I watched the first episode of this, and almost gave up with it entirely. Remember this review about In Another World With My Smartphone? And the fact that the anime was about someone travelling to a fantasy world and being completely overpowered such that there was no tension in anything?
Well here's another one.
Or at least, that's what I thought. Suzuki (game name Satou), is a programmer in the last stages of the crunch period of releasing a game, the so called "Death March". During a particularly late night, he falls unconscious under his desk, and wakes up to find himself in a portal fantasy. Immediately, he manages to murder a couple of hundred high level monsters by accident and finds himself the most powerful being in the universe.
The first thing to note is the fact that the game world inspiration is much more explicit in this anime than a lot of similar things. It pops up more or less everywhere, whether Satou is gaining skills or fighting for his life.
See that there about slaves? That's the other distinctive bit. The world is a bit more "real" than you might usually see, with an unexpected hint of politics sneaking into it. There's a slave class in the form of the required monstergirls as well as various humans.
They are less sexy and more oppressed. It will be interesting to see if they have a function other than romantic interests.
Naturally, there is significant romantic interest. Suzuki does tend to be a bit more explicit in his internal monologue than the usual blushing and face hiding, so there is a fun element of sarcasm in here. Though it's actually nice to see for once a protagonist who is happy to fancy an older lady.
Thankfully, no one thus far has lewded the loli.
There's been a decent amount of thought put into this, and there's an attempt at producing some tension even with the overpowered main character. It's helped along by the need to keep various weaker characters alive, even when our hero could probably take a nuke to the face.
Plus, he also eats some nice meals.
I hated the first episode, but have enjoyed the next three significantly more. Maybe give it a chance.
Recommended.
Tagged: Anime Action Isekai Video gaming Romance Crunchyroll Subbed