Typical isekai shenanigans.

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The World’s Strongest Rearguard Ep. 4

This is probably the show I look forward to watching the least every week. It’s just so unremarkable in every single way. But fine, let’s get through this. Atobe tells everyone that he intends to help Theresia get her body back, but this might be super dangerous. The other girls don’t have to come with him if they don’t want to. Puh-leeze, as if the haremettes could resist themselves. One-by-one, they each express their desire to stay in his party. Let’s not forget that Atobe oozes rizz, so his party members can’t help but fall in love with him. This is why he hasn’t recruited a single male party member. Wouldn’t wanna deal with that!

That takes up pretty much the first half of the episode. The second half is simply more harem hijinks. Atobe officially buys Theresia, so she goes from merc to a slave. She even has him press something on the back of her neck that makes the slave thing official. Isekai anime, man. They can’t help themselves. Any mention of the word “slave” and these writers go hog wild. Naturally, Theresia doesn’t allow Atobe to bathe alone. What slave would!

Later that night, the girls are unable to get any sleep. Why? Look, I told ya, Atobe is a rizz machine, and he can’t turn it off. The girls can’t help but be drawn to him. They then take turns… uh, holding one of his arms to their breasts and moaning. Fully clothed, of course. This “sex” act somehow calms them down enough to return to bed and catch some z’s. It’s this weird thing where isekai writers want to dangle the possibility of hot, sweaty harem sex, but they don’t actually have the balls to go through with it. So instead, you get the most prudish thing ever. It’s so gutless that they make the Mormon practice of “soaking” seem wild.

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Skeleton Knight in Another World S2 Ep. 4

Arc and Ariane meet up with her sister in order to investigate a supposed elven sanctuary. The place was originally established to temporarily house freed elven slaves. Predictably, reality is much more grim. Elves are told that the people they know have simply left the sanctuary, but no one ever makes it back home. The original proprietress, a human woman after whom the sanctuary is named, has also mysteriously disappeared. Welp, time for Arc to crack another case.

The trio eventually come across a secret passageway that leads underground. When they head deeper in, a bunch of skeletons ambushes them. So… the evil mastermind is trying to raise an undead army? I think one of the previous episodes did hint at something like this. But still, it’s yet another horrific story about elves being abused or killed in this fantasy setting. Now we find out they can’t even find peace in death. It’s a bit tiring. There’s little else to say, because it’s a scenario we’ve encountered over and over before. All that’s changed is the degree of horribleness. There are only so many nightmarish outcomes a person can take.

For example, Ariane meets a friendly elven couple at the sanctuary. They had just been freed, they’re now engaged, and they’re looking forward to a future together. Well, said couple conspicuously disappears right when the investigation begins. They’re probably already dead — or perhaps undead —  and I’m not looking forward to that revelation in next week’s episode. I can’t help but picture the author playing with dolls, but they’re really just jabbing the poor things with needles. They would then glance at us every so often for approval. “Ohmygod, isn’t this just terrible? Their treatment is terrible, right? I feel so bad for them!” Jab jab jab!

Should I talk about Ariane’s sister Eevin not approving of Arc due to jealousy? No, I don’t think I will.

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Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs Season 2 Ep. 4

Leon spends most of the episode in jail as he has been accused of treason. Hertrude and that Frampton guy are in cahoots. The former wants revenge against Holfort Kingdom, the latter wants to become chancellor. Chancellor of what, though? Holfort? Isn’t Hertrude planning on destroying them? Or chancellor of Fanoss, which is where Hertrude is from? I must have missed something, because I’m not exactly sure what Frampton’s goals are. Welp, that just goes to show you how closely I’m paying attention to this anime.

Either way, Leon doesn’t seem the least bit concerned. And why should he? Not only is Mylene working to clear his name, so is Gilbert, Angelica’s brother. Plus, shouldn’t Luxion be able to fly around completely concealed by invisibility? The robot should be able to go anywhere it wants and spy on Leon’s enemies. Ah well, that’s probably already happening behind the scenes. Basically, Leon has nothing to worry about.

Nevertheless, Leon’s waifus are debasing themselves in an attempt to free him. Both Angelica and Olivia have had little to do all season long. They were central characters in the first season, but they’re barely above NPC status in this second season. Well, with Leon behind bars, Angelica feels the need to beg Marie for help. We’re told that they’re going this far because they’re in love with Leon, blah blah blah. I dunno, man… these girls finally get to play significant roles in the story again, and it’s only to be humiliated. Leaves a bad taste in my mouth. But hey, this gets Marie’s idiot suitors to agree to help free Leon… which he probably doesn’t even need. But we’ll see.

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From Overshadowed to Overpowered Ep. 6

Merlin ropes Eftal into a mock battle, which takes up most of the episode’s run length. It’s just them screaming “Level 6 such and such!” and “Level 7 this and that!” at each other. None of it matters. All you need to know is that Eftal can’t help himself. If he truly wanted to hide his identity, he could’ve just taken the loss. But Merlin throws the kitchen sink at him, and he can’t resist proving that he is still the master. As a result, Merlin confirms for herself that the Eftal standing before her is the real thing himself and not a mere descendant. She then not only drags him back to his old home, which she’s been maintaining for the last 400 years, she’ll also enroll him at her academy. Well, that’s convenient.

Watching this episode, I’m still not exactly sure what Eftal is seeking. Yes, I know he is insecure about his lack of magical aptitude, but what does that even mean when he can throw out level 10 spells without breaking a sweat? Oh no, I don’t have real strength… all I can do is deadlift 500 lbs! If someone said that to you, you’d give them a weird look. Well, that’s exactly what Eftal sounds like.

Anyway, the duel brings back old memories of him raising Merlin. He should hold onto them. Hold on hard to them. This way, he’ll resist the temptation to see Merlin as a waifu candidate. But the first thing he does when he gets the good news is go straight for Merlin’s ample bosom. So y’know, fat chance on her not becoming another waifu.

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The Exiled Heavy Knight Knows How to Game the System Ep. 5

Look, look! It’s clown waifu! We’ve been waiting for her all this time. It’s almost like she’s a rare drop! Unfortunately, Elymas is about to scare her away. So what’s the gist? Elymas wants that special skill book, right? But it’s super, duper expensive because nobles and the church are hogging all the skill books. Thanks to a tip from a local shopkeeper, Elymas finds out about a shady shop that sells scavenged items, i.e. formerly owned by dead adventurers. Unfortunately, the crone running the shop wants fifty million gold for the special skill book — an additional five million if he wants to put it on hold until he has the money. So what’s a poor heavy knight to do? Clearly, you need yourself a clown waifu. You need a down-on-her-luck (not really) clown waifu who over-invested her skill points into rare item drops. As a result, she can’t really fight or even level up. Ruche trusted her party so much that she bricked her character; she has no offensive capabilities whatsoever. Most games let you respec in case you fuck up, but some are cruel. I’m pretty sure the original Dark Souls doesn’t allow respecs (it’s a mechanically easy game anyway). To put it simply, no one recognizes clown waifu’s true potential much like how no one recognizes the heavy knight’s true potential. Therefore, Elymas and Ruche should be a match made in heaven. Too bad he’s coming on a bit too strongly.

But that’s it. That’s the entire episode. Is this going to be a two-cour anime (I feel like I’ve asked this question before)? ‘Cause I feel like we’re getting nowhere. And even if it is a two-cour anime, I’m not sure that excuses the glacial pacing. Every episode starts with a brief recap of the previous episode, then we get the OP. Every time Elymas refers to a past event, we’re inundated with scenes of said event. He needs to find allies? Elymas starts thinking back to every person he’s ever interacted with: that guy who was about to die in the forest, the newbies he had to carry in the raid, and even the raid leader Gowtan. Bro, did we really need a highlight reel for this? We just saw those guys a while ago, not a season ago. The same thing happens with clown waifu. When Elymas realizes that Ruche’s skills might be broken after all, the anime nevertheless gives us a quick recap of the clues — the clues that we just got like five minutes ago. This is why the story is going nowhere. It keeps having to retread itself over and over. We’re five episodes in, and Elymas is just about to recruit his first (and perhaps only) party member. What’s up with that? Do we not have enough source material to adapt? C’mon, level with me.

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Hell Mode S2 Ep. 4

Last week’s cliffhanger was for naught, because Allen immediately saves his friends right at the start of this week’s episode. They then proceed to crush the dungeon boss despite it being a supposedly formidable A-Rank monster. The party has the opportunity to tackle an S-Rank dungeon soon, which would apparently be a historical achievement. Allen and his friends rarely ever struggle. The only time it happens is when Krena enters a tournament and eventually loses to “Sword Lord Dverg.” Even then, however, we’re talking about a grown ass adult with decades of experience facing off against a 13-year-old girl. But fine, she does lose. When the kids encounter a dragon in another dungeon towards the end of the episode, Krena suddenly undergoes a “Limit Break.” This supercharges all of her stats, which allows her to singlehandedly defeat the dragon.

Now, I can’t prove that losing to Dverg led to this, but don’t we normally learn best from our mistakes? Don’t you build up your muscles by stressing them enough to cause microtears? They then rebuild themselves to grow even stronger. Every piece of commonsensical logic says that you need to forge yourself in the flames of hardship if you truly want to keep improving. Despite what they might show, these power fantasy isekai series do nothing but lend themselves to stagnation because most of the victories are easy.

I also can’t help but notice that none of the characters have undergone any significant amount of actual development. They’re rapidly growing up in age, but none of them ever change or reveal new facets of themselves. Cecil has more or less faded into the background. She barely speaks. Yeah, she no longer looks down on Allen, but this tiny bit of character development belongs to the first season, not this one. Dogora is a complete NPC despite being a member of the party. Krena is the same girl she was back when she was a serf. She’s just older now. Even Allen hasn’t really changed at all. It’s stagnation from the top down.

I bring this up because the kids are on the verge of going to war. Cecil’s father helps Keel with a contract that will allow the kid to restore his family’s honor. This pisses the Crown Prince off, because he wanted to take advantage of Keel’s healing talents to keep his own daughter alive. As a result, the Crown Prince threatens to ship Cecil off to the frontlines if her father doesn’t get Keel’s contract rescinded. Pretty scary stuff not only for a parent, but also for Allen since it’s his job to protect Cecil. And yet no one ruminates on anything. It’s plot, plot, plot. Not a hint at the interiority of any of these characters and the pressure they’re under. In fact, Allen almost seems eager to put himself and his friends in danger. Hell Mode is like a Temu version of Clevatess, which is already devoid of meaningful character study or development.