Alright, here we go again with the isekai. Not all of the shows have aired yet, but that’s okay. We can ease ourselves slowly into a new season of slop.
As a Reincarnated Aristocrat, I’ll Use My Appraisal Skill to Rise in the World Season Ep. 25
This episode opens with a brief recap of recent events, but when the story’s boring to begin with, it just goes in one ear and out the other. I retained absolutely nothing from what I just heard. Uh, Ars was made a headman of a district, and he plans on doing everything he can with his team to make it prosper. Sadly, I barely recognize most of his entourage. Yeah, I watched the previous two seasons, but the only faces that stuck were the witch girl and his right-hand man. Oh yeah, I guess I still remember his fiancee. But everyone else? Shrug. As you can tell, the show never left much of an impression on me. Well, the first episode is just setup. The story wants to add even more people to the already burgeoning cast, so we have ourselves a no-nonsense warrior and a clumsy, overly anxious mage who just wanted to be an office clerk. There’s vague talk about leadership and whatnot. Last but not least, an army 80,000 strong is headed right for the district, so Ars will already have to play defense. Maybe once the fighting starts and the stakes are raised, my interest will go up with them. But meh, I’m mostly blogging this show just for the sake of completion.
Reincarnated as a Sword S2 Ep. 1
I remember watching the first season, but this isn’t the kind of show with deep characters or thought-provoking themes and/or motifs. Like a lot of throwaway isekai series, this anime simply features a duo going on adventures, doing stuff. But to take stock, one of our main characters is a guy who has reincarnated into a sword. Personally, I don’t know how he managed to stay sane until he met Fran, the cat girl. The best thing I can say about his and Fran’s relationship is that it feels more like a father-daughter dynamic than anything else. Let’s hope it stays that way. I honestly can’t believe a vending machine still managed to accrue a harem.
As for this opening episode, it simply picks up where the series last left off. The duo tried to reach a floating island, but a skeleton knight fought them off. They crash-landed into the humble abode of a rather dorky necromancer, but he seems friendly enough. Said necromancer then asks our duo to help him conquer the floating island, which also happens to be a dungeon. I’d rather have more allies than enemies, so I hope the necromancer doesn’t ultimately betray them in the end. The episode is also bookended by flashbacks of some poor slave child being abused and experimented on. Guess we’ll find out what that’s all about in next week’s episode.
Like I said, series like Reincarnated as a Sword aren’t much food for thought. What you see is what you get. It would’ve been good background noise if it was dubbed (like how I binged the first season). Now that I have to read the subs… meh.
The Exiled Heavy Knight Knows How to Game the System Ep. 14
You can make these fights as flashy as you want, but the stakes are still the same: Elymas and his clown waifu are simply farming for rare loot. Their method of fighting is also the same: Elymas uses his game knowledge and sturdy defense to hold the mob’s attention while clown waifu relies entirely on luck to do all of the damage. We’ve seen this before. I dare say that the fight against the Mythril Golem is hardly different than the fight against the Dreamlord from their previous dungeon. And what’s that? They’re going to fight the Dreamlord for this dungeon as well? Ugh.
Like I mentioned elsewhere, I think I play RPGs for different reasons than the people who write these stories. I just started watching a couple of dorks get to Final Fantasy VII. They’ve been going through the Final Fantasy games one by one, and they’ve finally reached what is arguably the Citizen Kane of JRPGs. Love it or hate it, FF7 radically altered the form of JRPG storytelling. But I digress. My point is that these games always have a clearly defined mission: we gotta save the world. As the story unfolds, the road to the destination might change dramatically, but the destination is always the same: save the world. You might take a couple of detours on your way there, though. You might jump into a side dungeon or two in order to find some rare, powerful loot, not unlike what Elymas and clown waifu are doing. But the difference here is our anime is all detour and no destination. The stakes are always what’s immediately in front of us, i.e. this rare mob might beat us up so we better survive! There’s no bigger, loftier goal in mind. And frankly, I find that really boring. We’re just milling around in some non-distinct dungeon for the umpteenth time. Well, to be fair, it’s only the second time for our duo, but it’s still getting old. And now you wanna tell me they’re going to spend another precious episode down here fighting a dungeon boss that has no story relevance whatsoever? Bruh, c’mon.
At least GoHands knows what is truly charming about the show, which is why the new ED just features more and more of our clown waifu. Elymas is dull, man.
A Wild Last Boss Appeared! Season Ep. 13
Oh, this show is back. Even though I did watch all of the first season, I must confess I barely remember much of it. I know there’s a potentially evil goddess, but we don’t exactly know what her goals are. I know our main character is a dude in real life who got sucked into his favorite game and is now inhabiting the body of his character. So is Lufas now a he or a she? Or a they? Meh. And then there’s the mysterious Dina, who might be a double or triple agent? Shrug. Other than that, I think everyone else was and still is forgettable.
Before he can confront the goddess, Lufas needs to bring into his fold his former twelve heavenly stars, but I barely recall who or what these folks are like. I guess I vaguely remember an angry sheep? Too bad he looks like a stereotypical anime shota character these days. And right off the bat, the first few minutes of the new season have some girl join the club, but I’m just like, “Wait, who are you again?” It’s not Parthenos, but it’s someone Parthenos chose to be her successor. Right. I think I might need a stronger recap. Or maybe not, because none of these chumps are all that important in the grand scheme of things. This just gives Lufas something to do so we can burn some clock and pad out the story.
The gang hops into their RV to reach their next destination, which is a mobile mechanical fortress built by the dwarves. Inside the gargantuan tank, Lufas quickly recruits the crab guy before the episode is even half over. Easy come, easy go. Last but not least, the scorpion lady is in cahoots with the demons because she thinks she’s avenging Lufas. As a result, she’s launching an attack on the mobile fortress. Yawn, wake me up when the actual story starts. Lufas recruiting his loyal minions still doesn’t interest me one bit.
