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Summary
This season had its fill of Isekai anime, and I will add this one to that pile. Yes, I can already hear you saying; "but this isn't an actual Isekai."

Sure, you may technically be correct, but for all practical purposes, it follows the same general line of story and plot beats, so it may as well be one.

The old king dies after a long and honorable life building up his nation and making it prosperous for his subjects. As he dies he gets a favor from the goddess for a life well lived, and onto his next life he goes. Or rather, onto the next ... life she goes. Not sure why they made the MC into a female in the next life, as I do not think it has served much of a purpose in this first season, but sure, alright then.

Yes, there are some callbacks to how perspectives are different now that he is a pretty girl vs previously being a man, but nothing much of anything is done with this potentially interesting plot point throughout the first season.

Another apt thing to mention is that while this show is named "reborn to master the blade", our MC does practically nothing of the sort in this first season. She uses a blade perhaps once or twice, but otherwise, she just shoots laser beams and beats the shit out of her opponents using her brute strength alone.

I can only assume and hope that in a potential second season, we may actually see her master a blade of some sort, hah.

Characters
We get introduced to our MC and main supporting character from the get-go, before getting a small group of additional supporting ones introduced over the next half-season.

I personally never really cared much for most of the characters in this first season outside Inglis. Her battle-addict personality and the humor around that kept me engaged enough and entertained me enough to the point that I thought, okay, sure, she isn't terrible.

To a smaller extent, I would say the interplay between her and Rani was also fine, and a slightly positive note in the season. Outside these two though, none of the other characters I cared for in any way whatsoever. I don't feel we get to know them well, I don't feel we explore much with them, and they barely exist for certain story purposes, if any at all.

While Inglis and her whole shtick is fine enough, and while it fulfills my power-fantasy appetite, everything else could have used a lot more work to try to pull me in.

Plot
So the plot is nothing too complex either. Inglis is reborn and all she wants is to master her skills and the blade, while staying out of politics and everything of the like, as she was so saddled to death with in her prior life.

She does nevertheless get involved in some things throughout the season, as is only to be expected I suppose.

The main driver for the plot seems to be whatever Inglis gets herself involved in for the sake of being able to battle strong opponents and improve her skills, with some random events sprinkled on top.

I do not expect much from this sort of Fantasy Isekai anime, but I would have liked a more fleshed-out world and a deeper story as a whole. Or at the very least more of a hint toward that.

I will be fine watching a second season of Inglis kicking ass though, as I am sure many of you also will.

Summary
Everything in this anime seems average at best, with good reason.

- The animation style is fine
- The combat scenes are lackluster
- The characters are average at best, with many being barely more than NPCs
- The plot is far from deep, nor clever, or especially engaging, it's just there, to an extent

Most everything in this anime is, at best, average. And while I watched it all the way through, and while I would most likely watch a second season, it barely kept me engaged, especially by the end, so I am happy it is done for the season.

I would not recommend you watch this unless you are unhealthily into this sort of anime, as I am.

If you are in the mood for a battle junkie anime though, you may check out Black Summoner instead.

General Thoughts
This show never tries to be something in-depth or incredibly engaging with deep storylines and plot, all the while being serious beyond all measure at every twist and turn.

No, this Isekai makes fun of itself and its genre just as much as it delivers entertaining episodes, wonderful fight scenes, and the classical over-the-top power fantasy the genre has become known for.

We get to see a whole episode of his pre-isekai life, which is much more than usual, and something at least I appreciated.

The real draw in this Anime is the main character and the humor that stems from him and his surroundings, ... as well as his casual insane power level we get to look forward to seeing at certain points in this first season.

While the entire cast of characters might take all of the things that happen in the story very seriously, our lovely isekai protagonist Cid treats it more like roleplay and fanfic than anything else.

He has no idea that what he started turned into something very real and powerful in this new world he finds himself in, but that is where a lot of the humor in this show comes from anyway, so it is just as well that he doesn't.

Plot
Now the story is something many of you might find as one of the more entertaining parts of this Isekai anime, but for me, I am not that invested in it. It has a plot, and it is moving along, and I do find it intriguing to a degree, but it is far from the main thing that pulls me into this show.

For me, the plot serves as more of an interesting background foil to move the narrative forward so that we can enjoy more hilarity and over-the-top power-fantasy action time and again.

Characters
While I adore Cid and his quest for mundanity, there is also a good set of supporting characters that build the show into an even more entertaining piece of media.

The other members of Shadow Garden, The princesses, and the dorky friends are all, at least to an extent, entertaining and add to the show rather than subtracting from it.

The bread and butter is Cid though. his antics, his want and need to be the perfect mob character, his desire to roleplay his increasingly real fantasy; it is all just *chef's kiss* in my mind.

Comedy
The thing that kept me engaged and waiting for a new episode of this show week by week was the humor and general comedy the show put at the forefront many a time.

It makes fun of itself just as much as it makes fun of the entire genre it is wilfully a part of. And it taking itself as lightly as it does simply adds to the enjoyment, in my opinion.

That it casually and seriously just makes Cid go into a tournament arc in disguise as "Mundane Man" is the perfect example of how 'seriously' this show loves to treat itself time and again.

That it mixes these comedic moments with proper power-fantasy sections makes it even more worthwhile and entertaining. The mix of the two is what kept me very engaged and thrilled to watch the show week after week.

Music
The music in the anime was also surprisingly good. I did not expect it to bring out some classical pieces or use them in any meaningful way, but gosh darn, it did.

The overall sound design was also above average in my mind and added to the experience rather than subtracting from it.

Summary
I loved how this show made the very tired and overused isekai genre into something that once again felt somewhat refreshing and new. It happily meta-games the genre and laughs with the audience as it goes from one part of the story to the next.

It allows for plenty of comedic moments, as well as lewd moments, but never forces it down your throat or overstays its welcome.

On top of this, it manages to be a very entertaining power-fantasy anime all on its own, even without any of the priorly mentioned elements.

The fact that it never takes itself too seriously, and lets that shine through via our main character Cid and how he operates, makes the entire show much more drawing and entertaining as a whole. Especially when Cid joins the 'roleplaying' and gets to live out his fantasy as the Eminence In Shadow.

I ended up quite enjoying this first season, much more than I expected. I am therefore going to give it a high score, as well as recommend anyone even slightly interested in the genre go take a look at it as I think you will enjoy it greatly.

I also picked up the books as I could not wait for the second season to see how things develop further.

I can only hope the coming second season entertains me as much as this one did.