Story: 9
Because "Honzuki" is not your average light novel adaptation. The author said it herself, she simply indulged in writing whatever story she fancied and never cared about pandering to anything except her desires. She posted it on an amateur website as a hobby. To me, this is where creativity really can express itself. As opposed to many stuff that are published these days, the author here didn't try to apply a recipe or to gauge what it was that would sell best, as is unfortunately the case way to often these days. She had a plan. She had a vision. She had an idea. She had an inspiration and a story to tell. And she made her vision a reality without compromising. So, what it is that makes the story and world that good?
First, it is consistent. It is inspired from mostly European Middle Ages, and many things you will see in the anime or the books are things that are historically accurate. Like... how people would crap in a pot an throw the content by the window ^^. The author is knowledgeable, and she masteers the references she uses. Part of those are Asian,too. For example, the way the towns are laid out, with this square wall surrounding them. But all in all, she took cultural aspects from Europe, from China, and added her own fantasy elements. This contributes to make the lore and worldbuilding extremely thick and rich and coherent. However you look at it, if you want to make things coherent, you need general knowledge. And what she creates is actually well done. I really like her depiction of magic, and the concept of the "devouring" illness is simply super clever. The story is about our MC who discovers this world and tries to make some sense out of it, with books as the driving force that makes her move forward in the story. That is really most of it. She will climb the scale of social status, one by one, year after year... And it is a fascinating exploration, that relies a lot on the worlbuilding and the characters.
Art: 8
It is overall pretty well done. The problem with the books is the overall lack of descriptions. The anime actually manages to create a visually cohesive world nonetheless, and this wasn't a simple matter. The animation is fine, and they did a good job at planning their storyboard. We see plenty of this town and the world, and the studio didn't shy away from making everything or almost everything from scratch. This is not KyoAni level of animation, but what matters more is how the world translates on screen. And it translates well enough.
Sound: 8
I don't have any complaint in this area either (although i am generally great at complaining). Again, this is not a piece of art that will be refered to with awe in 3 centuries, but everything is consistent, efficient and does the job. The VA is solid, and Maine's seiyuu manages rather well to translate this contrast in the character between the age of her body and the age of her memories.
Characters: 9
This is the second area where this anime really shines, after worldbuilding. Maine will understand that people do not bow in the world. That her japanese habits just don't work and may even piss people off... like when she can't flat out say "NO", can't understand that she shouldn't give stuff away for the sake of being well behaved, can't say upfront what she wants or thinks, shies away from negociation or disagreement and ends up cowering and accepting everything and anything, and can't seem to make much progress. There is a massive culture schock there where her japanese ways will put her in bad situations in a world that works completely differently from Japan. She will have to muster some courage and stop running away from confrontations with people, and this will be more and more prevalent as story arcs come and go. Note please, that she is never a blank carpet, even in the beginning, so if you are afraid to find one of these noxious japanese stereotypes, you don't have to worry about it (i would never have watched this if it weren't the case). Those people who are curious and learned a bit about how japanese society work will notice plenty of really subtle stuff there that really are a tribute to the excellent writing, like refering to japanese politeness or social manners that simply fall flat in this world. Maine will learn, slowly, making countless times the same mistakes. She will be annoying for that, but at long last she will be forced to question things, and her mindset will slowly and organically evolve to fit her new world. This cultural evolution is, to me, simply the best i ever saw.
All characters are good. Lutz serves as an excellent foil for Maine's ignorance. And Lutz' family as an excellent illustration as to what makes Lutz special. It is not only that each character feels natural, it is that characters reinforce other characters and build up a consistent cast like i rarely saw. They all are muti-faceted, and you will wonder a lot what Beno's actual thoughts really are. He will act as a crook and as someone who don't care that much about money at the same time, to the point where you way wonder where the real him is. There is a lot of stuff for you to think about, and this world feels like you could have lived there. Maybe you will want to travel there and meet these people. And maybe you will feel alone once the series is finished, as i did.
Enjoyment: 10
This world exists on its own. It is confortable to me to think that i can go there for vacations by taking a book or watching a few anime episodes. That is not to say that this world is nice and good. It is grim, as our Middle Ages were. This very vertical society is even worse than how Japan is and will show more and more of its ugly face as the story goes on. The arbitrary noble privileges and abusive whims are pretty much historically accurate. The fact the author masters all this and takes reality to write her cohesive fiction makes for a great experience. I always have a problem when japanese try lazily to reference the world beyond their borders and end up forcing heavy-handedly their cultural biases on everything or everyone, or spreading crappy caricatural stereotypes that don't even make sense in and by themselves. Ignorance is not legit merely because you are japanese or because you write a fiction. Nothing like this here: the authors takes bit here and there, all making sense, and the result is an absolute blast.
Overall: 9
This is what the isekai genre should strive to be. The author uses the isekai excuse to mix and match various cultural things, some that exist, some that don't, and she throws her character in the middle of all this mess. Different world means different norms. Add to this a looming threat (the Devouring illness here) and you have all you need to build a thrilling story. This series is not like all these others where everyone in the world and even in every world use chopsticks, love public bath, and uses public baths and japanese color codes (red for women, blue for men). I have seen this so many times, i simply can't stand it anymore (like, at all). Here, Maine will be completely at a loss and suffer a lot to try and adapt to a completely different world. Because the writer fully understands cultural schocks and different cultures, History, what entail inter-personal interactions in different places, it ends up being almost a masterpiece i can only recommend warmly. All these will really transport you somewhere else.
The only ones i can think of that may not like this are... if you really want some action, a lot of magic, combats, goblins and orcs, or ecchi/fan service. In these particular cases, you will be disappointed, and this may not be what you look for. But if you expect from your isekai to actually invite you in a different world that tries to make sense without feeling the need to reinvent the wheel... You should try this one.
