Episode Rating: B-
Season Rating: B
Both subjectively and objectively speaking, this is not one of the season’s top-tier series, especially given the level of competition it had. (The Summer 2025 season is widely being regarded as one of the stronger recent seasons, an assertion that I am ambivalent about.) Even at its best, its technical merits never rise above mediocre, and designing exciting action sequences is not its forté; the confrontation between the twins and the Demon Lord in this episode has at least some sense of motion, so it’s not a bottomfeeder scene, but it also doesn’t achieve much on dramatic flair, despite the efforts of the musical score. The series does a bit better on dramatic visuals, but it also shows inconsistencies here; body proportions felt off in a handful of scenes in this episode, particularly in the crowd shots of the dark elves. And while I do find criticisms of the series’ pacing to be overstated, it isn’t without problems on this front; this last episode felt a bit rushed in how it resolved things, which, ironically, is at odds with the too-slow pacing the series is sometimes accused of having. Despite some improvement in this final episode, the series has also never overcome its protagonist being one of the series’ least interesting named characters.
However, no other series I saw in the Summer 2025 season was as conceptually innovative as this one, and that holds especially true for this final episode. Ever since the notion that competing game systems – and thus competing game mechanics – could be afoot in this setting, there’s been an implication that the battle between the Saint and the Witch in the north represented yet another game system option, and here’s it’s firmly revealed to be a TTRPG. It shows off two balance-breaking gimmicks which would be troublesome for other game systems: the “auto-success” that is the critical hit/success (though it usually doesn’t involve rolling a 100-sided die, as shown here) and the ability to tweak characters before retrying failed scenarios which result in a character’s death. (Who that’s played TTRPGs for a long time hasn’t brought back a beloved character as a slightly-tweaked twin of the original?) 19 attempts to get a success is pretty damn diligent for that format, though!
But while that twist was expected, the intercession of the young man in the twins’ fight against the Demon Lord wasn’t. He looks deliberately designed to be the stereotypical OP isekai protagonist, down even (in a savage bit of satire) to having a loyal slave girl waiting for him. Is he intended to represent yet another game system – visual novels or “choose your own adventure” stories, perhaps? – or is this poking another element into the setting? Given that he’s being directed by “God,” it’s most likely the former, but either way this doesn’t seem like a random homage just being tossed in.
And then there’s the matter of said Gods. Last episode was the first one which implied that individuals exist who might be actively manipulating this setting, and now we suddenly have multiple instances of it. The Demon Lord made a deal with some entity, the isekai boy did as well, and the Witch was being guided by a “Game Master” (who might as well be called a god in this situation). Someone’s acting behind Mynoghra, too. Is this all the same individual just trying to stir things up to keep things interesting (a la So I’m a Spider, So What?) or is this setting a battlefield for various comparative godlike individuals? And does the fact that Takuto is personally present, rather than directing things from out of sight, shake up the balance of whatever’s going on? He certainly discovers that he’s personally quite strong in the midst of all of this.
I also appreciate that the story doesn’t overlook that Takuto’s behavior had been sliding in a negative direction. That the twins were going to come to their senses because of what Isla previously told them was a given, but not so much with the way Takuto was shifting away from the “work with everyone” attitude to a more authoritarian one as events partly went south. As much as I might complain about how Takuto doesn’t have enough personality, turning him into a tyrant is not the answer, and thankfully, the writing backs off on that. The scene of the twins consoling him for him being mortified about his behavior just feels right. Do have to wonder what him being engulfed by the black aura in the last shot means, though; this series has always been particular about the viewpoint of Takuto and whether or not he’s shown with that aura, so it’s likely significant.
Sadly, all of these interesting developments and revelations come in the season finale. It definitely leaves plenty of fodder for further storytelling, but will this series get more? It is a solidly mid-tier title on popularity on both Crunchyroll and MAL, but how it’s doing in Japan is what really matters and that’s not clear. A second season wasn’t announced immediately, though, so we’ll have to wait and see if it gets more animation or not. I dearly hope it does because this one showed of plenty enough interesting ideas to justify its existence.
USA Anime 