100-man No Inochi No Ue Ni Ore Wa Tatteiru

Oh. It’s time for one of those isekai or super virtual game anime again. Yes, once more, humans from our world whisked away to another strange world to complete missions and must stay alive because death is so real that you could die. Heh. That make extra sense to you? And it even sounds more brutal when the title goes 100-man No Inochi No Ue Ni Ore Wa Tatteiru. Meaning, looks like somebody has to be doing lots of killing and piling up the body count to clear the mission and game. Whose kill count is going to reach a million?! Is this going to be a bloody bloodbath royal battle survival game? Well…

Episode 1
Yuusuke Yotsuya hates his life. Hates his normal school life. Even hates Tokyo, the place he lives in. So video games are his only love, huh? One day while staying back after class because he is on cleaning duties, suddenly some weird poltergeist phenomenon and before he knows it, he is transported to another world! He recognizes his classmates before him, Iu Shindou and Kusue Hakozaki. They are thrilled to get a guy this time. Now pops up the Game Master who quickly tells them their next quest is to fulfil the village chief’s request in 14 days. For each quest they complete, they will gain 1 new member until they have 10 members to complete the final quest. As Shindou is a wind wizard and Hakozaki a sword warrior, Game Master spins the wheel to select Yotsuya’s occupation… A FARMER?! Such disappointment. The girls explain briefly about this world but Yotsuya is still puzzled if this is all real or just a game. They stumble into goblins but being a farmer, Yotsuya’s farming tool breaks! Shindou’s wind is too weak but Hakozaki being the meek girl she is, is too scared! Yotsuya discovers that despite he can die, he will revive 30 seconds later. He uses this tactic until he kills the goblin. However after that as Shindou points out, if all the members die and none are alive at any moment, the entire team dies for real! Woah… Better be careful. As they camp out, Yotsuya asks the reward for completing each quest that Game Master said. It is to ask him a question but so far the questions they asked him, he gave very vague answers. Later that night, they are being attacked by a giant troll. Hakozaki is half eaten and Shindou just got swallowed! Yikes! Shingeki No Kyojin trauma?! Anyway, Yotsuya knows he can’t take on that thing and takes Hakozaki to run. Don’t want them all to die now. Next morning, it seems Hakozaki left hand isn’t healed. Most probably it got eaten. This means if they don’t rescue Shindou, she’ll be dead for real? They head to the village and it seems the chief’s request is for them to take down that troll! Oh boy. Yotsuya thinks he is the only one who can do this alone and goes to level up himself but tells Hakozaki straight that helping will only get into his way. Hakozaki feels sad because it looks like Yotsuya is the kind of player who abandons his comrades to die while he goes to take all the glory!

Episode 2
As Yotsuya kills goblins to level up, he sees a log point that allows him to see things that happen in that spot for a certain period of time. How convenient. This means watching the girls talking about nominating Yotsuya as the next guy. Are they in love with him? Well, thing is, there is another guy by the same name in his grade who is a much more popular guy and a pro footballer. Too bad the vision gets cut off so we’ll have to wait and see next time. He then realizes Hakozaki’s stats are dead. The village under attack! Heading back, how convenient another log point to see what happened. Hakozaki practising like mad because in real life she has a weak body and feels bad for burdening others. Then she gets eaten while she buys time for everyone to run. This makes Yotsuya realize his own selfishness ever since he came to this world. Correction. He has been like that his entire life. You bet he wants to do something but all he can do now is just keep running from the troll! How long can he run? As luck would have it, he kills the final goblin, enabling him to level up. Game Master now spins the will for his next occupation… A CHEF?! Damn… But at least he has a knife and his ability is to see innards. He cuts open the troll’s stomach. With all that juice flowing out, it’s safe to say Shindou and Hakozaki revive. Yotsuya has figured out the troll’s attacking pattern. Although they take turns to attack and die, the gap between their deaths eventually get lesser and lesser. It’s still not good enough to take the troll down. Then Yotsuya gets this idea by bursting inside its guts, slash everything before Shindou uses her wind power to blast everything out. That was easy. The quest is successful and all of them rank up. Game Master then allows a question to be asked. Yotsuya thinks hard and finally asks, after the final 10th quest, what will they do? Game Master shows them a future, possibility the future of Tokyo decimated. Our trio are then faced with a giant monster. That’s all the sneak preview. Next thing they know, they are back in class and time has hardly moved ever since they went to the other world. Yotsuya walks home as he ponders they really need to clear other quests or they’ll die for real but then the thought of abandoning the quest, there is a chance the Tokyo he hates will be destroyed… Hmm…

Episode 3
On his way home, Yotsuya gets a call from Game Master about his next escort mission. He leads him to a nearby girls’ toilet! What does he see? A few girls trying to bully and film another! First thing Yotsuya does is to break all their handphones! Oh sh*t! Brutal! This freaks the bullies out that they run away while threatening to call the cops. After flushing evidence down the toilet, Yotsuya escorts Yuka Tokitate home. Wait a minute. Yotsuya thinks his bravery will land him this hot chick as his girlfriend?! IS HE SERIOUS?! Because all the while, Tokitate thinks he is a creepy pervert and hopes he bugs off! Anyway, she reveals why she was being bullied. Perhaps it was something she shouldn’t have said. Something about a girl who puts up a nice act with boys and the bullies thought she was talking about them despite Tokitate didn’t even mention any names. It gets weird since she starts crying but then she recommends him a reverse harem game since what he did then looked familiar to the actions of the protagonist of that game. And so Yotsuya wasted 2 weeks of his life… Then he and the usual gang gets summoned to the game world. As expected, Tokitate is there and like any newbie is confused. Game Master spins the wheel and she will be a heat wizard. Their revival time will also be 10 seconds longer. Tokitate was a bit crude in her explanation about Yotsuya. Essentially painting him a perverted stalker. Now the rest keep their distance. But later she tells the whole truth to Shindou and to her surprise, Shindou believes her. Shindou explains how she prevented herself being bullied. Does she not fear of losing friends? In that case, they aren’t worthy as friends to begin with. Tokitate is so impressed at how strong she is. So you wanna marry her???!!! The gang fights off a giant centipede that throws pillbugs that stuck to your face like those Alien face huggers. Yeah, that’ll kill you instantly! Tokitate thought it’s her time to show off being a wizard (a childhood dream) but her lowly level means she runs out of power fast and gets killed. In the end, it is Yotsuya who helps guide Hakozaki use her sword to kill the monsters. We see Shindou’s flashback of being a tomboy when she was young, beating up kids who talk bad about her. She befriends a high school girl named Sayuri and treats her like her big sister. Unfortunately she died. Worse, she overheard their fathers talking bad about Sayuri being ugly (WTF?! YOU CALL THAT UGLY?!) and they even hint loli Shindou was prettier! OMFG!!! WHAT THE HELL???!!! Worse of all, they claim having an ugly face makes you end up dead! So Shindou wakes up from this nightmare. Yotsuya still awake during his training. Suddenly Shindou pleads to him to save her.

Episode 4
Shindou further narrates Sayuri killed herself by jumping off a building. It seems she was a victim of bullying too. Shindou’s turn came soon but luckily she had friends to help her. That’s when she learnt friends are her strength and that she herself is responsible for changing her own world so that she wouldn’t end up like Sayuri. That’s why when she first came to this world, she was scared because she was stripped of everything. She pleads Yotsuya’s help to save her. Their next quest will have them go to Radodorbo, a town located at the edge of the western continent. It’ll take the fastest a month for them to get there. Nobody can spare them any horses but luckily, there’s a martial arts tournament in which horses are the grand prize. As they practice, they are ambushed by bandits. WTF, because they are humans they cannot attack them and will have their experience points reduced?! This game sucks! They retreat but realize Shindou isn’t with them. Oh dear. She could be captured. But that is when Yotsuya thinks that they should continue with their mission because only 1 of them is needed to clear the quest. The girls don’t like it even if Yotsuya claims this is his way of helping Shindou. So it is decided Yotsuya will go to the tournament while the girls rescue Shindou. Unfortunately the girls get captured too! Yotsuya trains hard till he levels up. What will he be now? An animal wizard, huh? But his stats are still low. In the tournament, Yotsuya loses in the first round! In 5 seconds! To a female knight named Kahvel! Yotsuya tries to get her to help by lending horses but it seems he needs to help with some work. What work is equivalent to getting horses? I don’t know. Taking out the bandits’ hideout seems legit. Before that, Kahvel trains Yotsuya with the sword but he still sucks. The knights ambush the bandits’ hideout. Obviously the knights are superior so they release a berserker to go berserk. Kahvel relishes fighting it because she loves cutting things up! That’s why she became a knight instead of a housewife!!! But still she is no match for berserker. Yotsuya uses his animal prowess to distract it but gets killed off in 1 blow. But this is enough for Kahvel to slice of his head. Yotsuya’s girls are rescued and despite losing the tournament, Kahvel has a proposal. She and some of her men will escort them to Radodorbo but in return they must give them their horse upon arrival (who gave it to them?!) and she wants to sword train all of them. Better than nothing.

Episode 5
Hakozaki narrates how she isn’t good in sports and because she wants to help find a medicine to cure her ailing mom, she tried medicine. She promised to study hard to get a scholarship since her parents can’t even afford it. But playing this game changed her. Especially the massacre of the bandits. Her basic prerequisites for living changed completely since. Instead of saving lives, she has to kill to keep herself alive. She tries to look at the positive side of being trapped in this game system. First thing she does is to level. By that she means practising with Kahvel. Be prepared to be ripped to pieces… When goblins attack, it’s your standard massacre affair. But Hakozaki makes her first bloody kill and goes into shock. Well, she’s apologizing to the goblin she killed… This is going to take a while. Then after hearing Kahvel’s twisted story why she likes to cut flesh, Hakozaki realizes the need for her to do the same if she’s going to survive. While continuing their travel, they spot in a distance a travelling group being attacked by kobolds. Normally they don’t want to waste time as they need to hurry to Radodorbo. However Hakozaki insists she can’t leave someone in need. There’d be no point if she abandons someone. Yotsuya snickers at her weird comment but realizes Game Master could be watching and that caravan might be travelling to Radodorbo. It could be some event. He suggests splitting up the group. The rest continue to Radodorbo while Yotsuya and Hakozaki go fight the kobolds. Too bad the kobolds are stronger and outnumber them and Hakozaki instantly dies! Yotsuya tries some tricks but they’re ineffective and he too dies. During the respawning, Hakozaki has thought a lot. This time she is trickier. Provoking a kobold to get close enough so she summons her heavy sword to stab it. Like killing 2 birds with a stone. Yotsuya also gets tricky, luring one towards Kahvel to let her cut some meat! Hey, I thought they’re headed to Radodorbo? Anyway in the aftermath, the group learn they are actually heading to Radodorbo. However these are heretics who are to be hung at Radodorbo. As they reel from the shock, they realize that these heretics might be the ‘goods’ that need to be delivered as part of the quest. Hence the dilemma if they take them there, they will be killed. Is it okay for people to die as a result of their actions? Is this event even part of the quest?

Episode 6
Kahvel disagree’s with Kamilto (camel toe what?!) who is the captain of the guards about executing the prisoners. Upon finding out they are from different kingdoms with very different religious stance, they are ready to go at each other but Shindou stops them so Yotsuya calls for a meeting. It is deliberated that they should just continue their journey till Radodorbo and along the way they’ll figure out something. Yeah. That should work. That night when they camp, Yotsuya who needs some info, talks to the missionary, Fofcel. He talks about this world divided into those who believe in solely the king and those who believe in both king and God. Basically religion caused wars on both sides. Then they talk to Kamilto on his side of the story. He believes his king is doing good to help the weak by trying to unify the country. This of course includes having slaves for each of his people. This doesn’t sit well with Tokitate and before she could dare him to fight her and he’s just on the edge of anger, the rest hold them back and do some damage control. The journey continues and they reach a mountain pass. Using this route, our heroes will barely reach Radodorbo in the nick of time. But Kamilto knows a faster route. In this secret underground pathway filled with weird contraptions, it seems he tricks them to be trapped here while he runs off with the prisoners. This pathway is filled with traps. First traps with big hammers swinging across the path so obvious. Clues are so obvious and easy, no wonder Yotsuya could stop them in time. Next trap is a little more erratic and he gets killed off! Yeah, he is stuck at the bottom. The only way out is to make footholds in the wall and climb out. How long will that take? Don’t know. Can’t wait forever. So it’s the girls’ turn to observe the timing and rhythm of those slamming walls and just another piece of cake, they pass. They end up in a dam area in which they must now face off a monster gladiator.

Episode 7
We see Yotsuya slowly hacking his way up. Slowly but surely. Yeah, we lost count how many times he fell to his death. Cue for flashback how as a kid, nobody wants to be his friend. Sad. Eventually persistence pays off and he is out of the goddamn hole. As he fumbles his way through the dark, what a convenient log point to see what happened. Apparently one of Kahvel’s men has died and they said their goodbyes. Oh, felt his body over there. Say goodbye to him too. Meanwhile we see Kahvel happily trying to cut the monster. Unfortunately she gets killed! OMFG!!! Shindou panics but moments before she gets chopped up, how the f*ck she suddenly levelled up?! Oh, I see she accidentally stepped and killed this little bat monster. Lucky her. Now she changes her profession into a warrior. She remembers Kahvel’s lessons on how to kill the enemy through the heart. Yes, those lessons come in handy for sure. After several death defying tries, she finally kills it. Bravo! Now we hear Yotsuya’s monologue of why he became a player in this game. Is it because of his role to be a leader?! I don’t know if he is a narcissist… Too bad for him as a hero, though. Because by the time he returns, Shindou has already won. When he heard about Kahvel’s death, he immediately dives into the water to save her. What?! Not even sure if that is water or if there are sharks, he just immediately jumps in?! No wonder the girls are so flabbergasted. Cute chick can’t die cliché because Kahvel lives thanks to Yotsuya pumping monster blood he consumed to her until he passed out. As thanks, she kisses his lips! Other girls see this but Kahvel plays it cool. I mean, is Yotsuya one of your boyfriends?! Didn’t think so. Yotsuya’s bravery reminds her of somebody so she explains the knight ranking system in her kingdom. Her rank might sound impressive but it is just basically average and very far below her father and brothers. Is this talk some distraction away from the kiss? Anyway, Yotsuya soon wakes up and realizes something about the goods they’re supposed to transport. He realizes all the quests they have been given were pretty vague. They just assumed it is so and so and completed it. Because this quest has them deliver ‘goods’ to Radodorbo, what if prisoners cannot be those goods because who in their right mind wants to receive them? Before you can accuse Yotsuya for thinking of abandoning them, he cautions there is a chance the prisoners can also be the goods. So how? He suggests splitting up. Like in dating?

Episode 8
Yotsuya, Tokitate and Kahvel will follow Kamilto and save the prisoners while Shindou and Hakozaki will continue their journey and search for any other cargoes bound for Radodorbo. Kahvel tells an important piece of info that before Kamilto trapped them, she saw them sending chicken messengers. It is most probably to protect their own asses as the message could contain about trapping the enemy heroes. In the event if they got free from the trap and kill them, this might spark a war between nations. While Yotsuya’s idea is to write a letter to convince the kingdom otherwise, he wants a more devilish plan to make Kamilto pay for killing one of his men. Somehow they manage to catch up with Kamilto’s group. While they are camping at night, Yotsuya surprises them by showing his face. Aside Tokitate, he claims the others died. Also, Yotsuya has converted into that religion and wants to strike a deal for the prisoners to be released or he’ll use his immortality to spread the religion. Kamilto calls his bluff because in both instances, Yotsuya is free to spread the religion. However Yotsuya gives them till tomorrow to decide. Shortly after, Tokitate returns to Kamilto and claims she isn’t on good terms with Yotsuya and wants to get back at him. Kamilto is suspicious because this may be a trap to save the prisoners. As proof, she will lead him to where Yotsuya is sleeping. Kamilto remains cautious so he has a soldier stay back to guard the prisoners. He then follows Tokitate and after a while, kills her! He brings her back as prisoner but to his surprise, Yotsuya has killed all the prisoners and then sets fire to all their belongings. Yotsuya claims he lied about becoming that religion and all this is just for revenge. Yotsuya and Tokitate ride off in their only horse while Kamilto gives chase? Can he? Either way, he is doomed. Yotsuya reunites with the prisoners safe in the cave. Flashback reveals soon after Tokitate led Kamilto away, Yotsuya knocked out the soldier. Then he has the prisoners remove their clothes and put on fake dolls they made to make it look convincing. While this mission is a success, Tokitate talks to Yotsuya about the moral dilemma of killing characters despite it is just a game. After all that is said, he reminds her that their lives are actually on the line so they can’t afford to worry about it and it takes precedence over the lives of the characters in the game. He has a point…

Episode 9
While Kamilto is lamenting he has failed his king, suddenly Kahvel pops up to kill his man! She is here to avenge her man as she slices off his limbs! Man, this is shockingly brutal!!! Need to change to a bigger sword before the final decapitation? Any last words? So he wanted peace, huh? In that case she’ll annihilate his kingdom if that is how peace is going to achieve. Off with his head! Gee, this was really violent and Kahvel relishing in this… Meanwhile the king has received word about Kamilto’s failure but someone shady disagrees with his suggestion to send a rescue team since it is not worth it. Instead, he suggests preparing to fight the heroes who have become their enemies. As the journey to Radodorbo continues, I guess after that brutal violence, we need a change in pace. Because Tokitate notices Kahvel a bit down, she thinks she is definitely in love with Yotsuya as the journey will soon near its end. Hence probably like some of us, she thinks a confession is inevitable and is gleefully waiting for that chance to pop up. Drawing inspiration from her favourite dating sim game, however with all the obvious flags turning up, it seems nothing is happening and it is understandable why she is so frustrated. Meanwhile Shindou’s side has managed to secure a trader who is making his way to Radodorbo. They ask to accompany him there but since he already has a bodyguard who won’t yield his position, they fight and obviously Shindou is much better. Any other objections? Good. Now we can continue to Radodorbo. One night as Yotsuya’s team is camping, Kahvel finally makes her move. Is this it? She makes a confession… All she wants is to thank him for helping her avenge her comrade. That’s it. THAT’S IT???!!! Boy, it’s understandable why Tokitate is so mad… Yotsuya has 3 ideas about the cargo to Radodorbo. First, let the convicts go at the church. Nope, not it. Mission still not cleared. Next, sell the items of the dead enemy soldiers. Nope. Not this either. Lastly, hand the severed heads of enemy soldiers in a box! Mission clear!!! OMFG! You mean this is it?! So random that even Yotsuya thinks the mission is up to what the Game Master wants. Just in time, reuniting with Shindou’s time, it’s time to split. Like in dating?!

Episode 10
Now to clear the other half of the quest, that is to traverse 5% of the map. Considering this is a huge continent… The gang split up to cover more ground. However at this time of year, it is snowing and you know it is going to impede their quest. Before that, Yotsuya says a quick goodbye to Kahvel. And just like that, it’s over between them? No wonder Kahvel having some deep thoughts. But it don’t matter, right? Same thing as we see the quartet travel solo. We hear their thoughts and stuffs, but nothing important that I want to jot down. Mission is in jeopardy when they reach 4.992% of the map. Oh, so close. Because Hakozaki collapses from the cold. Tokitate is taking shelter and can’t move anymore. Hence ‘falling asleep’, Shindou reaches some rock, not sure what she sees in it, feels betrayed and can’t go on. Yotsuya keeps moving at a snail pace. Then a cyclops yeti attacks! He defeats it somehow (not sure with a frying pan!) and realizes it could be a mother because its offspring start crying over its carcass. But Yotsuya can’t be hypocrite and care about them. Yeah, it’s all virtual only, right? Like as though karma wanted to teach him a lesson because soon he falls down an abyss and dies! Oh no! Everybody dead???!!!

Episode 11
Oh sh*t! Did I watch the wrong anime?! Or has this series ran out of ideas that it turned into a magical girl show, Majiha Knights! Damn, a completely new magical girl opening to troll us too! Of course this turns out to be Tokitate’s childhood series. She talks about her own life and the troubles she ended up with by talking behind the back of others. Just desserts, maybe. Yotsuya is still alive so he continues exploring. Until the alert pops up that Hakozaki is dead! Yeah, eternal slumber in the snow. This makes Shindou to progress further but little does she know, she was treading through a frozen lake and as expected when she reaches the middle, the crack has her submerged into its icy waters. Another one bites the dust. Now Yotsuya has to be careful but even if he decides to follow this friendly giant earthworm that poops out poo, he gets devoured by a bad worm from Tremors! Dead. Oh sh*t! Tokitate the only one left! However she starts to feel relieved. She realizes that this could means she was just looking for an excuse to give up and doesn’t have to push herself further. But what do you know? It could be the cold because Majiha Knights pop up before her to lecture her about not giving up. With that, Tokitate stands up and continues her journey. It might help her since she is delusional thinking all of her favourite anime characters guiding her through this hell. Suddenly before her is… Katara and a giant Cheshire Cat?! She is offered a ride and although this helps in covering the remaining ground, time is running out. Like, about 30 seconds left! Thank goodness this Katara is a wind magic user so she uses the wind spirit to help boost some distance. Can they make it?! 1 second left!!! And yeah… You bet the quest is cleared when everyone is together and before them is the Game Master. You have the right to ask a question. Tokitate asks if this world is a virtual one. Game Master replies: This is a parallel world. He gives a few examples of the decisions they make and actions that have happened or not. Each branching to a whole new different world. So with each new branching, new worlds were created and it seems the world they are in branched off about 4.6 billion years ago! Hence Earth is just one of those possibilities. Though, the world they are in is parallel, everything is real except them the players who are just virtual (otherwise, how do you explain their revival?). Oh dear. Yotsuya starting to feel the guilty conscious of killing real people! Looks like he does care now.

Episode 12
Wow. Nothing like that statement to punch you back to reality. Yotsuya now thinks that despite his hatred for humans, killing 1 was just enough to make him feel all weird. So does this mean he doesn’t hate humans at all? Obviously we see him moping around and spacing out. The girls are worried as they understand it has a tremendous effect on his psychological being. There’s nothing they could do. Suddenly he receives a message from Game Master. He is asked his real feelings after killing a man. Trying to f*ck with him, huh?! Delete message! But when he gets home, a loli in straw hat pops up. She would appreciate if he replied her message. She is the Game Master?! So basically, he thinks from their point of view they are right but from the enemy’s point of view, they think they are right. Eh? So how does that answer the question? Had he known the truth, he wouldn’t have killed. Killing was a mistake. That what you want to hear? Game Master wants him to go meet the next player, Keita Torii. At a restaurant, she tells him a few tables over is a drug dealer. Keita and his men (one including his brother) will come in to kill him in 20 seconds. Wait. WHAT?! Yotsuya is in shock but when Keita and co come in, Yotsuya instinctively trips them. When they fight him, Yotsuya just doesn’t give a f*cks anymore and beat all of them up. Then the yakuza boss comes in and is going to shoot Yotsuya. Game Master asks if he wants to use a glove. Of course! It’s like he stopped time and did some magical punch on him! Everyone gets away when the police arrives. Keita beats up his boss because he was trying to shoot Yotsuya in the back. He’s done. Later Game Master asks him, now that he has stopped a murder, has his sentiments changed on the killing. Yotsuya answers that he just needs to do what he needs to do. From Tokitate’s case, having Keita in means increasing the success of the quest. This is more evident since the last quest, it was Tokitate who completed it. As for the value of life, he thinks all stupid humans should just die. Game Master then asks who is he for deciding whose life has more value. Honestly, Yotsuya considers himself a normal kid with delusions. He knows it is wrong but who cares, right? He’ll fight for the justice he believes in.

Over My 100-man Dead Body…
Oh man. Wow. How the f*ck does this series could get another season???!!! It’s no surprise that the way things were heading, it was going to look like that. After all, the final episode shows a full length trailer of next season. Like as though they have already made the second season or had plans for a sequel, just that they didn’t tell us and decided to split into 2 cours. Oh man. And looks like I have to stay put and watch next season too because next mission is in space! FREAKING SPACE!!! New hot chicks too?! Oh wow. They sure really know how to bait me to watch a mediocre series that has little of entertainment value… Yeah. But who am I to judge a sequel that has value or not?

The whole story feels iffy. Like as though they write as they go along. If not, they dragged out the entire mission, which could be possible seeing a big majority of this season focuses pretty much on the fourth mission. I say this because the Game Master’s directives for the mission is not very clear itself. It leaves room for interpretation for one to make up as they go along. It depends on the whims and fancies of the Game Master who will then decide if they like the achievement the players have made or not. On the other hand, if you were being spoon fed the specifics, it wouldn’t be much fun as you won’t have to think for yourself. Your actions limited and hence you won’t get those infinite possibilities that current reality has grown to! Ah yes. The big revelation that the worlds are real confirms that this isn’t some virtual MMORPG. So you telling me this is an isekai genre?! Haha. Still as bad. But thankfully, no overpowered characters from the start! Phew.

I don’t know, some parts feel like plot convenience like those log points that allow you to see certain limited things that happened at that spot. Like, what even triggers recording such events? If that’s the case, shouldn’t everywhere on this continent be spammed with log points? Yeah, every step you take, suddenly you are forced to witness some event there. Damn those unskippable cut scenes. Making it even weirder and more random is the fact that you change professions when you level up. I don’t really understand how this works as I am still unsure if you lose your previous skills of your previous jobs but this moment mostly feels like they just want to f*ck around with Yotsuya so that he can have some ‘joker’ profession. I guess it’s more fun that way. I mean, who says you can’t kill with a cooking knife? As long as the game allows it… To make it seem more real and interesting, the mid-intermission has a little trivia about the world and some of its mechanics but I feel they serve more as trivia and extra rather than anything useful. Oh yeah. Gee, thanks for letting me know that getting a thief job from the roulette is 7.5% compared to 0.5% other jobs. Now I know why loot boxes are so hated… And how long the Majiha Knight series has been running!!!

At first I was somewhat disappointed thinking that this was going to be some really violent and brutal series. You know, from the name it sounded like the main character had to go berserk and kill a million lives! Oh yeah, let me see all those blood flow and bodies piling up! Unfortunately, we got this very mild vague adventure-like thingy. Sure, Yotsuya killed a few questionable baddies thinking it was all just virtual and pixels. But still, his body count is relatively low. Even if you factor in all those goblins he killed as part of the training. I mean, do those lives matter? Do monster lives matter at all?! Yeah, so it is very much very vague even on this concept what constitutes to be counted to your kill. But that’s just me overthinking things. And so the final episode reconciles his thoughts and feelings about killing so I am guessing that Yotsuya will start piling up the bodies next season. Will 200 million bodies suffice?

Having this world as one of the many infinite possibilities, I suppose this opens up a lot of, well, possibilities. But still, having the players as the only things that are virtual doesn’t make sense in a way especially when the killings of others are concerned. So for those bad guys who got killed by Yotsuya, it is unfortunate they cannot be resurrected. But to be killed off by him, doesn’t that mean and feel that they have been killed off by ghosts?! Even if the existence of the players is real, having them being able to die and get resurrected feels like another plot convenience. Sure, some sort of realism added but even if it takes longer the next time for each additional member to the party, it still feels weird. Yeah, tells you our players can make mistakes and pay with their lives albeit they’ll come back to life again soon after. But thinking about it, perhaps it is valid because the lives are spread out via the party members so as long as one of them is alive, everyone will still be able to return. Sure feels like an FPS game too. Waiting to respawn… Speaking of that, watching the characters in respawning ghost form also feels weird. It’s like they are naked by their shoulder and below are censored out, like covered in some dark mud or something. Huh?

Making it even weirder is that short segment at the end of every episode. It feels so random and I believe it is meant for laughs and just for fun. For example the first episode shows a voice acting attempt among the incomplete sketches of the production. Pretty neat and okay. Others feel like some sort of promotion like one whereby they promoted the ending theme (no, I will not buy an outfit bearing the pattern of the Game Master!). And others that are meant to be funny feel like they fall short of being actually funny. Like getting lost in the dungeon only because they get trolled by the things they like. Or that one whereby Yotsuya was standing above a million (but selected) Japanese cities. Huh?! What’s that supposed to mean? Then Yotsuya getting rejected by the real live seiyuus who voiced the girls? What?! I felt more cringe than funny… Standing over a million cringes…

Regarding the characters, they feel pretty average. Yotsuya tells us that he hates his life in Japan. I guess a lot of us in the real world hate our lives too but don’t have the privilege like Yotsuya to play out this lovely game in the parallel world! Anyway, having a main character with such attitude means he can put his heart wholly into the new world. Because f*ck real life, gaming world is for me forever! Unfortunately he doesn’t seem to show that kind of vibe. He feels more like a normal kid struggling to get through the game. There are some parts where he lets his ruthless side show but that is most probably because he thought this was all a game. And oh my, what shock his face puts on when he learns that this is all real. Like, did he forget that their lives are actually more important?! They killed only seemingly bad guys, right? So what’s the problem? That’s why he feels more like a normal kid. Gotta show that he still has some conscious. Trying to tell us that unlike games, reality has real actions and consequences, huh? You are responsible for the consequences of your own reactions, huh?

They might want to troll us with a potential harem because so far the rest of all the players are females (until next season where Keita will become the other guy). Heck, not even sure the workings of how they choose the next player. Since it is said that the game ends after the 10th mission with the 10th player, my guess is that the last player might have it the easiest. You know, just only 1 mission to play. But it could be the toughest and hardest mission yet and you bet the final player who joined might just be in total shock trying to figure things out in this world. Too bad if that last player loves the game only to find that the game has already ended. Maybe he/she could start a new one after that. After all, with parallel world possibilities, that isn’t impossible. But still, the thought of the final player being brought in at the very ends feels like that player will be the one who will draw the short end of the straw and be screwed if he/she doesn’t learn to adapt fast.

Anyway, as for the other harem girls in Yotsuya’s group, all of them have their own issues to deal with but those are just touching the surface so as to give some sort of back story of the problems they are dealing in life. Not that it is very comprehensive but just enough to assure you that they have some sort of character. Like Shindou the popular one who relies on the power of friendship, Hakozaki the shy one who wants to be stronger and helpful and the odd Tokitate who feels like the resident joker. I feel that her character is written in a way to make some sort of rebukes and comebacks since she doesn’t particularly get along well with Yotsuya. It is pretty evident the way you see her facial expressions and the sarcasm she spews. Having such a group is all about variety. You need characters from all walks of life even though they are so cliché. Even if Tokitate isn’t anywhere near likeable as the rest, at least it provides some comic relief in otherwise what would be a very dull group because you know, Yotsuya’s just being serious, Hakozaki too shy and weak and Shindou is just looking pretty. Next is Kahvel who we’ll mostly remember as a character who loves to cut, cut and CUT! Could’ve been a serial killer if she wasn’t on the righteous side. You don’t want to get on her wrong side definitely. In case they need to put some romance drama in the future, they troll us with that ambiguous kiss. Because all main characters need to get one eventually. Not sure if a million kisses is possible to get than a million dead bodies…

Game Master is certainly one of the weirdest characters in the game, if not created. This mysterious being could be some sort of god trying to find the perfect world to create. Because he can’t create it himself, hence he needs adventures to chart it all for him. Then he picks the best one. But that’s just my wildest conspiracy theory about this dude. Other than that, it is no surprise anybody looking at this guy for the first time might be inclined to think he is some sort of pervert and hentai. I mean, this guy has a pair of hand shaped pattern to cover his chest area and some star pattern (sometimes I like to refer it as weed) for his crotch area! If that doesn’t scare you, maybe his half head will. Yikes. Is this horror or is this perversion? Or both? Then they try to throw us off with that loli, could it be Game Master’s persona in this version of Earth?

Art and animation feel pretty average and standard. Characters also look pretty average and standard like Yotsuya looking like your typical high school kid who is the main character. Hakozaki looking like a very meek version of that main character from Bofuri. Take away all the genki and liveliness and you’ve got yourself a new character. I thought I see some other characters in Shindou and Tokitate but at this point I am too lazy to crack my mind and check back for references. This anime was done by the relatively new Maho Film who did Uchi No Ko No Tame Naraba Ore Wa Moshikashitara Maou Mo Taoseru Kamo Shirenai and Kami-tachi Ni Hirowareta Otoko.

I didn’t find the voice acting to be anything special in particular. Just want to note that the Game Master is a unique one whereby in every episode, he has a new seiyuu voicing him. An indication they are all different personas? My favourite one being the first Game Master since he is voiced by the legendary Norio Wakamoto. Damn, they should’ve just kept this guy and not change to others. The rest of the main casts are Yuuto Uemura as Yotsuya (Juugo in Nanbaka), Risa Kubota as Shindou (Ren in Konohana Kitan), Azumi Waki as Hakozaki (Special Week in Uma Musume: Pretty Derby), Makoto Koichi as Tokitate (Tsukasa in Nurse Witch Komugi R), Chiwa Saito as Kahavel (Senjougahara in Monogatari series) and Toshiyuki Toyonaga as Keita (Tsukumo in Nanbaka). The opening and ending themes aren’t anything special. Not really particularly fond of them. Anti World By Kanako Takatsuki as the opener feels like a generic anime piece rock piece while Carpe Diem by Liyuu as the ending theme feels like a generic anime pop music.

Overall, this series just average and nothing special. Just this season’s isekai theme without trying to be a clichéd isekai theme. It proves that even without the cliché of overpowered main character who dies and gets transported to another world, it is still bad if you don’t have a good story (standing over a million plot holes) or likeable characters (standing over a million forced characterizations) to begin with. Even the possible concept of having infinite parallel worlds that continue to branch out might seem like an interesting idea but it is not enough in general to save this anime as a whole. Hopefully with another season, the story and characters will get more interesting. Assuming the next season will be entirely a space arc, I hope it is more than just adding another character and do some random quest to fulfil the requirements needed by the game’s pervert. Otherwise, so generic and plain that not even a million more animes of the isekai trope butchered can make it any better. They better do some justice to all the time I’ve invested watching in this series.