#the only modern isekai i ever watched was show by rock which

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Frieren: Beyond Journey's End is a Modern Classic By Savio Shi

Anime is now more popular than ever, with many titles such as My Hero Academia, SPY X FAMILY, Bocchi The Rock and Jujutsu Kaisen garnering mainstream attention. However, for every Death Note there’s a “I’m a Loser Who Does Nothing But Play Video Games All Day and Now I’m Reincarnated As a Super Powerful Half-Demon Half-Angel With The Power To Destroy The Universe With Only a Fart” (This is a parody of many trashy self-insert, wish-fulfilment “Isekai” animes where the protagonist gets transported to another world and becomes ridiculously overpowered and is surrounded with attractive women who fall head over heels for the protagonist despite his lack of any positive personality traits. And yes they really do have titles like this.) While there’s no shortage of good anime, great anime can be hard to come by. Friern: Beyond Journey’s End is one of them. 

Frieren has one of the most memorable opening episodes of any shows I’ve watched, period. It begins with the end of the journey, after Frieren and her party of heroes successfully defeated the demon king. Here we’re introduced to a lovable cast of characters, including Eisen the steadfast and stoic Warrior dwarf, Heiter the alcoholic human priest, and Himmel the human Hero, the leader of the party. Frieren is a cold and detached elven mage, and the protagonist of the series. As an elf, her lifespan is extremely long, which has caused her to perceive time much more differently than her peers. After Himmel’s party is celebrated for their monumental achievement, they part ways, each having new goals and aspirations. Many years later, Frieren revisits her old friends only to find that they’ve all grown old. Her friends have all missed her greatly, but Himmel in particular had missed her the most. Himmel had always paid special attention to Frieren, and the two shared a special bond, though it was a somewhat one-sided one. After the four went out to see the shooting stars one last time, Himmel the hero passed away. 

It was only at his funeral that Frieren suddenly realised that she hadn’t treasured her time together with Himmel. Tears fall from her face as she regrets not getting to know him better when she had the chance. It was an extremely profound and emotional moment that moved me as well. This prompted Frieren to change her perspective on life. She begins to realise that her near immortality has caused her not to value her often short-lived connections with humans, and so she embarks on a new journey, making new friends while reminiscing on her past friends, keeping them alive in her memory and carrying them onto the future. 

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is about a lot of things. But its most powerful theme is that ultimately, we are the culmination of the people in our lives. This resonated with me deeply, as I’ve been fortunate enough to have made many meaningful connections with people from all ages and backgrounds. Some helped me understand myself better, some taught me things I never would’ve known, and some stood by my side in times of need. I may not be as long-lived as Frieren, but in my short 20 years I feel as though I’ve already made a lifetime of wonderful connections. Some of those connections will last longer than others, but just as Frieren realised, it is not the amount of time spent together that matters. If you treasure the time spent together, it will stay with you for a lifetime. I am Savio, but I’m also a collage of all the people who’ve been kind enough to let me be a part of their lives, and words cannot express how grateful I am for everyone who has made me the person I am today, but I’ll still give it a shot: Thank you.

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[bmpmp3]

ikemen sengoku might be an isekai. it might not be by modern definitions, but it could be if you go by 80s and 90s historical shoujo manga tropes being grandfathered into the genre. it could be an isekai.

princess debut is absolutely an isekai.

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Winter Anime 2019 Part 2: My Fedora Weighs A Ton

Smash that hate-reblog button, because today I’m calling out another penily* challenged isekai copypasta. But first...

Dororo

What: Baby gets most vital organs stolen by demons due to his father’s dickishness, is now all grown up and back for revenge. He also picks up a spunky petty thief so this doesn’t get too depressing.

✅ Shounen manga in the 60s sure was some shit huh. Thankfully this is a Tezuka original, so it’s surprisingly lighthearted for how ultragrim the setup is. That doesn’t mean it actually is lighthearted on an absolute scale, of course, just matter of fact instead of unbearably miserable. I like it.

✅✅ This looks dope, yo. It starts with the character designs, which are nicely updated but still noticeably Tezuka-ish. Then there’s the animation, which is deluxe and super deluxe during fights. And the backgrounds are real pretty too.

✅✅ Bonus points for a fantastic OP as well. I would already crown this as the OP of the season (sorry, Boogiepop), but we’ve still got another Mappa show to come and it’s Kakegurui, which has a track record in that regard. Dare I hope we get something even better?

♎ Ah, yes, Mappa. Great openings and great first episodes is what they do. I dearly hope they don’t donk it again, or, failing that, only donk it in the very last minute like Zombieland Saga.

✅ This is absolutely not my thing subject-wise, but the evidence suggests that it’s just too good to pass up. Hot damn.

Pastel Memories

What: Akiba has become normal and a bunch of girls are just sort of wandering around in it looking for manga.

❌❌ Okay seriously, what is with this new trend of making the first episode of your anime boring, seemingly on purpose? The preview promises some action (note: more on that later), but this first episode is largely content-free and tedious as hell.

❌❌ I suppose they’re banking on their large amount of kawaii characters, but a character-focused show needs, you know, character. These girls are extremely bland and samey and the one memorable one is the one that says nya a lot. Gimmicks are not the pinnacle of effort, yes, but simply not doing anything is hardly more effort.

❌❌ It also looks like ass, which is why I’m not enthusiastic about this show attempting action in the future. It’s somehow consistently off-model, with all the characters having sightline problems that makes everyone have a constant vacant stare. It’s barely worth mentioning with problems like that, but the animation’s not much either. The whole thing exudes a distinct bootleg ambiance.

♎ The plot they’re hinting at at the very end (all these girls are dimension-hoppers going through different worlds) admittedly has potential to be at least mildly entertaining. But potential is nothing without execution, which this show anti-excels at.

Mob Psycho 100 S2

What: Quit frontin, you know what MP100 is.

✅ At this point I’m basically only in it for the glorious visuals, so S2 better not be a step down. It’s not, so that’s good.

✅ I was not at all impressed by Mob Psycho’s writing overall, but the aspect I liked the most was Mob’s awkward daily life. This episode mostly focused on that, so no complaints here either. Komedy with Reigen and what amounts to a grunge rock cover of Bleach will surely follow, but this is about episode 1. 

❌ One of S1's strongest points was the amazing opening. The new one is a much inferior clone of that one, both musically and visually.

♎ I won’t complain at length about MP100′s content again, but yeah, I don’t have high hopes. I’ll watch it no matter what because it’s still worth it, and the most I hope for is that the glue between the kabooms isn’t too annoying on average. This is starting out on the right foot if nothing else.

Rinshi!! Ekoda-chan

What: A sort of experimental adaptation of an 4koma about an easygoing woman. The trick is that every episode will be done by entirely different staff and studios.

❌❌ You know, I don’t mind weird, not conventionally beautiful arthouse shorts. However, packing your 3 minute short with 20 minutes of staff interviews explaining why it’s good may be a bit too modern art even for me. Especially when done in a Japanese daytime TV style.

❌ Even on its own terms, the short itself is on the bad side of whatever. #relatable to some, maybe, but not to me. And well, it’s not a looker, not even unconventionally so.

❌ The idea here is intriguing, but it spectacularly doesn’t work out in the first episode. I suppose if this produces something amazing down the line (which, admittedly, it might), I’ll hear about it.

Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari / The Rising of the Shield Hero

What: 💩

💩💩 Features a complete catalogue of isekai tropes, including pointing them out because the writer is extremely intelligent. If I have called it shit before, it’s probably in here somewhere.

💩💩 Is a whiny nerd’s manifesto on the topic of how he doesn’t get respected even though he’s so nice and how women are gold-digging whores that accuse him of rape. Basically, this is the /r/incels to Goblin Slayer’s /r/the_donald.

💩💩 Fucking double length because just saying “isekai” is not enough, you have to really make sure everyone knows what that means.

💩💩 Oh yeah, Shield Hero seems to pick up a slave catgirl at the end, as you do. I hope she also gives him a swirly and steals his lunch money, but considering he can magically order her to stay in the kitchen, I don’t think that’s likely.

♎ Looks alright, if thoroughly uninspired. Kinema Citrus can do better, but thankfully don’t.

Ueno-san wa Bukiyou / How clumsy you are, Miss Ueno.

What: Ueno-san is a genius inventor, crush-haver and terminal-stage boke. Oh dear.

❌❌ Loud and obnoxious comedy short. But still not short enough (12m).

❌❌ The two jokes in this episode are 1. Ueno wants to make her crush/straight man drink her piss and 2. Ueno wants to make her crush/straight man look up her skirt while not wearing panties.

❌❌ In other words, it’s a more stylistically generic Asobi Asobase that also pulls its punches with magical piss-purifying/pussy-hiding technology.

❌❌ No.

Watashi ni Tenshi ga Maiorita! / Wataten!: An Angel Flew Down to Me

What: Useless neet girl pervs on her little sister’s best friend. “Cute or pedo? Why not both!”, says Doga Kobo, establishing a pattern in the process.

♎ Shockingly, that pattern is not a tremendously annoying character for once. Our lead here is annoying, just not outrageously so. So it’s no Uzamaid, and one might even consider this watchable and cute if you don’t think about it too hard, or preferably at all.

♎ It also looks plush and agreeable, as usual. 

❌❌ What is exactly like Uzamaid is the loliyuri though, and no amount of Doga Kobo gloss will make that go away. Why not, like, pick one of the thousands of cutesy 4koma without that? It’s just creepy. Less creepy than Uzamaid, yes, but that might as well have been the most pastel colored horror TV show ever so that’s not an accomplishment. 

❌ Even if it weren’t extremely questionable content-wise, what’s left would still just be a good-looking but utterly unexceptional moe show. Sort of like Sansha Sanyou or in fact the majority of Doga Kobo productions at this point. What a waste of talent.

* Yes, that’s a word. I looked it up.