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Just your typical harem collectaton isekai manga. Same tropes, same ‘story’—if we’re generous enough to call it that—as a thousand others.

And yet… there are a few quirks that make this one marginally better than the rest of the competition. First off, the protagonist is a degenerate as usual, but at least the story don’t try to justify it. He just is—no moralizing, no forced excuses. Plus, unlike most isekai power fantasies, this guy actually earned his abilities. Sure, we don’t see the process, but we know he already defeated the demon lord, which took him time and dedication. So, at least, his overpowered-ness has some ... level of justification.

I also appreciate that, for once, the girls’ affections have to be earned—granted, in a ridiculously simpleton way, but hey, it's still better than the usual “You bought me, slavemaster-daddy! I love you forevaaah!” nonsense.

And that’s about where the positives end. Everything else is the same cookie-cutter isekai formula: same generic worldbuilding, same cardboard-cutout shallow harem lineup, same meandering, low-stakes plot that ultimately goes nowhere.

If you somehow aren’t yet burned out on the endless assembly line of identical isekai harems, this might be worth a shot. Or, if you’re just dipping your toes into the wonderfully absurd world of borderline-H popcorn isekai, this could serve as a slightly better-than-average starting point.

Despite putting it in "Mixed Feelings" category, I was pleasantly surprised by this series. Sure, you can still spot some of the typical "evil protagonist subgenre" issues here as well, but it does get a few things right.

One of these is that, the events in this series have lasting consequences. Not everyone walks away unscathed, especially not the protagonist’s "victims." Another pleasant surprise is that, unlike many similar shows, the protagonist doesn’t conveniently forget the fact that they’re supposed to be evil by the second episode and he doesn't turn into a good guy. Noel [the protag] remains cunning, determined, and ruthless throughout the story. ... Granted, he does go overboard occasionally—there are a few scenes where he takes the Yandere act unreasonably far. It's not unbearable, but still noticeable.

Now the not so good part. Writers often struggle with crafting genuinely smart characters, resorting instead to putting them in overly simplistic scenarios. The result? A so-called genius solving issues so trivial that even a kindergarten student could manage, while the supporting cast falls over themselves in awe. It’s hard not to roll your eyes at their exaggerated worship. This is especially glaring when the story tries to showcase the protagonist’s leadership or strategic brilliance. The supporting cast is often written as if they’re a group of bumbling idiots—so much so that I sometimes wonder if they'd forget to breathe without their "captain" telling them to.
You can find a few scenes like this here as well. That said, these moments are compensated by others where I genuinely thought, "Okay, that was a clever move."

Overall, the poorly executed scenes are painfully bad, while the well-done moments are really good. This extreme polarization is the main reason I labeled it with a mixed feelings. It’s like a grab bag—you never know if next scene will be something good or bad. The lack of consistent writing quality really holds it back.

As for the actual story, it’s as simple as it gets: the usual rank-climbing and party-building plot you’ve seen a thousand times before. There’s nothing new or innovative in this regard (so far). I can’t see a bigger picture in the narrative. A solid hook would’ve gone a long way in making me excited for a second season. That said, I’ll likely give the next season a shot—assuming it ever gets made.

In conclusion, it’s far from a "must-watch masterpiece," but it’s refreshing to watch something like this amidst the endless tsunami of mind-numbingly dull "wholesome" anime. With a little extra polish, this series could’ve stood out from the sea of mediocrity, but as it stands, I can’t wholeheartedly recommend it.

First of all, this is an Borderline-H dark fantasy. You’ll get exactly what you expect. In other words, if you’re not a fan of the genre, don’t even start reading this manga. In fact, it’s pointless for you to keep reading this review. It’s not for you. Period.
Secondly, if you’re considering using it for academic purposes, forget it. Entire chapters go by without a single explicit scene, and when there are such scenes, they’re usually only a few panels long.

I won’t summarize the story itself, as anyone can read a description. But I’ll add that the first dozens or so chapters are, in my ... opinion, somewhat of an unfortunate choice. They’re slightly misleading. You might expect a revenge story, but it heads in the opposite direction, asking the question, “What would happen if the betrayed hero wasn’t abandoned by their friends?” Surprisingly, this is reasonably well-written. This is mainly due to the fact that the story doesn’t feel rushed. It’s logically structured, and there’s time for things to sink in. In later chapters, there were moments that worked surprisingly well. I even paused for a moment on a few panels to think. You’ll even encounter a few thoughts that are a bit outside the box. Admittedly, these are presented in a pretty on-the-nose way, but it’s still a pleasant surprise for a work like this.

That said, I must mention that there are plenty of examples of the opposite as well, especially in the earlier chapters. This is especially noticeable with the introduction of certain girls [powered by mindbreak tag, just to be sure you know what to expect]. These scenes should have been handled with more nuance instead of being so quickly dealt with. It’s not even about the fetish aspect; I don’t care about that. It’s that these characters are more complex and deserve better than to just be tortured for a few panels and then have their personalities flip 180 degrees without much thought. Unfortunately, this is a typical flaw of the genre, and it’s present here too...

Moving on to the characters. Blum is a more or less interesting protagonist, especially in the later chapters, where his character gets more nuanced. Of course, he’s no knight in shining armor, but I suppose that’s no surprise to anyone. Personally, I think Alcanon is a far better-written character though. Thankfully, he’s not just degraded to a simple sidekick. In fact, he has a more important role than the protagonist. All-in-all, I think the main duo is quite well-written.

Then there are the antagonists. They aren’t portrayed as the typical evil laughing, two-dimensional villains. Sure, some of them are less compelling, but even in their cases, the writer makes sure to emphasize that they have strengths too. I’m not saying these are the most complex characters in literary history, but they still outshine the vast majority of flat evil villains typical of manga. Not just within the erotic genre but more broadly as well.

And finally, the girls... Well, as is custom in this genre, most of them end up in the protagonist's harem, despite the treatment they receive. Not all of them do though, which is a surprise in itself. Not to mention, that it’s not just the protagonist who benefits from the attention, but the sidekick as well, almost unheard of. As for the girls themselves? The girls who are attracted to Alcanon [sidekick] are decently well-written. Their roles aren’t limited to just fangirling. In contrast, Blum’s harem is quite shallow, though one or two of them slightly rise above the typical harem girl standard.

Overall, it’s no masterpiece by any means, so don’t expect anything like that, but still, it is better than what I've expected. All in all, I would say some aspects are surprisingly decent, others not so much.

Let me start with where this review comes from. I can't stand the "will-they-won't-they" romcoms. What is this anime? Yes, a psuedo "will-they-won't-they" romcom. I also hate tsundere to my guts. Hell, they make my skin crawl. Who is the FMC? Yes, a damn tsundere. What do I hate even more than tsundere? Self-insert simp MCs. Who is the protag here? Yes, exactly, your avarage joe self-insert simp. So, as you can see this anime ticked all the checkboxes which could make any show a candidate for the "my most hated anime of the year" award. Why did I watch this then? Well, this summer ... season was so abysmal, I had to scrape the bottom of the barrel.

Yet, I gave it a 6 and slapped a recommended tag on it. You may think, "it ain't much, but it's honest work", but you are wrong. I mean, most of the time I'm not finishing even the first episode of a romcom anime due to the unbearable second hand embarrassment. Yeah, they are painfully unfunny and cringe. So this 6 is actually a really high score from me.

Damn, finally a tsundere who is handled properly by the MC. Yes, exactly, the correct way of approaching them is to ignore them until they finally wrap their head around what the hell they want. If they didn't? Ohh, well... You didn't lose anything of a value. The cherry on the top is the fact, that our resident annoying tsundere barely had any screen time for a quite a few episode. It was refreshing to see the annoying tsundere moments are kept bare minimum. Sure, we don't really get to know why the MC is head over heels with this "fine" lass. I'm not sure even after the end, but who cares? I don't get most people taste anyway, so it is nothing new to me. Also, there is one more thing which caught me by surprise. There is only a single (or maybe 2) cockblocking scene here. I couldn't belive my eyes.

The animation is subpar though, but honestly I don't really care about how well a sprite resembling a girl is drawn in a romcom. I'm not here to fall in love with 2D girls. I would have been fine with some powerpoint slideshow. Although, some scenes really reminded me of that. Oh wait, I almost forgot... You most likely care about it. Well, it sucks, you are not gonna find the latest and greatest bouncing boob tecnhology here.

Instead, what you get is a genuinely intersting sidecast, simple lifelike problems, and a somewhat self-aware MC who improve on himself (not much though). The dialoges and the story didn't come from a Shakespearean drama, but it gets the job done. No pretentious bs, no excessive melodrama, just simple people with simple issues. Well, I really like the simplicity of this show. If I would have been looking for some complex psychoanalytical lectures I wouldn't have watched a romcom anyway.

At this point you may think, I'm just being sarcastic here. Well yeah, mostly, but I genuinely had a good time with this one. Ultimately though, this is just a crappy bland romcom. You get what you paid for. So basically nothing, but this one is a slightly bigger pile of nothing than the usual.

I start with this, since this will be the first thing most reader will notice anyway. This manga operates with really similar basic premise as Frieren. There is a almost immortal protag (Aesir), whose perception of time is completely different from that of mortals. However, this manga approach the same questions from a completly different angle. While Frieren is full of nostalgia, reminiscence and regret, this one is the exact opposite. It is forward-looking and life-affirming. Mostly due to the fact that the protag here is not as dum-dum as Frieren, and understands the meaning of mortality from the get go and he spends time ... and get close to people whom he likes (unlike Frieren who is like: "Bye, we meet again in 50 years"). He is way more mature, despite his personality is way more lighthearted, friendly, careless and easygoing. I do not want to compare the two though (at least not more than I already did), but if you read both of them, you'll realize that they are really similar, but the message they try to convey is completly different.

Aesir is a damn well-written protag. He is full of childish curiousity, yet when it is needed he acts as mature as I would expect from someone who already lived more than a century. His childish curiousity doesn't stems from the fact that he doesn't understands the meaning of mortality though, but from the fact that he lived a secluded life in an near immortal community cut off from the world. Hence why his understanding of the world and the mortal society is limited. This is why his story feels like a real adventure of discoveries. His goal is nothing more than to learn, discover, experience, make friends and have fun.

The story itself is extremly fast paced (but don't expect high octane action). I'm only 24 chapters deep and like 70-80 years already have passed. However, it doesn't mean the story is rushed. Quite the opposite, from the MC's perspective a century really is nothing. Just to illustrate this, in the first chapter he kills wolf, and when he visit the "starter town" he decide to learn blacksmithing to make a knife out of it's tooth. His tought process is like: "Why not learn blacksmithing it only takes 10-15 years". Not to mention every arc touch some really deep topics, especially since he is not a loner, he makes friends in the process of his adventures. You can guess where this is going, right? Yes, exactly, he has to overcome losing friends and loved ones. The interesting message here is, what does it matter if it takes a decade or two to mourn? Nothing really, and you feel exactly the same. You just flip the page or read a few panels and a decade have passed, and the MC is more or less over it. People come and go throughout our lives, we need to learn to deal with it somehow, even if it painful for a while. So yes, The story can hit really hard right in the feels.

The most interesting question for me what occasionally appear in the manga is what can be a purpose of an immortal being? The answer here seems like, preserving the original goal and ideals of a tradtion or legends. He was there when it born, he even knew personally those who invented it, so he can pass the original ideals from generation to generation. Somewhat lonely, but noble goal. Connected to this, a really interesting aspect of this manga is when he occationally visits places where he did something in the past. His deeds already became legends of the local folklore. Sometimes these encounters are smile inducing, since the reality is way more mundane than the epic legend.

All in all, I could mumble a lot about this, since it is so damn good. Anyway, I highly recommend this to anyone who have read Frieren and liked it (in certain aspects I think this one is even better than Frieren, in others not so much), or just want to spend some time thinking about the time we spend on this mud planet. I'm pretty sure this will considered a masterpiece by some. As for me? It is almost there, but I'm not sure a story like this can become my favorite.

This is the 200th anime I've watched since I made my account here, so I decided to write a short review to celebrate this "distinguished" moment. [TLDR: I could have choosen a better one]

You may ask why it is recommended despite I rated it for a measly 4? The thing is, this show has some merits despite the abysmal execution. Such merits which is rare in the isekai genre. You may wonder, what merit can a crappy generic isekai have?
Simple, a finished story. That alone is commendable.
Well, this is the sad reality of the isekai genre. It counts almost a miracle if we ... ever see the end of an adventure.

Other than that the only aspect of the show worth mentioning are the characters. Don't expect much, but the MC is acceptable. Nothing spectacular, but he is not a whimpy looser, which is always a win in my book. The sidekicks are forgettable cardboard cutouts though. Not to mention most of them are completly unneccesary. Anyway, as an Isekai connoisseur, I have seen far worse.

What are the flaws? Basically everything else. So I'm not gonna waste your time explaining them, here is a list instead:
-Low budget animation
-Horrendous, laughable fight coreography
-unremarkable stock OST (and terrible sound balance)
-Semi-interesting premise ruined by the painfully unimaginative writing and catastrophic pacing
-Episode starts->MC goes to a new place -> meets with an old friend -> old friend overjoyed -> flashback how they met. Rince and repeat.
-I don't even know what the hell was the last 3-4 episodes. Damn, it was garbage. The last few minutes is semi-decent though.

In summary, a horribly executed garbage show, which doesn't even meet the fairly low Isekai standards, but at least a finished product, and I appriciate the attempt. So, to support the initiative, I slapped a recommended tag on it. It would be nice to see more finished Isekai stories, but for god's sake, please execute it at least decently.

Ok, I have to write a review about this one. In short:
Sumimasen, what the fuck?

A slime isekai with a "little twist" aka. how a realist slime rebuild the demon race. I don't want to spoil the fun for you, so I'll let you experience the peak culture for yourself. Honestly though, I'm speechless. It is pretty hard to put a pricetag on this one. I mean, this one is so "wtf", that the shock made me belive that I actually read something. I mean, definietly a pretty unique idea, I didn't really read anything like this in manga format before (and considering my ... taste that's quite something). Not to mention, it made me burst out laughing. Also, surprisingly the translator put a lot of effort in this one. Don't ask me why though.

Anyway, this is one of those flagships of the japanese culture, so if you wanna read some R18 brainfart give this one a shot. (By the way the score is on the stupidity scale)

This is a slow life fantasy with the usual "I'm a famous adventurer, but I want to retire now" premise. It is pretty good for what it is. Actually, one of the best in this subgenre what I've read so far. If you are expecting high octane action, or a complex story then you are at the wrong place. However, if you want to read a chill wholesome fantasy manga than this is the one you are looking for. IF...

As custom for the slice of life genre there is no real overarching story. So don't expect anything like that, but again, if you don't like ... the subgenre why would you even consider reading this? Don't get me wrong, the writing is pretty good, the dialoges are realistic. There is no unneccessary melodrama. The characters are really adorable things coated with lovey-dovey sugar syrup. I mean, it is really a feels good manga.

The settings and art has a really chill and captivating atmoshpere. Honestly, I completly understand the protagonist why he wanted to settle in that specific village. It conveys the feeling of "finally a place I can call home, and I can rest".

As a fair warning: This manga contains multiple several panel long H-scenes. All of them are lovey-dovey though. I know it is blastphemy, but it is part of every healthy relationship, especially if we are talking about adults (like here). Although, the length of scenes felt a little bit unneccessary, an implication whould have been just fine, but it didn't subtract from the heartwarming experience for me, but some of you may find offputting.

All in all, if you are looking for a slow life fantasy manga and don't mind a few H-scenes, than this is the one you are looking for. If you sit down with the right expectations, you'll most likely enjoy it.

Another conteder in the "otome villaness" subgenre. This manga mixed the tropes really well. It almost matched my taste. Despite it is a shoujo manga, there is surprisingly little syrup, which makes it quite digestible. The lead duo is really good. The loner psuedo-goth female lead with her deadpan face is kinda adorable in her own way. The male lead also sympathetic, a good guy, without the usual pathetic slimey "white knight" glaze. The chemistry works really well between them. They are kinda rare in this genre. So yeah, so far so good.

Yet, I'm so disapointed... Or rather, I would say I have a really ... bad feeling after I have read the 13th chapter. I'm affraid this one will became another one of those "will-they-won't-they" type of ambiguous trash romances. Which I wholeheartedly hate. Especially, if it happens, because of a misunderstanding. So yeah, the author kinda ruined the whole experience for me in 1 panel. I don't have high hopes for this one anymore. I mean, it is kinda expected from the genre, yet, I was hoping for a miracle to happen, but it seems unlikely at this point.

The issue is, if we subtract the budding romance between the leads, well, nothing much remains what we didn't read countless times before. The story is kinda wishy-washy. The heroiness doesn't really have much room for development. The world is a bog standard otome game world. The art is fine, but nothing fancy, and so on.

All in all, in case you are not full of the "will-they-won't-they" type of romances I can recommend it. Other than that probably you should just skip it.

At first glance you may think this is an another one of those "everyone evil, me good, but now I'm angry" stories which begs for a shallow revenge plotline. You are not completly wrong, but it is just a small part of the bigger picture. This manga is much more than that. True, there are 4 adventurers who were decieved, and everything was taken away from them, but because as a lucky coincidence (and plot convinence) they meet each other, and they get a chance for a new beginning thanks to each other. It is somewhat dark, yet wholesome at the same time, which ... is a unique combination in my opinion .

The cast: Let's start with the most interesting part of the manga. What would you think, if I tell you, we have a Idol maniac otaku assasin MC (Nick), a gambling addict mage (Tiana), a hostess (/whore) lover ex-priest (Zem), and an air-headed dragonoid muscle girl (Curran)? Most likely you would think it is an another one of those cheap Konosuba clones, right? You are completly wrong. Their flaws are not comedic at all, actually the manga has the guts to take them seriously, and portray these as substitute acts for the characters, because they are running from their past. As you read the manga, you get to know more and more about the characters and the events happened to them, so you slowly realize the pit the characters are in is much deeper than it seemed initially. Actually, we have real characters and character development here (even our supposed to be self-insert otaku is more than meets the eye).

Not to mention the "evil" characters have plotlines too, what makes them relatable (or at least understandable), and I always appricate when a manga dare to depcit them not only as "I'm evil for the sake of being evil" (For eg.: Leon is an interesting character for a seemingly disposable "bad guy").

Note though, the main cast are kinda cautious (understandably), so they do not take unneccesary risks, so the majority (=/= all) of the fight scenes doesn't have real risk involved. The story much more focused on how the characters overcome their past, and how they grow as a person.

The story: It is kinda slice of lifish, since the manga portrays the growth of the party too, and not just "here, kill this one mob, and became immortal god in 4 panels". It takes it's time to develop the characters. Because of this we are kinda early in the main storyline, but it seems like it has a direction (and a goal) where the story goes, so probably it will be interesting in the future, but so far we only got a few chapters about the mistery behind the world. Additionally, I kinda like how the characters solve the problems, it is not only the usual "I'm a OP nice guy, so I gonna solve everything with brute force". So the plottwists are actually well thought out.

The world: A generic high fantasy, so if you are looking for fantasy manga with a unique world, than this is not the one you are looking for. Although, there are a few interesting ideas. Nothing groundbreaking, but it is something. Personally I kinda found the "Union" idea offputting at first, because I was expecting a cheap haremish waifu bait crap, but it turns out it is not the case. So, I got used to it.

All in all I was pleasantly suprised. This one is actually damn good read, a hidden gem, despite it's genericness here and there. I can recommend it, if you like power fantasy with a somewhat OP, but really interesting main cast. My preliminary verdict is a high 8 after 40 chapters.