Mar 14, 2025
Hello, this is only my second time reviewing and I suppose I needed to vent. Well then, let me start.
I'd like to say that reicarnation is divided into subgenres in themselves, this one obviously falls into the category of reborn as a character from a game, comic or novel. Sometimes it's a story about a world that is alike one of these things but it's not actually from a specific source in itself, therefore they won't reference things from chapters, episodes or arcs that is vital information to the progress of the story. Since that cateogory doesn't need to proceed from an already exisiting
...
plot or established characters.
Now, I bring this part up because some might say that the reincarnation trope isn't original, that nothing stands out and it'll simply be one of many. I like to point out that that's quite normal and that's how you create a climate of like-minded stories. It's similar in the sense of other fiction, like movies or novels. Just because it's the same concept doesn't take it away from being enjoyable. The same concept can be presented in different ways by the author and director. They can all follow the same bullet point list and yet still be experienced differently. It becomes a wave of what is "trendy and interesting" and in a couple of years there will be a new kind of genre explored in the same sense, that's how the creative world works.
Therefore I'm not here to talk down about it being original or not, I don't care about that, I care about how the story and its characters are explored in technicality. And for that, I'm quite disappointed.
With technicality, I mean how sound and animation work to tell the story. If it ends up being a bit rough, it doesn't fully convey the feeling it probably wants to showcase. I'm aware that there are plenty who doesn't care about that part, or even noticed the disconnect, but once you do take notice it does ruin the story and its buildup.
I feel like, perhaps, there must have been a budget issue because the team kept cutting corners. For example, sometimes there were sound but there was no animation to match up. Instead they typically seemed to include the animation when it was a more important movement or scene. Like the part where the Duke, Noah, walks up from the temple's purification bath after Raeliana shoved him down to cool his head off. The viewer hears the splashing noise of a person that walks in water, but conveniently doesn't show it, instead they show him step out of the bath itself and water splay about. To animate the full walk would have conveyed his feelings more. He's ashamed of his behaviour. Yet we aren't allowed to see it. Then merely a few seconds later they make him make do another movement without the viewer. This time, without the sound. He leans onto Realiana and it is supposed to be a sentimental scene. Yet it's lacking in emotions from the viewer's standpoint. We need the buildup of carefully animated scenes to connect to the story. Of course, our brains fill in the gaps, that's what we're built to do. However this story isn't a radio play with a few curated illustrations. It's an animation.
They also had frames that felt as if they "froze" by awkwardly being a second too long. It was typically in those frames that the sound carried on. The sound could be detailed too, as the viewer you could decipher what happened despite the lack of animation. Like hand movement or flutter of fabric. It came to a point in the anime that I knew when such an "error" would turn up since it was that frequent. Another miss they did, though not as often, were simply to not fully animate movements. It would appear chopped as if they forgot a frame or two. I would have to rewind and check if my browser acted up, but no, that never was the case.
I think when an anime already has these kind of issues, it doesn't help whenever the animation become lazy and poorly drawn too. It was disappointing since I loved how they drew their eyes and hair for example, detailed, colourful and full of life, but only sometimes. It's not uncommon for series to lower its quality whilst it's on air. Remember back when the performances on Yuri on Ice almost looked like dancing blobs (I'm exaggerating) and then when it came out on DVD they revised those scenes to look better. What I want to say is that such mistakes happen in production. Still, technicality wise I'd give "Why Raeliana Ended up at the Duke's Mansion" a low score of 4/10, it was its true downfall for me personally. That's why it's overall score is an average 5/10 from me.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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