This show has an identity crisis (which is an affliction that more and more anime suffer from). It wants to be it all. An action show - ends up with boring action. A harem show - ends up with little “romance”. An adventure show - ends up with absolutely no stakes. A slice of life… ok, that part is done the best, but it’s still not very good. I would call it passable. And even sprinkles a tiny bit of iyashikei on top. All that under an OP MC eff me sideways isekai.
The premise was interesting. An office worker, named Ryouta Satou, dies of overworking. After death he is sent to another world. Fantasy world that looks a lot like medieval Europe with magic, game logic and system, because writers now are too lazy to come up with something more original. In this world he is stuck at lvl 1. It could imply that he would be in a world of shit and would have to find other ways of dealing with challenges than brute forcing them. But… as the title gives it away, that is not the case. Instead of a thoughtful, methodical and intelligent MC we get a classical “I’m OP AF” writing. He is weak but that lasts for about 2,5 episodes, after that it’s “the world bends over backwards for me” writing.
Despite that, there is one thing I actually liked about world building. Ryouta actually acknowledges the absurdity of a world with such strange and specific rules and even takes advantage of them. I wouldn’t call him intelligent in a way that Light Yagami is intelligent, but he is smart enough to experiment anytime a new information or item comes his way. Even if a lot of the time he’s just stating the obvious conclusions.
Now let’s talk about the main cast.
Ryouta Satou - our resident MC. He died of overwork… Seriously, what the hell?” Did I miss a memo about karoshi taking truck-kin’s job in sending people to different worlds?I mean, it’s not a bad change but it has become cliche rather quickly. He appeared in the new world in a rather original way - as an item drop. He’s not really anything special as far as MCs goes. He’s kind, ignorant of his new surroundings, always willing to help others even if it’s just pro publico bono. Despite being lvl 1 he has a very special skill that makes it that item drops from enemies are always the highest quality. He even gets drops from creatures that are believed to not give them. Thanks to that he quickly acquires money and even an overpowered revolver that looks similar to Smith & Wesson Model 686 kal. 357Mag. A unique weapon that has even more unique ammunition. With them he’s able to defeat enemies that in normal circumstances would require a full party or even a regiment.
Emily Brown - a young (age unknown) woman who got Ryouta as an item drop after killing a slime. She’s basically honey for the heart (a polish proverb) of the show. Almost every scene with her, outside of combat, has a strong relaxing almost soothing vibe to it. She’s very motherly to most people, but it’s obvious she cares for Ryouta a lot and is very wife-like towards him. Her dream was to have her own house and thanks to our MC she got it. In combat she uses a giant hammer to support our MC. She’s a very skilled cook and admires Ryouta for his heroic tendencies. Her tragic backstory is losing her mother who, like Ryouta, had a tendency to help others. After receiving a home from him, she’s the one who proposes that they live together.
Before I go onto the rest of the main coterie I would like to make a comment about those two. I actually like their relationship. They talk openly about their feelings and expectations, at least in the beginning of the series, as time goes by they stop doing that. Despite that they are what I would call an almost healthy functioning relationship. I would really like it if their relationship status was properly stated and not left in the air. They act like a married couple more than once and yet, based on how his “harem” is growing, it seems they are not an official couple. A wasted potential if You ask me. Another thing I don’t like about it is that Emily always goes with whatever Ryouta says. I would prefer to see them argue, present their arguments in an adult fashion and have Ryouta's idea rejected.
Eve Callusleader - a walking terminator and carrot addict in the form of a playboy bunny. At first it appears that she’s more interested in carrots that Ryouta can provide her than anything else but despite that she’s more than willing to help out when he needs it. I think she’s supposed to be comic relief but she ends up as the most annoying and unnecessary character in the show. Her “tragic” backstory is that some people told her to eat carrots when she was exclusively a carnivore and that her “friend” from another world disappeared in front of her eyes. It’s… dumb. She knew him only for a couple of minutes, an hour at max probably. She fights unarmed and her special attack, which she uses a lot, is named “Excalibur” and is said to be the one of the more powerful ones.
Celeste - a skilled pyromancer. Despite her prowles she is able to use only one spell and is prone to exhaustion after using it just a few times. A little like Megumin from Konosuba. Her tragic backstory is that she’s been used and abused because of her spell and inability to use other spells. She has high stats in intelligence and willpower (do shit, she’s a mage) and is very proficient in gathering intel. She’s similar to the “old” Ryouta in the fact that she was working herself to the bone. That forced Ryouta to help her out and started their relationship. She develops a crush for Ruouta and is more than happy to join his coterie.
There is one more person in his coterie at the end of the series - Alice Wonderland (subtle). Unfortunately she is introduced so late in the game that apart from the fact she has lvl 2 limit and is able to create something like a familiar from specific enemies there is no info about her.
Because of its slice of life vibes the show doesn’t really have an overarching plot or even a main goal the MC strives for. It’s just the daily grind for Ryouta and the ever growing gang. It starts slow with almost logical progression. A newbie starts with killing small fries to get by. It has a nice flow to it. Unfortunately the show really quickly evolves into plot armour bullshit. By the halfway mark Ryouta is an established hero of the town and the world just bends over backwards for him. He can do no wrong and he always gets the best possible result even if it makes no logical sense. The greatest bullshit is with the final boss of the series. I’m not going to spoil the fight but the only reason he won is plot bullshit and lazy writing. It actually really pissed me off because it’s a really shitty ending for the season. That boss with her powers could have been the ultimate test for our heroes. Instead we got… whatever that shit was.
Unfortunately the show uses some cheap tricks to make You care for the cast. The main being using retrospection where the characters are alone adding some slow music to it and some sad monologue. It’s so obvious it’s almost funny. What’s not funny is the fact that it’s repeated for almost all of the members of the coterie to the point where when a new member is introduced I just waited for some sad retrospective shot.
At the end of the day I have seen much worse shows with much worse both premise and execution. This one is just forgettable. It has its moments, especially between Ryouta and Emili in the beginning, but it tries and fails to do too much to ever become anything more than just another OP MC isekai.
