Winter 2023 Wrap-Up

I had hoped to get a couple more full-series reviews in before the Spring ’23 season hits in earnest, but it looks like I’m going to run short on time for that. Thus, I will instead provide thoughts and ratings on a number of series that I either have or am following through to conclusion.

NOTE: Series which cut off mid-season due to delays are not covered here, and series which have been reviewed in previous posts are only mentioned here if the remaining episodes added something noteworthy.

Featured Title: The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Lady

Of all the isekai titles this season, this one involved its actual isekai element the least. Instead, it is more purely a fantasy story about two young ladies who save each other and make each other stronger, and in so doing start their country on a path to a bright future. In stepping far away from the norm for reincarnation titles and power fantasies in general, and keeping its focus more purely on the characters than on their abilities, the series forges one of the season’s brightest stars. Of all the new titles which debuted this season, this is the one which most defines the season and is most likely to be remembered in the long haul. And no, the fact that I’m a yuri fan in general has little to nothing to do with this. No, really.

And that’s an important point to understand, because while this series has a distinct yuri vibe throughout, it doesn’t remain just a tease on that front. Titular characters Anisphilia (the blonde above, who’s the reincarnated princess) and Euphyllia (the pale-haired girl above) do wind up as a convincing and legitimate yuri couple, and the final episode strongly confirms that. Watching that gradually develop over the course of 12 episodes – including an eventual switch in who takes the lead in the relationship – is a delight, especially in the understated but still clear way it happens up until the last episode.

The series has far more going for it than that, however. Anisphilia, as a rambunctious, sharp-witted inventor who declines her place in succession so she can focus on developing the revolutionary study of “magicology,” is an immediately-likable personality, and Euphyllia can gradually grow on viewers as a young woman cast adrift when everything she prepared for in her life to that point got suddenly upended. The way Anis, in recruiting her as her assistant, opens a new path for Euphie, is just the first part in a strong character development track which shows that Anis, despite all her cheery bluster, is far more nuanced in her motivations than is readily apparent and that Euphie, once she gets her bearings on her new path, is a force to be reckoned with herself. A strong and effectively-used supporting cast also helps, especially including a prince with far more complex motivations and a love-hate relationship with his sister than what might normally be expected from a villain. Add in some sharp action sequences and magical displays, generally high technical merits, and some of the season’s prettiest character designs and artistry and you have a series that is a winner on both storytelling and technical fronts.

Overall Rating: A

Other Titles

The Tale of Outcasts

This one still has its finale to go as I write this, but this story of an orphan girl who gives up her sight to form a contract with a leonoid demon bored with his immortality has proven to be every bit as endearing a tale as it looked to be from the first episode. What makes this work is that the benefits clearly go both ways: orphan Wisteria gains a caretaker and companion, while the demon Marbus finds a surprising (to him) degree of fulfillment in making a close connection to a human. Wisteria doesn’t turn out to be a doll who just needs to be protected, either; she shows a strong will, one which can contractually enable Marbus to manifest his greater powers when the need arises. Throughout the series, the two encounter both demon hunters and other demons who have made similar, mutually-beneficial pacts with humans, and some of the most interesting aspects of the series are how those relationships compare and contrast to that of Wisteria and Marbus. Technical merits and action choreography aren’t great, but solid character designs and interesting personal stories carry this one.

Final Rating: B- (assuming the last episode doesn’t bomb)

Handyman Saitou in Another World

A handyman who feels unneeded in modern Japan finds that he can be quite useful in a fantasy world which uses RPG-style classes and levels but doesn’t otherwise seem to use numerical game mechanics. This forms the basis for one of the best of this season’s big crop of isekai titles. The tone for this one can be all over the place: it starts out with a few episodes of light-hearted vignettes before suddenly turning very serious in the middle episodes as a plot involving a ninja assassin and a witch lover come to fruition, then spends the rest of the season alternating between light-hearted and more serious content after that. Still, I cannot criticize the series too much for this, as it works overall. Great character designs accompany higher-end technical merits, but what really makes the series work is how Saitou gradually develops his place in the new world and becomes an indispensable member of a party consisting of a female heavy warrior, a doddering but powerful magician, and a fairy cleric. His budding relationship with warrior Realza is also quite sweet. Despite the more serious elements, this is a fun view all around.

Final Rating: B+

In/Spectre 2

Neither the first season nor, initially, this one was ever a priority view for me, but over the course of this season the series gradually grew on me until I was actually starting to anticipate the next episode near the end. With no overall plot, this season is just a collection of short stories involving Kotoko and Kuro getting involved in one yokai-related case or another. Though the series looks pretty good and features a varied array of interestingly different mystery cases, the real key to the series’ success is Kotoko herself. Though flippant enough to throw out random sexual references that make everyone uncomfortable and frequently encouraging reluctant boyfriend Kuro to be more “hands-on,” she takes both her role as the Goddess of Wisdom for the yokai and her responsibility to maintain order between humans and yokai very seriously, to the point of being utterly ruthless in how she uses a mix of truth, lies, and information control to manipulate humans and yokai alike in pursuit of her ends, and she’ll do it all with a cute smile on her face. She’s a delight to watch in action, and it’s no wonder that Kuro seems to have resigned himself to being her boyfriend. Overall, a more solid season than the first.

Final Rating: B

The Eminence in Shadow

This may have finished a few weeks early, but it’s still a strong continuation of a series that I, in retrospect, may have underrated in my earlier review of its first cour. The way Cid’s goals interact with, and fundamentally differ from, those of both his Shadow Garden and other key characters provides a consistently entertaining contrast, including how everyone completely misunderstands his goals and put their own interpretations on them – and even if they did understand Cid’s goals accurately, they probably would not understand why those are Cid’s goals. In essence, the whole story is what happens when a farce gets taken seriously, and the production team does a great job of nailing the cheesy theatrics which complement it. (And let’s not forget the series’ quirky sense of humor, too.) This one has so much latent potential in both its main and backstory that I would eagerly welcome several more seasons and spinoffs exploring major Shadow Garden characters more.

Overall Rating: A-

Bofuri 2

Still two more (delayed) episodes to go as I write this, but this season can essentially be summed up in four words: more of the same. More fun delighting at Maple finding bonkers ways to unwittingly break the game, more fun with the expanded cast, and the end-of-episode social media stream is back, too. Nothing terribly exciting going on here, but it’s still clean, light-hearted fun which looks good and promotes the best spirit of online gaming in the process.

Rating: B

Kaina of the Great Snow Sea

This one has a movie coming later this year to cover the final stage of the story, but at least it got to an acceptable (if somewhat rushed-feeling) break point in ending the season on episode 11. The star here continues to be the sense of world-building for this all-CG production, as most characters are likable but not especially memorable. While it does have some good action, none of that stands out much, either. It does just well enough through to its end that those who stuck it out should be plenty invested in seeing the rest, but on the whole it is not a very memorable series (and not because of the CG).

Rating to Date: C+

The Iceblood Sorcerer Shall Rule The World

Despite feeling heavily like an isekai power fantasy and greatly resembling concurrent school-based fantasy series like Reborn to Master the Blade and The Reincarnation of the Strongest Exorcist in Another World, Iceblood actually isn’t isekai; it’s a straight fantasy in the “powerful but young individual tries to get an incognito school life” vein. It does have a few somewhat neat ideas – like the running joke about muscles, the coding-style magic structure, and that protagonist Ray can actually sweet-talk female characters – but it winds up paralleling Strongest Exorcist in particular too much and ultimately does nowhere near enough to distinguish itself in a crowded field. Some of the season’s weakest technical merits don’t help. Not unwatchable, but definitely not memorable, either.

Rating: C

Farming Life in Another World

I covered the first 10 episodes of this series here, but the final two episodes deserve some follow-up. While they maintain the overall series’ trick of successfully melding fantasy elements with bucolic content, they also feature a rare development for a harem series: a child is born! (Actually, in an even rarer feat, this was the second series this season where the male lead sired a child within the series.) In an added neat touch, the series even works in some relevant bits of world-building lore into the fact that the pregnancy is even happening, too. The last two episodes make for a strong finish to a surprisingly worthy series.

Overall Rating: B+

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel: Northern Wars

Initially, this looked like it might be a standalone series, but as it progressed into its middle and later episodes, it became clearer and clearer that it is meant entirely for established fans of the video game franchise. It just has too many franchise cameos to ignore, and too many places where scenes won’t make full sense without some context about the characters involved from the games. Friends of mine who are deeply-invested in the game side of the franchise were left a bit disappointed that the series did not ultimately provide much additional insight to the game storylines despite all the cameos, and the technical merits may have even beat Iceblood Sorcerer out for being the season’s weakest. There’s nowhere near enough story, design, or character merit here to recommend this series to anyone not steeped in the games, and even then it’s not a must-watch.

Rating: C-

Giant Beasts of Ars

This series about an artificially-created young Cleric who teams up with a cynical paladin to fight giant beasts running even more amuck than normal got off to a good start with strong visual design elements (especially the design of lead girl Kumi), good animation, some interesting world-building elements, and very likable co-protagonists, but despite a firm foundation, the series never achieved anything special. Storylines and character developments are just too routine and the writing does an underwhelming job in getting the audience to care about many of the sides characters. It’s still not a bad series, and has enough world-building threads and unanswered questions that I will almost certainly watch another season if it’s made (and that ending. . . yeesh), but this is the season’s biggest under-performer.

Overall Rating: B-

Chillin’ in My 30s After Getting Fired From The Demon King’s Army

Dariel, a logistic expert for the Demon King Army, is released from service during a changing of leadership because, unlike all other demons, he cannot use magic. He eventually discovers that’s because he’s actually a human, not a demon (inherent magic use, rather than physical appearance, is a major distinguishing trait between humans and demons in this world) and winds up living in a human village, discovering his true power through his human heritage, and marrying the mayor’s daughter. He has a kid, takes on major authority, and winds up mediating between humans and demons in this somewhat unusually-constructed fantasy series. The series gets points for not piddling around on him getting to family-building and does make at least some effort to aim for bigger character development strokes, but the resolution of too many incidents happens too easily and conveniently to be full credible. Not a bad series, but with such a crowded field this season, it’s not good enough or distinctive enough to stand out much.

Rating: C+

Ningen Fushin: Adventurers Who Don’t Believe in Humanity Will Save the World (series review)

What do you get when you form an adventuring party out of rejects and cast-offs from other adventuring parties? You get the Survivors, a bunch whose members all developed bad habits after having been betrayed and/or screwed over, hence resulting in them having deep distrust of humanity (or humanoids in general, if you prefer, since one of the members isn’t human) and, at least initially, each other. But they manage to find common ground in their misery and work towards some common goals, a process that a narrator regularly reminds viewers will eventually, way down the road, lead to them saving the world.

If this sounds like your typical story about a bunch of misfits coming together to accomplish something great, is isn’t, and that’s what makes this series interesting despite a number of potential knocks against it. All four of the main members (the two on the left become involved later) are jaded to varying degrees, and with good reason: leader/swordsman Nick was played for a patsy in love; mage Tiana lost her noble house and status to the machinations of a fiance jealous of her magical talent and accomplishments; dragonoid warrior Curran (Karan in some sources) was used as monster bait by her former party, who deliberately abandoned her as they took off with both the treasure and an item precious to Karan; and human priest Zem (in easily the most controversial case) was falsely accused of improper behavior when he wouldn’t reciprocate the feelings of a girl who had a crush on him. Because of this, trust issues are a major part of the group dynamic, to the point of being the focus of the early episodes. Though each is capable enough in his/her own specialty, they have to learn the hard way to coordinate and believe that they can rely on their fellow party members. I have rarely seen a fantasy RPG-styled series emphasize this point as heavily as this one does.

The storytelling alternates between group and individual stories, which is facilitated by a rule the Survivors establish early on: no interfering in each other’s personal lives. This is important, since three of the four have developed vices which have left them in poor financial situations: Nick has become an idol otaku, Tiana is a gambling addict, and Zem frequents hostess clubs. Individual stories explore these elements and how that character philosophizes about them, and those vices sometimes come into play in group stories as well. Along the way. the Survivors pick up the boy Kizuna (whose true nature is rather spoilerish) as a fifth regular who becomes a counterpoint to the more cynical attitudes of the others. Cases they deal with as a team vary from dungeon adventures to a showdown with another adventuring party to a casino caper to a trip into the slums in search of a kidnapper, though each has a bit of a peculiar flavor.

That’s the other thing which sets this series apart a bit: it has a rather weird sense of world-building. Some of the elements – Adventurer’s Guild, dungeons to explore, and so forth – are totally RPG fantasy-standard, albeit sometimes with with nonstandard twists: for instance, and one of the races Tiana bets on at one point features underwater mounts with flags sticking up out of the water to track them. But the setting also throws in random features, like modern umbrellas, casinos, idol concerts, host/hostess clubs, and tabloids, which feel anachronistic. Unquestionably the weirdest element is a whole episode devoted to a “Mathematics Bare-Knuckle Brawl,” which is pitched as the obvious way to settle a dispute not-fatally between bloodthirsty adventurers and yes, involves doing math problems to earn a strike against the opponent. This winds up feeling lazy, like the original light novel author Shinta Fuji just threw things into the setting that he liked/was interested in rather than making any coherent attempt at a world-building theme, but it isn’t a deal-breaking distraction.

The shakiest aspect of the series is its technical merits. This is far from the best-looking series of the season, with mediocre, undistinctive character designs (except for the very tall Curran) and unsteady quality control. Action scenes are typically quite limited, too, although the series does occasionally manage sharper sequence, especially some of Nick’s more nimble moves. The series partly makes up for this with little details, like the former adventurer who gets around on a crutch or a lack of party coordination which results in Tiana accidentally very narrowly missing Curran with a spell. Musical score is serviceable but not especially memorable.

An English dub is available for the series through episode 9 as I write this. Major roles seem solid, with Brittney Karbowski being particularly fitting as Curran. (She’s the first English VA I thought of when casting the role in my head.) While some of the minor supporting roles are distinctly weaker, the dub is serviceable overall.

On the whole, Ningen Fushin is a series which marches to its own beat without straying too far from genre staples (including a final episode which is introspective rather than climactic). It’s just enough of a departure from typical fantasy RPG fare to not feel totally generic and be worth a look.

Rating: B-

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? IV episode 22 (season finale)

Rating: B+

Between last episode and this one, I saw some commentary in some online forums lamenting that Bell was once again be the hero and solo the Juggernaut. Even if I didn’t already know what was going to happen (from reading the novels), I still think I would have soundly refuted that complaint. For better or worse, DanMachi has always been very conventional – even fairly predictable – in its story flow, thematic use, and character development approach, and the end of its fourth season is no different. All of those factors pointed towards Ryu having a major – if not leading – role in the final confrontation against the Juggernaut, and that’s exactly how things played out.

Though Bell is the overall hero and protagonist of the franchise, Ryu has actually been the primary viewpoint character of the Bell/Ryu side of the season ever since her flashbacks began back in episode 14. It’s been her head we’ve been in during that time, not Bell’s, and it’s been her feelings and her trip down memory lane which have guided and framed the story. Much like Bell back in episode 8 of the first season, she has a seemingly-implacable foe that she must face down to be able to advance, and she must in her mind atone for her perceived failure five years ago. Perhaps most importantly in a thematic sense, her justice – her desire to put smiles on the faces of others – would not be complete without facing down such a terror as the Juggernaut and living on as her familia sisters wished.

And that’s the most important take-away from this conclusion to the story: that Alise was right back on that fateful day when the Juggernaut nearly obliterated Astrea Familia. Even if she didn’t necessarily believe it herself, Ryu’s justice was the purest of all of Astrea Familia. Alise recognized it, and so did their patron, Astrea, who understood better than Ryu did that stopping Ryu from seeking vengeance would have destroyed that purity more assuredly than carrying it out did. Ryu’s justice became bloody and ugly – hardly the elegance she sought before – but it did wipe out a lingering scourge on Orario, and the city was better for it. For the last five years, Ryu has been mostly hiding from that truth that she didn’t abandon her justice at all, and now things have come back full circle. The Juggernaut is her nemesis to defeat, and this time Bell is the one only playing a supporting role.

Major fights have always been creative, vibrant affairs in DanMachi, and this one does not disappoint on that front. It employs some of the season’s sharpest fight animation (which is saying something) in depicting how Ryu and Bell almost instinctively play off each other to defeat Juggernaut. In the process, Ryu manifests a new aspect to Luminous Wind, her signature spell. It’s always been portrayed as dozens of balls of wind energy, and she’s always before fired them all at once, but here she shows that she doesn’t have to. She holds ten back – one for each of her dead sisters! – in reserve in anticipation of Juggernaut’s dodge, and then calls the names of all her familia sisters as she uses them both for attack and for propulsion. (That she imagines them visually manifesting as her familia sisters is a neat touch that the anime adaptation adds, and if that is really just her conceit, who cares?) The name she calls as she releases the final, killing blow – Luvia, which is also the episode title – is also significant here, as that name means “a girl who is deeply loved.” Perhaps that is meant to signify her acceptance of her familia’s feelings and wishes for her?

As expected, the rescue party arrives right after the fight – for no heroes who accomplish such a feat can narratively be allowed to be eaten by normal Dungeon denizens after that – and a wrap-up which takes up the second half of the episode. The scene with Ryu accidentally flashing Bell maybe wasn’t strictly necessary, but this is DanMachi, and the only real fan service otherwise this season could not really be taken as sexy under the circumstances, so something like that was bound to happen. (And it’s an exact recreation of the original novel scene.) Seeing Ryu look so elegant in such a simple dress in the finishing scene was a real treat, and that smile she gives Bell before freaking out over her feelings sums up beautifully how much more she is at ease now; she even gets an assist from her adventuring persona being now officially regarded as dead, but dying as a hero rather than a blacklisted criminal.

Despite providing an excellent fight and a solid narrative wrap to the season, I couldn’t help but find the episode falling a little short of the episodes leading up to it. The music, while good, just did not quite have the crisp edge that it has throughout this season, and perhaps that contributed to the sense of energy and drama not being as high. Still, episode 22 provides a good wrap to the season and an ideal stopping point. Now the wait begins to see if the next arc – which shifts the focus to Syr and the mysteries behind her – will be animated.

Has The Angel Next Door Spoiled You Rotten?

Review: The Angel Next Door Has Spoiled Me Rotten eps 1-10

I would absolutely forgive anyone for dismissing this one as just another generic romcom about an ordinary guy who somehow gets the interest of the school’s Perfect Girl. Indeed, its early episodes, while still having some entertainment value, don’t leave much more of an impression than that. However, amidst all of its cliches, cutesiness, and male wish fulfillment is a slow, steady, and surprisingly endearing romantic build-up which can gradually whittle away at any resistances one might have.

It helps some if the series is classified properly. While the overall tone is light, this is more a pure romance story than a true romcom. The premise is a simple one for the genre: male high school student Amane is a nondescript, somewhat insecure young man who just happens to live alone in an apartment next door to his school’s Angel, Mahiru, who is also living alone. This is not something he reveals to anyone, and indeed, they barely interact at all until one rainy day when he finds her, morose and umbrella-less, in a playground near their apartment building. A simple “I lend you my umbrella and get sick from it, so you return the favor by helping me through my sickness” exchange later and the course is set for Mahiru to take it upon herself to go all domestic on Amane. She helps clean up his place, starts cooking dinner for him on a regular basis, and even becomes a regular in his apartment in her at-home clothing. Later on, they go on what essentially amounts to a date, too, even though neither (especially Amane!) is willing to openly admit that they’re more than friends. Throughout the process, only a handful of closest friends ever know about their relationship, and those who do proclaim that Amane and Mahiru practically act like a married couple. In other words, the plot (such as it is) is a very straightforward teen romantic path.

Although this is all absolutely male wish fulfillment, the series does take pains to establish more credibility than normal and work on carefully building the foundations for a deeper relationship. Amane lives alone partly because his mother would be a handful for anyone to deal with and partly because he felt a need to switch schools because of some things which happened at his middle school. (These aren’t big, dark, scarring events, but how they could shake his confidence in himself and encourage him to seek a change of venue is readily understandable.) He does have a close friend – or two, if the friend’s gregarious girlfriend is counted as well – but he’s developed somewhat of an inferiority complex and certainly think that Mahiru is above his level. Mahiru, meanwhile, drops hints early on that she’s living alone because of a wholly unpleasant family situation, and when the truth of that eventually comes out, why she would be looking for an excuse to make more than just a superficial connection with someone else is also easy to understand. Towards her, Amane is polite, comforting, and above all, respectful of boundaries. She doesn’t have to put up a “perfect girl” front around him (she can be rather pouty and a bit sharp-tongued) and can trust Amane to behave himself. Mahiru may be benefiting from just being a convenient outlet for Mahiru’s apparent wish to have a more interactive home life, but he’s also being very careful not to screw it up.

The one limitation here is that the story is told almost exclusively from Amane’s point of view. We never get to hear what’s going on inside Mahiru’ head, hence leaving viewers to intuit her motives. However, once the revelations about her family situation come into the picture, the implication is that she may be trying to simulate a version of the home life she never had a chance to have. Of course, she also gives the impression that she’s just having fun coddling Amane, even as she scolds him about not being more confident in himself. Although she has, since beginning, been an equal proponent to Amane on the “we’re just friends” claim, her most recent behavior and verbal slips have started to suggest that her emotions have shifted to the point that she might not object if Amane did make a move. Amane’s lack of confidence may be the only barrier to them going the full boyfriend/girlfriend route in the season’s final episodes; certainly she wants to see him have more faith in himself.

One of the main draws of the series is Mahiru’s adorability, and the series wastes few opportunities to play that up. Whether it’s her character design, the way she pouts or gets angry, the way she hides behind a couch pillow, or the very domestic way she dresses and behaves outside of school, everything about her is a finely-calculated level of more mature cuteness. The original writer and production team seemed to be aware that this alone would not carry the series, so Amane’s friend Itsuki and Itsuki’s girlfriend Chitose quickly become cast regulars and, later, confidants, and their presence is quite welcome. They offer a much more expressive verve and energy to the proceedings, as well as providing a good contrast to Amane and Mahiru and an example of what a successful high school relationship would look like – something which, sadly, is far too rare in series like these. While they are not usually at the center of events, the series would not work as well without them.

The technical merits are not strong on this one beyond the character designs, but the musical score adds a nice, soft touch and the opener has a neat late ’70s vibe to it.

Overall, this series will not blow anyone away or emotionally overwhelm anyone, but it delivers well enough on its core sentiments and romantic developments to be a sweet and endearing view. It’s definitely worthy of more attention than it’s getting.

Rating: B

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? IV episode 21

Rating: B+

Original novel writer Fujino Omori is on record as wanting to have as many characters as possible fall for Bell, and he’s proven that statement to be at least half-serious; while some female characters have fixed romantic interest elsewhere (most notably Tiona, Mikoto, and Chigusa) and others are either neutral (Asfi), merely admirers (Tione), or otherwise have interest that isn’t specifically romantic (arguably Ais), Bell has quite the unofficial harem in his orbit already. After episode 21, you can all but officially add Ryu to that list, too. She might not be ready to admit it yet herself, but it’s as plain as day to the audience that she is falling for Bell.

As eye-rolling as this may seem, such turns don’t feel quite as gimmicky in this franchise as in many others. One of Omori’s strengths as a writer is the time and effort he devotes to establishing character feelings and motivations, and that has generally translated very effectively into anime form. Ryu’s growing sensitivity to Bell doesn’t come from nowhere; based on the way she was herself in her Astrea Familia days, she doubtless finds his purity of soul and intent appealing, and he has proven time and again that he’s not willing to give up on her even when she’s been willing to give up on herself. As he shows in this episode, he can simply and cleanly cut through her overwhelming survivor’s guilt with an innocent, reassuring reminder that this isn’t at all what Ryu’s familia would have wanted for her, and that she does have purpose in surviving. He’s also able to acknowledge her as a woman (something she apparently didn’t have much confidence about) while being considerate and non-threatening as possible. And, well, Bell has become pretty ripped in the last few months, too, so he’s got the manly stud factor going for him as well. It would be stranger if Ryu wasn’t falling for him by this point, no matter how much she might feel that betrays Syr.

I also have to give kudos to the production team here for not playing up the fan service angle here. Some was unavoidable, but emphasizing Ryu’s sex appeal too much would have been out of place in a mostly-serious scene that was aiming more for a feeling of warmth and security than prurient appeal. The little bit of humor that was worked in here – namely, Ryu’s uncertain assertion that she’d even hug a dwarf if necessary in a crisis – didn’t disrupt the mood at all and gives Ryu possibly my favorite expression for her to date.

But this is the penultimate episode, so the storytelling cannot dwell on Ryu’s building emotions too long. A bit more world-building precedes the long-expected return of the Juggernaut, who has been quite busy himself finding replacement body parts and going all chimera, hence adding extra dimensions to a creature who was already plenty deadly. Though this provides a fresh angle on the conflict, Ryu losing hope again as she goes unconscious near the end of the episode feels a little retread. But she does do everything she can to get Bell back on his feat before she passes out, giving him one more chance to play hero.

With only one episode left, will Bell defeat the hybrid Juggernaut before help arrives? And how will Ryu deal with feelings that she probably wished would go to the grave with her? Return next week for the big finale, which looks like it will safely round out novel 14.

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon IV episode 20

Rating: A-

The inevitable has arrived: the episode-opening flashbacks on Ryu’s past with Astrea Familia have finally led to the pivotal moment where the rest of her familia gets wiped out by a Juggernaut while trying to pin down Jura and his Evilus compatriots. And as expected, the perspectives of the only two survivors of that incident – Ryu and Jura – skew what actually happened.

When Ryu first brought the matter up back in episode 12 of season 1, she made it sound like her familia sisters had died in Rudra Familia’s trap. Jura’s conversation earlier this season clarified that this wasn’t the case, with the cameo by Fels a couple of episodes back explaining why Ryu earlier excluded the presence of Juggernaut in her explanation to Bell. (And it’s not like claiming that they died as a result of the trap was totally inaccurate, since the trap did summon Juggernaut.) The slaughter shown here in explicit detail makes this the most graphic single scene in the entire franchise – and keep in mind that this was done to a group of 11 young women who were all level 3 or 4 at the time. (Astrea Familia was at the top end of the middle tier in Orario’s power structure.)

More importantly, the whole incident shows that the last few surviving members of Astrea Familia – Lyra, Kaguya, and leader Alise – made a conscious choice to save Ryu at the expense of their lives. Part of their decision was clearly practical: Ryu was the least severely injured (and so the best able to escape), and the only one with the magic that could strike the Juggernaut down once its reflective scales were torn off. But some of it was emotional, too: Ryu was the youngest, and in Alise’s eyes in particular, the most pure in her beliefs about justice. If Alise was the familia’s heart, Ryu was the familia’s soul. Ryu never understood that, and her inability to strike down Juggernaut leading to their sacrifice only saving her only compounded the guilt she felt over it. Who wouldn’t be deeply traumatized by something like that?

Most of what transpires in the following scenes, where Ryu systematically goes about destroying Rudra Familia, has been described before in the series, with the added details that she briefly encountered Rudra himself (an anime-original scene) and asked Astrea to leave Orario beforehand so she wouldn’t see Ryu lose herself to vengeance. But what’s interesting here is how Ryu takes the most negative possible interpretation of everything which transpired. She believes that Astrea’s comment about how Ryu should “give up on justice” was an excommunication, but since Astrea never withdrew her Blessing, was it really? From a more neutral perspective, she could have just been cautioning Ryu not to lose herself to a more vengeful interpretation of justice. Ryu regards her ruthless pursuit of vengeance as her forsaking the spirit of justice, but would the citizens of Orario at the time have seen in that way? As ugly as her actions were, she did all but destroy one of the main branches of Evilus, who had been terrorizing the city for years up to that point and had come close to destroying Orario just a couple of years earlier. (This is described in detail in the Memoria Freese event “Astrea Record,” which is currently being rereleased in the game and can be seen in summary video form here.) The Guild – or, more precisely, Ouranos – did blacklist her because they had no choice, but never actively tried to hunt her down, and both Mia at Hostess of Fertility and Asfi of Hermes Familia are certainly aware of who she is but still accept her anyway. Her actions also led to a period of relative peace in Orario for the first time in almost a decade. Could not her actions to eliminate Rudra Familia be looked at as justice? And while her actions certainly weren’t moral and arguably weren’t righteous, was there anything actually impure about her motivations? As much as Ryu believes otherwise, Alise wasn’t wrong about her.

That’s why Bell’s perspective on Ryu is absolutely critical here. He might not know the idealistic version of Ryu, but he has seen her at her best, as the Elf who always gives him good advice, who contributed mightily to the defeat of Black Goliath, and who helped both him and his familia out on multiple occasions. As ugly and tainted as Ryu sees herself, he can see that she still has a good and noble heart. (And if this sounds like a familiar pattern, it is; see Liliruca and Haruhime.) He can help her accept that it’s okay to live on, that dying here would be shirking the unintentionally-cruel burden of carrying on for her familia laid upon her by Alise and Lyra. Perhaps he can even help her understand that, in her dream image, the rest of her familia wasn’t turning away from her as a rejection; they were turning away because it wasn’t her time to join them.

On other random points, the discovery of what looks to be a safe zone in a tunnel directly underneath the Colosseum is a fitting irony for the Dungeon. Also, notice that Ryu was specifically using the daggers left to her by Kaguya in part of her vengeance – the ones that Kaguya specifically told her to use. (And I think that Kaguya would have approved of how she used them.) I also must continue my regular praise of the music here, in particular the use of the insert song which plays out during the Astrea Familia’s final moments against the Juggernaut and the mournful strings arrangement which follows. Ryu’s seiyuu, Saori Hayami, also turns in a fantastic effort, especially in the scene where she’s casting Luminous Wind against Juggernaut.

This episode remains remarkably faithful to the source material and animated up through page 337, leaving about 80 pages for the remaining two episodes to cover. Is it finally time for the Juggernaut to show up again? We’ll see next episode.

Fantasy Farming Done Right

In an interesting coincidence, the Winter ’23 season marks the second in a row that a farming-themed fantasy series has aired. While last season’s I’ve Somehow Gotten Strong When I Improved My Farm-Related Skills (hereafter Farm-Related) and this season’s Farming Life in Another World (hereafter Farming Life) do have a few things in common, they are remarkably different in their approaches. Based on the first eight episodes, the latter is the better one.

Both Farm-Related and Farming Life feature a young man dedicated to building up and/or maintaining a farm, both are mostly light-hearted (though Farming Life sticks to that more purely than Farm-Related does), and both feature a veritable harem of young women of highly diverse natures eventually gathering around the protagonist. That’s about where the similarities end, however. Whereas Farm-Related was a pure fantasy tale set in a world using game-like mechanics, Farming Life is an isekai tale set in a world which doesn’t use game mechanics at all – and unlike certain other isekai series this season, the protagonist’s otherworldly origin has a distinct impact on his actions here.

In Farm-Related, farmer Al Wayne became uber-powerful when his farming skills maxed out, synthesizing into some ridiculously strong advanced abilities. That allows his produce to be superior-grade and leads him to work part-time as an adventurer, which gets him involved in matters including a princess, a descendant of a Hero, a long-missing sister, and a Guild Girl with a trickier-than-usual background. Later episodes reveal that his strength comes partly from a ridiculously-powerful mother (how she knows no limits in her affection and punishments is the series’ most prominent running gag) but mostly from a frightful encounter he had as a child. While the farming always remains Al’s home base and figures into the plot at times (Al would certainly say he’s a farmer first and an adventurer second), this was more an adventure series than a fantasy slice-of-life tale.

Farming Life, on the other hand, is more true fantasy slice-of-life. Protagonist Hiraku died from long-term illness in his original life, but because his death was partly the mistake of a god, said god grants him a new life with a healthy body. The body has no powers, but he does get one perk: the Almighty Farming Tool, which can become any implement Hiraku can imagine – even a weapon. Further, he doesn’t tire while using it, does not need to use seeds to sow crops with it, and all crops sown by it grow extra-fast. He’s plopped down in the middle of a forest that he later learns is called the Forest of Death and uses the AFT to gradually lay out a farm, complete with a toilet and eventually a house, too. He manages to befriend both local wolves (by sharing shelter when the female wolf’s birthing is imminent) and a giant demon spider (it likes the potatoes he grows), and gradually expands his farm. Eventually, a steady stream of newcomers arrive at his nascent village and, for various reasons, decide to settle down there.

In other words, Farming Life is practically Sim Farm, and it uses both its eye catches and other occasional features to further that impression. Each episode features new expansions, rebuilds, and/or additions to the original farm, some done by Hiraku, others done by new arrivals. Each episode also features Hiraku trying out new crops and/or recipes as he attempts to recreate familiar foods and cooking from Japan, albeit not always successfully. Unlike Farm-Related, action scenes are kept to a bare minimum; the first eight episodes have only a couple of significant ones (a giant boar encounter in episode 1 and a wyvern encounter later on), while a couple of other uses of the AFT as a weapon are resolved so quickly that they don’t really count.

Farming Life also handles its supporting cast differently. While Farm-Related focuses more on diversity of background, Farming Life focuses more on racial diversity. Hiraku starts with intelligent animals like a greater demon spider and inferno wolves and then eventually collects vampires, angels (pictured above), elves, ogre maids, lizard men, beast people, a dragon (in humanoid form), dwarves, and even the daughter of a prominent demon. Outside of the lizard men and dwarves, nearly all of them are female, though at least in the case of the elves, there’s a specific reason that’s somewhat of a plot point: they’ve been a diaspora for centuries, with all of their men killed in the battles that destroyed their original home. All of the humanoids have different reasons for being there, too, ranging from being invited to stay by Hiraku to seeking a new home establishing trade relations to keeping tabs on a village recognized as a rising power by their respective factions.

As much as this might seem like an ultimate harem set-up, sex is not overtly part of this. Hiraku and the vampire Ru are informally married, but that they engage in sex off-screen is only vaguely implied; helping to service Hiraku is also only vaguely implied to be one of the reasons Ru invites the angel Tia to stay. (By reading between the lines, a high sexual stamina could be implied to be a side effect of Hiraku having a supremely healthy body.) They are shown to have their own separate rooms after a house rebuild, too. The elves actively talk about “repopulating our race,” but Hiraku, for now, seems to be avoiding having anything to do with that. No one so far is coming on strong to Hiraku, either. Matched with that is a surprising dearth of fan service; many of the female characters show off cleavage in their regular apparel, but that’s about it. Even one group bathing scene is minimalist about what it shows. This one is on the very low side of PG-13-level content.

Despite the minimal action, limited fan service, and some wholly unimpressive technical merits (especially in its quality control), the series is consistently entertaining, and to a surprising degree. Except for the wyvern incident, it mostly keeps things light and packs a fair amount of humor, which is used to enhance the show’s slice-of-life feel. A folksy musical score keeps the mood just right as Hiraku innocently goes about expanding what comes to be known as the Great Tree Village, while other powers in the area fret over the conglomeration of power building in that village. So far, no villain has appeared and there really isn’t any hint of an ongoing plot, but at this point, that’s just fine.

While I wouldn’t go as far as calling Farming Life one of the Winter season’s hidden gems, its first eight episodes offer plenty enough entertainment value that I can easily recommend the series, especially for those who like the more growth/development-focused isekai titles.

Rating to Date: B

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? IV episode 19

Rating: A-

Episode 19 is the first one in the second half of season 4 to exclusively focus on Bell and Ryu’s plight on floor 37. That’s primarily because the other groups have now assembled and are in transit mode with a full rescue team, but this was also a necessary move in a thematic sense. Nearly everything which has transpired so far on floor 37 has led to the dramatic events at the monstrous Colosseum, and a full episode is necessary to make that experience properly pay off. And boy, does it ever!

Narratively speaking, the course of events here is easily predictable even for anime-only viewers. As cool, clear-headed, and collected as the current-day Ryu normally seems, she has shown signs in earlier content that she feels she lost her way in her devotion to vengeance, doing some terrible things towards that goal which don’t align well at all with the youthful idealism seen in this season’s flashbacks. Add in a big dose of survivor’s guilt shown earlier in season IV and the prum Lyla’s comments in this episode’s flashback and you have a crystal-clear set-up for self-sacrifice. She’s already indicated to the audience that her goal is to make sure Bell gets out alive, not herself, and what better place than here to make her final stand? It comes at the cost of her Elven pride, any hope of her remains ever being recovered, and any realistic hope that Bell will forgive her for this, but at least the shining star of the future (and the love interest of her most cherished person!) will live on, right?

Of course, Bell will never go along with that. Whether he’s consciously doing it or not, Bell is the Argonaut of the setting’s lore – the boy who would be a hero – and there’s no way he would allow such a sad scenario to play out. His purity and earnestness drive him to make things happen, and he bears a skill tailor-made for getting out of seemingly-impossible situations. Give him guidance, give him the back-up and emotional support he needs, and he will be the hero. And he proves that again here, by taking the item Ryu gave him and combining it with his own power in one spectacularly daring move.

Despite how predictable this all is, it still works beautifully because of how carefully it has been set up and how well the storytelling and especially musical score execute it. I feel like a broken record lauding the sound design and music of these episodes in every review, but the whole Colosseum sequence is further support for this series being one of the all-time anime greats on those fronts. The dread of this horrifying venue seeps into every frame, Ryu’s resignation is palpable, and the triumph of a slower take on the franchise’s signature heroic theme stirs the soul. Some outstanding vocal work by Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (the voice of Bell) also deserves recognition; as an April Fool’s Day joke one year, the Memoria Freese mobile game featured Matsuoka saying “Fire Bolt!” as bell 100 different ways, but he gets two really good, non-joke uses out of it here.

The addition to the world-building here is also interesting. The exterior visual design of the Colosseum is incredible, but so is its very existence. An infinite spawning point with immediate respawn certainly does sound like some sort of testing ground, but as Bell wonders for himself, for what? This would be an enormous concentration of energy and resources for the Dungeon, so it has to be purposeful, further suggesting that the Dungeon itself is sentient. The continuous threat factor makes it easy to understand why even top-tier parties would avoid it, hence giving the Dungeon full reign to experiment. Perhaps this is meant to refine monster designs, but this is a point that the source novel also leaves as mysterious, so further clarity on that should not be expected.

The only reason I’m not giving this episode a top score is because the animation quality control is a little shaky in places and the action scenes cut corners frequently. Bell’s most dramatic actions near the end are still well-animated, but the production is being even more carefully selective than normal about where it focuses its attention. Still, this continues to be great fare with significant rewatch value.

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? IV episode 18

Rating: B+

In some respects, writing reviews when familiar with the source material is actually trickier, since you have to avoid spoilers and carefully gauge if an anime-only viewer could reasonably discern key points only from what’s been animated so far. In this case, though, I think it’s safe to say that the direction the series is going with the Bell/Ryu interactions as they try to survive the Deep Floors is obvious. Based on the regular, episode-opening flashbacks, Bell is, in a sense, the epitome of what Ryu was trying to accomplish in Astrea Familia. While he may not have been oriented towards ideals of “justice” like Ryu once was, he nonetheless is still young enough to possess naive but powerful ideals, and unlike Ryu, he may well have the ability to carry them out. In other words, Ryu is no longer looking at him just as a child to be fostered or her best friend’s love interest. Given the way this franchise operates, can this be going anywhere but one certain direction?

That aside, DanMachi has always done better than most fantasy titles at fight choreography and design, and Bell’s fights against the Werewolves and Barbarians showcases this once again. By fusing the physical training he did with Ais with the theory provided by Ryu, he is developing the slick fighting style to complement his skills and stats, and the animation this episode showcases that beautifully. Everything that Ryu taught him is on display here, especially his greater emphasis on getting monsters to do his work for him in crowded group fights, whether it’s leaping acrobatically over foes to put a body in the path of an enemy strike or twisting a foe around to use as a shield. He even finally gets a chance to put the Unicorn Horn blade that Welf made for him right before the expedition to good use, showing how effective it is at sapping out even the nastiest poison. (Eliminating diseases and poisons is one of the common powers attributed to a unicorn’s horn.)

But that’s not all that’s afoot on the 37th floor. The Juggernaut has finally shown up again, doubtless on a convergence path with the wayward adventurers. But first they have something interesting ahead: what seems to be a crude Colosseum of some sort in the depth of the Dungeon. Nothing like this has shown up or even been hinted at before in DanMachi lore, so this offers a potentially exciting new variation on this deadly dungeon crawl.

Meanwhile, the 27th floor fight comes to an end as both the Xenos and now Tsubaki and the maids converge on Hestia Familia’s expedition.* This confirms earlier suggestions that the maids are all powerful; like Ryu, they’re all level 4s. (If you want more details on who they actually are, check out the novel Familia Chronicle: Episode Lyu.) Marie also surreptitiously appears again to speak to her fellow Xenos, while Weine and Haruhime get to have a happy reunion and those who don’t know about the Xenos yet are, as expected, left scratching their heads over what’s going on. (Aisha’s grin at one point suggests that she has been filled in, also as expected.) Since Marie knows what actually happened to Bell and Ryu, their direction is set: the original expedition plus its newcomer reinforcements have to make it to the Deep Levels to rescue Bell and Ryu, and with a Level 5 and a trio of Level 4s plus the Xenos running interference ahead, that’s now a feasible task.

In adaptation terms, the Level 27 part fills in a big gap that had developed in the source novel between the floors 27 and 37. (These two parts did not alternate to this point, like they have in the anime.) Combined with the content from Floor 37 and the episode-opening flashbacks, that takes the adaptation to page 272, which is roughly the two-third mark. That puts the arc on pace to finish in probably three more episodes, perhaps four with a little stretching, so it looks like this who cour will just be adapting novel 14 after all. The one minor skip is a recognition that Cassandra has upon seeing a couple of the Xenos which would have tied in to events back in season 3, but since the anime skipped over that short scene then, it deletes the follow-up here, too.

Overall, this is another solid entry in the season. Next episode we’ll get to find out why the Colosseum would have made the dead adventurers turn back.

A Second Chance at Greatness: Reincarnation Stories in the Winter ’23 Season

One substantial recent subcategory of reincarnation series in anime (and its source materials) has been one where a man has achieved the height of power, but for one reason or another winds up dying and reincarnating either in a new world or in a later time period in the same world. The The Summer 2020 season delivered the great The Misfit of Demon King Academy, the Fall 2021 season gave us The World’s Finest Assassin, the Winter 2022 season saw the mediocre The Strongest Sage With the Weakest Crest and kinda-sorta She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man, and the Spring 2022 season saw The Greatest Demon Lord is Reborn as a Typical Nobody. The Winter ’23 season trumps all of them by offering three series in this vein: the second season of Misfit and new series The Reincarnation of the Strongest Exorcist in Another World and Reborn to Master the Blade: From Hero-King to Extraordinary Squire. Taking a look at the similarities and differences of these titles showcases the variety (or lack thereof) provides a microcosm of the subgenre in general.

What’s Alike

Probably the most striking similarity between the titles is the one most indicative of the subgenre as a whole: the protagonist was always male originally. There is one prominent previous case with an originally-female co-protagonist – namely, Inuyasha – but that one is a very different animal from the current pack of reincarnation titles. This isn’t too surprising, since protagonists of reincarnation and/or isekai titles in general have been male (or originally male) the overwhelming majority of the time over the past 15 years, but enough titles in this subgenre have come up recently that you’d think at least one would be willing to break the mold.

Another common element is that, in each case, the reincarnate appears in a setting very different than what he originally knew; in two cases (Misfit and Reborn to Master), the protagonist is reborn centuries later in the same world, while the third case (Strongest Exorcist) is an isekai from a much earlier era of our world. Each of these carries some degree of mystery element, though in markedly different ways; Misfit‘s intrigue is more political in nature, while in Reborn to Master the mystery lies in how the world changed so much, especially in the magical sense, and Strongest Exorcist has at least some mystery element in how the summoning magic from the other world works normally in this new setting. All three series also involve situations where the protagonist has not only carried over much of his original power to his reincarnation but also is operating in a magic system where their carried-over power is either somewhat (Misfit) or very (Reborn to Master, Strongest Exorcist) different than the current standards and conventional wisdom, to the point of being a plot device at times. These are also common traits of the subgenre.

The other significant commonality amongst the three is that, in each case, the reincarnate has a shortage of close, personal attachments in his previous life and actively seeks to remedy that with his new one. This is not explicitly stated in Misfit but can easily be interpreted from the value Anos places on his parents and the extents he goes to in helping or protecting those close to him, while Inglis specifically states that he felt isolated as king and doesn’t want that again. Meanwhile, Haruyoshi was distanced to the point of a fatal betrayal and so, as Seika, is actively seeking to make closer bonds in his new life. (His is the most practical and mercenary of the approaches, though.)

What’s Not

The three titles do also have some significant differences. The most basic of these is how they ended up reincarnating. Anos sacrificed himself to end an epic war and ensure peace for 2,000 years, so he set his reincarnation in motion himself. Inglis, on the other hand, died of old age and reincarnated as a reward from a goddess. Haruyoshi, meanwhile, died from being betrayed, though he is also implied to have triggered his own reincarnation. The goals and approaches each take in their new lives are also very different: Anos actively seeks to be recognized as the Devil King incarnate, Inglis seeks to focus on fighting tough foes and developing martial skills to the ultimate level without being weighted down by responsibility, and Haruyoshi seeks to live incognito, or at least not with the spotlight on him. That doesn’t, of course, stop either of the latter two from freely using abilities decidedly OP by setting standards, but Haruyoshi/Seika is at least trying to be surreptitious about it. New-world heritages also vary; Anos is a commoner by birth, while Seika is a highly-ranked noble. (Inglis’s exact status is less clear, but she is the daughter of a knight captain and the niece of a duke, so she is probably a mid-ranked noble.) And of course Inglis differs from the other two by having undergone a gender switch.

How secondary characters fit into the scenarios also varies some. Anos is close with his parents throughout but has no siblings. Inglis also has no siblings, but her parents fade into the background after the first couple of episodes. Seika’s father is around on and off (especially at the beginning), but his mother never appears, and his two elder brothers are also out of the picture after the first couple of episodes. In terms of associates, Anos has both male and female friends that are fiercely loyal and a literal fan club, while Seika has a loyal servant his age who is referred to as a slave but never treated as such and a summoned spirit who’s a regular companion. He also comes to associate with two other like-aged girls, both of whom have Hero qualities. Inglis, meanwhile, is close to her like-aged female cousin (whom she is officially a squire to, though really in name only) and befriends the sister of a traitor, though she seems likely to be picking up other regulars as the series progresses into her Academy days. While there are indications of crushes afoot in the former two cases, and Seika’s closest spirit can be frisky when she takes human form, nothing explicitly romantic is going on in any of the titles at this point.

All of those differences are relatively trivial, however. The most striking distinction between the three titles is their general attitudes. Misfit is a title for those who enjoy a supremely cocky protagonist who can back it up and always seems to be on top of the situation – and even when he’s not 100% in control, he doesn’t let it show. It is also the least inclined of the three towards fan service. Reborn to Master, meanwhile, is all about a protagonist seeking to have fun, with a recurring joke being that what she imagines as “fun” would be horribly dangerous for anyone else. Seika, contrarily, is more of a measured and analytical sort, though he also seems to appreciate rising to a challenge. As a result, his series has the most serious tone.

The Evaluation

Thanks to its strong first installment, Misfit came into this season as, by far, the most-anticipated of these three titles. While its second season has by no means been a flop, it is still falling short of capturing the magic of the first season. The necessary change in the lead casting has a little to do with this, but only a little; the bigger problem is a story which is rather hard to follow and some seeming inconsistencies in how some tertiary characters behave. It still offers enough to be worth following by any fan of the first season, but it is not a priority view. It does, at least, have the best technical merits of the three, though that’s not saying much.

Grade so far: B-

Reborn to Master the Blade is easily the most purely fun series of the lot, thanks primarily to Inglis’s attitude. It is also the most sexy of the three, though fan service is not more than a minor component at this point and usually more evident in the OP and ED than episode content. I am a little disappointed that the series does not put more emphasis on how Inglis adapts to being a different gender, but it does at least acknowledge it beyond just Inglis’s initial dismay; the scene where she goes to the party and finds herself being subjected to the same kind of lewd stares she directed towards women in her former life, and realizes first-hand how uncomfortable that can be, was a nice touch. It has had some weak points on technical merits, but overall it’s a solid middle-tier title.

Grade so Far: B-

At this point, the weakest of the three entries is Strongest Exorcist. On the plus size, some of the summoning elements are neat (especially the ape-like creature which can read minds), and the scheming Seika does to avoid attracting too much attention can have some appeal. The problem is that it’s trying to use that gimmick in the same season as the vastly more twisted and entertaining take on it in The Eminence in Shadow. The story elements have also been rather bland, and some may be turned off by Seika matter-of-factly referring to Efa as a slave. While I have kept up with the series, its hooks are not strong enough to distinguish the title and its technical merits certainly won’t carry it.

Grade so far: C+