Eiyuu-ou Wo Kiwameru Tame Tenseisu: Soshite Sekai Saikyou No Minarai Kishi

Initially this is another one of those isekai series that I did not want to watch. Yeah, I thought I have had enough isekai animes of the season so not watching one or two won’t kill me or anything. After all, Eiyuu-ou Wo Kiwameru Tame Tenseisu: Soshite Sekai Saikyou No Minarai Kishi didn’t sound at all appealing. Oh you know, your typical isekai formula of dead main character being reborn again and with a second chance in life, is able to do all the things she has missed out in her previous life. Meh. Boring. However, something in my guts kept bugging me to watch this. I don’t know, I tried to brush it off but the tingling was persistent. And then I gave in and realized that… OMFG MAMIKO NOTO HAD A CAMEO HERE???!!! HOLY SH**********T!!!!!!!!! I didn’t even look at the casting list at all! What a f*cking pleasant surprise!!! And here I thought of resigning to fate of her retiring from active voice acting and my ‘search’ to find animes of yesteryears featuring her was put on ice for the time being. And then this. Wow. I’m so glad I trusted my guts!

Episode 1
The hero king, Inglis has reached the end of his life. Everybody is sad of this great king’s passing. So great that even the goddess Alistia pays him a visit and thanks him for all the greatness he has brought to his kingdom. If there is anything he wants, she will grant it. Speaking of which, he wants to be reincarnated. Because he spent his time ruling, he didn’t have time to master his sword. He hopes to reincarnate in a time where he can dedicate his time to the blade. Consider it done as she looks forward to their reunion in the distant future. And so Inglis Eucus is reborn again but as a girl! Though, his past life memories and aether (some sort of natural magic) are still retained. One day, a magic beast attacks the place. Mom runs over to her sister’s place so their babies can be safe. But when a dragon breaks into the place, young Rafael Bilford (Inglis’ cousin) is left to fend for his mom, baby sister Rafinha and aunt. Too bad he is still weak. Inglis sees this as an opportunity and uses her magic to blast the dragon easily away into the sky! Inglis looks forward to fight such creatures in the future. A few years later, our little ones have grown up. The young ladies are still apprentice in their sword training and Rafael is deemed a prodigy and a future holy knight potential. During the knights’ training, the merchant company of Rambach visits and the president hopes to have a mock duel with his son, Rahl. Rahl easily defeats the knights and put them to shame. Inglis can see he uses some magic to bind their movements. Because the knights are unaware of this, it proves that people in this era has lost concept of it. Inglis then hints to Rafael not to look into Rahl’s eyes when fighting. He does so but because he didn’t see where he is going, crashes into the wall, giving Rahl another victory. Inglis wants to spar next and after a few provocations, Rahl agrees. Inglis easily dispels his magic and even fights with her eyes closed! Damn, she’s making a fool out of him! Eventually she wins and everyone rejoices except for Rahl of course.

Episode 2
The girls take a baptism to decide what kind of rune class they will have to become a knight. Rafinha gets a high class one but Inglis, she gets none?! Apparently Inglis knows the trick on how runes get imprinted on one’s hand and repelled it. While many are shock, they also accept this. All part of Inglis’ plan to not let such a thing guide her fate as she wants to freely practice honing her skills. And to do that, she will become Rafinha’s squire. Many more years passed and our ladies are now 12 years old. They talk about this floating island known as Highland. Highlanders provide important materials for the surface dwellers to fight against magic beasts especially the high end classes known as Prismer. In return, they are given food and other stuffs. Basically Highlanders are like their gods. Inglis has done a lot of research of the kingdom she once ruled but none were written anywhere in history. What happened to it? The duo attend a party to welcome a Highlander and a royal inspector. This happens once a few years. Because Rafael has some other business, the girls have fellow knight, Leon Olfa as company. They meet the royal inspector, Shiony and shockingly the Highlander is Rahl! Apparently if you pay them enough money, they’ll grant you citizenship. Leon then brings the girls to meet his fellow knight, Eris. WTF she slaps him instead?! But soon a commotion back at the party as Rahl has burnt Shiony to death for defying him. Rahl can even cook up an excuse on how Shiony died. He is about to target Shiony’s knight but Inglis stands up and notes he still has a grudge against her. As promise not to harm anyone, she will come alone to his place as requested. Later that night as she makes her way, Eris stops her because she can’t let Inglis be defiled. On the contrary, Inglis looks happy to fight her and this has Eris confused because she is highly skilled without a rune. Inglis then powers up so they can fight more but then Eris doesn’t want to and believes she is strong enough to defend herself against Rahl. Inglis curses showing off and now she can’t get to fight! Instant regret. Suddenly Eris is attacked by Leon.

Episode 3
Is Leon betraying them for the Highlanders? Yes and no. Tired of them ruling over them, Leon has joined the guerrilla group known as Bloodchain Brigade. While on the outside they look like they are causing chaos, their goal is to drag those Highlanders down to the ground. Hence the goal of stealing their technology and spread it so they will no longer be ruled by them. He knows he can’t do it alone and that’s why he needs their help. The ladies refuse and especially Inglis who is more interested in just fighting the strong. They start fighting as Inglis quickly gets a grasp of how Leon’s artefact works. After all, her goal is to become strong enough to defeat a Prismer alone. Fight interrupted when Rafinha is seen escaping the clutches of a magic beast. Well, that is actually Rahl and he turned into one. Is that possible? Apparently Bloodchain Brigade created some drug that affects only Highlanders. There is no way to reverse this miserable death. Now that Leon has achieved his mission, he flees. Inglis and Eris kick the monster half way across town! Obviously the power is all from Inglis and this is to hide the fact that it would be chaos if people learnt a runeless person like her defeated the monster. But the actual truth is to use Eris as the cover so she won’t be stuck with duties protecting this town. Inglis puts Rahl out of his misery with a huge blast. In the aftermath, Leon is deemed to have betrayed them while Eris takes all the glory in this case. Now Inglis and Rafinha are 15 years old, they set out on their journey to the royal capital to enrol in the royal knights academy. Along the way, they stop by in this Nova town and learn the ruler is a Highlander. Surprisingly Seilyn is a good ruler and life improved compared to the previous one. They meet her as Inglis asks about the irregular mana flow she has felt that is slowly being drained from people. Seilyn is unaware of it. Too bad for Inglis as she is hoping to fight that powerful person. Seilyn has a request of them and it’s not fighting magic beasts but people. Apparently a few disgruntled people she fired are forming a rebel group against her. These are wicked people who served under the previous ruler. They go to their hideout and obviously get surrounded. Looks like they also have a strong mercenary on their side.

Episode 4
While Rafinha handles the rebels, Inglis eagerly fights Sistia Rouge. Eventually Sistia loses and she is confused why she is serving a Highlander especially about the shady things going on in the shadows. Inglis doesn’t care about fighting for justice and is just repaying for the meal she was served. Sistia plays dirty by taking Rafinha hostage and threatens to kill her. Inglis allows her to escape but warns if she does this again to Rafinha, she’ll definitely die. After the rebels are captured, Seilyn won’t kill them and hopes to persuade them to do good. If they are willing to change, she’ll rehire them again. Then she brings Inglis and Rafinha to the bottom of the castle and shows this magic circle that is the source of the draining. It seems once it has enough mana, the land will break away and float up in the sky, becoming a new Highland. Because those who go up there will normally become slaves, she hopes this new breakaway land will be for those to live freely. She is not sure if her actions are right and asks Rafinha’s opinion. If she is wrong, feel free to cut her down. Don’t look at Inglis, you’re the boss. Rafinha decides to believe in her. But that night, Seilyn turns into a magic beast. Oh, who drugged her tea? It’s the innkeeper who wants revenge on her son who was killed by a Highlander. She is part of Bloodchain Brigade and so is Sistia who is here to kill Seilyn although Inglis won’t allow that. The leader of the Bloodchain Brigade shows his face. Actually, still masked. Since he has no name, we’ll call him Black Mask for easier reference. Inglis is excited as she fights this strong dude but she can’t waste time in that and needs to deal with Seilyn going berserk. When she is about to kill a few orphan kids, it seems their voice reached her so she tries to kill herself. Inglis prevents that and has a suggestion. She wants them to distract her while she tries out something. If she fails, do as you wish. Black Mask agrees but in return once this is over, she must leave Nova and Bloodchain Brigade will destroy that magic circle. Inglis converts her aether into mana to freeze Seilyn. Black Mask then uses his ultimate magic to suck away all the aether inside her. This means Seilyn is now a small in size and can no longer grow and threaten others. Bloodchain Brigade leaves as their only enemies are Highlanders. Inglis and Rafinha leave for the royal capital and Seilyn is now a little cute fairy version joining them.

Episode 5
In the next town, it seems magic beasts start to attack. Inglis is eager to fight as she rushes to where the action is. Leone Olfa thinks she is in the way but after Inglis shows her chops, both girls team up to get rid of the remaining magic beasts. When the knights will reward everybody except Leone whom they call a traitor, the arrival of Rafael and Ripple calm things down. Apparently Leone is the sister of Leon who as we know has betrayed the knights to join that guerrilla group. Rafael is happy to see Inglis and Rafinha here as he learns their deeds at Nova. They also learn more about Leone especially Leon who was their town’s first knight. Everyone was proud of him until his betrayal. Thus Leone’s mission is to become a full-fledged knight and capture him. This means enrolling in the knight academy as Inglis and Rafinha. Before they depart, Rafael shows them this frozen Prismer. It could be what that is attracting magic beasts to attack this town. So the knights are carrying it away. Ripple knows it will soon revive so they’re carrying away next to the border to fend off enemies. Inglis feels it is a waste because powerful enemies destroy each other, she wants a piece of that action. Ripple promises to call her when that happens. Our ladies soon enrol at the academy and after Prince Wein’s speech, the principal, Miliera has the newbies instantly undergo training. Everyone is put under some gravity spell and if they can last 10 minutes in this ring without being thrown out by monsters, they get free food for a whole month. Inglis kicks the monsters out immediately! Miliera trying to shift the goal post but it happens again. So after striking a deal, this time Inglis waits until everybody gets thrown out and the timer to reach zero before winning. As the girls withdraw to their rooms, it seems Liselotte Arcia does not want to be Leone’s roommate. B*tch making a fuss to be reassigned. This is when Inglis and Rafinha will gladly take Leone in and the trio can have a nice time sleeping together on their small cramped bed.

Episode 6
I know the food is free but Inglis and Rafinha going through how many rounds of sets already?! Need all the energy they can get, huh? The trio also makes friends with Pram and Rati. Since they are from a different country, they aren’t familiar with Leone’s case nor do they care. Training begins as the instructor has everyone put on their running shoes to run to the dock. Easy for Inglis, right? At the dock, they learn how to fly this, well, Flying Gear. At the end of the day, Inglis, Rafinha, Leone, Liselotte and Pram get summoned for a special test. Because the academy deems them with potential, if they pass within a certain time frame, they can get into their recommended programmes. This is a test of mental strength and fortitude so Miliera sends them into a door each. Inglis sees enemies she has fought as well as people in her early life. When she faces one who is from her previous life, she finds this in bad taste so she blasts the ceiling. So this is all just layered? Above her is Liselotte. She is regretting mistreating Leone and was only doing so to be careful as she is the daughter of a chancellor. She hopes Inglis can pass on her apology to Rafinha since she has been avoiding her. As they get to the next layer, they see Leone facing the ghost of her past. Everyone trying to get her for being a traitor. Of course Inglis intervenes and saves her skin. Liselotte taking this chance to apologize and just like that they become friends. Soon everyone except Pram passes as they emerge from the door. So sad for Pram and she got tossed out after going in. Liselotte also makes up with Rafinha. Then she welcomes back Leone to her room to become roommates as the quartet start their sleepover party.

Episode 7
There will be a party hosted by Liselotte’s father so you bet the quartet are invited. Free food, right?! As they shop for a dress, a magic beast attacks but it is quickly put down by Eris and Ripple. However Ripple is obviously not feeling well despite she claims otherwise. This magic beast is not a Highlander but a demihuman that is Ripple’s kind. Eris hopes to have the new Highlander emissary investigate this. At the party, the big eaters are about to dig in when magic beasts pop up and ruin everything. Protect the food?! How about protecting the people?! We see everyone helping to take down the magic beasts but looks like I’ve seen everything because Inglis shooting beams from her finger and she’s like dancing?! When it’s over, the girls can happily eat but there is more pressing issue. Ripple has collapsed and a barrier is formed around her. It is believed this led to the summoning of the magic beasts. Wein has the Highlander emissary, Theodore give his input on this and he believes the Hierarchy is behind this. You see, even Highlanders are split into 2 factions. Grand Duchy wants to share humans their technology while Hierarchy wants to keep it all for themselves. Both sides sent a Hyral Menas (strong knight) to maintain the balance but with Ripple as one created by Hierarchy, they found a way to destroy her from within. While they are sad about this, they try to maintain positive to bring Ripple back. Inglis getting jealous when Theodore tries to get too close to Rafinha. But when Theodore realizes who they are, he thanks them for saving his sister, Seilyn. He hopes to find a way to change her back but too bad Seilyn prefers to stay in Inglis’ boobs rather than go back to her brother. When Ripple comes to, she is saddened what happened and is willing to die to prevent this. Inglis suggest to bring her to the academy. This can also save the knights expending some men to watch over her. If she ever summons magic beasts, you bet Inglis and friends will defeat it. Yeah, she’s just itching for a fight, huh? Since there are no better solutions, Wein leaves Ripple in Miliera’s care.

Episode 8
Ripple is introduced to the students of the academy. A few seniors are tasked to protect her and one of them being Silva Eiren, the only student with a special class rune and the brother of Ledas who is head of the royal guard. Silva is a strict and prideful jerk because he looks down on Inglis as a squire and worse, badmouths Leone the traitor. To determine their worth, a mock battle is suggested. Second year Yua doesn’t want to participate and finds it all bothersome. She hints she knows who is stronger (spoiler alert: she bested Silva before). Ripple then starts to go into that barrier coma again. Miliera initiates another barrier so the students can fight the magic monsters. Silva is upset when Inglis and the rest fight on their own instead of listening to his orders. Yeah, Inglis only using her kicks and slaps on the monsters! The monsters eventually are taken care of although there is some damage to the building structure. Of course Silva blames Inglis and her pals for not holding back like he did and that’s why the damage. Yua is bad with names and gives everyone nicknames like Inglis = Boobs; Rafinha = Little Devil; Liselotte = Curly Hair; Leone = Boobs #2. Since Inglis is itching to fight Ripple, the latter agrees since she also wants to see her strength. Theodore gives Leone a special artefact that can isolate space as she is most compatible to it. So in this alternate space, Inglis and Ripple fight to their heart’s content. Inglis seemingly cornered at first. After all, sword vs gun? Until Inglis deflects Ripple’s bullets and forces her to take evasive action, allowing her an opening to defeat Ripple. When she was sent flying, Miliera put up a barrier to stop her fall. She noticed some of her mana was sucked away. They test it on Liselotte’s artefact but nothing happens. But when Miliera uses Liselotte’s artefact, Ripple absorbs everything. It is deduced that she can only take mana from a holy knight with special class rune. With that, Ripple falls into that barrier coma again. Leone cannot maintain this space anymore and so the magic beast pops up in reality.

Episode 9
Inglis may be able to deal some damage by kicking away the magic beast. But when it threatens to fall on Yua, she easily chops it in half! With the threat gone, Theodore reveals some of their observations. Ripple won’t be able to summon any more magic beasts for the time being since she has to absorb and accumulate mana from class runes. That will take some time before the next one happens. As for why those summoned are demihumans, because Ripple is one and such race can use telepathy to connect and summon. A fortnight passes and Inglis dreads no action. Hence she bugs Yua to show her skills but the latter being lazy will not do so unless Inglis tells her the secret to make her boobs big! Yes, Yua wants them to grow and show if off to the world! Can’t? Then no deal. WTF Inglis has Seilyn attack Liselotte’s boobs instead. Miliera then gives Rafinha a new artefact created by Theodore. When another magic beast summoned by Ripple attacks, this time Silva gets seriously wounded. This is only because he was protecting Rati who was protecting Pram from it. While other students blame them, Silva doesn’t because he believes it is his duty to do so. Thank goodness for Rafinha’s artefact with the help of Inglis channelling her mana healing him up. Later everybody apologizes to everybody so they make things even. Silva now looking more respectable instead of being a jerk on our first impression. WTF Rafinha thinks Silva is gay and into boys and that’s why he is kinder to Rati instead of Inglis?! WTF Pram can’t accept that because she can’t handle more rivals?! WTF?! Miliera then gets a letter from the royal guard requesting the handover of Ripple to them. This means sending her back to Highland and getting a new Hyral Menas. Of course they plan to oppose that and will continue guarding Ripple themselves. Meanwhile Leone and Liselotte are on patrol and stumble into a magic beast. It is taken out by an artefact and it seems it is leading them somewhere too. If you remember, this artefact belongs to Leon and yes, here he is. But it’s not only him. Bloodchain Brigade is here too.

Episode 10
Leone fights her brother while Sistia restrains Liselotte. Black Mask then reveals the royal court has decided to offer the land of Almen (hometown of Leone and Leon) to the Hierarchy so as to restore relations with them. They will also hand over the Hyral Menas and a Highlander emissary will arrive. Bloodchain Brigade will use this chance to kill the emissary. They’re telling them this because they don’t intend to stop them and they are free to do as they wish. Highlanders are their enemy. Just don’t get in their way. Leone and Liselotte return to report to the rest what happened as Inglis comes up with a plan. Inglis and Rafinha will dress up as maids to infiltrate the party. I approve! Since Silva is so adamant in protecting Ripple, Rafinha thinks he likes her. On the contrary, he respects her. He tells of his past where a friend of his died while protecting from a magic beast. Had not Ripple came to save him, he would’ve shared the same fate. Her words for him to become strong and protect others made him who he is today. But he still thinks Ripple doesn’t acknowledge him because he isn’t strong enough to fight alongside her yet. As Inglis and Rafinha infiltrate the party (boy, they sure helping themselves to the food even though they are servants!), King Carius introduces Ivel the Highlander emissary. Don’t be fooled by this young lad’s looks. He is nasty and looks down upon everybody. He badmouths them all for trying to suck up to him and calling them stupid. Carius applauds him for his genius and all and everyone follows suit. While this does not sit well with Rafinha, Inglis finds this approach interesting. Sucking up to others just to protect his people. When a magic beast attacks, during the chaos a Bloodchain Brigade disguised as a royal guard tries to kill Ivel. Inglis holds him back only for Ivel to kill him off. He blames Carius for this farce and will not accept his apology since they are of different status. Instead, he cuts off his hand and Carius thanks him for his mercy. Inglis and Rafinha then help heal and reattach Carius’ arm. Ivel wants somebody’s arm as replacement so Inglis happily offers hers. But Ivel soon is dumbfounded as he cannot cut it off (some strong barrier she’s erecting). He gets desperate and the more Inglis eggs him on, the more she is making him look like a fool. He wants her to fight him with full power and reveal her true identity but obviously Inglis is making a fool out of him. Ivel has had it as he reveals the reason he came here was not to mend their relations or send them a new Hyral Menas.

Episode 11
The place is being attacked by Bloodchain Brigade. Ivel reveals this party is just a diversion and a trap to lure them out so he could destroy those pesky rebels. Because he lied to the king and all, Inglis classifies him as a villain and Carius just needs to give the order to kill him. Oh well, capture him alive is what he orders. Will do too. Ivel creates a barrier that cuts anything that touches. He is shocked when Inglis knows this trick and she even tells him to concentrate it to one spot. He thinks it’s a dirty trick to attack his other weakened spots but she assures not. Or is this the Highlander’s way of cowardly fighting? He does so as Inglis gives the strongest kick that breaks that barrier and sends him flying out!!! With the chaos, our lovely maids head off to stop Bloodchain Brigade. This means Inglis has a chance to face off with Black Mask. Meanwhile on Silva’s side, they are preparing to get things moving. Miliera reminding this operation is voluntary and anyone who wants to leave to do so. Well, I guess it doesn’t apply to Yua. PLEASE STAY! Ripple giving her heartfelt thanks to everyone helping ad so the mission starts as she absorbs the powers of special class runes to summon those magic beasts for everyone else to take out. We return to our epic aether power battle between Inglis and Black Mask. Interrupted when Ivel returns from the heavens. Highlander vs Bloodchain Brigade boss. When Leone is at her limit and the few magic beasts prove too powerful, here comes Leon to help out. No sneaky tricks whatsoever, just his genuine intentions to help. This includes using a special mist to help heal everyone. Now for the final performance as he finishes the operation on Ripple. With everyone around knocked out, a huge badass Prismer appears. Look who is itching for a fight?

Episode 12
Inglis in a dilemma on which strong ones to fight! Uhm, I thought she would take them all together! Black Mask and Ivel resume their match but it won’t be a long one. With Sistia transformed into a rainbow spear for her master, this is able to pierce through Ivel’s barrier and even ‘vanish’ this kid into nothingness! Holy smoke! Not much of a challenge, huh? With Bloodchain Brigade’s mission over, Black Mask won’t stay to fight Inglis but gives her their Flying Gear so she could head over to her comrades fighting the Prismer. So we see them doing so and unfortunately Yua gets absorbed into the Prismer although not 100% but in time she will. Ripple has awakened and enough to join her comrades fight. She might still be on another fighting level but is still weakened. Silva wants her to become his weapon and they can defeat this monster. However despite she doesn’t will it, Silva’s strong will forces her to transform into this rainbow gun. Leon and Miliera warn him not to do it but Silva is hell bent on getting the job done. Unfortunately Inglis breaks through Miliera’s barrier and knocks him out. I guess nobody is going to steal her limelight. Now see Inglis fight to her heart’s content. Even when the Prismer fires beams at all direction that threatens to destroy the city, oh wow, Inglis is so fast that she knocks away all the beams!!! OMFG!!! CAN THIS BE REAL???!!! Now better hurry up and save Yua before she gets fully absorbed. Long story short, everybody combines their powers with Inglis before she ultimately deals the finishing blow. Prismer destroyed, Yua rescued and the town is safe. Wow. Just amazing. And you think Inglis and Rafinha can go to the cafeteria for their much needed food break but too bad it’s destroyed! Hah! Whose fault is that?! Wait till it is built back! Stay hungry… Soon, Inglis, Rafinha and Ripple are summoned by Carius. Due to her exceptional skills, Carius makes her the head of the royal knights. Before Rafinha can be sad that she won’t be with her anymore, Inglis turns this offer down. While her excuse is to always stay by Rafinha’s side the real reason is that post won’t see much frontline action. Yeah. Ripple and Inglis are glad Silva didn’t get to use her because they might have defeated the Prismer but it would’ve come with a heavy price. You think Carius is persistent in still wanting to talk to Inglis. Well, it’s to invite her to a feast as her reward. Can’t turn this down, can she? Now eat to your heart’s content! And once the school’s cafeteria is back, Inglis and Rafinha spare no chances in devouring everything!

One Punch Squire: There Can Only Be One!
Well, uhm, that’s so much about it. The day is saved once again until the next big threat that threatens the world. Heh. Only Inglis will see it as a form of entertainment and will be anticipating for such big fights. That is why I am slightly worried that in this world and time, it will not see peace because of Inglis’ craving for fighting the strongest. That’s right. I fear she might become the villain one day, stoking the flames of war and inciting nations to fight each other so that she can just get her kicks out of fighting something. Yes, fighting something even if it is weak is better than that. Sure, I might be getting way ahead of myself and speculating a lot of crap but from what I see from Inglis here, that kind of fate is not impossible. Let’s just hope I’m wrong.

To be honest, I felt the storyline is somewhat confusing. In the sense that I can’t see where this series is going. Mainly all I can see is Inglis fighting off whatever problems at hand with her brute strength. That is all. It is perhaps the title that helped in the confusion because it stated about a girl who was reborn to master the blade (on a trivial note, when I first read that line, I had to do a double take as I quickly misread it as masturbate!!!!!), in reality we don’t even see her honing her skills with the sword! Blame her for being so overpowered that she actually goes into fights with her bare fists! How can she master the blade when she is already overpowered in the first place! In fact, you could even say that she has overmastered it! I’m not surprised if she was. So yeah, a bit misleading there the title.

The series had other interesting potential such as the Highlanders as well as Bloodchain Brigade. It is very unfortunate that they are just very minimal here and everything is mostly focused on Inglis and her whatever shenanigans. These potentials could have brought an interesting take to the series’ story overall but for this season, they just feel so insufficient and insignificant that it doesn’t matter. That’s right. All for the sake of plot convenience, that is all. Even the curious mysterious of the land that Inglis first ruled until his death, it was quickly mentioned and then brushed off. Like as though they don’t want to touch on this subject any further. Because as you know me, I’m going to create dumb conspiracies about it. So you know why Inglis’ kingdom is not written anywhere in history? Because Inglis got reincarnated into another world and not the future! Holy sh*t! So this is technically an isekai anime?! Yup, seems probably. Or perhaps Highlanders have something to do with the destruction of that kingdom and erased it from history for whatever reasons. Yeah. That. Hence, perhaps making Inglis’ fight with them even more meaningful as act of revenge or something. But I guess as far as the end of this season is concerned, we’ll never know.

As for the characters, I find that they are mostly mediocre. Even with a handful of characters, I just feel that many of them are just shallow and that they are not fleshed out even decently. Of course the big bulk of the series focuses on Inglis and Rafinha as they are the main heroines. Inglis as a reincarnated character, the way I see her being such an eager beaver for fighting strong opponents, somewhat reminds me of the main character in Kuro No Shoukanshi. Yes, that guy who is always itching for a good strong fight. Inglis is perhaps the female version of him. And noticed that nearly evil expression she puts on when she realizes she has a chance to fight? That too.

Wanting to be freed of her past responsibilities, this is the excuse needed so that Inglis will not be tied down and thus the important factor so that she can do whatever she wants. This means she claims she doesn’t care about fighting for justice and all but to do as she wishes. Well, well. Doesn’t this remind you of the main character in Saikyou Onmyouji No Isekai Tenseiki? And while that on the surface may make her look selfish, of course we all know better that deep down she still cares. Can’t be a dick 100% because she still looks out for Rafinha whenever she is in trouble. And I suppose not having a rune mark on her hand also helps in this because dumb ones will look down upon her and before they know it, they get their asses handed to them. Say, doesn’t this hiding one’s powerful mark feel familiar like other isekai characters too? Oh I don’t know. Maou Gakuin No Futekigousha, Shikakumon No Saikyou Kenja…

The other annoying part of Inglis is because of her eagerness, it makes her look like an annoying retard. Oh you know, she’s so eager that she sounds like so enthusiastic and really looking forward to it like a kindergarten kid on her first field trip. Say, doesn’t that kind of enthusiasm remind you of a certain character? Oh I don’t know, does that Shadow dude in Kage No Jitsuryokusha Ni Naritakute seem pretty familiar? Yeah, we get it that her second life is much more exciting and that she’s just so overpowered and more powerful than anybody else here, but can she show a bit of restraint? I guess not.

The rest of the characters play second fiddle to Inglis and this includes Rafinha too. She is supposed to be the knight and Inglis her squire but as we can see, it is mostly the other way round. With Rafinha around, at least Inglis doesn’t go all out 100% because she somewhat plays the voice of reasoning and conscious before that squire goes berserk and all drunk in her fighting spree. Sorry, no yuri to be expected. But yeah, the biggest running joke about them is that they are big eaters. Only in anime when girls who have black hole stomach and pig out like there’s no tomorrow, and still remain slim and beautiful! No beauty regimen in this world can beat that! Sure, I presume they burn all that excess calories in fights but damn, the way they eat like as though hunger poverty stricken nations are not an issue in this world. The way the chow down everything they can rival or even put One Piece’s Luffy to shame! Oh heck, if the world is going to be destroyed, it is not because of Prismer, magic beasts and conspiring nations and megalomaniac Highlanders (“There can only be one!”). It is rather the world will run out of resources feeding these 2 chicks!!! Somebody do something about it!!! So other than caring about fights, the next biggest concern for them is whether or not they can eat! My goodness…

Other characters feel pretty meh once Inglis and Rafinha bombard many of the screen time. Because I still don’t pretty much get it about characters like Leone and Liselotte. It feels like they’re there so as to show Inglis and Rafinha has some cool teammates, that is all. Leone has some grudge against her traitorous brother and Liselotte, oh well, need a rich girl trope. I am still confused about the whole thing surrounding this Hyral Menas thingy so like Ripple and Eris falling under this category, uhm, what again? Then there is Silva who is just being too ambitious in wanting to repay his gratitude that there is this fear he might fall into the dark side. He works his ass off and his strictness makes him look like a jerk. No matter how much he puts in the effort, he can still never best or come close to Inglis! Feeling even way more insignificant are the Pram and Rati pair. I don’t know, it’s like they needed some secondary character so they’re that. In other words, just forgettable. Pram just being freaking over possessive over Rati because she likes him whatever but all that is overshadowed by the mighty Inglis somehow. That’s right. Forgettable. Even Yua feels the same only she is slightly more amusing because of her slacker attitude. She can afford to be lazy because she is powerful.

Like as though they needed some sort of cute mascot because I guess Ripple with animal ears wasn’t it and that’s why the need for Seilyn to become this chibi fairy following Inglis around. Falling from grace, her role has reduced to this insignificancy ever since and she only exists to remind us of the paltry fanservice this series tries to bait some viewers. Uh huh. For some odd reasons she likes to stay in between the cleavage of big breasted women. I wonder if those cushion effects felt nice. Because while Inglis was kicking ass, I am very sure here boobs will jiggle and shake a lot. Logic dictates that Seilyn would’ve had a major headache from all that impact but considering she didn’t even make any sound or complain, I bet she’s loving it there. Nice and warm. You don’t think Inglis left her somewhere else safe, do you? Where else could it be safer than in the bosoms of this big-eater-cum-big-fighter lady!!!

Now, there is this very interesting conspiracy theory that I have long thought about: What if Black Mask’s real identity is Rafael!!! One simple reason: You don’t see Rafael around in the most important of times, right? And do you not notice that Rafael and Black Mask are never in the same place together?! Holy sh*t! This is very curious and more interesting than anything else! Wein could also be that masked perpetrator but I’m betting it more on Rafael because this kid has shown some potential and it could serve as a plot twist in the future. In which, I wouldn’t be surprised when it happens. So yeah, Bloodchain Brigade is a hell of an interesting group because they are not entirely bad guys unlike the Highlanders. Or at least those stuck ups are painted so to us. My guess is that they are the ones who created magic beasts just to bring chaos to the surface dwellers. And to interestingly see how people suck up to them and that even among Highlanders there are factions, oh my, this series sure wasted such potential, huh? It’ll be a huge brawl when all sides come together in mortal combat and you bet Inglis will be there to snatch the win in this royal rumble!

As for the action parts, they just mostly feel passable. It was amusing at first to see Inglis being so overpowered and knocking things away with just a single punch, kick or slap. But then it got boring because well, overpowered characters can’t lose, right? Other characters have their own set of unique weapons to fight like Rafinha’s bow, Ripple’s gun shooting and Leone’s sword that can transport you to another dimension. Add some magic effects and voila. Magic fight! But it all just feels pretty average and nothing exciting. I mean, it’s not like any of these can top or even be more powerful than Inglis herself, right? Play support to her, yes. But fighting on their own as seen in the final arc, well, just buy enough time before the heroine comes to finish the job.

Art and animation are pretty standard with the characters having the bishoujo and bishonen looks. All the characters here look handsome and pretty, good or bad, young or old, like as though there are no ugly people that exists ever in this world. But there is one thing I would like to point out especially for the cute girls, somehow I noticed that they have this blush on their cheeks which makes them looking more like dolls. Maybe it’s just me but yeah, sometimes at certain angles it makes them look strange. Like as though dolls came to life. And of course, the CGI. While it is not the most terrible of quality, I thought it could have been a lot better. Mainly used on magic monsters, you can obviously see the difference although thankfully it is not that bad to break the scene visually. Still bearable but like I’ve said, could have done some better improvements. Or is this some sort of long term subliminal strategy to make us crave for 2D animation instead of 3D abomination?! Oh my! I’ve never thought of this until now! In that case, next time make your entire series 100% 2D animation, okay?! This anime was done by Studio Comet who is an old veteran studio that suddenly came out from their slumber. The studio who did School Rumble, Suzuka, Peach Girl, Saint October, the Jewelpet series and that gay Binan Koukou Chikyuu Bouei-bu Love suddenly got a new animation under their belt for this season.

Of course, now I’ve waited this long to get here so I can once again pay my homage to Mamiko Noto!!! OH YEAH!!! Good news and bad news, her cameo as Alistia was too short for me to be satisfied but still I’m happy that I got to hear her voice after a very long time. Yes, watching the opening sequences of the first episode, it sent my heart racing when I first heard this goddess of a voice. I know it won’t be often but I was hoping to hear her again at least in the final episode so as to give us some sort of cliff-hanger and teaser but unfortunately, none. That is her one and only appearance for this series. Came too fast. Gone too soon. Sighs. Oh well. Got to appreciate what I’ve been given.

There are a few seiyuus I recognized namely Yuuichi Nakamura as Leon, Aki Toyosaki as Seilyn and Naomi Oozora as Ripple. As long as Akari Kitou sounds like Tsukasa from Tonikaku Kawaii, I guess it’s safe I’ll be able to recognize her voice from now onwards. As Inglis, she’s just a chirpier version of Tsukasa. It has been a long time I haven’t heard from Eri Kitamura so she slipped by radar as Sistia. At this point I should’ve been able to pick out Katsuyuki Konishi as Black Mask and Miyu Tomita as Yua but I guess I’m sleeping on the job. The other casts are Ai Kakuma as Rafinha (Eris in Mushoku Tensei), Tomori Kusunoki as Leone (Makima in Chainsaw Man), Wakana Kuramochi as Liselotte (Lilia in Kinsou No Vermeil), Atsushi Tamaru as Rafael (Ayato in Gakusen Toshi Asterisk), Fumiya Imai as Silva (Hiiragi Kashima in Given), Haruka Shiraishi as Eris (Asirpa in Golden Kamuy), Kiyono Yasuno as Miliera (Witch in Edens Zero), Matsutomo Nakazawa as Theodore (Haruki in Given), Kouhei Amasaki as Rati (Haruo in High Score Girl), Hiyori Kouno as Pram (Housenka in Kunoichi Tsubaki No Mune No Uchi Ni), Shun Horie as Ivel (Kazuya in Kanojo Okarishimasu) and Jun Kasama as Wein (Koenig in Youjo Senki). The opening theme, Day1 by Auo featuring Morisaki Win might sound like a generic contemporary song and it does. Personally, feels like it doesn’t fit the pacing of the series. I only like the funky guitar play in the background. As for the ending theme, Self Hug Big Love by Yui Nishio, the song has some nice guitar strumming but other than that, it also feels generic.

Overall, the series feels like another of those generic and mediocre isekai themed series that has flooded our airwaves in recent years. As always, it had potential but wasted it all with its haphazard pacing. Instead what we got in this season are mostly cliché tropes of the isekai genre. Sure, it has its fun moments (term used very loosely in this context and more like trashy dumb fun) but at this point in time it will need to take more than that and something really way exceptional to change my perception and sentiments of this dreaded category. Oh well, if I’m coming back every season to watch them, it either means I still have hope for it or I’m just plain dumb. Sucking up to such series like Highlanders but only scorn them in my mind. Heh. Not even Inglis can punch, kick or slap her way out of this huge monster known as disappointment! Inglis meeting her match? Reborn to Master the Blame Game, From Sulking to Extraordinary Squalor! HAHAHA!!! Sighs…