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Feb 17, 2025
Arifureta Season 1 was one of the first handful of reviews I wrote on MAL and I gave it a 6/10, noting how the story and characters were good, but the art and animation were extremely poor compared to other shows - especially the god-awful CGI.
I haven't reviewed Season 2 (yet), but I will say here that I do believe everything about it was an improvement over Season 1.
As for Season 3...
The art and animation are yet again poor. For a supposedly popular anime that has a lot of fight scenes, the quality of the animation is just generally very low, being on the
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level of some of the generic slop we keep getting multiple times a year. It's sad, as I believe Arifureta could be so much more.
The Story of Season 3 seems to cover several arcs, with the first part of the season covering Shea and the Haulias rebelling against a country that persecutes them, while the second half is the whole group conquering another dungeon.
I cannot say much more without delving into spoiler territory, but this season focusses on "self-discovery" and "coming to terms with oneself", with those concepts being major parts of the second arc.
Despite seeing across various discussion boards that this season should cover some really good arcs, a lot of what was portrayed just did not hit the mark on the emotional front for me. Although there was a lot of character development, the ever-lacklustre animation and art quality in Arifureta's anime made it fall flat in a lot of places.
As an anime-only, I cannot speak for how things are portrayed in the LN, but Season 3 really upped-the-anti on the whole harem-side of Arifureta as well. Although even as an anime-only, I knew the story had harem elements, it didn't over-shadow the action or the emotional moments in either Season 1 or Season 2 (as much), whereas in Season 3, it seems to be a large part of what's happening. I don't want to spoil anything, but quite a few of the serious moments end up being "OMG, I love Hajime!", or "OMG, I'm so jealous of Hajime!" and it ends up kind of cringe, instead of the emotional character development it was going for.
Overall, I can't help but feel as though this season was a major rush-job on behalf of the studio, with only enough effort to meet contractual demands being put in.
If Season 4 gets released and it's the same, or worse, I might consider this on the same level as Seven Deadly Sins in terms of poorly handled IPs.
The part of me that loves this series wants me to say 6/10, the more critical side of me says it's a 5/10 at best - as I'd much rather re-watch S1 or S2 than re-watch S3.
I'll go with 6/10 and Mixed Feelings, which is the same as I gave S1 - Less terrible CGI, but rushed/poorly-adapted story evens it out to about the same.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Feb 2, 2025
This show is one of my "guilty pleasures" and something I have no issue re-watching on occasion.
Although it is not a show that rocks the boat, or adds anything particularly new to the isekai genre, following most of the tried-and-tested tropes and clichés very closely, I still find it an enjoyable experience, even now on my 4th or so re-watch of it.
What I like about this show, especially compared to isekai that has aired in the 2+ years since Black Summoner released, is that each character gets ample screen-time and growth. They aren't one-note talking heads that only serve to glaze the MC at every
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turn; Each one has their own personality and backstory.
Now yes, a lot of the main cast are women and there are obviously harem elements in this story, but the MC, at least in this season, doesn't involve himself in that way with any of them. It's not done in the "clueless idiot" way, where the ladies are basically telling him to sleep with them and he still doesn't get it, as Kelvin does know their feelings, it's more done in the way that he doesn't want to overstep his boundaries as party leader, especially given that the women are also mostly his familiars. There's also no out-of-place ecchi here either and, to my recollection, no real fan-service scenes or elements; There is a swimsuit segment, because of course there had to be, but it's done tastefully and has a narrative reason to exist.
We also have a male in the main cast who is done surprisingly well here too, compared to most isekai. He's not thrown to the side as a wannabe or jealous-type, he's a core member of the squad and actually goes through a nice bit of development over the season.
I also think the story, although by no means genre-defining, has just enough of a twist to it, to also allow the show to be more enjoyable than most isekai slop we see year-on-year. Although reincarnated and OP by the end, Kelvin isn't a hero on a grand crusade to kill the demon king, he's just a super strong adventurer doing the jobs he wants, when he wants. We do meet the actual heroes in this season and the growth they show, thanks to Kelvin, is also nicely portrayed.
Speaking of growth, although Kelvin is obviously OP, I still think him becoming OP is shown and developed much, much better than many trash isekai that predated this show, or have come since its release.
Lastly, before I delve into spoiler territory, I think, especially compared to a lot of other isekai, that the art and animation are good quality here and, although I might be in the minority, I even consider the CGI to be decent in this show. It's not overused and it has a sort-of video-game quality to it, which I find quite fitting. It certainly isn't Overlord or Berserk levels of CGI that's for sure (which might be why I think it's OK to Good here).
Overall, I'll rate this an 8/10, as I have watched it multiple times over and still find it an enjoyable watch.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jan 28, 2025
It's me, back again with another preliminary review of one of this season's servings of isekai slop.
As of Episode 5, I struggle to understand why this is even an isekai. The whole thing in the blurb about the MC being a middle-aged commoner who got isekai'd into the body of a noble isn't shown or brought up, outside of 2 comments of "oh, this is different from my old life", with zero explanation of what this old life looked like, was, or entailed.
As for the meat and potatoes of this serving of slop, in the MC's "new" world, people who can learn magic are rare,
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yet the MC has an uncanny ability to learn every single spell he sees. A chance meeting with some guy then allows him to seemingly learn every spell that has ever existed, sky-rocketing him to stardom. The anime tries to show that the MC trains himself over a long period to use these spells, but what's actually shown is that he learns them within about 3 seconds.
As of episode 5, it's also now trying to go the route of "Reincarnated as a Slime", with the MC trying to build a nation and contracting/naming monsters, but there's no stakes, no real intrigue, no real plot, nothing.
The MC is glazed for everything he does, he excels at everything he does, he contracts people, monsters, "gods", everything into his familiars, who then cannot disobey him (yes, even other humans, so kind of "slavery-lite") and just hand-waves away any "threat" (if they can even be called that). I put "gods" in quote-marks because there was supposedly an ancient dragon who was regarded as an evil fiend and within 2 minutes of the MC turning up, the dragon becomes another familiar and 2 seconds after that is revered as a great god... OK then?
I am normally an enjoyer of the worst trashy isekai and can usually find some redeeming factor, whether it's comedy, ecchi moments, or "turn your brain off" fun. Here, it is so generic, so bland, such a nothing-burger that even turning your brain off doesn't work.
The animation is poor, the character designs are bland and uninspired, the BGM is bordering on a stock track... there really is nothing good about this show.
It's trying to be a mix of "Reincarnated as the 7th Prince" from Spring 2024 and "Reincarnated as a Slime", but it's failing to capture anything at all of either of those shows.
I would actually consider this show straight-up cringe and the only reason I will probably watch this to completion is out of sheer morbid curiosity. Right now, it's 3/10 (Very Bad) and Not Recommended.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Dec 22, 2024
After watching all 12 episodes, I can safely say this fantasy anime is another generic bland serving in the ever growing menu of "The MC is the strongest and no one knows about it, so gets booted from his party".
Although definitely not the worst of this type of show and definitely not the worst fantasy anime I've watched (which gives it some points), it saddles the line of mediocrity, with the only standouts being the varied cast and the MC's "secret", while the clearly low-budget animation and lack of any real depth bring it back down.
The story follows "Incompetent Raust", an adventurer who can
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only use basic healing magic, who happens to be in the usual trope of "super famous adventurer group that turns out to be a bunch of a-holes". Most people treat him like crap... until they don't, as the "super famous adventurer group"... yup, you guessed it - turns out to be a bunch of a-holes. The MC then gets a new party of friends and suddenly he's no longer a healer and more a general jack-of-all-trades role.
Why was he parading around as a healer in the first place? I have absolutely no idea, as I do not remember it being explained ever in the 12 episode run-time. I could almost consider it a McGuffin to allow the setup of a-hole adventurer squad and "intrigue" (if it can be called that) to take place.
Anyway, typical fantasy anime shenanigans happen and the MC is revealed to have a "secret power", but we never learn anything about it, other than "it's a great power".
And there, without even delving into actual spoilers, I have summarised the plot, going to show just how generic this anime is. There is some minor "intrigue" (again, loosely used) in regards to the MC's skill-set and "secret power", but the rest of the plot is mostly fluff and extremely basic world-building, with some random romance elements that go nowhere and do nothing for the story, thrown in for good measure.
As someone who can usually find entertaining and interesting qualities in even the most slated and negatively-reviewed trashy anime, for this I couldn't.
However, it is by no means unwatchable; It sits firmly in its generic mediocrity of "eh, I'll watch it because I'm bored". You definitely won't be missing anything by not watching it though.
I will also say, that based on the final ~2 episodes, there's clearly major sequel-bait going on, but I highly doubt this will perform anywhere near well enough to have an S2 greenlit, although stranger things have happened.
5/10 and mixed feelings from me. Average, generic fantasy anime.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Nov 12, 2024
I gave the original season a 7/10, which was slightly higher than the average score; It was complete and utter trash, with some of the worst art and animation I've seen in anime, although overall, the season was held-up by just how trash it was. "So bad it's good" comes to mind.
This season is actually worse, because it simply has no real redeeming qualities.
After 7 episodes it's hard to even describe what's happening, the story seems to keep jumping around all over the place without any idea as to what it's actually trying to convey. It really doesn't help that the first 2 episodes
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are mostly recapping season 1 and have some weird pre-reincarnation explanation thing going on that goes nowhere and don't really end up explaining anything.
The art and animation are extremely "generic isekai", which means it doesn't have that same comedic trashiness the original series did either. A lot of the characters have also undergone severe redesigns here, losing any charm or "waifu-ness" the originals had. Even the "girly-boy" (referred to as such in S1) has been turned into an actual girl here (she/her pronouns used).
The only thing even remotely holding this up so far, is that the writing is incredibly tongue in cheek and doesn't take itself seriously, which is thankfully a holdover from the original series and more props to the original manga/LN writer.
Currently, this show is between a score of 4 or 5 for me, sitting on the fence between mediocrity and being plain bad. I'll keep watching out of morbid curiosity, but I wouldn't recommend this to most.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Aug 10, 2024
Although this show is clearly trying to go for the "iyashikei" route rather than typical isekai "kill the demon lord" trash, it's really not doing anything well enough in any regard.
The MC is straight up bland and as of EP6, still has no real quality or likeability to him, outside of the fact that he cares for his adopted siblings/children.
Nothing of real note has happened in the story, mostly because when anything happens, it's hand-waved away with the MC being a typically OP isekai protag.
His relationship with the gods and exploring his powers is barely even a plot thread at this point.
The
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kids themselves being shrouded in mystery, while also being OP as heck is about the only redeeming factor of this entire show so far.
It's almost as if the shows is an amalgamation of all the most generic and boring bits of "Campfire Cooking in a New World" and "By The Grace of the Gods" (not that either of these were mind-blowing), with a serving of copy-paste generic isekai fantasy on the side.
Mixed feelings and "mediocre" for me so far. It's something to watch because I'm bored.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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May 7, 2024
This show takes its namesake and flips it on its head.
First of all, I will say, that the running gag of every episode, being "I will not submit, I'm the Commander of the Legion" does get a bit old quite quickly, especially when it's easy to guess how each episode will play out after having watched a couple.
However! That is about the only negative of this show that I can think of.
The story here is that the Human Princess is kidnapped by the Demon army to be tortured for information and secrets that could help them out, however what ends up happening is
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that the Princess develops friendships with the various Demons, revealing that she never really had the opportunity for this sort of relationship due to her upbringing.
There is no actual torture here, just wholesome interactions, completely destroying any notion that the Demon Lord and his army must inherently be evil. In fact, if anything, the Human nation is shown to be more "evil" than anything the Demon Lord and his minions do.
It's also quite amusing that the Human nation is shown to still be quite medieval, while the Demon nation is basically modern-day Japan.
In addition to the genuine comedy that is present in every episode with the interactions, there's also (minor spoiler) a hilarious rip-off of an Isekai story in the final episode, that mocks the genre to the extreme and gave me the most laughs out of the entire series.
The animation and art-style is also incredible for such a series, between the over-the-top facial expressions and then the insane quality of the food and especially the eating of said food. The voice-actors also do an incredible job here and really sell the series as a whole.
Overall, this was a hidden gem of the anime season and I would definitely recommend watching it.
I wouldn't say that it's a masterpiece, as each episode does play out very similarly to one another, but still a very good series.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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May 6, 2024
Despite having one of the most generic names for an isekai ever, this show is unexpectedly enjoyable to watch with a nice helping of wholesome.
Without delving into spoilers, the MC gets dragged from 1 fantasy world, where slavery and inequality are rife, to another world that treats everyone fairly, but has the threat of the Demon Lord's army.
After being cast-out, due to not being OP quite yet, the MC tries to start a new, peaceful life for himself in this new world.
Now, yes, it has a lot of the generic tropes and clichés we expect from isekai like this, however, at least so far,
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it does a good job of moving the MC out of conflict's way and having him be a paragon of neutrality.
This show is more in-line with the recent "Banished From The Hero's Party", than it is any typical isekai.
The MC himself is not the most enigmatic character in a show for sure, but he has his morals and, again so far, hasn't wavered on doing what he feels is right. Then there's the second main protagonist Rys, who admittedly did enter into that position in a rather rushed way, but is currently the best character in the show, allowing the MC to open-up, although he still feels guilt, which is why he cannot reciprocate her feelings at present.
As for the other cast, despite initially appearing to be harem-bait, they stay out of the MC's and Rys' relationship, while simply helping them around the house and earning their keep.
I will say that a couple of them seem to be heavily inspired by Konosuba, but still manage to stay mostly unique.
The over-arching plot, which does exist here, is also fairly interesting, albeit not too novel nowadays with how often the whole "Demon Lord vs. Humans" has been portrayed, although I can say that the main characters from each side have been fleshed-out to give them personality and reasons for their actions.
Overall, I'm enjoying this and would recommend giving it a watch. 7/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Apr 26, 2024
Now, I will admit that so far, as of EP4, not a lot has happened that is visually appetising to the typical isekai enjoyer. There's not been any big fights, or any characters showing off how OP they are (Diablo does show his power, albeit differently).
Most of these initial episodes have been a lot of monologuing and setup, which is actually a lot of what happens in TenSura; This was the same kind of thing that happened when S2 started airing as well.
TenSura does indeed have epic fights and I'm sure, based on what should be covered this season, we will be seeing some in
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some of the later episodes, but what makes TenSura what it is, is the world-building, political intrigue and Rimuru building-up his city, which is what we are currently getting in the initial episodes.
Rimuru has just come back from Walpurgis and decisions are being made as to what needs to happen in regards to the Falmuth Kingdom. In the background, we have backstory on the "antagonist" Hinata Sakaguchi and the fact that she has ties to Demon Lord Valentine, while Yuuki Kagurazaka and "Ex" Demon Lord Kazaream scheme on their next moves.
So far, the intrigue and hints at what will happen later, are more than enough to keep me invested and watching this show. As much as I like my over-the-top fights and typical isekai trash, TenSura is one of those shows to savour and enjoy the slow-burn up until the big payoff.
I'm putting this as 8/10 - Very Good at the moment, as I do believe the anime is being well-written in these first few episodes.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Apr 17, 2024
I don't typically dish out such low scores, but my lord this show deserves it.
As with every new anime season for the last several years, we get a slew of isekai-fantasy shows that typically range from enjoyable trash to hidden gems. Rarely do I watch one of these shows and not find some redeeming factor that makes the show at least watchable.
Here however, there is truly nothing and, as of episode 4, I would not recommend anyone watch this; It's just plain bad. Actually, as per my score, this is very bad and very deserving of the 3/10 I've given it.
The art and animation
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is extremely sub-par and low quality. Art in and of itself is just about passable for a show like this, but the animation is incredibly low budget, choppy and more like a slide-show than actually animated.
It's not quite on the level of "Maou-Sama Retry!" bad (which actually made that show funny), it's just the kind of bad that inspires no feelings whatsoever from the viewer.
Story-wise, I can't even tell you what's really going on as of EP4. The MC who spent all of his childhood and teenage years hiding away his extraordinary powers from his previous incarnation now suddenly decides to use them at every turn, turning any potential stakes or issues into hand-waved-away nothingness.
I don't even know why they're bothering to set-up that the MC's current family is ~evil~... The guy could go straight for the final boss and have the anime be over as of EP3-4 and that would actually have been a better story overall.
Characters in this show also have zero charisma or redeeming traits. The MC is OP, as per usual, but has about as much personality as a potato. He's not so OP and over-the-top that the show has comedic value, unlike Diablo from "How not to Summon a Demon Lord", or the much more recent Cid/Shadow from "Eminence in Shadow", he's just boring and more of a McGuffin to allow the show to progress.
His (current) 2 female cohorts have nothing going for them either. The knight lady does absolutely nothing and contributes nothing and even the clear love-interest in the "Saintess" does little more than be a mediocre talking plot-point who does, even then, nothing to drive the story forward.
Honestly, I have seen nearly every single "trash isekai" from the past several years and this is firmly in the "holy crap, this is just plain bad" category.
Don't bother watching this.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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