I'm not going to start this review with some pretentious quote to try and look smart.
So the anime is about gathering 80 000 gold coins for retirement. Although I'd say it could be more appropriately named "Tax Evasion in Another World," it brings something we've never seen before to the table.
Ultimately, the concept feels fresh and quite funny. It follows a very simple writing flowchart of giving the main character a goal and damn right she's going to achieve it. After the rather underwhelming 1st episode, I genuinely had fun watching her endeavours in the 2nd and 3rd one. Too bad that it's bedridden with plot holes or lack of knowledge on historic facts. Namely on the topic of crop cycles (ancient practice on Earth), presence of synthetic materials in the goods she sells, conflicting fashion styles with time periods and so on. Pacing is also painfully bad, quite unfortunate really.
On the topic of characters: Your opinion on Mitsuha is going to make or break the show to you. If you find her fun to watch, you'll feel right at home. If you find her annoying or deplorable, you'll feel annoyed. A big issue arises when you consider the fact she's kind of difficult to cheer for due to how manipulative she gets. Besides her, there are no notable characters, mostly pretty basic side characters that just...exist.
Conversations and dialogue generally feel clunky or inhuman. Arguably one of the bigger issues. Check how oddly dialogue is delivered in episode 2 (interaction with Wolf Fang) and 3 (Count dinner conversations). Mitsuha's inner monologue is also just...weird. Like, they're trying to use her dead brother as an infodump device, but it's also how she genuinely thinks inside her head? The show tries taking on a comedic tone and it's not the worst but absolutely nothing to write home about.
On the topic of production, I'd like to note that this is by no means anything close to a big budget anime. In fact, this is barely the studio's 5th anime and barely the 3rd one without co-production. Looking at it that way, the visuals are mostly fine, but often very lacking. Backgrounds especially often feel very wonky (take the wolf chasing scene in episode 1 for example) or that teleportation scene on her bed.
Sound design is fine. No big names in the VA list from the main cast except for Kaori Maeda who also got to sing the OP and Fukuyama Jun. None of them do a bad job and I have to admit that the background music slaps pretty hard. Unfortunately, no insane stand-out performances.
Conclusion: The show is depressingly average. It brings a fresh concept to the table executed poorly, plagued by terrible pacing and filled with unnecessary tropes. It can be a fun watch at times but nothing to write home about. If you're in it for pretty fight scenes or art shots, stay far away from this.
