Get ready for another *sigh* light novel isekai adaptation. Though, I will say that I was impressed with the first two episodes. The isekai premise of a teen getting killed by a trunk-kun and then getting reincarnated into another world has been done to death, but I don't think I had ever seen Spirit Chronicles spin on the premise and that got me excited. Our male protagonist no.1 Haruto isn't exactly reincarnated per say. His spirit is reborn into an already existing boy of the fantasy worlds slums called Rio.
Rio gains all of Haruto's memories and physical experiences as if they're his own, but struggles with the dichotomy of that and his own personality as his mind has difficulty processing two different lives from different worlds.
It's a really cool idea. A better writer could do a lot with the premise. Unfortunately, by episode 3 the premise is basically completely forgotten about and the show's already low bar plummets into a Sword Art Online-esque, edgy, power fantasy with characters so boring and uninteresting I've already forgotten their names and who are either so comically evil or so comically in love with Rio because he like, farted in their general direction that they accidentally come off as hilarious.
The Sword Art Online comparison isn't by coincidence. Rio basically is as boring and flat as Kirito, is voiced by the same voice actor and after around six episodes in he literally dressed in the same black trench coat as the black swordsman. Just like Sword Art Online none of the women around Rio (or any other character now that I think about it) can do anything to move the plot forward by themselves without him having to save or help them so the show can show off how important and over-powered he is. He even has a harem, but unlike Kirito's harem-not-a-harem this harem is made up of a specific kind of manufactured waifu aimed at a certain... umm... disturbing kind of anime enthusiast... *cough* lolicons *cough* siscons *cough*.
The best character in the entire show is the Dwarf leader who is called Dominic. Dominic the Dwarf. He made Rio a sword and a house he can put in his pocket, but what truly makes him the best character is that his name is Dominic. Dominic the Dwarf... hilarious.
Unlike Sword Art Online the animation budget was running low by episode three and the sound track wasn't on a level where the audience could be tricked into thinking the show is good in comparison. The stiff, clumsy fight scenes and generic, uninspired ost only served to make the show funnier as the general quality deteriorated as time went on.
I feel a bit cheated with Spirit Chronicles. I was actually rooting for it at the beginning, but it became very apparent after a while that it was just another terrible light novel series to throw onto a fire. Don't get me wrong though, this show is hilarious in it's terribleness. I had a buddy to sit down and drink beer with whilst we laughed at how bad this was and that gives it value. In fact that's how I encourage you to view it if you're into watching bad anime and want to potentially waste your time watching this one.
In conclusion, Spirit Chronicles is crap and I thoroughly enjoyed myself watching it.
2/10 Bad
