Aug 21, 2018
A guy becomes trapped in an MMORPG and wonders what to do with himself. He has a huge guild citadel filled with powerful gear and an army of incredibly loyal and overpowered NPCs. Momonga decides that he will spread his guild name across the land in hopes that anyone who previously knew him in the game will seek him out. Momonga is a lonely office worker so I guess he doesn't care about going home, though this is not really discussed at all.
The rules of the world are very unclear. Momonga and his castle are teleported to a new land, which is generically medieval,
...
and all of the so-called NPCs just act like regular humans including Momonga's servants. There are occasional mentions of classes and skills but it isn't any different from people shouting out their ability names before attacking in any other anime. According to Momonga, some things work the same way as in his MMO, and some things don't. There are no flashbacks to Momonga playing the game in the past so we just have to take his word for it. Usually it just works as an excuse for Momonga to pull out random scrolls and spells that can do whatever he wants them to.
The show follows Momonga embarking on minor quests to gain information about the new world and get some cash. Momonga is vastly more powerful than anyone else he encounters, so everything pretty much amounts to: a villain or monster appearing, the NPCs gasping in horror, Momonga killing it with ease and then everyone being amazed. It's kind of jarring because everything is setup with suspenseful music and timing as though the event is actually supposed to be dramatic and impressive, but the audience is already fully aware that there's nothing on the line. There is absolutely zero progression on the story itself, we have no further information about why or how any of this happened in the last episode than at the start.
The cast of NPCs commanded by Momonga are well-designed and the art is of a high-quality. You will probably see a few of them that pique your interest. There isn't really any reason for them to all be demonic creatures but it does feel fresh. It would have been nice to see the story have more development for these NPCs, instead we mostly meet random new characters in the cities that Momonga travels to. The people he meets are actually interesting characters, it's just made clear that they will not be very important to the story as a whole so you become a little reluctant to invest in them.
Morals is something I wish the show would discuss a little more. Sometimes Momonga has no problems killing people, other times he becomes attached to people and is concerned for them. Sometimes he considers letting bad things happen to look better when he saves the day, and other times he talks about justice and helping others. Momonga has no idea if he is just killing NPCs or not as things are clearly not the same as his MMO world, so I would really expect him to mull more over the implications for his behaviour.
Overall the production value seems high and it can keep your interest most of the way. However I think this is because the themes grab your interest and you are holding on for some development and to see where it goes. But it doesn't go anywhere. It's literally just watching a guy stuck in a video game fuck around and do what he wants. Everyone either fears him or loves him, it does occasionally seem like an indulgent fanfiction for the author.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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