Reviews

How much of your enjoyment from watching anime comes from knowing that you’re watching an “anime”? The debate about what actually even is an anime is quite honestly, rather overdone. If the defining trope of anime is the art style than shows like Avatar count as anime and shows like Panty and Stocking don’t, yet according to MAL, you’ll find that many people, myself included, will find the opposite to be true, because they value a show’s nationality more than its artistic direction. For me personally, this is because I find that the art style of any given show will change from person to person and whether the difference is as obnoxious as an atomic bomb, or as subtle as a Where’s Wally, it’s present nonetheless. I don’t really care about what is an anime in comparison to other forms of animation because at the end of the day if it’s good I’ll like it and if it isn’t I won’t. The most defining thing about anime to me, in contrast with “cartoons” is the Japanese national identity and the ways in which it is imbued into the show, whether or not that is on a macro or micro scale.

I bring all of this up because I recently was looking for some generic anime to mindlessly consume and upon browsing the anime section of Netflix, I found The Daily Life of the Immortal King. This show is a pretty standard power fantasy anime, following the One-Punch Man set up of the protagonist is really overpowered but nobody knows except us *wink wink*. Combine that with a magical high school setting and you’re looking at one of the most generic anime ever made. Except it is not an anime. Just like most of what you own, it’s made in China.

This knowledge hit me like covid hit the world, with the distinct language being used by the voice actors making me realise…I’m actually watching a Chinese cartoon.

As far as cartoons go though…this is a pretty good show. If you’re really craving some generic power fantasy than the fact that I was able to pretty quickly marathon both seasons despite normally dropping shows like this by episode 5 should tell you that this series actually has some heart to it. And I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that this show is actually funny with a genuinely strange sense of humour. Like how when they present just how overpowered the protagonist is through this overpowered baby scene in episode 1. While this is obviously just set-up for having the super-special awesome main character be overpowered, the fact that the show was willing to go so over the top with this explanation was genuinely endearing.

This charm is present throughout the majority of the show. One of the later episodes of season 2 is an obvious piece of filler where the cast interact with the animators of the show. They learn how anime is made. They talk to the animators. The narrative stakes of the episode revolve around how understaffed the team is so the characters have to help draw their own show or the world will end. This is a genuinely unique way of breaking the 4th wall that, dare I say it, actually made me like the show more.

At the end of the day The Daily Life of the Immortal King is hardly anything special, but it never tries to be. It tries to be a fun show, and provides a unique experience with its wacky sense of humour to help elevate the show to be something worthy of your attention for a rainy day when you don’t care too much about finding a masterpiece, and just want to have some fun.

This Review is actually the script to this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O344625fo3Q

Check that out and subscribe to the channel if you want to see more reviews like it.