Going into the season this was honestly one of my most anticipated shows. I had discovered this show when I had just finished reading “The boy who cried wolf tells a lie today also”(which to this date is one of my favorite manga) which got me a bit interested in the Gender Bender genre. The premise for this show sounded intriguing and I was excited to see what it had to offer. As you might have guessed I was disappointed with the result.
The show makes little to no attempt to take advantage of its Gender Bender gimmick. It's mainly used to help hide the MC’s identity which he didn’t have to be gender-bent to do anyways. Other than that it's just used for some bad fanservice scenes. Added to the fact that it’s really just complete generic.
Art:3
If you didn’t know already this show uses CGI. It's not good CGI like some other shows have either. It’s just really bad CGI. It's clunky and looks super awkward for the most part. Even without the CGI, the art in this show is just so bland. It does nothing to try and catch your eye. The character designs are also bland. None of them are really bad but none of them are good either.
Sound:5
For the most part, there was either an awkward silence or just are really generic music track playing. Nothing was really memorable at all. The voice acting was fine but not really anything special. The Op and Ed were pretty nice tho. But in the end, they aren’t anything special either. Just overall very generic
Characters:3
I usually find my main source of enjoyment in anime to be the characters. A good cast of characters can bring a show up from a 6 to a 9 to me. This show just didn’t have it. The only characters that I even remembered besides the MC were the MC’s maid and this weird girl who was a pervert to the MC and was in like 2 episodes. The characters are just so generic so they ended up being super forgettable. I know I have been using the word generic a lot but there really is no better way to describe the characters and really the show as a whole.
Story:4
There is no story. If there was a story I just failed to notice it. The majority of the show just consisted of the MC doing various miscellaneous tasks. Then showing other people his op skills which was almost always some sort of CGI monster. I'm honestly fine if a show is like this. This season's “In the Land of Leadale” pretty much did the exact same thing. But that show had lots of other things that made me interested and enjoy the show. This one simply did not.
Enjoyment:6
It was sometimes entertaining to watch. But honestly watching any other anime you usually give me more enjoyment. There were some nice scenes but it was usually outweighed by the show having a whole bunch of nothing to offer.
I honestly don’t really mind shows that are generic too much. Normally a show like this would be around a 6 for me. What was really disappointing is that this show could have been so much more. I think the perfect way to show what the show could have done is to compare it to fellow winter 2022 shows “Life with an Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout” and “In the Land of Leadale” which are fellow gender bender and VR MMORPG Isekai respectively. I honestly don’t think either of these two anime are all that amazing. But they play their respective roles so much better than this show does.
Starting with “Life with an Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout”. This show is generic in every possible aspect except with the Genderbender aspect. Unlike this show, it takes full advantage of it. Almost every joke in Fantasy Knockout is based on the gender-bent character. Sometimes it does get old but it has likable characters and great production values to back it up. Something that this show lacks completely. Even the way they travel is affected by the gender-bend. The majority of the obstacles and enemies they face are only there because of one of the gender-bent dude. By doing all this the show ends up transforming from something generic to something completely unique.
Going to the VR MMORPG aspect side. “In the Land of Leadale” also does a much better job than this show. Like this show, the VR MMORPG is used as the source of the MC’s op powers but it's also used to introduce the protagonist's children. Her children serve as the main focus in the earlier episodes and there are lots of wholesome interactions with them. They also have something that this show lacks: Personality. It gave me reasons to care about the show. It also was pretty easy to understand what Leadale was about and what it was trying to be. On the other hand, I am honestly not sure what this show was trying to do.
I haven’t read the light novel but I’m sure that it's much better than the anime. Defiantly in the art aspect just by looking at some of the illustrations. If you for some reason still have interest in this show just read the light novel instead. Other than that just watch “Life with an Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout” or “In the Land of Leadale” instead.
Overall 5/10
Don’t waste your time on this.
