible, not Rio. The dreaded "harem" is something that I'd left must be concerned, because it's through the actions that Rio does to infatuate the girls' hearts, not by sheer looks alone. Rio is admired because he is a hero to them, and ladies fawn to heroes because of this.

On that note, I'd highly recommend you to read the manga or light novel if you're interested, because while I cannot cover that much hidden context of what the anime presented, the world of Seirei Gensouki is much larger than life when compared to the anime adaptation. Because while it isn't bad, the tropes that we've seen time and time again are the result of compressing such a big story as this from the hands of the production team. Led by veteran director Osamu Yamasaki in both direction, script and series composition, they tried their best to stack as much content, while making some questionable narrative decisions that relegated Seirei Gensouki to the average Isekai lookalike of a show that even novel fans have to concede that it's labelled as such. What a disappointment.

Other than that, I'd feel that this is a show where without the knowledge impartation from novel fans, anime-onlies will not feel lost, but just feeling that average, mediocrity of subpar-ness of tropes seen one too many times before, compiled in one complete package that is this show. If you're like me, seek out the forum discussion topic that I created explaining all about the adaptation comparison so that everyone can be on the same page. Bear in mind that it's full-on spoilers, so watch the anime before reading the hefty few-thousand word episodic essays. At first, I was gonna shrug this show off as just the typical "not bad, but not good either" Isekai show, but thanks to people like Typecero, I get to understand this show better a lot and have some appreciation for Yuri Kitayama for a generic story that can go as deep as it could to prove the naysayers wrong. The novel truly has its hardcore fans for reasons such as this.

Animation-wise, Seirei Gensouki just exists. Given that this is TMS Entertainment with WAO World for co-production, it just looks fine and nice while smelling that limited budget work. Not spectacular, but as I've mentioned time and time again, it's serviceable on all fronts. While I feel jaded that the OST didn't really come off as something unique, there is at least some creativity in the OP/ED visuals which are foreshadowing the story. For one, there are 2 versions of the OP: one that you normally see on Crunchyroll, and there's the Bilibili version which has the same narrative tone, albeit with a few differences that novel fans (and eagle-eyed anime-onlies) will recognize very subliminally. Are you surprised to hear of this? I bet you were if you're paying attention. The songs and the artistes helming them also sound very generic, but Aguri Oonishi's "Elder flower" for the ED is one hell of a good song. But just like the rest of the show, you've guessed it: it's average across the board.

Back to the main point, Seirei Gensouki a.k.a Spirit Chroncles won't ever break the bank out of the hellhole that is the Isekai genre. And since it originated from the Isekai lands of Syosetu (which is where you'll see works like Mushoku Tensei, TenSura etc.), be prepared for some of the most average Isekai tried-and-true formulas just repeatedly conspiring together for a story well short of initial expectations. I also highly doubt that anime-onlies like myself will ever want to read the original source material since the adaptation has some minor missteps that gave it a major disservice. All in all, it's the same average and repetitive "You can pass this show up for better shows" cliche rhetoric or metaphor, and my hope has already diminished since Day One when this anime started to tingle my bored antennas, that slowly but surely spearheaded into pure disconnect.

Another isekai show that is for some reason at the top of the seasonal anime charts. It does absolutely nothing new except for some strange elements they added to try to stand out which made it worse for the show it anything.
These characters that were reincarnated are in the middle ground of remembering themselves and not, it honestly is a gimmick that makes it worse than just all the sheer amount of generic tropes and cliches that are packed into this show. The art and sound directing are decent at best, very average. The story is about another well-accomplished good looking dude that died in ... the most over-exaggerated hilarious bus accident I have ever seen. Like I legit burst out laughing when it happened. Anyways, he is revived, happens to have special powers (1 cliche), happens to just be good at anything he does (2), and is a fucking girl magnet (3). And to top it all off, there is a magic high school where he will most likely be attracting girls like nothing (4). With the mc being packed with all these cliches, he is so one-dimensional it's laughable. Every other character is also so one-dimensional that it's just so dreadful to keep watching. You have that one girl that keeps getting saved, one annoying ass royal ojou-sama wannabe, kids that try to talk shit to mc to bring him down, all these characters exist for one purpose and are literally not developed at all. The only thing that's saving me from putting characters at a 1/10 is the slight mystery aspect with the reincarnations in the middle ground like I mentioned before, but overall, it brings it down as a more pointless gimmick that seems unneccessary anyways and made it worse overall. In summary, Spirit Chronicles is the new isekai that does tries to stand out with this weird gimmick but it makes it worse, not to mention it won't save it from the sheer amount of cliches it already threw in. Don't watch this unless you like to find guilty pleasures or you enjoy trash.

I don't really write a review. This is an exception.

Seirei Gensouki starts of as a 7/10 isekai anime. I really liked it until the second half of the episode. The premise starts of with a pretty standard isekai set up but with a twist that the mc retains the memory of his new host.

Everything else feels like superficial. The plot muddens as the story progressed. The anime begins as if a sketchy dude told you he can tell you a story about an isekai story, the story is a bit interesting but then it suddenly feels like he cuts off some important details and adds ... some really exaggerated unbelievable crap just to keep your attention.

The anime presents itself so you would feel disconnected with the characters. I feel bad for the author of the original source. The director, writer, and editor approved and made this possible.

It's such a bummer that even isekai pharmacist feels better compared to this. I'm a trash isekai fan but this is too much.

*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.

This anime is what I live for, Im so happy right now. Need a season 2,3,4,5 asap.

Plot 10/10
One of the best isekai animes out there with a unique twist. The characters retain their memories from both japan and the new fantasy world. The mc was really well made with his cool and dashing personality. Combining romance , action, some revenge and harem, this is one of my favourite isekai anime out there to date.

Art 10/10
The animation for this is just top notch, no other words are needed.
The music is great too.

Enjoyment 10/10
Overall, I enjoyed this a lot . Highly recommended.

If you're looking for a high-quality, thought-provoking anime that will leave you feeling intellectually fulfilled, then Serei Gensouki is definitely not for you. This show is the trashiest of trash, and I mean that in the best possible way.

From the awful animation to the nonsensical plot, Serei Gensouki is a hot mess of epic proportions. The characters are all one-dimensional caricatures, and the dialogue is cringeworthy at best. But somehow, despite all of its flaws, I couldn't NOT look away every 5 minutes. I was so mesmerized by the trainwreck unfolding before me that I just had to keep watching.

In conclusion, Serei Gensouki is a ... must-watch for anyone who loves terrible anime. It's the perfect blend of trashy goodness and pure entertainment. 10/10 would recommend to all trash aficionados.

What the fuck, this is the most pathetic show I have ever watched. One would think they made this to compete for the title of the worst anime of the decade, if not of all time. The characters act less human than the average fly on the wall, the art is bland and boring and the story is less interesting than watching paint dry. I usually don't think one should write a review until the show/season is complete as the ending will often change one's perspective on an anime. However there is no hope left for Seirei Gensouki, so heed my warning; do not, under ... any circumstance, watch this pile of garbage.

After seeing all the other reviews dunking so hard on this show, I almost passed up trying to watch any of it.
I'm glad I did decide to watch though.
While there may not be anything particularly amazing or noteworthy about the show, as an isekai junkie, this show is a very smooth watch.
The main character isn't a moody jerk, nor does he do anything particularly fantastic.
But if you like watching a "hero's journey" and finding out what the character can do and how he handles situations, there is a fun watch here.

Will I ever turn around and point to this anime as ... something worth going out of your way to see? Probably not. But if you find you like Isekai shows, this is one of the better new ones this year, and can scratch that itch until Shield Hero starts up again.

Don't let the bad reviews cause you to miss out on giving this a chance.

To be honest, it has everything I expected.

The thing about isekai anime is, new anime unless it is backed by a strong plot, can't expect more than 12 or 13 episodes of content. With limited episodes to cover the source material is a major handicap. Kinda why many find this anime generic because of its fast pace, and find mc being generically OP, while they fail to see the limited episodes to showcase MC leveling up. This isn't shounen after all.

I would give this anime an 8(ofc inflated) because of the art, decent execution, and overall enjoyment factor lives to some extent.

Character development, ... Story is definitely not in this anime and that's because it is made with a key role to satisfy that isekai adventuring genre of anime and it does well.

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

It is good, reminiscent of Mushoku tensei buuuuut worse in pretty much every single way. But still it is good

University student gets trucked into the body of a 6 year old orphan. He soon after gets superpowers and goes to the local academy. I don't personally quite understand why every isekai character has to attend school, it is the middle ages my dude nobody was attending school. The kids behavior is also totally weird 8 year olds acting like high schoolers it just doesn't make much sense. "You are sullying the name of this fine institution with your baseless slander" 8 year old kid says ... that??? You know what a 8 year old kid would actually say? "PEE PEE POO POO! FORTNITE!" Weird behaviors from characters in this show. Latifa is mentally 18 years old by this point so why does she act like an 8 year old? Hell, physically she is a teenager so again, why does she act like a 8 year old? It doesnt make sense.

MC also acts in this pampering "yes sir" simp way constantly. It is normal MC stuff but in mushoku tensei they actually bring it up but here it is just accepted as fact. Gets a bit annoying.

MC becomes laughably OP as well, dude becomes Goku or something halfway through the season like what?? Rudeus is pretty OP too but never to the point of it becoming silly. In this show MC flies around just casually and beats up a wyvern no biggy. He can also cast all elements, shoot fireballs build a bath in 10 seconds, completely busted balancing.

Events that take place are also a bit weirdly paced, MC goes to a place stays there for a while and then says "btw im leaving soon" Which causes a girl who loves MC to get really sad. THIS HAPPENS EVERY SINGLE TIME MC GOES SOMEWHERE. Yet MC shows no interest in the girls because..... I honestly dont know. It is not explained, you dont get inner monologue or explanation so the only reasonable thing I can assume is that he isnt interested because he is in love with someone else. And this someone else is someone from the other world that he used to know. Im not a big fan of this, it has been 20 years AND YOU DIED, get over it man.

MC motivations for doing what he does are also kind of silly. He is motivated by his desire to take revenge on the guy who killed his mom (reasonable)and his desire to marry a 7 year old girl(not reasonable). Of course by now she is older than 7 years old but he made the promise to marry this 7 year old girl when he was 7 whatever, WHAT IS WEIRD ABOUT IT IS THE FACT YOU STILL REMEMBER THE PROMISE 20 YEARS LATER. In general what he does is just kind of weird, he wants to go to a place because his mom wanted to go there with him. Your mom is dead, why do you still want to go there? "Because he promised his mom" No he didnt, she just wanted to go with him, there was no promise. In mushoku tensei, Rudeuses decisions make sense. The things the characters in general made sense, here I am left wondering why the F is MC trying to cuck blonde guy? Because MC likes his professor? I don't think that is enough of a motivation frankly to plunge a kingdom on the brink of civil war to further chaos, especially as MC has shown no interest in the professor in any other way than compliments and platonic friendship. If you dont want blonde guy to marry your professor then marry her first is all, polygamy is accepted in this world so go right ahead bro.

It is alright but motivations are weird, pacing is off and taking into account by season 2 MC has become the most powerful guy in the universe or something I don't know where it is headed. ALSO FOR A HAREM SHOW THERE IS DISTURBINGLY LITTLE HAREM SETUP. Rudeus got laid by end of season 1 this guy has some catching up to do

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.

I'm not really sure why I'm giving this a 2. Probably because it's not so bad it's horrible, but it's not particularly good either. I saw someone call Rio/Haruto a discount-Kirito from SAO, and they actually aren't wrong.

I actually can't think of anything redeeming about this show.

The art is stereotypical I guess.

The music is so-so for a mediocre anime.

Fair warning, each episode is a speed run. Whether they're speed running the years, or a mediocre fight to get to a mediocre point you just don't care about. In fact this whole anime is just a speed run to things you just don't care about. ... You can't even get whiplash from the pacing because there is no other pacing other than fast, and even if they slow it long enough for you to care, you don't get whiplash. You'd have to actually care about any of the characters to get whiplash.....and you don't really get time for that either.

It's all a speed run of 'Rio bad hurr durr' then 'oh no we were wrongz!!1!1 uwu' then 'teehee our badz super OP and forgiving Rio!'

There really were no unique, or interesting characters. The MC Rio, was boring. He acts like a third party viewer to everything, and the times when he should get mad, he acts like it happened to someone else. Rather than 'mature', he just didn't. care. It didn't happen/isn't happening to him after all. He's just controlling a body as far as he's concerned. Also, everything was so dang predictable, nothing was a surprise. Like, why even bother, you know what's going to happen before it's revealed.

So yeah, if you like episode speed runs and discount-kiritos with no real personality, this might be your thing.

I don't know the material that this is based off of, but really it takes a genre that is kind of getting tired and does nothing new with it. If anything it goes back a few paces.

The main character is never really developed past: I'm an overpowered edgelord who can't interact with people, but that is overlooked and every girl likes me cause reasons.

The quasi harem of female side characters is where I kinda get upset with this anime. A lot of them are introduced being pretty awesome and strong. Then the next episode they inexplicably can't use most of the ... powers they showed in the introduction and need to be rescued by the totally awesome edgelord main.

There is so many story skips and the lack of development means that the story is kind of disjointed and you can't connect with the characters at all. The main is going to a far away "fantasy Japan" cause his parents were from there, but he has never seen it and knows nothing about it. On the way he easily spends years with people then leaves them behind without a second thought apparently.

The villain is totally in the shadows with very little connection to the main character, no real reason to even understand what he is up to or anything. It is just very hard to get excited about anything cause there really seems to be no true conflict as the hero easily bulldozes through physical conflicts and has no psychological connection or conflicts to really anything.

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)

Edit: After watching the whole season I can definitely say I liked it. Though it can be very slow throughout most of the anime. In the last two episode though it had such a good build up, and even a cliff hanger for a season 2. I take back on what I said about the animation being stiff, but it's alright animation, nothing amazing. So I increased my score to a 7/10 overall because it's good for what it is

---OG thoughts below---
Should you watch it? This is a hard answer. For a simple answer. Give it a watch once and see if you like it.

Story: ... Its an Isekai which follows a boy who died and his spirit fused or took over a boy of another world. To be honest it seems like another Isekai fantasy, but the story is interesting to an extent. Like he has a goal, a journey, a nation is pretty much against him. He makes a ton of friends. Most are girls which would make you think it's a harem anime, but it all mainly platonic it seems. Like they're just friends. At most a diet harem if that's even the right way to describe it lol. I'm kinda interested to see him prove his OPness to his classmates, and I honestly think that's what's keeping me around. But it has some other elements that are keeping me around not to sure, but I like this anime. It's not like way up there as a favorite, but it's alright.

Art: Let's spend most of the budget on eyes and the hair, making the characters look great, but animation mediocre. Like I love the looks of the characters, but those animations can be stiff sometimes. The only thing that bothers me is Kirito clone lol. I mean he got story which is why I'm not minding it, but can't help but to think Kirito at times.

Sound: Eh op and Ed are alright, but nothing I'd listen to on repeat.

Characters: They have some uniqueness, but I feel the most unique one was probably the little sister demi-human had the most character development so far because of her backstory. Though you have Rio and his story is still growing as it's his adventure

Overall: I'd say I'm liking it so far, but I definitely understand why alot of other could be turned off by this anime. It's really a one-and-done type of anime

I honestly don’t ever leave reviews but seeing so many people are saying how much they hated it really shocked me, this is definitely one of my top 5 shows now and I was hesitant to even try it because of the reviews. I usually stick with slice of life stuff because I’m not a fan of crazy thriller action stuff but this checked all the boxes for me, I will admit the last few episodes seemed to dull down a bit but I know for a fact season two will make up for it and be great as well. Overall if your looking to ... kill some time with a heart warming hero story then I’d recommend this.