Normally covering two episodes together just means double the reviewing task. In this particular case, though, doing so has greater benefits, as some elements revealed in episode 8 are distinctly linked so some things revealed in episode 7. In other words, the series is finally showing at least greater conceptual connectivity, if not actual plot.
Episode 7 starts with the revelation that Goddess once had a much greater multiversal role than just assigning reincarnations: she was once the Goddess of Erasure, an entity charged with eliminating gods who got problematically carried away with the development of their worlds and dumping their souls into a “sealing quasar.” And in one such incident a little dog get caught up in her business and fatally injured. Episode 8 then goes on to reveal that, since the pup was inadvertently taken out of the cycle of reincarnation by involvement with her, she arranged to have it reincarnated on the “blue of trials” – i.e., Earth. The very strong implication here is that the pup got reincarnated as our protagonist; in retrospect, even the dog’s expression in episode 7 is reminiscent of the protagonist, and it would certainly explain why he has a doglike tail and mannerisms at times. In other words, there may be a deeper reason why the Goddess is putting up with him and how he came to be under her administration. And does this mean that he’s an irregular because of his contact with her?
Her formerly being the Goddess of Erasure also explains why she is disliked by the other gods, and why they are reluctant to interfere with her even though she’s been demoted to merely being a reincarnation goddess. She’s essentially been given a crap job, too, since the commentary some established gods have with some new gods clarifies that her current position offers no advancement opportunities up the dimensional hierarchy and she’s essentially serving as a troubleshooter for cases where reincarnations can’t be handled by the automated system. It’s all an interesting, dramatic expansion on the multiverse-building for this series.
But there are also multiple reincarnations involved in these two episodes, too. While episode 7 maintains the pattern of two fully-animated vignettes per episode seen so far, it also throws a curve ball by just referencing two other cases. Episode 8 changes up the game again by just focusing on a single reincarnation and continuing to tell the story of that setting after the protagonist leaves it.
| Episode | Reincarnation | Animation Style | Production |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | Torch on a dungeon wall | Minecraft, mostly, with a taste of Mortal Kombat | Kenichi Higaki, Tichila Junklin |
| 7 | The pillowcase at an inn where the isekai heroine stays | same | same |
| 7 | Sea King’s trident | not animated | — |
| 7 | Hero’s shoelace | not animated | — |
| 8 | Heroine’s curry plate | traditional, mostly | Kaniza |
Of the two animators featured this time, Higaki has some history as a 3D CG specialist on fare ranging from early CG-using titles like Vandread and Last Exile to Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders and KamiKatsu, while Junklin is a 3D artist who has some prior experience in animation but is making her first foray into anime with this project. They animated both parts of episode 7 because I believe both were set in the same world, and in both cases they combined Minecraft-like blocky animation with more video game-like characters, sometimes even in the same shot:
Kaniza, who is responsible for episode 8’s segments, is a Japanese animator most known for various short animations. She appears to also be making her anime debut with this effort, using a much more conventional style with a distinctive but not especially odd shading aesthetic:
In addition to the “what happens after” part of the story, episode 8’s scenario also distinguishes itself for being the rare case where the protagonist’s participation doesn’t lead to massive upheaval; in fact, it’s actually fairly sweet tale about the Hero and Demon Lord moving forwards after their epic confrontation and a later loss of a friend by the Hero. Was this just a fluke, though, or will it be a trend?
USA Anime 