July 12th, 2023
Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni Naritakute! Review (Spoiler Free)
Anime Relations: Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni Naritakute!
Also known as The Eminence in Shadow, which is a nice title although it’s not a direct translation.
The more direct translation is something like “I wanted to become a powerful individual in the shadows!” or something like that, which doesn’t sound as good.
Anyways, this isn’t a review of the title or it’s translation, so let’s get onto it!
Synopsis
A Japanese high school boy dreams of becoming very powerful, and has trained himself since a very young age to become very strong. Perhaps he’s got some chuunibyou tendencies, or perhaps there’s more to his desire. Either way, he seems to reach his limits, and in attempts to push himself further, he dies. Which then leads us to his isekai reincarnation in a fantasy world of swords and magic, where our protagonist can now truly become strong and influence the world from the shadows.
There Will Be Power
There’s no getting around this point, if you decide to watch you’ll see for yourself – our protagonist is very strong. This isn’t a “start from the bottom” heroes journey where many obstacles need to be conquered in the pursuit of strength. While other characters in the story may go through iterations of this, it’s not the focus of this anime. Instead, you can expect to see enemies shocked with what they end up witnessing.
Sort of like how everyone around One Punch Man reacts. Their expectations are so much lower than what they get. Although I wouldn’t say our protagonist is THAT powerful, this anime has a lot of those elements. Personally, I love seeing people’s jaws drop, especially if they were being very arrogant prior. And Eminence in Shadow certainly delivers on that front.
The other point I’ll make regarding our protagonist’s power level is that unlike many other powerful characters in anime, he’s strong and he knows it. And just like the jaw-dropping, I also love an unapologetic protagonist who isn’t afraid to flex his muscles – although in this anime, the flexing is often done from the shadows.
From The Shadows
We may follow a powerful protagonist, but that doesn’t mean that you’ll be seeing that power on display at all times. As the title of the anime eludes to, he’s very much interested in only using his powers from the shadows. Which means we get this really fun double-life dynamic where he works hard to live as a regular mob character attending school in public, and powerful shadowy figure behind the scenes. A good comparison to this would be Lelouch from Code Geass. So if you liked this dynamic there, you’ll likely enjoy it here too.
And I won’t spoil any of the details, but what goes on in the shadows isn’t just limited to our protagonist, as he does have others behind him working in the shadows to accomplish certain objectives. And there are some more fun dynamics between our protagonist and those individuals as well. But you’ll have to see that for yourself if you haven’t already.
A Story in the Shadows
Ok, well the story isn’t exactly in the shadows. But, there is an interesting thing happening in this series with the story. There is a definite overarching story that is told throughout the various arcs of the anime. And there are individuals working towards accomplishing goals pertaining to that story. But our protagonist isn’t quite on the same page. There are several elements to this, which I won’t spoil, but the gist is that many things happen behind the scenes, literally, and we find out about them later (as does our protagonist).
It’s a great way for the anime to mix in a combination of serious and lighthearted tones, as I would say that while often tone is defined by setting and situation, in this anime it’s also often defined by the character. Some are more focused on the overarching events than others. The “others” being our protagonist for the most part, who really does his own thing most of the time.
Basically, it’s a great way for us to get a nice mix of fun, intrigue and excitement.
Rating
I’ll give Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni Naritakute! / Eminence in Shadow a 9.5 / 10.
It really is a ton of fun, and for me, someone who is a sucker for fantasy, unapologetic powerful main protagonists, intrigue, and so on, this anime really just ticks all of the boxes, and more. I certainly didn’t expect the Lelouch style double-life dynamic in a fantasy anime, but what a pleasant surprise it ended up becoming. Just a whole lot of fun.
Plus, it’s 20 episodes rather than the standard 12, giving us an extra few story arcs to enjoy.
If you’re a fan of fantasy or fantasy isekai and haven’t seen this one, definitely give it a watch!
Until next time,
Thanks for reading.
Original Post:
https://umaiyomu.wordpress.com/2023/04/02/kage-no-jitsuryokusha-ni-naritakute-review-spoiler-free/
The more direct translation is something like “I wanted to become a powerful individual in the shadows!” or something like that, which doesn’t sound as good.
Anyways, this isn’t a review of the title or it’s translation, so let’s get onto it!
Synopsis
A Japanese high school boy dreams of becoming very powerful, and has trained himself since a very young age to become very strong. Perhaps he’s got some chuunibyou tendencies, or perhaps there’s more to his desire. Either way, he seems to reach his limits, and in attempts to push himself further, he dies. Which then leads us to his isekai reincarnation in a fantasy world of swords and magic, where our protagonist can now truly become strong and influence the world from the shadows.
There Will Be Power
There’s no getting around this point, if you decide to watch you’ll see for yourself – our protagonist is very strong. This isn’t a “start from the bottom” heroes journey where many obstacles need to be conquered in the pursuit of strength. While other characters in the story may go through iterations of this, it’s not the focus of this anime. Instead, you can expect to see enemies shocked with what they end up witnessing.
Sort of like how everyone around One Punch Man reacts. Their expectations are so much lower than what they get. Although I wouldn’t say our protagonist is THAT powerful, this anime has a lot of those elements. Personally, I love seeing people’s jaws drop, especially if they were being very arrogant prior. And Eminence in Shadow certainly delivers on that front.
The other point I’ll make regarding our protagonist’s power level is that unlike many other powerful characters in anime, he’s strong and he knows it. And just like the jaw-dropping, I also love an unapologetic protagonist who isn’t afraid to flex his muscles – although in this anime, the flexing is often done from the shadows.
From The Shadows
We may follow a powerful protagonist, but that doesn’t mean that you’ll be seeing that power on display at all times. As the title of the anime eludes to, he’s very much interested in only using his powers from the shadows. Which means we get this really fun double-life dynamic where he works hard to live as a regular mob character attending school in public, and powerful shadowy figure behind the scenes. A good comparison to this would be Lelouch from Code Geass. So if you liked this dynamic there, you’ll likely enjoy it here too.
And I won’t spoil any of the details, but what goes on in the shadows isn’t just limited to our protagonist, as he does have others behind him working in the shadows to accomplish certain objectives. And there are some more fun dynamics between our protagonist and those individuals as well. But you’ll have to see that for yourself if you haven’t already.
A Story in the Shadows
Ok, well the story isn’t exactly in the shadows. But, there is an interesting thing happening in this series with the story. There is a definite overarching story that is told throughout the various arcs of the anime. And there are individuals working towards accomplishing goals pertaining to that story. But our protagonist isn’t quite on the same page. There are several elements to this, which I won’t spoil, but the gist is that many things happen behind the scenes, literally, and we find out about them later (as does our protagonist).
It’s a great way for the anime to mix in a combination of serious and lighthearted tones, as I would say that while often tone is defined by setting and situation, in this anime it’s also often defined by the character. Some are more focused on the overarching events than others. The “others” being our protagonist for the most part, who really does his own thing most of the time.
Basically, it’s a great way for us to get a nice mix of fun, intrigue and excitement.
Rating
I’ll give Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni Naritakute! / Eminence in Shadow a 9.5 / 10.
It really is a ton of fun, and for me, someone who is a sucker for fantasy, unapologetic powerful main protagonists, intrigue, and so on, this anime really just ticks all of the boxes, and more. I certainly didn’t expect the Lelouch style double-life dynamic in a fantasy anime, but what a pleasant surprise it ended up becoming. Just a whole lot of fun.
Plus, it’s 20 episodes rather than the standard 12, giving us an extra few story arcs to enjoy.
If you’re a fan of fantasy or fantasy isekai and haven’t seen this one, definitely give it a watch!
Until next time,
Thanks for reading.
Original Post:
https://umaiyomu.wordpress.com/2023/04/02/kage-no-jitsuryokusha-ni-naritakute-review-spoiler-free/
Posted by UmaiYomu | Jul 12, 2023 6:05 PM | 1 comments
July 10th, 2023
Handyman Saitou in Another World Review (Spoiler Free)
Anime Relations: Benriya Saitou-san, Isekai ni Iku
Not sure what to expect posting on MAL, as it doesn't look like blogs get much attention, but seeing as I already publish posts on my own blog, I'd like to see what happens, if anything, if I post over here with some reviews to start. It's too bad you can't include images on MAL, and hopefully the formatting holds up!
-----------------------------------
Let’s get another review in here, this time looking at another fantasy anime from the recent Winter 2023 season:
Handyman Saitou in Another World!
Synopsis
Saitou is a Japanese man who was a handyman until one day, he found himself suddenly in a fantasy world. There, he does his best to keep up with the party of adventurers who have taken him in by helping out in anyway he can using skills from his time as a handyman. Things happen, hijinks ensue, and so on!
Just Another Isekai?
When I decided to watch this anime, I went into it expecting nothing. My attitude was basically just “Oh look, it’s just another gimmicky _____ in another world anime”. I figured it’d be just your typical isekai anime that is entertaining but also just very ordinary. Like we’ve had anime like “reincarnated as a slime / sword / spider”, and “isekai uncle” (which I haven’t seen), so you know, many studios are just throwing everything at the wall and running with it when it comes to isekai.
And let me tell you, while technically this is another one of those anime, just by looking at the premise, in practice this anime ends up really delivering despite that. It’s not just a gimmick, it’s a gimmick with some serious substance backing it up. I can definitely say that this anime really exceeded my expectations going in, in so many different ways.
So allow me to tell you about that.
Genius Storytelling
If there is one thing Handyman Saitou does right (it does many things right, but anyways), it’s the storytelling. You may be able to surmise this from the premise, but this is a comedy anime that also features action, fantasy, and an overarching story that progresses as we watch.
And because it’s a comedy anime, it makes use of one of my favourite comedy archetypes in anime: skits / short stories. If you’ve seen Daily Lives of Highschool Boys, or The Disastrious Life of Saiki K., and likely many others that make use of this, you’ll understand what I’m talking about. Basically, the anime tells us the story in the form of short skits, which may be anywhere from a minute to several minutes long. And each skit can feature different characters, situations, and so on. Time passes between skits, so you can often get a feeling like things have happened in the background between the last skit and the next, which makes it feel like the story is progressing to some extent.
But the anime isn’t ONLY short skits. The way it works is that the anime starts out using many skits, and as we move forward through the series the length increases and frequency decreases until we’re basically just in the story being told like any other anime. The skits do a lot of heavy lifting in introducing us to characters, the world, the humour, and so on, and then once we’ve become familiar with all of that, the skits are slowly phased out in the place of some serious story for us to sink our teeth into. Mind you, I say serious, but naturally there is comedy throughout this anime, through skits or not.
It’s like an upside down pyramid that starts very broad but then slowly forms into a point in terms of the story, and it’s just genius, it works so well I’d love to see this in other anime given they have a similar comedic tone.
Wacky and Loveable Cast
Alongside the storytelling and how it’s treated is just the amazing cast of this anime. While Saitou himself isn’t particularly interesting or anything, he sort of serves as a baseline for us. He kind of helps to keep the anime grounded. Because the rest of the cast can span from fairly normal to just crazy or hilarious. There are just so many funny and strange characters, and most of them aren’t just one-offs that are quickly forgotten.
Through the skits we end up getting to know pretty much all of the side-characters enough to understand their basic stories and how they are. And many of the side-characters are other adventuring parties with their own little party dynamics and whatnot. It’s also just cool to see many skits featuring side-characters and then see them actually interact with Saitou and his party, the main characters.
Finally, I have to mention the best character of all in this anime, possibly one of my favourite characters in general now, and that is Morlock, the old and forgettable wizard in Saitou’s party. A lot of the comedy is centered around him, and personally, I thought that he was just hilarious. I found myself laughing out loud many times thanks to this old man, and even got a bunch of screencaps of him cause he makes a lot of funny faces. Just an amazing character who I feel really shines in a cast of many great characters. The anime really leans on him, and does well by doing so.
Other Aspects
I’ll quickly cover my thoughts on a few other aspects of the anime.
First, the action was good. As this is a comedy anime, action isn’t necessarily the focus, but the magic and combat that we do get is good and enjoyable. There are some intense moments in the series, and they’re all handled well I think. No complaints here on the action.
Second, the world is actually quite small, or at least, what we experience of it. The anime takes place in a small kingdom in which there is a labyrinth / dungeon for adventurers. Pretty much the entire anime, outside of a few side characters’ journeys, takes place within the city, the labyrinth, or just outside the city. And while that may sound like a bad thing that there aren’t that many locations or whatever, in reality I thought that the anime felt very comfy by the end because I became so familiar with the city, labyrinth, and surrounding environment. So I actually liked how the setting was very limited due to that.
Third, the “isekai” aspect of the anime itself I thought wasn’t bad. It actually plays a large role in Saitou’s character and how he interacts with the fantasy world. We get a slow drip of information regarding Saitou, his life before, how he ended up in this world, and so on which works well. Basically, the “isekai” element wasn’t just tacked on for the hell of it, it’s actually impactful and this anime wouldn’t work without it. Which means it gets a stamp of approval from me.
Rating
I actually really loved Handyman Saitou in Another World, I’m going to give it a 9 / 10.
For me, the comedy landed perfectly, the storytelling was done in a way that not only got me interested but kept my attention till the end, the cast is full of loveable characters, and it’s a great fantasy world that actually uses isekai to its advantage. The whole package just works well, I don’t have many criticisms here.
I didn’t expect to enjoy another anime this much so soon after The Eminence in Shadow, and especially not from something that seems so gimmicky at face value, but Handyman Saitou in Another World really impressed me. I don’t know much about the background on this, such as the author of the manga and whatnot, but I really hope we can get more comedic anime that use a similar format to this.
So there you have it, the “handyman in another world” anime actually turned out to be something great.
If you’ve seen this one, let me know what your thoughts are.
And if not, you should definitely give it a try if you think you’d like this sort of thing!
Until next time,
Thanks for reading.
-----------------------------------
Original Post: https://umaiyomu.wordpress.com/2023/05/13/handyman-saitou-in-another-world-review-spoiler-free/
-----------------------------------
Let’s get another review in here, this time looking at another fantasy anime from the recent Winter 2023 season:
Handyman Saitou in Another World!
Synopsis
Saitou is a Japanese man who was a handyman until one day, he found himself suddenly in a fantasy world. There, he does his best to keep up with the party of adventurers who have taken him in by helping out in anyway he can using skills from his time as a handyman. Things happen, hijinks ensue, and so on!
Just Another Isekai?
When I decided to watch this anime, I went into it expecting nothing. My attitude was basically just “Oh look, it’s just another gimmicky _____ in another world anime”. I figured it’d be just your typical isekai anime that is entertaining but also just very ordinary. Like we’ve had anime like “reincarnated as a slime / sword / spider”, and “isekai uncle” (which I haven’t seen), so you know, many studios are just throwing everything at the wall and running with it when it comes to isekai.
And let me tell you, while technically this is another one of those anime, just by looking at the premise, in practice this anime ends up really delivering despite that. It’s not just a gimmick, it’s a gimmick with some serious substance backing it up. I can definitely say that this anime really exceeded my expectations going in, in so many different ways.
So allow me to tell you about that.
Genius Storytelling
If there is one thing Handyman Saitou does right (it does many things right, but anyways), it’s the storytelling. You may be able to surmise this from the premise, but this is a comedy anime that also features action, fantasy, and an overarching story that progresses as we watch.
And because it’s a comedy anime, it makes use of one of my favourite comedy archetypes in anime: skits / short stories. If you’ve seen Daily Lives of Highschool Boys, or The Disastrious Life of Saiki K., and likely many others that make use of this, you’ll understand what I’m talking about. Basically, the anime tells us the story in the form of short skits, which may be anywhere from a minute to several minutes long. And each skit can feature different characters, situations, and so on. Time passes between skits, so you can often get a feeling like things have happened in the background between the last skit and the next, which makes it feel like the story is progressing to some extent.
But the anime isn’t ONLY short skits. The way it works is that the anime starts out using many skits, and as we move forward through the series the length increases and frequency decreases until we’re basically just in the story being told like any other anime. The skits do a lot of heavy lifting in introducing us to characters, the world, the humour, and so on, and then once we’ve become familiar with all of that, the skits are slowly phased out in the place of some serious story for us to sink our teeth into. Mind you, I say serious, but naturally there is comedy throughout this anime, through skits or not.
It’s like an upside down pyramid that starts very broad but then slowly forms into a point in terms of the story, and it’s just genius, it works so well I’d love to see this in other anime given they have a similar comedic tone.
Wacky and Loveable Cast
Alongside the storytelling and how it’s treated is just the amazing cast of this anime. While Saitou himself isn’t particularly interesting or anything, he sort of serves as a baseline for us. He kind of helps to keep the anime grounded. Because the rest of the cast can span from fairly normal to just crazy or hilarious. There are just so many funny and strange characters, and most of them aren’t just one-offs that are quickly forgotten.
Through the skits we end up getting to know pretty much all of the side-characters enough to understand their basic stories and how they are. And many of the side-characters are other adventuring parties with their own little party dynamics and whatnot. It’s also just cool to see many skits featuring side-characters and then see them actually interact with Saitou and his party, the main characters.
Finally, I have to mention the best character of all in this anime, possibly one of my favourite characters in general now, and that is Morlock, the old and forgettable wizard in Saitou’s party. A lot of the comedy is centered around him, and personally, I thought that he was just hilarious. I found myself laughing out loud many times thanks to this old man, and even got a bunch of screencaps of him cause he makes a lot of funny faces. Just an amazing character who I feel really shines in a cast of many great characters. The anime really leans on him, and does well by doing so.
Other Aspects
I’ll quickly cover my thoughts on a few other aspects of the anime.
First, the action was good. As this is a comedy anime, action isn’t necessarily the focus, but the magic and combat that we do get is good and enjoyable. There are some intense moments in the series, and they’re all handled well I think. No complaints here on the action.
Second, the world is actually quite small, or at least, what we experience of it. The anime takes place in a small kingdom in which there is a labyrinth / dungeon for adventurers. Pretty much the entire anime, outside of a few side characters’ journeys, takes place within the city, the labyrinth, or just outside the city. And while that may sound like a bad thing that there aren’t that many locations or whatever, in reality I thought that the anime felt very comfy by the end because I became so familiar with the city, labyrinth, and surrounding environment. So I actually liked how the setting was very limited due to that.
Third, the “isekai” aspect of the anime itself I thought wasn’t bad. It actually plays a large role in Saitou’s character and how he interacts with the fantasy world. We get a slow drip of information regarding Saitou, his life before, how he ended up in this world, and so on which works well. Basically, the “isekai” element wasn’t just tacked on for the hell of it, it’s actually impactful and this anime wouldn’t work without it. Which means it gets a stamp of approval from me.
Rating
I actually really loved Handyman Saitou in Another World, I’m going to give it a 9 / 10.
For me, the comedy landed perfectly, the storytelling was done in a way that not only got me interested but kept my attention till the end, the cast is full of loveable characters, and it’s a great fantasy world that actually uses isekai to its advantage. The whole package just works well, I don’t have many criticisms here.
I didn’t expect to enjoy another anime this much so soon after The Eminence in Shadow, and especially not from something that seems so gimmicky at face value, but Handyman Saitou in Another World really impressed me. I don’t know much about the background on this, such as the author of the manga and whatnot, but I really hope we can get more comedic anime that use a similar format to this.
So there you have it, the “handyman in another world” anime actually turned out to be something great.
If you’ve seen this one, let me know what your thoughts are.
And if not, you should definitely give it a try if you think you’d like this sort of thing!
Until next time,
Thanks for reading.
-----------------------------------
Original Post: https://umaiyomu.wordpress.com/2023/05/13/handyman-saitou-in-another-world-review-spoiler-free/
Posted by UmaiYomu | Jul 10, 2023 5:47 PM | 0 comments