Reviews

Sep 23, 2023
Out of all of the reincarnated-as-an-unusual-thing-in-a-generic-fantasy-RPG-inspired-setting isekai series, this is certainly one of them. I had high hopes for this to either be a wacky parody or an unusual approach to the typical setup, but unfortunately the show plays its premise completely straight and has no creative way of telling it. The guy is a vending machine that's also an adventurer for the guild that helps with clearing out monsters in the labyrinth. I'm very sad to report that somehow it isn't anywhere near as fun or funny as that description would imply.

It has every flaw you'd expect from a generic isekai - the supporting characters are one-note, the main character is extraordinary through no personal effort and is easily capable of handling most problems out-of-the-box, there isn't really any serious main plot to get invested into, the setting is almost completely unexplored, the show has fairly cheap and uninspired animation, etc.

The most annoying problem is that all of the interesting issues you might run into if you were suddenly a sentient semi-magical vending machine are handwaved away as soon as they are brought up. Vending machines can't move around, but wouldn't you know it, there's a cute girl with superstrength that just loves to carry him around. He needs to sell things or he dies, but everyone loves what he has in stock and he's always in a populated area where everyone is wealthy enough to buy what he's selling, so it's never a real problem. He can't defend himself, but he can just buy the ability to create an impenetrable barrier strong enough that major monsters can't touch him. He can't talk to people outside of a couple canned phrases, but people just phrase everything as yes/no questions and interpret specific canned responses to mean yes or no.

A braver and much more interesting show would, for instance, make it so that there are no humans to interact with. Or make it so that he can only roll around on slow treads on flat surfaces. Things that make it so that the protagonist has actual problems that need clever solutions or hard work. I mean, this vending machine can single-handedly defeat boss monsters - clearly being a vending machine is not an obstacle in this story.

One mildly interesting point of the show is that the main character can become any kind of vending machine, so sometimes we get a quick history lesson on strange vending machines in Japan. Fun trivia aside, these new vending machines can be frustrating from a story telling perspective because of the communication problem. Since the MC can't talk to people to explain or coordinate his plans, most fights end up exclusive relying on some cool thing he can do. Occasionally, the other characters get to play and win the world's hardest game of charades to figure out how they fit in. And they ALWAYS figure it out without completely misunderstanding what's going on and entertain us by catastrophically ruining the plan.

A much better show in this oddly-specific niche would be "So I'm a Spider, So What?", which actually plays around with the ideas of living in a world that's oddly like a video game and the complex limitations associated with being non-human. And of course, if you just want an isekai, there are many others that are more unique, or have better production values, or have more interesting characters or settings (Re:Zero, Mushoku Tensei, Ascendence of a Bookworm, to name a few).

This isn't to say the show is horrible, just that there's nothing remarkable here, and the unremarkable parts are done much better elsewhere. The reason you're probably considering this one is because of the vending machine gimmick, and that's just not executed very well. If you've already watched every other isekai rated 7 or higher and need something new, this might just work out. For most others, you can give this one a pass.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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