Leadale no Daichi nite

“I gotta say, tearing your own family limb from limb is a bit harsh.”
“Sob. All I wanted was for my children to have a touching first encounter with their grandmother.”

Easily one of the best isekai ever made, a hidden gem of a series that has more meat under its skin than it may look like at a first glance.

Leadale is a slow-life isekai with a female protagonist and a VRMMO world turned real parallel world. I’ve seen about a dozen shows featuring these tropes in various combinations and all of them suck. And they always suck in the same way - either they forget the ... part where they’re supposed to be isekai, turning into a generic CGDCT/shoujo/yuribait, or they forget the female MC + slow life part, turning into a generic SAO-clone dungeon crawler with a generic Kirito for a protagonist. Leadale, on the other hand, manages to succeed where those shows fail, and then raises the bar even higher. What truly makes it stand out is that it’s not an “isekai anime,” it’s a genuine work of dramatic fiction that happens to be in the isekai genre. The best comparison I can offer is with Monogatari - that one is also a genuine work of literature that makes use of anime harem tropes for storytelling, rather than just another harem anime. Here are some things Leadale does right:

Wish-fulfillment.
One of the easiest criticisms to make against an isekai is that it is pandering/power fantasy/wish-fulfillment. Usually, you can’t go wrong with that, but only because most isekai series offer a low-effort trash version of wish-fulfillment, not because the concept is bad in principle. Some basement-dwelling neckbeard getting handed status/power/women he doesn’t deserve and didn’t work for does not make for a very compelling narrative.
Cayna, the MC of Leadale, starts the story as a 17-year-old girl that has been stuck on life support in a hospital bed for most of her life. The first thought she has upon being reincarnated is, “hey, my legs work!” The first thing she does is eat a hearty meal in an inn, and the first words out of her mouth are, “I can’t remember when was the last time I ate not through a plastic tube.” You look at that and think, yeah, I don’t mind watching a story about her getting a second chance to walk around, see places, meet people, get drank celebrating with friends, wake up with a hangover the day after, start a family, and see her grandchildren - that is, have a fulfilling life that she was robbed out of by a tragic accident.

Actual intelligent thought put into isekai tropes.
The paragraph above is just one of the numerous examples of how the typical isekai story elements make a refreshing amount of sense from the logical perspective. The reincarnated Cayna is an elf, and the first natives she meets comment that they’ve never seen an elf before. Just a single line answers the usual glaring question of how come the locals never question the blatant alienness of reincarnators. In fact, a centuries-old elf visiting human settlements for the first time is such an ingenious cover story for a reincarnator, I’m shocked that no one (I know of) did this before. Just think how *perfectly* it fits the portrait of someone who lacks common sense and is ignorant about the most obvious things, yet simultaneously possesses absurdly powerful “cheat” abilities and talks about arcane matters beyond common folks’ understanding.
But wait, there is more - Leadale is the only series not just among isekai, but among all the elf-featuring fantasy I know of that does something with the implications of the fact that your world includes an “elder” race of people whose lifespan is counted in centuries and who don’t mind breeding with humans. And that is some mixed-blood characters having an awkward encounter with their great-grandmother that looks younger than them and whose thought process is incomprehensible to them.

The purpose of being an isekai story.
This is something very simple to test - ask yourself if the show would still work if it was just regular fantasy without the opening scene where a Japanese salaryman gets hit by a truck. For a depressingly high percentage of titles, the answer is yes, but Leadale isn’t one of them. There is another common elephant in the isekai room - how come reincarnators never give a fuck about their friends, family, and the entire world they left behind. It would make sense for Cayna to not care much for a life of being a bed-ridden vegetable, yet unexpectedly, she very much does. The only thing she has on her mind is to try and find the way back, or at least find some other people from her original world. There is a poignant scene where it dawns on her that it’s been 200 years, and everyone she knew is likely gone, so she has to hug her knees for a while in order to come to terms with it. This is how you do a reincarnation story.

Female protagonist.
There has been an outcropping of those in the isekai genre, and I’m not sure what for, as it is painfully obvious that most isekai writers have never been in a room with a female that isn’t their mom. Same deal, ask yourself if the story would still work if the MC was replaced by a male, and if the answer is yes, then the author has failed at writing a female protagonist. Take any iconic action heroine like Ellen Ripley from Aliens or Sarah Connor from Terminator 2. They kick ass and chew bubblegum, yet everything in their words and actions screams XX chromosomes, and it would’ve looked incongruous if male characters were saying and doing those things. And that’s how Cayna is, she might come with the standard isekai protag cheat powers package, but she shows very little interest in using those powers to assert her alpha-male dominance the way Kirito does. Her concerns are entirely private and/or interpersonal - helping people that make up her social circle, dealing with her newly-acquired isekai family, looking for clues connecting her to the original VRMMO, etc.
On top of being an actual woman, Cayna’s personality matches her profile as a teen that missed out on living through the formative teen experiences. She’s generally well-meaning, yet also short-tempered, self-conscious, and naive. She has trouble processing complex emotions, and really, really hates surprises, which leads to unreasonable outbursts she later regrets and has to apologize for.

Slow life.
Does a minor side character being catastrophically bad at winking advance the plot in any way? Does the shoujo manga roses background that permanently follows another character do that? A tiny mute fairy mimicking the MC’s facial expressions? No, what those do is being cute. Even with plenty of drama and deaths in the story, it manages to keep a consistent wholesome atmosphere. I don't really need to tell this, I can just let the show speak for itself. Here's an exchange from the second episode:
- Oneechan, you're leaving?
- Yes. But I promise I'll come back to see you again.
- Really?
- I'll let you know something super amazing. But you can't tell anyone, okay?
- O-Okay. I promise I'll keep it a secret.
- You know that silver tower beyond the mountains?
- The place where the bad witch lives, right?
- Believe it or not... I'm that bad witch.
- What?! But you're not a bad person!
- Make sure you keep it a secret, okay? I'm going to come back every once in a while to make sure you didn't tell anyone.
- Okay! But if you don't come back for a really long time, I'm going to tell someone.
- Then I'd better make sure I come back to this village.
It just radiates heart and wit. If I were to recommend this show to myself from a parallel universe, I'd just show this dialogue, that would be all I need to know it’s a well-written story.

The real character and story arcs.
This one is the total of everything said above. As the story begins, Cayna has trouble truly comprehending that the world she is in is not a video game anymore. This isn’t shown through some idiotic exposition, “these NPCs aren’t people, ay lmao.” It is shown subtly with Cayna and other characters’ behavior. She casually suggests crafting attack magic “consumables” and doesn’t even notice that everyone around freaks out over the prospects of freely-circulated weapons of mass destruction. She thinks about rewriting the personalities of her isekai children (originally custom-ordered NPCs) because it hasn’t quite dawned on her that they are people whose personalities are shaped by 200 years' worth of life without her, life in which they’ve played prominent roles in society and created multi-generational extended families. But Cayna doesn’t stay oblivious forever. With every new realization that people die when they are killed, that her combat pokemons have names, consciousness, and culture, etc, etc - her new reality slowly sinks in. Slowly but surely Cayna comes to fully appreciate and embrace the position she occupies in her new world and the responsibilities that come with it. This is what the story of Leadale is about.

The only reason I didn’t rate it 10 is that the adaptation adds some very unsound original scenes which stick out like a sore thumb.

9/10 for “this is how isekai can be like when written by real writers as a real work of literature, not an embarrassing attempt at fanfiction by some hikineet.”

There are several items on the list that I usually check off before diving into a light novel adaptation, especially one in a fantasy realm. Does it have an interesting and balanced world? How does the main protagonist die and end up reborn into such a world? Does it have RPG elements? And most importantly, can I make it through more than three episodes? Don't worry, the last one thankfully doesn't apply to In the Land of Leadale.

To put it into perspective, this is essentially a protagonist who ends up becoming a RPG character set in a world known as Leadale. Like most RPG games, ... there are classes and our protagonist Cayna is an elf, who specalizes in magic. As a spellcaster and elf, she can heal, cast deadly magic, and has rare skills at her arsenal. It's very spellcaster's wet dream when we think about it. But for Cayna, she's not there to level up her character to beat a game. She's there to learn about the world of Leadale.

As a common norm in most RPG games, there are NPCs, towns to visit, places to explore, weapons and gear to unlock, in-game crafting systems, quests, and monsters. If you've ever played a RPG game before, these should be common sense to understand. With Cayna's situation, she finds herself in the role of an adventurer while looking for other Leadale players. Be honest though, what would you do if you were in Cayna's shoes? You'd want to learn about other players as much as possible right? The only problem is that over 200 years has passed since she last played the game. That spells out problems of her familiarizing with the game she once played. And of course, a lot has since changed especially with wars. Cayna spends her days exploring Landale and learning as much as possible.

Watching Land of Leadale was a challenge for me at first, not because of its overused content but because the story pacing. The initial start felt sluggish, with Cayne's adventure having seemingly no set direction. She's there exploring a fantasy world but it's confusing about the true purpose of the show. Is it set up as a fantasy adventure or some sort of mystery with suspense and hidden secrets? Cayna herself is actually an engima because of her circumstances. However, she retains the personailty of a normal girl, without any sort of special trait besides her in-game status and abilities. That being said, you should expect this story to have a mixture of fantasy, adventure, mystery, and sometimes, slice of life. If you've played JRPG games before, then you may be very familar with these genres already.

Because she is the main protagonist, Cayne essentially carries this anime on her shoulders. She gets the most screen time and the majority of the supporting cast is overshadowed by her presence. Characters such as Key, Mai-Mai, Skargo, among others only have minor roles throughout the show. Their character development is very limited, if any. In fact, this anime treats them like side quest NPCs than party members or companions. Cayna's adventure often takes her to meet people and taking on quests that requires her to use in-game skills and knowledge. It's as if you're on the journey with her in the game.

Adapted by Maho Film, this is another addition to their roster of fantasy portfolio. The colorful world of Leadale contains lush lands with old style architectures and towns crafted from RPG asthestics. Cayne is known for her charming figure and personality. Other characters in the show are protrayed with RPG elements. That's not a knockdown to the show but the anime pretty much plays for itself. There's nothing strinkingly unique about the art style at all.

Land of Leadale won't hit different for what the story shows us. In fact, this anime represents some of the most oversatuarted RPG tropes you'll discover. Cayne herself is a character that you may or may not like. But at the end of the day, you're not going to get a showstopper out of this anime. Not at all.

The genre of Slice-of-Life in anime is often utilized to create normal, mundane, every-day activities, have appeal, in order to create a sense of relatability within the film or show it is used in. There are many good examples of Slice of Life in anime being used to it's fullest to create something simple yet engaging and relatable, yet In The Land of Leadale, despite production value, fails to do any of this.

The main genres listed for the show 'In The Land of Leadale' are adventure and fantasy, while these genres are apparent when watching, it's commonly debated that the show executes a strong sense ... of Slice-of-Life as well, which I agree is the case. However this doesn't mean Leadale did this properly. The writer of Leadale, Ceez, has a very apparent history of writing just by watching this show, as his only published novel on any site I can find is Leadale. Probably the one of the worst case of beginners luck, having their first work praised and even adapted to an anime, to support this kind of writing, which lacks progression, and proper execution of genre; While I definitely agree action is NOT needed to create an engaging work, or even a Shounen, it doesn't mean you can't do a bad job at executing something that doesn't have action. This form of Slice-of-Life is painfully lacklustre and pointless, with no engaging or new elements, in-fact, this show removes one of the only good factors of Slice-of-Life, which is relatability, as the main character is a piece of shit character who cares about no one despite how clear it is people care about them, and the writing goes off and makes the main character the good guy in all aspect.

The lack of engagement in this show, in both forms of interesting action, and relatable Slice-of-Life, feeds to the show being one of the most boring shows I think I have ever sat through, each episode feeling like a chore, just to continuously give it a chance to improve, and it just doesn't. In addition, the amount of generic, disposable, isekai tropes used in this show are innumerable, only emphasizing the blandness of the show, things such as the main character spawning in with no prior development, with overpowered abilities, being extremely old but looking like a teenager, medieval RPG setting, magic magic, MP, more magic, monsters, players, game tropes, and more magic. I think the only good comment I can make out of this is that even if the writer tried to do something new with it, it wouldn't go well or combine well no matter what they did, as they already has a terrible story plot to begin with, no amount of world building or art can make up for a boring story.

In conclusion, while I think Slice-of-Life as a genre has a lot of potential, and can definitely be engaging when executed correctly, like March Comes in like a Lion, or even mixed with action, Violet Evergarden, it is used to it's minimum in this show, and turns the Slice-of-Life genre into everything that the Slice-of-Life haters have come to know.