Kuro No Shoukanshi

You know the drill. At this point does it really matter anymore? Yet another isekai themed anime with an obviously overpowered character from the start. Yeah. And seriously, why the heck do I keep continuing to watch such crap?! Oh, maybe deep down inside me, there is this hope that perhaps this isekai may be a little bit different and better than the rest of the ubiquitous garbage that have come and go. Maybe just a minute and small percentage would suffice. Oh heck. Who the f*ck am I kidding?! Maybe I’m just too dumb to let go of this genre after all. And just like that, Kuro No Shoukanshi fared no different from any dreaded isekai themed animes in my books and instantly became part of my obligated watch list of the season. Yeah…

Episode 1
Oh no. Not another guy being sent to another fantasy isekai because some god mistakenly killed him! WTF?! However, I am not sure if I should feel happy because when he reincarnated in this new world, he has no memories of his previous life! Phew? That is because as part of the contract to reincarnate here, he chose to forgo them. Wait. He chose that? WHY?! Anyway, a voice named Melfina has Kelvin choose his opening skills and all. Then as he heads to the town of Parth, she explains the god who got him killed, frantically came to her for help. Melfina is the goddess of reincarnation and agreed to let Kelvin get reincarnated and he fell in love with her at first sight and wanted her to accompany him in this new world. She agreed since she wanted to take a vacation! Another reason his previous self forgo his memories was to add more skill points. So what was he thinking in believing he can sacrifice his memories because he’ll fall for her all over again. She was so charmed she went along with this plan! Kelvin registers himself at the guild as Melfina warns him not to put his occupation as summoner as it is highly sought by many. So he writes down green mage instead. He is then told the ranking system and takes up a quest for his level. His first job is to kill 3 slimes. As a summoner, Melfina tells him how to tame a familiar. He tries to get a slime to submit but looks like he needs more than guts to tame this little blue thing. Yeah, getting owned by the weakest monster? Eventually Kelvin is successful and calls it Clotho. They continue killing other slimes. Melfina points out Kelvin is the only S-rank summoner around. This is why his familiars rank up faster. So remember to keep a low profile. On his way back after getting paid, he stumbles into an alley where a slave trader is selling elven slaves. Not much he can do now. He goes to rent a cheap inn for his level and then has his first meal. Melfina hopes he would level up enough so that she could too materialize in this world and experience its wonderfulness.

Episode 2
Kelvin has ranked up so fast that other adventurers are getting suspicious. Since he is going to take a higher ranking job, Cashel hopes of Kelvin joining his team for this next job. Of course we can all hear everyone whispering that Cashel is just trying to lead on Kelvin and crush his hopes. Too bad nobody in this guild is enough to stand up to him. Kelvin declines his offer but instead suggests a competition of who can defeat the dark knight first. Kelvin also claims he will go solo and allows Cashel to use his party members for this job. When Cashel and his members enter the ruins of a castle, they are shocked to see Kelvin already defeated all the undead. Kelvin then challenges them as he accuses them of wanting to take him out. The rest think their cover is blown since they have bounties on their head. Of course Kelvin is unaware of all that. Raj charges straight but gets trapped in his mud trap. Gimul escapes knowing Kelvin is bad news but Clotho who is now evolved into some huge Slime Gluttonia and knocks him out. Cashel tries to fight Kelvin but easily gets owned. Kelvin realizes they levelled up so fast and have high stats is because they defeated adventurers instead of monsters. Basically, it’s a crime. With the trio tied up, Kelvin goes to face the dark knight, Gerard. Analysing his great power, Kelvin changes his mind and wants him to join his party. Well, looks like Gerard is a pretty nice guy but he can’t stop talking! The country and king whom he served is long gone so he wants to see if Kelvin has what it takes to be his new king. They fight and Kelvin has to pull out all the stops just to be on par with him. When Kelvin seemingly corners Gerard, that is when the latter remembers his past life. Serving that kingdom of Alcarl, one day an elf came to his king and wanted this nation to serve his Lizea Empire to fight against the Holy Empire of Deramis. The king refused and a curse was put on Alcarl. Within a few days, everyone dropped dead. Even Gerard’s wife. He tried to take his daughter to run away but she too died. Hence Gerard remembers his lingering regret is vengeance. He wants Kelvin to help him out with his revenge. Kelvin then defeats him. Back at the guild, everyone is cheering for Kelvin for defeating the dark knight and also Cashel is no longer around to boss them around. They have been locked up and will be interrogated for their crimes. Gerard is now Kelvin’s servant and boy is his mind going to get noisy with everyone talking in his head.

Episode 3
Kelvin meets Leo who is a guildmaster. However Leo has top notch appraising skills so he can tell Kelvin is from another world and a summoner. Busted? As Kelvin worries about this, his familiars tell him to be frank about it and to make friends so he can share his secret. Kelvin admits to Leo about it but wonders why he didn’t take action against Cashel if he can see his true status. Well, Cashel is a noble from a military nation. That’s right. He can’t move unnecessarily and was trying to gather evidence. Just as he has got them, Kelvin got Cashel first. Getting down to business, Leo says that there were also many summoned heroes here. Hey, Melfina is the goddess of reincarnation, no? You see, heroes are summoned since the Demon King is about to be revived. However he wants Kelvin to protect him instead of the heroes. Because there are not many high ranking adventurers, when the Demon King revives, he wants those heroes to concentrate on defeating him. Leo believes Kelvin is hiding his identity for not wanting to get involved into power struggles between nobles. He promises true freedom if he helps him and of course to make him rise to the top before someone else forces Kelvin to join their cause. Since the terms are favourable, Kelvin agrees. Next day, Kelvin decides to go buy a slave. A female one! Sorry folks, it’s not for sex purposes! He needs someone who can support him from the rear. The back, not his ass! At the slave trading area, he notices that half-elf. However she has a curse that burns anyone who touches her. You bet this is the one he wants since she also fits all his fighting prerequisites. The slave trader is shocked when Kelvin wants to buy her. Did he not witness what happened? Oh, this money enough for you? Yeah. Now Kelvin owns her. Efil is glad for her freedom although she has not much memories of her past or parents. She is still worried about her curse but as expected, Kelvin learnt some ultimate blessing skill and just like that, Efil’s curse is lifted! So happy she cried. Oh Kelvin, you made a girl cry! Back at the inn, Claire the innkeeper dresses her up as a maid for some fanservice. Later Kelvin introduces the rest of his familiars and teach her how on how to use skill points and all. Because there are no extra rooms available, she sleeps in the same bed with him. Too bad she isn’t a spirit like the rest who can reside in his mind and take up space! Yeah, Kelvin can’t sleep the whole night…

Episode 4
Ever since Efil joined, everyone has been levelling up like mad and increasing their skill set. Ange (the guild’s receptionist) takes Kelvin and Efil out to some sweets café. Free show for everybody as they think the girls are fighting over him as they are just trying to feed him. This is ruined when this royal ruffian comes to interrupt. He is Prince Tabra of the neighbouring military kingdom of Trycen. As you can tell, this idiot wants the girls for himself so Kelvin easily knocks out his guards and makes him reveal his intentions here. Well, he is here to see Leo after hearing rumours of a very strong adventurer. Because only the strong can rule his kingdom, Tabra is so weak ass so he thinks of making that adventurer work under him to score some points. Kelvin knows that adventurer is himself so he refuses that. And that’s that. Bye, fatty. Meanwhile Melfina returns shortly to see the priestess, Colette. She sensed an evil presence in the western continent and wants Colette to send the heroes there and also keep them away from Parth. Back at the inn, Efil trying to troll us by trying to make out with Kelvin because she loves him and all. Not sure how he got away with just petting her but this has him think he needs to get a house. When Melfina returns, she shows the rest the heroes she summoned a year ago. Shockingly, their level is quite low unlike them who have levelled up considerably. Leo then summons Kelvin. Adventurers found a secret room that is said to contain a sealed demon. A job for Kelvin, right? He isn’t so sure until Leo brings up the case of a certain guy roughing up Tabra that could risk war between the countries. You bet Kelvin will take up this job. As they make their way to that secret room, they see a chained woman in the centre. Then the archdemon, Victor introduces himself and this woman, Sera who is the Demon Lord’s daughter. Victor purposely let adventurers discover this room so as to spread the word. You see, only humans can break free Sera’s seal. So he wants to free Sera and make her the next Demon Lord? Not quite. He wants to eat Kelvin’s powers since his power allows him to eat and steal those he devours. Then once he frees Sera, he will then devour Sera who has a great deal of power and install himself as the next Demon Lord. Kelvin isn’t flinching. In fact, he is so happy to fight a strong opponent that he has that rape face!

Episode 5
Victor summons a few undead. But it’s all child’s play for Kelvin and co, right? When they’re done with that, it’s time to face off with Victor. Looks like Victor is going to transform to his final form to ramp up the battle. Eventually Victor loses and Kelvin can tell he was lying about eating Sera because he protected her and that contributed to his loss. Victor lied so that Kelvin can seriously fight him. He begins his flashback how he was appointed as Sera’s caretaker by the previous Demon Lord Gustav. However Sera has been kept hidden away and never left the castle due to Gustav’s fear of his enemies using her against him. One day, the hero and his overwhelming army invaded the castle. Gustav ordered Victor to continue watching over Sera because of others know about her, not only humans but other demons would come after her too. Hence he casted a seal that only normal humans could break. When he died, the seal activated and Sera was whisked away to another land, hopefully she could live happily in a peaceful era. Victor has waited long for the previous hero to die and for the world to have peace. Victor’s last request is to let Sera join Kelvin’s party since he is strong and a summoner. Victor refuses Kelvin’s request to heal him and become his servant since he only serves Gustav. He hopes Kelvin can show Sera the world. Victor croaks and after Kelvin frees Sera, she heard everything during her slumber and breaks down in tears. With superb concealing magic, Kelvin is able to hide Sera’s demonic traits and tells the rest that the possessing demon in her is sealed. After Gerard levels up, the gang brings Sera back to Parth. Like a country bumpkin, she is very impressed and curious with everything. Yeah, she’ll be just fine. After Kelvin submits his report to the guild, he is not pleased he has been promoted to A-rank. Leo used this as his test for a promotion exam. Oh well, at least enjoy the party organized by Ange back at the inn. Kelvin is a bit concerned for Sera as she doesn’t join in and sits alone. But after reminiscing about Victor and his promises, Sera feels better and will life her life the best way they have given her.

Episode 6
Kelvin’s party has got more goodies and power ups. Suddenly he has this craving for rice and wants to eat it. Hence a journey to the country of Toraj where rice is grown abundant. This is also part of Kelvin keeping his promise to Victor to let Sera see the world. Along the way, they stumble into bandits known as Black Wind. They are an infamous name but as we all know, their power and level are nothing compared to Kelvin’s party, right? And so Kelvin sends Sera to deal with them. And no, she cannot use her weapons. Black Wind will be in for some torrid time as Sera easily defeats them with her bare hands. And this is just her holding back a lot! After the bandits are captured, they claim their boss is even more powerful. Now this piques Kelvin’s interest. At Toraj (looking so much like Japan!), they meet the guildmaster, Mist. A bit of history of Black Wind but they were brought down by Trycen’s hero, Christoph. However the hero now becomes the boss of Black Wind and is recently engaging in human trafficking. They have to be careful in dealing with this matter or there will be a war between both nations. While Kelvin isn’t particularly hyped since Christoph’s level is low for his standards, suddenly he has a devilish idea. Because a group of heroes led by Toya Kanzaki has arrived in Toraj. Kelvin will have them work for them. So when Toya and his party members see Mist and told about the situation, Toya quickly jumps into this mission (originally they were sent by Melfina to find some boat to the Empire of Risea in the west). Meanwhile this creepy effeminate Black Wind guy is about to rape one of the young girls. Just in time for Kelvin and co to barge in and beat him up. Just like that, the slaves are saved. Meanwhile Prisra is talking to Christoph and is not happy the way things are going. From what I can see, they are doing an undercover mission for Trycen but at this rate, they might get abandoned. Kelvin then barges in to fight him. However he isn’t interested in him and is just a stepping stone for the next big fight. Toya’s party enter the hideout and is baffled to find the slaves are okay and the bandits taken out. One of the slaves claim their saviour is fighting the remnants and might not stand a chance. Toya quickly rushes there and sees Christoph and co down. He thinks he is too late and Kelvin is the Black Wind boss. Yeah, Kelvin has been waiting for you.

Episode 7
Obviously Kelvin is playing the villain as he provokes Toya to fight him. He proposes a game where Kelvin alone takes on all of them. The loser must do what the winner wants. All this is part of the plan to let the heroes testify about the slave trade because Christoph and co will not have Trycen backing them. The fight begins as Toya and his girls get on the offensive. Kelvin is faster as he uses his newly acquired skill from Victor’s clothes to copy the skills of Miyabi Kuromiya. He can copy up to 2 skills from others and each time he copies a new one, it replaces the older one. With Miyabi down, Toya tells the rest to help her while he fights Kelvin alone. Apparently that isn’t enough too so Setsuna Shiga comes to his aid. Not that it will change anything either. Because Toya is so obsessed in taking this villain down in the name of justice, Setsuna slaps him! Damn, this awkwardness just killed the mood. She reminds him how they were summoned by Colette one day from their classroom. It was scary at first but because they’ve always been together, that’s why they’ve gotten this far. So basically, teamwork, no? With everyone thinking straight now, this time they move and coordinate better to fight Kelvin. But still, Kelvin is superior and can break out from whatever they throw at him. Nana Mizuoka then throws the most powerful spell that the party could possibly have. Kelvin is in a bind and it looks like he could be done for. Your worries are for nothing as Kelvin does an unprecedented move to create a whole new spell to break out! Then he defeats them one by one and finally Toya himself. So why doesn’t a strong guy like him use his powers for the better of the world? That’s for heroes. Kelvin is not a hero. So don’t force your ideals on him. He’s not into that. When Toya and co wake up, they realize the truth that Kelvin isn’t the baddie and is the saviour of the slaves instead. Toya soon realizes that Kelvin fought them so as to analyse their skills. Did you not notice he was giving you advice on your skills during the fight? Toya apologizes and admits his defeat. Now he is calling Kelvin his master?! Kelvin would now have his wish: Strip naked! WHAT?! Are we going into that gay sh*t?!

Episode 8
After parting ways with the slave, Mist thanks Kelvin and from now they will take it from here to interrogate Christoph and the other Black Wind members. Kelvin returns to the rest. So everyone is in their swimsuits because they’re going to same S-rank monsters. Sorry folks if you’re expecting some nudity. Because there isn’t. This is also partly to help teach and guide the Deramis heroes to do better. Kelvin learns how they were summoned by Colette and then asks how he is going to deal with the S-rank monster. Toya’s obvious answer is to run since he is not strong enough to deal with it. But others may die. True. But his comrades’ safety comes first. He may gain an unfavourable reputation from it but he promises to become stronger and then he will win. Kelvin accepts that answer and then goes to destroy the monster. Soon, both sides part ways as Toya’s party sails across the sea, which is their original mission to begin with. Kelvin gives them some stats boost pendants. Kelvin then remembers Lizea lies across the continent and asks if they pick a fight with them, can they win? Gerard never thought it was possible but now he has friends and levelled up, it is. Then they have an audience with Toraj’s empress, Tsubaki Fujiwara. For their achievements, she will grant anything but Kelvin only wants their rice. Not money, land, fame or status because they enjoy their freedom. Tsubaki is willing to give as much rice as they want for free and for life. Kelvin enjoys his Japanese cuisine. Tsubaki tries to flirt with him and convince him to work for her but I guess he saw Efil’s scary face so he has to decline and says they have to return to Parth. Yeah. Elf maid > empress. But they don’t have to walk all the way back as Tsubaki opens a teleport gate for them. Kelvin doesn’t know about it because that sly Leo never told him! Back home, Kelvin decides to buy a house. Not a new slave because that look on Efil’s face again! With a new place to call home, the mother and daughter slave they saved, Elly and Luca are now working as their servants. That night, Melfina returns. It has been a while but looks like she has finally got a physical form. So this angel type is right up Kelvin’s alley?

Episode 9
Melfina is introduced to the rest. She rewards Kelvin for summoning her successfully by giving him her grace. He will enjoy 2 effects: The first being preventing him from dying from a fatal wound once per month. The other is summoning heroes. As Melfina spars with Sera (holy sh*t, goddess vs demon?!), Kelvin ponders about this hero summoning thingy. Since he is stressed about this, he talks to Melfina about the need to summon heroes. Yeah, isn’t Kelvin good enough?! Anyway, Melfina explains the Demon Lord is a natural occurrence and cycle that even she cannot predict. All Demon Lords possess 2 basic abilities: To affect others that would warp their personalities and to nullify all effects. Kelvin worried he can’t defeat the Demon Lord like that? I thought he likes a good fight? This is where heroes from another world comes in because they are not bound by rules of this world. How convenient. So if Kelvin himself is one, why does he need to summon then? Not sure about this need to give things the proper appearance. As Kelvin doesn’t want to summon others just like that, Melfina suggests another summoning via reincarnation. Oh you know, reincarnate the souls of the dead. This one takes less MP and they can choose whatever skills or appearance. It doesn’t take long for Kelvin to decide. After talking to the rest, he is going to summon a hero. The process begins as he successfully summons Rio Saeki to this world. She is so happy to be reincarnated that she cries herself out. Kelvin also passes out since this ritual used up a lot of energy. When they are up again that night, Rio can’t help feel the excitement of being alive again. You see, her whole life is spent in hospital until the day she died. Kelvin also explains how he too was summoned here but exchanged his memories for skills. He thanks to all the people he met that made him go this far. Kelvin won’t force her to stay. However she is grateful for this second chance in life so she wants to go on adventures with him. Kelvin would like Rio to go along with his story that they are half-siblings since their black hair is very rare in this parts of the world. He also has a request for her to change her name because it reminds him of an unpleasant person (Leo, isn’t it?!). In that case, she’ll be Rion since this is her fantasized character.

Episode 10
Kelvin finds Melfina and Sera flanking him while he sleeps. Even Rion is down there too. But sorry folks, it’s not that kind of anime… Soon Kelvin takes everyone to the forest. Even his servants. He wants them including Rion to level up. Don’t worry, they don’t have to fight. Sera, Gerard and Clotho will be fighting the monsters. Then they’ll share their XP with them. Gee, how easy. So why need them to be here and leave golems to guard their house? Do they need to be in a certain proximity to share XP? Like Bluetooth technology?! A stray wolf attacks so Kelvin impresses his party by subduing it easily. Yeah, now it is domesticated and their pet, Alex! Also in this forest is Urd and his party. They are here to kill monsters as test to get promoted. Damn, those guys are really jealous that Kelvin has got hot chicks with him. Yeah, that demoralized them for the test. But even if they got over that, there are no monsters left to kill because Sera and Gerard killed them all! Back home, Rion trains under Gerard and Sera and is progressing well. Due to her skill set, she is able to communicate with Alex. One night, shady people surround their house. Turns out they are from Trycen and they want revenge. Seeing they are so low level, Kelvin has Rion show the fruits of her training. Yeah, if a kid like her can take those goons down, they aren’t much of a threat. Of course Kelvin faces off with the group’s boss before he could escape. He lucked out. Meanwhile in Trycen, Emperor Zel has a meeting with his children who are also high ranking generals, Azgrad and Shutora. Also in this meeting are generals Dan Dalba and Tristan Faze. Dan is upset with Tristan that his blunder has caused the nations of Toraj, Deramis and Gaun to form an alliance against them. This risks war but Tristan dares them to bring it on. While everyone is enjoying peace and turning soft, Trycen has been building their military. As it is Trycen’s goal to conquer and unite the continent, Shutora doesn’t think now is the right time. Azgrad is in favour of war as he wants to test his new dragons. With Dan against this, the score is tied. It all goes down to Clive Therese but he is absent. Dan sends his son, Jin to get him. Is he interrupting because pretty boy Clive just shagged his entire female knight platoon.

Episode 11
Leo tells Kelvin that Trycen has been spotted doing sneaky activities at several kingdoms’ borders. A few skirmishes here and there but nothing major. It could be that they are doing recon or acquiring slaves. Because there might be political changes in Trycen, war cannot be ruled out. Leo gives Kelvin a letter from King Leonhart who is the Beast King of Gaun. He has personally requested to meet Kelvin. Oh, this will also serve as his S-rank exam. As they make their way there, they are ambushed by several elves. The elven chief, Nelras realizes who they are and apologizes. He has also been told by Leonhart on this. When he sees Efil, he is shocked that Lumil is still alive. Well, it’s a case of mistaken identity so before they get down to business, Nelras tells about 20 years ago, a Fire Dragon King attacked their village looking for an elf who humiliated him. Half of their people died and they had no idea what provoked him. An elf named Lumil then stood up and offered herself to be the victim of his wrath in exchange for sparing others. As she is not the one he is seeking, he agreed as long as she became his bride. She agreed and they went away. However a few years later, they found Lumil’s corpse in the forest. Fearing the dragon’s wrath, the elves fled their original continent for here. It could be that Lumil is Efil’s mom. Melfina confirms half-elves are only born between humans and elves. Yeah, dragon DNA too strong! Getting on with business. It seems now their village is being attacked by monsters whose goal is to kidnap elves. Because Gaun’s soldiers have failed, hence Kelvin’s party is called. Kelvin gets permission to remodel the village. As Trycen’s soldiers and monsters make their way to this village, they are silently ambushed. This is thanks to Kelvin being the eye for Efil’s sniping with her godly weapon created by Kelvin of course. Kelvin’s remodelling includes this watchtower, creating a huge earth wall around the village as well as a deadly moat. With the unit leader captured for interrogation, a soldier rushes back to camp to tell the operation leader of this failure. Even more unbelievable as he hears stories of only Sera, Melfina and Rion with Alex taking out all their top monsters. He then sends Gigante Lord as his final card. Melfina has Rion and Alex handle this. Doing so might earn her the right to be a full fledge adventurer. Of course with Kelvin made weapons, she can’t lose, right? Yeah, making it so easy! Even with Gigante Lord turning into its true flaming form, don’t let that intimidate you because it’s all child’s play for Rion! Kelvin manages to block a powerful magic attack in time from Clive. He senses he is a powerful guy. Yeah… Getting excited?

Episode 12
Clive takes a liking for Efil and wants her to be his. However Kelvin makes it clear that nobody touches his woman! And hence a battle between them begins. Kelvin analyses his stats and can tell that he is a reincarnated one. Likewise, Clive too deduces Kelvin is the same. But unlike Kelvin, Clive doesn’t care about this world and does as he wishes since he has been given the ultimate power, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, why waste such gifts when in the original world he had none. Both sides go for each other’s throat until Kelvin puts a scratch on Clive’s face. Yeah. Now he is so mad. Pulling up the greatest magic to destroy everything, Kelvin also pulls out his greatest staff. Hope whatever he is trying will world. Oh heck, who am I kidding? Look who we’re talking about! Kelvin’s slash manages to destroy Clive’s spell. Clive is now panicking because both his legs are cut. Begging for your life? Kelvin is about to finish him but Tristan collects him. Can’t let Clive be killed as he still has value. Tristan introduces himself as the mastermind behind this and admits defeat. The losers will retreat. Look forward to next time. With the battle over, the rest Kelvin’s girls try to race back to him and be the first because doing so earns his praise? Well, Rion wins. Imagine, a human beating a demon and a goddess! Meanwhile Clive is healed but he is chained up. Tristan then has his men experiment on him. That is his worth as a reincarnated one. He tests all 1342 cursed weapons on him to see what will happen. Don’t worry. When he is about to die, he will be healed. Rinse and repeat. As the elven village party to celebrate their victory, Kelvin counts his blessings and couldn’t be more thankful for meeting such great comrades. After all, he doesn’t want to have regrets again. Did he just remember something from his previous life?! When a young elf girl goes up to him, turns out she is Leonhart! Actually he has an item that changes his appearance. In this form, he was watching him so safe to say, Kelvin passes and is now S-rank. Congratulations! In 4 days, they will be holding an official promotion ceremony. Kelvin will be there to have a mock fight with other S-rank fighters. Oh dear. Look at that battle junkie face. Can’t wait to face more powerful foes.

Always Up For A Good Fight
Oh well people, are we still up for it? Good for Kelvin if he gets to finally experience more adrenaline rushing fights that he has always wanted. But for the rest of us, I think we’re done. Am I right? We’re not part of his party so we are not obligated to follow him everywhere he goes and the battles he will and wants to fight. All I’m trying to say is that if they don’t come up with another sequel, we are pretty fine and happy with that! So far so good as this point of writing…

As I have suspected and expected, the story isn’t anything exciting as it checks off the list of what is basically needed for an isekai themed anime like this. You know, mostly Kelvin showing why he is a force to be reckoned with and not mess with because of his overpowered and God-like abilities. Those who are too dumb to figure it out themselves will learn the hard way and experience the pain and humiliation first hand. So as this season’s story is mostly bland and boring, they leave it late for that underlying conspiracy from Trycen especially sneaky Tristan plotting something. While it may sound exciting but my guts told me to be wary. Because as we all know, Kelvin is overpowered. Nobody can stand on par with him. Thus I was a bit excited for a while there that there may be some sort of real story finally taking place albeit a bit too late into the season. An enemy that perhaps could give Kelvin a run for his money. But yeah, who am I kidding? Because then again, they may become whipping boys instead. Yeah, that sure ruined my hopes. But hey, better be disappointed know with this baseless speculation than later.

So as far as this season is concerned, the main plot feels like Kelvin just accumulating his party members. Why have all the overpowered fun all by yourself when you can also have all your party members overpowered and do wreak some overpowered havoc! The more the merrier. It’s always more fun eating with others than alone, right? Yeah, I suppose somewhat the same concept for fighting is applied here for Kelvin’s groupie.

As you might have expected what I’m going to say about the characters, they’re all pretty bland and cliché. I mean, what else do you want me to say especially about Kelvin who is the main character? He is already freaking overpowered from the start! Yeah, trading his memories for more overpowered abilities seem like a slightly different take at first but in the end, he still became overpowered. It is a good thing he does not have memories of his previous life because I’m sure I don’t want to sympathize on how this dude died and came to this world. Not that it mattered anyway. Not that I would care either. So yeah, good thing we won’t get to know that because either way, it still won’t affect Kelvin anyhow. And not sure why he still needs to hide his summoner occupation anymore. Sure, others may want him but he is powerful enough to reject them all, no?

So in order to ‘differentiate’ Kelvin from many other such similar protagonists in such similar themes, that is why they make him have this ‘evil’ face when he hears there is someone who is powerful enough to fight him. After all, I can understand when you are the best in everything and everyone else is so inferior, you really yearn for that challenge that gives you that adrenaline rush. Hence turning Kelvin into not your typical goody two shoes hero because he still wants to fight a good and powerful fight if there ever comes a chance. Yeah, it is a good thing Kelvin is on the good side and does not abuse his powers for evil, no?

I also don’t know what else to say for the rest of his party members. Because obviously Kelvin does not want to level up all by himself and leave his members in the dust, making them feel useless in that sense. That is why he crafts weapons and other skills for them and in no time they will be having the same kind of overpowered level of awesomeness as him. So we’ve got a multi-racial party for Kelvin as he has an elven maid archer, an ex-Demon Lord daughter who is looking to get fulfil all the desires she has missed while was asleep, a goddess looking for some thrill herself too, and yes, a little sister trope in Rion. Need some balance after the party already has 3 matured babes! Did we forget Kelvin was in love with Melfina? The reason he forgo his memories? Oh well, a good fight is better than a good romance! Because I don’t see Kelvin the slightest falling in love with her once she has a physical form. To avoid this looking like some harem, hence Gerard provides some masculinity support. Not that I see the girls engaged in some sort of sleazy and cheap fight over Kelvin either. Thank goodness. Of course not forgetting animal pet mascots in Clotho (whom I somehow feel like the party’s inventory keeper because it keeps unlimited stuffs it swallows) and Alex. Are they so cute to what? Now Kelvin just needs to add some beast race to his party.

The other characters are just mediocre. Take for example, Toya’s group of heroes. They’re just freaking weak! Oh well, can’t blame them after we see their first battle with Kelvin’s side. Hence that impression sticks. My guts is that this isn’t the last we have seen of them yet and they will definitely meet again in the future. When the plot comes to avenge Gerard’s homeland, yeah, we’ll see another epic showdown. Or just another mediocre whipping boy beat down. Kelvin such an eligible bachelor that even the empress of Japan Toraj wants him. Thank goodness we don’t get to see Efil’s face of disapproval because that’s the only thing that scares the hell out of Kelvin and makes him avoid making bad decisions! Thank goodness Tsubaki takes the rejection well. And then there is Leo who perhaps is one of the few characters who could keep Kelvin in place and put a leash on him, preventing him doing things freely as he wishes. That’s why Kelvin is forced to take on his requests.

But if you’re so ever interested in these characters, be glad to know that the mid-intermission will have a full display of their stats. From their title to their set of skills, however all those numbers are meaningless to me since I’m not really into all that. Yeah, looks impressive because damn, so high numbers! But really, not that all interesting unless you really want to analyse deep into them and how they size up among each other, which I couldn’t be bothered at this point.

Action wise, it feels just obligatory to show off how powerful Kelvin and his mates are. Sure, they sound epic and look powerful enough but it gets boring after a while. Yeah, they make it look like child’s play as they don’t break into any sweat unlike their enemies who are just struggling so futilely and fighting a losing battle. Yeah, we all love to see the weak get bullied as long as they are deemed the baddies, no? Because we know how the fights will end, no matter how dramatic they make it look like even if they show Kelvin is this close to losing it, the script of the plot will eventually prevail. Read that as Kelvin winning in the end. Now you know why it’s so unexciting. Even the so called ‘final boss’ fight with Clive feels a bit underwhelming. All that great big magic means nothing when we all know and expect Kelvin to come out tops. They should create a new rank higher than S-rank just for this dude. SS-rank! Yeah.

Art and animation are also standard. Nothing really much for me to say here. Just want to note my suspicions on Kelvin’s character design may be inspired from Kirito of Sword Art Online. Yeah. Thankfully he doesn’t wield a sword, no? Other characters look generic like Rion looking like your tomboyish sister and Efil like your typical blonde elven girl. Many characters too felt like I have seen before from somewhere like Miyabi looking like Nagato from Suzumiya Haruhi No Yuutsu, Setsuna like Muv-Luv Alternative’s Meiya, Sera like Joukamachi No Dandelion’s Akane and Toya like Kyouya from KonoSuba but I’m too lazy to think hard and list the rest here. There is also some CGI but mostly it is on Gerard. Because as a knight character, his movements aren’t that of a normal human. Hence his clunkiness seems to blend perfectly with the rest of the 2D animation. CGI is also employed on some like the monsters and while I won’t say that it is bad, well, it could have been a little better. The final episode whereby they mixed some CGI in between Kelvin and Clive’s fights, it felt weird. I don’t know, it just felt like it broke the flow. Thank goodness those monsters don’t have much screen time. This anime is done by Satelite who did Fairy Tail, Log Horizon, Nanbaka and the Symphogear series.

Voice acting feels rather okay too. Nothing special. A few of those I recognized play cameo or supporting roles like Shizuka Itou as Tsubaki, Akira Ishida as Tristan, Rie Kugumiya as Colette and Hochu Ohtsuka as Leo. Once again I was duped to think that Ami Koshimizu was behind Melfina’s voice and once again I was wrong as it was Reina Ueda. The other casts are Kouki Uchiyama as Kelvin (Ichika in Infinite Stratos), Manaka Iwami as Efil (Teresa in Tada-kun Wa Koi Wo Shinai), Minori Suzuki as Sera (Momo in Chio-chan No Tsuugakuro), Yousuke Akimoto as Gerard (Master in Usaki-chan Wa Asobitai), Yume Miyamoto as Rion (Tamako in Taisho Otome Otogibanashi), Seiji Maeda as Toya (Wataru in Argonavis), Chiharu as Setsuna (Reika in 22/7), Manatsu Murakami as Miyabi (titular character in Akebi-chan No Sailor Fuku), Kanon Takao as Nana (Hermit in Edens Zero) and Konomi Inagaki as Ange (Serufu in Do It Yourself). Even Clotho has got a seiyuu voicing the character. Who? Landhi… I see this is her debut and since she is Chinese origin, I am speculating that is why she doesn’t have any dialogue lines!

The opening theme is Ataman Naka Dead End by Ret Bear (Unknown Vo: 10fu). I don’t know, it feels like they want to distract you from the mediocrity of the series and hence this lively sounding music with equally edgy-like animation visuals. It is fast paced and frenzy to say the least. Then it makes a totally 180 degree u-turn for the ending theme because Wherever by Minori Suzuki is now a very slow piece. The song you would probably sing as a lullaby before bed. It is calming, it is soothing and perhaps that is why I find it boring. Yeah, just the right tonic needed before I go to sleep. After all, everyone is having a nice time around the campfire in the ending credits animation, right?

Overall, I am not impressed with this series. Could have been better if they had another season assuming it is about fighting Trycen and Lizea. Assuming they give Kelvin and his party a run for their money. Otherwise as far as just this season is concerned, it is just mostly mediocre, average and pretty plain and cliché. What you expect from an isekai anime, this one also has it. Thus it does not stand out much from the rest of other similar series in the dreaded genre. I wish I could expend some imaginary points I have accumulated after watching animes from over the years to erase my memories of this series, but that would be unwise because I would make the same mistake by watching it again since, yeah, I don’t remember it. Hence for better or worse, having memories of all the crappy isekai garbage I have watched throughout the years could also be a blessing because it builds immunity somehow. I am less inclined to complain like hell or feel utterly disappointed like as though the world is going to end when I watch such nonsense in the future. Yeah. My stats for this skill must be over 9000 by now!!!