Master? As in “master to a student” master? Oh, you sweet, summer child…
The World’s Strongest Rearguard Ep. 2
Atobe manages to save his dear chief, but not before the named mob’s attack rips her sweater off. Gotta goon even when someone’s life is on the line. From here, the story simply continues setting the stage to “collect them all” — “them” being the harem. So here goes the laundry list of eye-rolling events:
- Theresia touches Atobe’s chest right before he returns her to… I dunno, her slavemaster? She is a slave, after all. The point is, lizard girl has already bonded with Atobe after a single damn party. As a result, he resolves to buy her so that they can team up permanently. Look, what kind of isekai or generic fantasy anime would we be if the main character didn’t buy a slave girl?
- Guild attendant marvels over Atobe’s accomplishments. More importantly, however, she explains why Theresia likes him so much already: it’s just a function of his class! There’s this bizarre tendency in these stories to quantify everything including love. Your party members’ trust and affection levels for you? It’s a damn number in an app. And do you need to do anything for that love to increase? Not necessarily. In Atobe’s case, he simply needs to be near his party members. Hah, is that why we’re going to recruit only girls? Because we don’t wanna make dudes gay for Atobe? But seriously, how is this remotely satisfying? He’s not winning the girls over with his deeds or strength of character. It’s just a function of his class. The girls have no say in the matter. I think there’s a super successful movie out right about this very thing!
- Speaking of which, Igarashi officially joins up with Atobe, and we learn a bit about her. Basically, she was a workaholic in a previous life in an attempt to get out from beneath her parents’ thumb. Uh-huh. Now that we’ve gotten the obligatory backstory out of the way, let’s talk about that proximity thing again. Simply being in the same room with Atobe is enough to make her… what is wrong with her here? Is his passive support ability making her horny already? Goooooosh, how is he going to manage once the party fills up!
- We gotta “collect them all,” so Elitia and Suzuna are next up on the docket. When Atobe and his two girls reach the second floor, they find the other two locked in a dangerous battle. His party manages to save them, but don’t rest your on laurels just yet! Like every other isekai, other men are potentially evil rapists! The previous night, Atobe manages to overhear a trio of shady dudes plan on taking advantage of Elitia and Suzuna. Uh-oh, not my future harem candidates!
So there you go — just another day in the life of the generic rearguard.
Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs Season 2 Ep. 2
The group reaches an elf settlement and learns that Kyle is somewhat of a pariah. Y’see, he’s half-elf, half-human. His mother Yumeria was probably sexually assaulted or coerced by the noble family she used to serve, but racists don’t care about that. They just care about their stupid, pathetic hate. Nevertheless, the first thing Leon does is stare a hole into Yumeria’s ample chest. I had to check to see if she ends up being one of his bajillion wives (’cause I don’t care enough about this show to also care about spoilers). No, she just becomes one of his maids. That doesn’t mean he won’t sleep with her, though. You can’t rule anything out with these shameless isekai protagonists.
Anyway, Marie dragged them all out here in order to look for treasure. When they reach the elven ruins, Leon takes this opportunity to confront her. They both confirm that they’re from another world. They’re so close to realizing that they’re actually siblings. But no, the discussion is interrupted when Leon and Marie stumble upon a high-tech laboratory where elves are trying to achieve racial dominance by performing cruel tests. That’s… random. To make a long story short, Leon wins, the group recovers a lost item, then the village chief is about to reveal their fortunes, only for the episode to end. Of course. Well, come back next week to see whether or not the two idiot siblings get a clue.
From Overshadowed to Overpowered Ep. 4
The first thing I see immediately after the OP is a scantily clad girl on a leash. Hoo boy, here we go. What isekai would we be if we didn’t have slave girls to buy and own? Not just any slave, mind you. She’s literally a sex slave. But the truly hilarious part is how these shameless shows want to have their cake and eat it too. As a result, the girl is still virginal. Look, look, it’s simple. See this slave crest on her ass? It’s incomplete! And until it’s permanent, you can’t pour copious amounts of semen in her or it’ll ruin the crest! That’s just how slave crests work, bro! I didn’t make the rules!
So Eftal’s gonna save this girl, right? Well, kinda. First, there is this whole incident with an orc berserker. Don’t worry about it. It’s just an opportunity for Eftal to look overpowered and cool. He then starts walking away while the girl is still in bondage. Eftal then turns around and accuses the slave owner of attempted murder. It’s true; the other guy tried to trap innocent people with the orc berserker just so he could get away. But what’s Eftal’s point, you ask? Well, y’see, criminals can’t own slaves! Oooooooooooh, that’s how you’re going to free her! On a legal technicality! You’re not going to stop him because he’s a slave owner. That would be gauche. Y’see, the problem here isn’t that the man owns a sex slave. That’s totally fine. If he had just been a law-abiding citizen, he would still have the opportunity to dump copious amounts of semen in the girl. Tsk tsk. So once again, Eftal starts running off. Uh, you’re not even going to help the girl? Yes, she’s technically free, but she still has a leash on her. Fucking hell, these so-called isekai heroes…
Sure enough, the girl goes chasing after Eftal. Naturally, she begs him to become her master. But why? She’s free, right? Oh no, no, no, no, no! She still has that incomplete slave crest on her ass, which means anyone can come along and just claim her. And, uh, it takes a lot of paperwork to get rid of her slave status. No, you heard me: paperwork. The reason why this girl can’t go free is because of paperwork. Le siiiiiiiiigh, what is an isekai protagonist to do? Well, I guess… Eftal’s just gonna have to own a slave! I mean, what else can he do! And thus, Anastasia now belongs to Eftal.
One last parting shot: this colossal genius then drags Anastasia to a luxury restaurant before buying her a new set of clothes. The show wants to portray him as this super nice, benevolent guy. Oh Anastasia, you don’t need to kneel on the floor beside me as a slave! Please, please, sit across from me and partake in all this amazing food! I’m not going to save you your dignity by clothing you first, though! What a fucking joke.
“Well, he’s only a 15-year-old bo–…”
Nope, gotta stop you right there. This asshole has reincarnated not once but twice. He can’t use that excuse.
By the way, Anastasia claims to be a distant relative of Merlin. Basically, Eftal’s gonna show up to his former student-slash-daughter and be like, “Yo, I own your great-great-great-niece!”
The Exiled Heavy Knight Knows How to Game the System Ep. 3
Elymas has joined a raid quest in order to get promoted, but he’s getting the third degree from the party leader. I don’t think the show has sufficiently explained why everyone seems to have this bizarre perception that tanks suck. In every MMO I’ve played — and I’ve played a lot — tanks were always in short supply. Why? Because people literally have anxiety over playing the easiest role! Now, that opinion might rankle a few people, but I stand by it. You have the simplest rotation, you barely have to move in 90% of the content, and even if you get hit, you have all the mitigation tools necessary to survive. If you end up dying, you can always blame the healer for not doing their job. I’m sorry, but tanking is a baby job.
Anyway, Elymas recognizes that the party leader isn’t properly leading his team. But his initial approach to fixing this problem is pretty bad: “Shouldn’t you give more specific instructions?” So passive aggressive, my guy. Yes, tone matters. Soft skills matter. Elymas is conciliatory afterwards, but why poke the bear?
Well, the party leader and the jackass red mage storm off to focus on the boss. Pretty terrible strategy, since everyone knows you gotta take care of the adds. Elymas ends up having to try and lead the rest of the group, because none of them have ever fought a horde before. I guess they were just hoping to be carried. It’s weird, ’cause the conceit of these MMO-like isekai series is that this totally isn’t a game. It’s real life and you can die! And yet you have complete newbies joining a life-or-death mission without sufficient experience? Why aren’t they running away? Are they unable to?
Under Elymas’s leadership, the low levels manage to survive. Meanwhile, the party leader is actually getting the boss down. Unfortunately, he gets swarmed by zombies and the red mage is no help. As a result, the boss starts eating the zombies to not only heal itself but also power up. So there you go: when we return next week, we’ll get to see Elymas play the hero and save the raid group. But damn, this pacing has been glacial. He still hasn’t met clown waifu! Whenever she’s not onscreen, everyone should be asking, “Where is clown waifu?” But seriously, I’m just surprised we’re three episodes in and Elymas still has yet to recruit a companion. That’s usually not how these generic isekai series go. Oh well, one small pacing quirk doesn’t redeem this show.
Hell Mode S2 Ep. 2
The main thrust of the episode is recruiting a cleric for the party, so the kids meet Keel. Unfortunately, he’s a bit hesitant to join, because his primary focus is to make money and restore honor to his fallen noble family. Y’see, he’s the son of the dirtbag who hired people to kidnap Cecil last season! The idea here isn’t bad. The Granvelles and Carnels have been feuding for centuries, but the kids are breaking the cycle. Yay for generational progress! But like with every other anime, every issue gets resolved as soon as they are introduced. The reason Keel thinks the Granvelles ruined them is because he was fed fake news by schemers in the capital. So what do the kids do? They just have a sit-down chat over dinner and clear the air. Just like that, Keel takes them at their word and officially joins the party. Maybe that’s the problem, bro. Maybe you keep believing every damn thing you hear the second you hear it, bro. Jokes aside, this sort of slipshod character development isn’t very satisfying.
Everything else in the episode is just… a laundry list of stuff happening:
- Allen can now summon a spirit. It can talk.
- Allen can summon legally-distinct chocobos for his party to ride. Please don’t sue us, Square-Enix!
- Krena finally learns how to use a skill. Woo.
- Students are told that they need to clear a dungeon before the summer is over. Their instructor also adds that kids die from this all the time. Uh, you guys are okay with this? Like this is just a matter of fact? I always hate how fiction thinks this sort of thing paints a brutal, no-nonsense setting when it’s just colossally dumb. It bugged me to hell in Frieren too during the exam arc. All those promising candidates meeting their end in a fucking test of all places. Just let them fail and retrain. Why is that so hard? Even if the powers-that-be don’t care about these children’s lives, you would still rather have them die on an actual battlefield.
Oh well, just another typical Hell Mode episode. Judging by the OP, it appears that Allen still has three more members to recruit.
Skeleton Knight in Another World S2 Ep. 2
A nearby lord has gotten married to an elf, so Ariane wants to make sure that he’s on the up and up. She and Arc arrive to find a very lovey-dovey couple, but her initial instinct wasn’t wrong. It was the previous lord who had bought an elf slave. His son Petros opposed this, and eventually deposed him. Unfortunately, the son couldn’t bear to kill his father, so he simply exiled the man to some nearby tower. Well, sure, I’m against capital punishment as well, but this still seems pretty cushy for a slave owner. Naturally, he was also abusing his victims. All we see is the old man whipping them, but Skeleton Knight in Another World would probably show a lot worse if it could. This being a broadcast anime and all… And Petros’s reward for this act of mercy? Someone has been trying to assassinate Toreasa, his elf wife.
As such, we get goofy detective time with the bumbling Arc. Let’s just say he shouldn’t quit his day job as an adventurer. In the end, our duo discovers that Petros’s old man is still trying to pull some strings from behind the scenes, and he’s doing it through a cockatoo. Damn, racist ass bird too… but he’s not the only evildoer on castle grounds. Ariane realizes that one of the maids was also in on the assassination plot. Once exposed, she tries to commit suicide by throwing herself off a cliff, but Arc swoops in to save her. His logic is that people like her need to see Petros and Toreasa usher in a brand new era of coexistence. That’s rather idealistic. There’s no guarantee that she would ever change her mind. At the same time, you risk allowing the maid the chance to spread her toxic ideology. Again, I’m against capital punishment, but if a racist wants to take themselves out of the equation, I’m not exactly chomping at the bit to stop them.
Three out of these five shows feature slavery in some form or fashion. What the hell is wrong with isekai authors?