Buta no Liver wa Kanetsu Shiro

An arrogant scientist awakens in the middle of a muddy pigpen, and the last thing he remembers is eating a raw pig liver and collapsing in the subway. He quickly gathers that he has turned into a pig and is now in a strange fantasy land. As he struggles to grasp reality, a young girl named Jess comes to his aid. Jess happens to be a Yesma—a discriminated class of servants distinguished by their telepathic abilities and the silver collars around their necks. Despite his inappropriate thoughts about her, Jess makes sacrifices for his sake, and the pig resolves to repay her the best he can within the limits of his new body.

But Jess' generosity does not absolve her from the prejudice the Yesmas face daily, and the pig begins to suspect that Jess is in greater danger than she thinks. While he wants to visit the royal capital and beg the king to change him back into a human, the pig realizes that he cannot simply turn his back on his kind savior.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Jess Main

Kusunoki, Tomori Japanese

Pig Main

Matsuoka, Yoshitsugu Japanese

Eise Supporting

Hayami, Saori Japanese

Ceres Supporting

Tomita, Miyu Japanese

Brace Supporting

Noto, Mamiko Japanese

Rossi Supporting

Takahashi, Shinya Japanese

Notos Supporting

Itou, Kent Japanese

Wyss Supporting

Inoue, Kikuko Japanese

Kilins Supporting

Souma, Kouichi Japanese

Eavis Supporting

Hashi, Takaya Japanese

Takahashi, Masayuki Director

Tateishi, Yayoi Sound Director

ASCA Theme Song Performance

Myuk Theme Song Performance

Reviews

Sep 19, 2024

LordByron08

Recommended

This anime is definitely underrated. It definitely had some quality/budget issues with the animation for 1-2 episodes near the end, and most people won't be able to take the premise at face value, like I did when I put off watching it for so long; but this anime is definitely a hidden gem. I ended up binging it in a single sitting.

The lore is deep and fleshed out; the story is where it shines. The seiyuus are perfectly casted and put out some of their best performances. I personally liked the comedy, but that's always subjective.

Around episode 9 is where the animation quality drops ... temporarily; it plays like a slightly more animated visual novel for the few action scenes.

The closest anime I could compare it to would be Re:Zero; it evokes the same emotions of giving everything you've got in order to persevere in a F'ed-up situation. If only it had a larger budget for the action scenes it would be one of the great Isekais, which would be more important if we get a 2nd season where the story seems to be headed towards conflict.

Definitely give it a chance.

8.5/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Feb 8, 2024

TheAdmiralPoi

Mixed Feelings

Tonally dissonant and poorly produced, but an intriguing story with some surprisingly hard-hitting emotional high notes.

ButaLiver appears to be a typical isekai of the 2020s (this time the twist is that the protagonist is reincarnated as a pig), but rather than giving him some kind of overpowered skill that allows him to cruise along the plot with ease, the setting puts our hero in a difficult spot with very little to work with. The heroine (unfortunately) still falls back into a stereotypical mold and is way too comfortable to put up with the hero's oftentimes wildly inappropriate inner thoughts. He simply came across as crass ... and his monologues were rough, blatant attempts at meta-humor and self-deprecation. Still, he made the most of the bad hand he was dealt with and became somewhat more likable and endearing with time as he overcame challenges alongside our heroine. I was not expecting this level of character development from the "pig isekai".

The show also felt strangely dissonant. At some moments, we're getting some playful slice-of-life content with bland fanservice, while at others we get some heavier exposition into the much darker backstory of this world. The tonal shifts can be abrupt and offputting. Still, one can appreciate how the story stands out from other similar ones in being crafted to have an overarching goal that our protagonists genuinely sought to achieve while overcoming real crises along the way. The story also remembers that there was a "real world" besides the isekai (what an innovation in this day and age!) and the protagonist remains tied to his pre-isekai past. Without going into spoilers, the ending (which viewers were made to wait for) and how it linked to the real world was a pleasantly surprising twist, if roughly executed.

The emotional high notes in this story also somehow resonated despite the tonal dissonance of the direction and lack of production value. Perhaps it is the bleak setup of the world; the sheer insurmountability of the challenge that laid before our protagonists; and the marvelous talent and skill of the main voice actors.

ButaLiver was a bumpy but interesting ride. It wouldn't hurt to savor a different flavor of isekai among today's bland offerings, even if somewhat undercooked.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Jun 1, 2024

ST63LTH

Not Recommended

Butareba follows a high school graduate who reincarnates into a Pig after eating raw pig liver and getting sick. Pig meets Jess, a Yethma (referred to as maids) who is in charge of menial household tasks. On Jess' 16th Birthday she decides to undergo a journey to the capital as part of a ceremonial tradition for all Yethma to begin; Her journey is riddle with chaos as she meets Yethma hunters, back alley dealers and other Yethma. As her new travel companion, will Pig be able to change her fate?

Story & Character: 5/10
The story starts very abrupt and opts for a mysterious approach where we ... have to infer to the premise bit by bit as Jess and the surrounding characters explain their situation. It would have been a good approach if the way the mystery alleviates itself wasn't from dialogue; The approach Butareba took felt lackluster due to the fact that the characters are spoon-feeding the information instead of the viewer organically deciphering the mystery through-out Jess and Pig's journey. The way this developed meant the world had no value in terms of the narrative and it became more of a setting that wouldn't be elaborated in beyond landmark names.

Characters felt really weak in terms of depth and progression; There was no emotional connection because they either died too early or didn't have much impact on the story or main characters; only their purpose being fulfilled. Even the two main characters felt awkward at times and in the end; The dynamic between Pig and Jess build up lacked any substance or resolution.

Art & Sound: 5/10
The art was decent but the animation tanked mid-way through the season. It is noticeable to see the art and animation quality change especially during fight scenes with Rossi, Jess, Pig, Naut and the Yethma hunters. However, the art style wasn't that bad in terms of modern day standards.

Sound was decent, nothing extraordinary and no memorable use of theme tracks for emotional connectivity. The voice acting was okay by modern standards.

Overall & Enjoyment: 3/10
The execution could have been taken to a much deeper and meaningful route but it chose to be surface level; The characters although enjoyable didn't have much depth to them and were essentially made to be discarded anyway. The dynamic between Pig and Jess was very hard to enjoy because they lacked any 'real' personalities or convictions that strayed outside of their character persona. Overall, it was below average by a large margin in story, character and art/sound.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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Fall 2023 Simulcast List [Update 10/22]

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Sep 29, 2023 8:06 AM by Snow | Discuss (26 comments)

Fall 2023 Preview

In this thread, you'll find a comprehensive list of Fall 2023 titles with an accompanying promotional video, commercial, teaser, or trailer. This post will be u...read more

Sep 22, 2023 10:51 AM by Snow | Discuss (13 comments)

	Poll: Buta no Liver wa Kanetsu Shiro Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 ) KANLen09 - Feb 5	78 replies	by cHysteriaM »» Oct 15, 8:53 AM
	How did this only adapt 1 volume? mechian - Oct 15	2 replies	by DragyG »» Oct 15, 4:15 AM
	Poll: Buta no Liver wa Kanetsu Shiro Episode 6 Discussion Stark700 - Nov 11, 2023	38 replies	by Yabasawa »» Aug 10, 3:48 AM
	Why so many people are hating over this Great anime? ( 1 2 ) Weird-but-true - Jan 3	59 replies	by Talamare »» Jul 30, 11:45 PM
	Poll: Buta no Liver wa Kanetsu Shiro Episode 11 Discussion Stark700 - Dec 23, 2023	43 replies	by ST63LTH »» May 31, 8:35 AM