@Xerxes Montes Here's another question for you, or more trying to get your opinion. There are lots of anime, shows, music, and media I like to "consume." Some of which is objectively flawed like Rent. Do you think it's still possible to want to see where something goes despite knowing this. Like, I guess my thing is that I know the anime and manga aren't great... but I still enjoy them. And not for the wifu or the body pillows lmao. I genuinely find some of the dialogue funny or the conversations ridiculous. If you sorta get what I mean, I'm curious to hear your thoughts.
@Xerxes Montes Haaha - It is true. The number of times I've sat here saying "bruh," you could have fixed this so easily. Or jmthis whole situation could be avoided if you were honest. Or if you were less self loathing lol.
@SageStation Definitely. However, when you reach certain points, you start to see that a time-wasting pattern starts forming. Kazuya pines over Chizuru saying he'll confess. He's about to, but gets interrupted by the most easily fixed problem in the world but stretches out over 5 new chapters. Rinse and repeat. I got to near 150+ chapters, only to realize it was deliberately spitting on my face, my time, and my efforts to read it.
At this point it's like a game to see just how absolutely underground the bar for male isekai protagonists is. Characters that are intentionally written to be shitheads like Kazuma and Subaru are better at their lowest points because they still have "doesn't own a sex slave" in their favor
Thing is Kazuma is indeed a horrible person no matter how you look at it, but he always gets called out by the others and always gets punished by his actions
@ILikeGuns1992 I never really saw them as shitheads tbh, well, at least Subaru. Hes just a NEET, personality wise hes endearing. Kazuma is intentionally written to be an asshole and considering the company he keeps to be honest I dont count that against him.
With Kazuma it was intentional, hes still likable imo, same with Subaru, they are more flawed than other isekai protagonists but ill take anything other than overpowered isekai protagonists who never struggle, Kazuma has to deal with useless people and Subaru keeps dying and watching the people around him die.
@Stonehawk Yeah! I do respect both Kazuma and Subaru as well written, both from a comedy perspective and serious perspective, but I clown on them for the joke (and Subaru in particular does *start* as jackass)
I can't decide if it's funny or depressing how much anime doesn't pass the ground-level bar of "I want to watch an anime without any incest, pedophilia, slavery, harems, or unfunny loser 'Self-Insert OC' protagonists."
@Gaming with Hajimemes Sword isekai, all 3 slavers we saw so far died within 5 minutes of introduction, by the hand of main characters. And that's with more... Emotionally vulnerable Fran of the anime. In the novel, that 3rd one is just chopped down as soon as he finishes talking, because that's what Fran does to slavers.
Slavery if handled well would be good. Like actually letting it be a bad thing that is shown as bad for actual reasons. And having the protag ACTUALLY GO AGAINST IT- fucking shield hero...
my favourite thing about the slave harem isekai is that there was immediately a semi-popular, short lived fanfiction about killing the protagonist and fighting against the slave-peddling empire, you know, like a hero would do.
the one with the staff and the multiple slimes and wolf is the summoner. I'm not sure what the other one has, but I think it's different because the companions aren't summoned. I think
@arthur abogado that seems like it would be endlessly amusing. Maybe have the breakup which leads to MC's original body dying happen the day before he reawakens as her. Now he has to figure out how to live as a girl or how to prevent himself from dying and becoming his ex girlfriend without letting himself know that he becomes his ex.
“Slave harem in another world” really gives you that one-two punch. First you’re confused by the title, but then it slaps you in the face with surprisingly graphic violence right when you think you’re strapped in for a big bowl of “I can’t believe it’s not hentai”
Here's my pitch for an isekai series: it starts out looking like another slave harem series, but then Protag-Kun reminds the audience that he's from Modern Earth with an appropriate values system, points out how disgusting that premise is, and proceeds to show the entire setting his John Brown impression.
@Yozul1 well, if that's what you meant I guess I see your point, and I agree this particular show is an egregiously bad example of wish fulfillment to the lowest common denominator This being said, I personally cannot enjoy a fantasy which doesn't work on coherent logic, so a random guy solving the situation would not sit well with me (to specify, I tend to vehemently despise power fantasy isekai for that very reason, barred a couple of exceptions)
@Hollow Husk I think you're missing the point that this is fantasy. If you don't want to address issues in your fantasy you don't have to include them at all. Nobody would complain if one of these shows just didn't have slavery. In fact, lots of them don't, and nobody complains. That really leaves the only options as either it's there to be fixed, or it's there as part of the fantasy. So if it's there and not addressed as a bad thing, that's just super creepy. Especially in a show whose entire plot revolves around a single man who can and does do things that fundamentally change the world. Yes, the real world is complicated. The entire point of fantasy is that it isn't. There's a dude you can go beat up and make the world better. Of course that's not how the real world works, but it is how fantasy works. If you are fantasizing about slavery, but not fantasizing about doing anything about it, that doesn't say good things about you.
@Hollow Husk I understand that you only fantasize about power for power's sake and not about doing anything useful with it. Seriously, it's FANTASY. What kind of psychopath fantasizes about about living in a world with slavery and thinks "Meh, fixing that would be hard, and I just wanna blow shit up real good."
@Yozul1 you can't be seriously compare the two Yes, Rudeus is strong, but he's far from the only entity capable of accomplishing that Trying to stop slavery would make him an enemy of most of the developed world of the setting, making him a wanted: there are people stronger than him, by far, and anyway he'd have to live the rest of hos life running away from authorities, with family in tow Fuck, we know for a fact that being the target of a single nation ruined Oldeus life, you're asking him to gain the enmity of the world, knowing the consequences, just to satisfy your morals? Can you really not understand the fundamental difference between the two situation you talked about?
Slave Harem sounds like it would be great if there was a gradual shift in the MC's personality to getting significantly more gratification from the cold-blooded murder than the pop-up windows.
Or if it was 1) not an Isekai, and the protag grew up in this culture, and 2) a flat out Hentai. Honestly, implementing either one of these individually would vastly reduce my disgust response: Somebody who grew up in this world having skewed values is easier to swallow than ANYONE (at least, anyone we're supposed to see as an Everyman example of his culture, which is why I find characters like Naofumi doing this sorta shit more tolerable because they are decidedly NOT an Everyman) from a modern Liberal Democracy being even remotely okay with owning a slave, and if it was just a flat out Hentai than let's be honest with ourselves in that we tolerate a lot of immoral characters in pursuit of getting our rocks off.
It's basically the generic harem builder with a couple of differences. First and most obvious, the guy actually gets laid. It's a proper harem, instead of a circle of love interests trying to bore through the reinforced plutonium plating that makes up his thick skull. And second, the worldbuilding and overarching plot are, in my opinion, very nice. It's very slow, the system is explained decently well and we find quirks in how it functions as the protagonist does. As a minor spoiler, of the floors of the Labyrinths they enter to fight monsters and earn money, they've reached Floor 11 as of Volume 5 - in the background, the first emperor of the country they're in was famous for getting to Floor 91, so quite a ways to go. Protagonist explores, meets new people, forms a few connections, gradually updates his equipment and slave party, and so on. In terms of power scaling, while he's certainly got a few cheats of his own, the guy is still very much vulnerable and not completely overpowered. Unfortunately, his personality doesn't really change as much. Dunno how the anime differs, but he's a chronic overthinker and very much stuck in the mentality of a loser. He's often paranoid about being taken advantage of, and very often questions whether his slaves actually like him or not. Running low on MP, which causes depression that grows severe the closer you are to empty, does not help this trait of his in the slightest, and it happens often enough to grow irritating. But the world really is great. Would recommend if you just tune out his rambling.
Black Summoner is weird to me because the MC had his memories erased so he knows nothing of the world he got isekai from. Basically he's got general knowledge and that's it. It's essentially a regular fantasy story with an OP protag with extra steps. The isekai part has no bearings on him.
Well except for when the show wants to have a plot point, he always remembers things. It's really weird why they were even going with that idea in the first place tbh.
@Jason Reed having spend a couple of months working in Thailand as a student (being European) myself, I can assure you, that you *will* really miss the comfort food from your home after a couple of weeks of otherwise excellent local food. Since the MCs ware isekaid from Japan, said comfort food would be rice, miso soup and soy sauce. I just wish we came across a Westerner isekaid into a Japanese place longing for french fries and a burger or pizza xD
@fffffffffff again, i never said that they don't exist, because they certainly do, and i do enjoy watching those ones. i am simply pointing out these ones that do not put much effort into trying to make their product different from all the other products in their market and also your point that the anime industry thrives off of low-effort anime hurts your own argument more than it does mine, because my whole point was that it shouldn't work that way. last time i checked, a significant portion of the anime communiy also shared this exact same sentiment
@obbyg4ming ....the anime industry thrives off of successful novels and manga, obviously, what ever is currently popular becomes its own niche, you could say the same about the decades spanning popularity of shonen anime that has boiled down to the disappointing popularity of shows like kny. They animate what is popular. I find myself saying this often but if you dont like when anime does anime things, it probably just isnt that for you, i mean work on whatever story you want, just know that anything you can think of has already been done
@fffffffffff i should have worded that better, but by that i meant the ones that have been being created in more recent times that are just so blatantly trying to milk off of the isekai genre... cripes, they all look like clones of eachother!
As a former teenage girl, I can absolutely confirm that boob squishing is one of our favorite pass-times. I would assume teenage guys do something similar?
Geoff: "slave harem" Me: "Pass" Geoff: "but it has good world building" Me: "Is it on Bookwalker as a light novel?" Kino's bike is named Hermes and it distresses me greatly that you apparently don't remember that
I have to say the reference to Pegasus being canonically American was a pleasant surprise. That whole skit was gold. Also, damnit with the segment names again Geoff. I can't keep dying like this.
It’s at moments like this where I think “If I was a woefully unremarkable Japanese salaryman in his mid-20s, would I enjoy anime more?” Feels like every season there’s a small handful of genuinely good anime (this time it’s especially low), then half the anime is catering to those unremarkable salarymen who grew up on dragon quest and monster hunter, then the rest. Sure would be nice to like a whole half of seasonally airing anime...
@BinaryHedgehog That's true but it's undeniable that the garbage to no garbage ratio is getting slimmer though. Which I think greatly increases that sort of perception of nothing good to watch. Like Netflix syndrome.
@Gaming with Hajimemes I mean, I think it's just the mass availability of anime in the West is just making how obvious that Sturgeon's Law is forever inescapable.
I have to say though, it seems that yes we have less selection in the good department, but it's been fine tuned now. Think about it. Mushoku tensei, jujutsu kaisen, demon slayer, and now chainsaw man. It's like banger after banger now. Even if they're few and far between.
I like Black Summoner better than the other one because he actually looks somewhat unique compared to other generic black-haired isekai protagonists. Like they could've just gave him the standard black or brown slightly ruffled almost-bowlcut, but he's got like that undercut sidehawk thing going; I could at least pick him out from all the other Kiritos. As for his references to his former life despite his voluntary memory loss in favor for skills and level boosts, I choose to think of it like how some amnesia patients work, where they act a way or do something out of reflex or instinct but they don't know why. That and also forgetting his former life doesn't necessarily mean forgetting everything about his former world.
@julian12465 I read the Manga it was a fun ride for the most part minor spoiler but he's going to get a little sister and he's not going to sleep with the goddess immediately
If we’re being honest, the whole partial amnesia thing is just there as a device for him to simultaneously understand and call out high fantasy rpg gags/cliches for the audience, act as the audience surrogate and have everything explained to him without having to come up with narrative pretenses for each individual situation, and remain enough of a blank slate for people to project themselves onto him. In terms of functionality for the target audience of comedy Isekai, it’s actually quite ingenious. Credit where credit is due.
Black summoner is a solid 4/10, I'm enjoying watching it but it don't have particularly high expectations of it and am just along for the spectacle of how this giy is going to fight the litteral heroes for fun and because they are dumb idiots who don't know how to min-max. I just wish they would stick to full 2D and not try and up the visuals by using 3D models/CGI, something a lot of anime are doing and not necessarily for the better.
@PDG_ Strix IIRC, some anime covered in the Hottest Trash lists can also make it to the Worst Anime of the Year countdown. Last year's latter list also included the Battle Athletes reboot(y) (Spring 2021) at #3 and EX-ARM (Winter 2021) at--where else?--#1.
The slave Isekai actually depicts pretty accurately what a Coomer would do if he was Isekaied and is somewhat OP... Other Isekais bounce around the topic of NSFW things
Well they probably wouldn't do as much cold blooded murder because, in general, you feel a great deal of disgust when killing things unless you're already accustomed to it. And another detail is that even if that were what a Coomer would do that doesn't mean it should be shown in a good light. A very interesting take on the concept though would be if we were from the point of view of a slave to a typical hero protagonist, and said slave having reasonable objectives like being free, stronger and potentially revenge. Showing the audience that no matter what slavery is not good and a good slave master relationship is just an illusion (and simultaneously showing what endorsing slavery really means).
Sir? I've been slogging through safety training all week. 8am-5pm. On my way to a safety trainer recertification. Not only am I happy to see this video, I *need* this video today. Thank you for bringing some legitimate, heartfelt laughter into my day. Much love and respect to you and your family. I appreciate your hard work.
I'll say that Monster Tamer and Black Summoner actually seem really interesting insofar as it's basically the equivalent of giving 2 authors the exact same prompt and seeing how each of them run with it. How each one emphasizes different aspects of the main protagonists and make use of each part of their stories differently. How one focuses more on the "party dynamic" between the protagonist and his pocket monsters while the other focuses more on how the main protagonist affects the wider world around him. Sounds neat.
@Approach Cautiously a slime of the week is adorable and I would have rather watched a slow paced story of a genius being a genius rather than him literally saying he's bored every episode and only having a challenge when the main antagonist deity is summoned.
@Leon To be fair, many slimes MC anime butchers the pacing of the manga. (and probably also ruins the pacing from the light novel). In the manga you get to see everything in order as it happens. None of this random 2 minute flash back stuff. Plus it actually explains how the MC got all his skills and yet he still has no grasp on everything he does have access to. It is still a self indulgent power fantasy, but it is done so much better.
@Who Knows honestly I just look at anybody complaining at "slavery in anime" the same way I look at politicians blaming gaming as the source of violence
The thing that always gets be about the sudden step sibling trope is that, did these parents get married a day after meeting? Was there no dating period where each adult likely at least may the other's child a few times?
As an unironic, less-ashamed-than-I-should-be fan of Love Hina, I would just love an in-depth roast like with Maburaho. When I bought the first two volumes when I was 12 or 13, it was the horniest thing I had ever seen, and I love Ken Akamatsu's character designs. Fortunately I discovered scanlations not too long after, and binged the rest of it online without having to wait for Tokyo Pop. Reading Love Hina and being embarrassed for, rooting for, and absolutely hating Keitaro was basically how I spent that entire summer. Then Negima happened, what a fucking rabbit hole that was.
@tulicloure good choice! I had a big crush on Mitsune Konno myself. That mischievous smile just did it for me. I think dumb fun is a good way to describe Love Hina overall actually!
I've seen lest interconnecting holes in an ant colony than what you get when you read Negima. I love it, but damn if I don't get lost sometimes. Love Hina is also a guilty pleasure of mine, though I will admit it got kinda boring toward the end as things wrapped up.
@Siddiq Sobri I was legitimately pissed for a week because of the absolute ass pull that was the "ending" for dnk. I still refuse to consider anything after the "America" arc.
@scott moneyas no....the ending is dogshit and the author pulls it out of his dog's ass. It just came out of nowhere. I think Gigguk did a video on it where he eats ghost pepper or something.
I’m amazed Slave Harem got an adaptation. It’s just porn with a “plot”. The only entertainment you get from it is pulling down your pants and giving your preferred hand a workout. Did anyone expect to make money from this? With all the RPG-stuff an eroge in this setting might’ve pulled some yen, but an anime?
@Quo hime here it is it took me a while to find it , I’ve Became Able to Do Anything with My Growth Cheat, but I Can’t Seem to Get out of Being Jobless Japanese Title Seichou Cheat de Nandemo Dekiru you ni Natta ga, Mushoku dake wa Yamerarenai you desu
@Josimar Coutinho there's another slave harem that's better it's about a jobless guy I forgot the name of it it should be on my manga zone list somewhere I'm going to see if it got a anime
The genuine-sounding confusion at whether or not he's referring to one isekai series or two is the best iteration of "all isekai are the same" I've heard so far.
Real question. Are there any of these isekai where the protagonist kills the slavers and gives money to desperate bandits, instead of the other way around?
@Todd Clawson "I Reincarnated as a Sword" has the slavers covered. The MC's basically adopted a catgirl named Fran after rescuing from slavers (don't worry, their relationship stays strictly platonic). Fran, understandably, has issues with slavers because of this, and her preferred method of dealing with people she has issues with is a lot more murderous than is typical for isekai characters.
I suppose there is "I Reincarnated as a Noble Girl Villainess But Why Did it Turn Out this Way" (long name I know). The girl is born into one of those over-the-top fantasy evil noble families based on a game she played. Their abuse and neglect of the their territory caused quite a few peasants to turn to banditry to survive. Once her family is dead (protagonists poisons them), a steward sent by the king and her spend a lot of time working on fixing the territory and working on addressing the peasants needs so they slowly turn away from banditry rather than just killing them. No slaves though as far as I am aware. An interesting story honestly. Rather than fretting about surviving the original plot like most of villainess stories, she instead focuses heavily on trying to fix her territory due to feeling guilty about how much the people suffered because of her family. Part of the background of the game also had a war that only ended shortly before the game started and her territory is by the border of the rival nation meaning that she gets caught up in the war.
Love the return of Granny. I could see her becoming a recurring character from now on. Not in reference to Rent a Girlfriend - just a cameo like Pegasus here. Only recurring.
I’m still watching Rent-A-Girlfriend for whatever reason, maybe a bit of a masochist. But for the first time that I can remember, I ACTUALLY genuinely laughed at it When Kazuya was completely smashed and face-planted down the stairs Felt nice to feel something other than anger while watching the show
@statesminds it's one thing to be trashy, it's another to be trashy AND terrible (and yeah its ironic). Domestic Girlfriend is trashy but it does try to take itself seriously by setting a mature tone and sticking with it. The dude literally sleeps with a girl at a party but soon realizes she will end up being the daughter of his dad's new fiancee. They don't drop the mature feel in favor of stupid little cutesy scenes or random fan service. Rent-a-Girlfriend just keeps being extended so that the story wont end so we tend to get an obnoxious loop of stupid fan-service, a half-assed attempt at an inkling of a confession, and the reset back to "normal" only to repeat the process
That's too bad, I felt like the only good thing about Rent a Girlfriend was the humor. I laughed hard at it, especially because the cast is so awful that any bad things that happen to them are pretty satisfying.
When you step away from the internet and just watch the anime its not as bad as people make it out to be, the manga is as awful as people say but the anime hasnt attapted the awful parts and probably never will, it's a below average rom com with an above average production value not the worst show of all time like some people act like
I hope that Geoff continues to make abridged-style lipsync for ads and just casually starts getting other VAs for it until there's some convoluted multiverse surrounding G-Fuel Granny, Pegasus, and like... I dunno, King Kai or something.
I stopped watching Slave Harem when the MC had actual sex with his actual slave. I was expecting the MC to have some sort of moral revelation before doing the deed. But no, only depravity here.
@Irish Carmine No, she is explicitly consenting before he even buys her, but there’s no real indication that the MC wouldn’t have gone through with it if she didn’t.
And, is she like, totally not into it at all? Is it really just happening because he owns her, there's no attempt to actually develop things or anything?
Wow, I can't wait for the new isekai "I was reincarnated into a different world, and my step-sister is now my step-mother and slave, who is my ex: the Slavery is Good Harem", so good and really leaves you hanging on the plot! Such an underrated gem!
@Nen Master5 He commented on Noah Caldwell-Gervais' Resident Evil piece as well. I shouldn't be surprised that my two favorite suppliers of turn-of-phrase are influenced by each-other. :)
M.B revealedhimself to be a Fan of 'Some More News', but that makes me wonder all the more: What about the very-similar JPvidrs, like Creaky Blinder, Hbomberguy, and Second Thought?
After that description of how intimate and slow Harem in Another World is with its plot, I am now genuinely curious to examine this trash. It feels like it should be a quick, cheap, shameless lay, yet the way it was described makes it feel like it's in no rush to leave the bed just yet and wants to make said lay one you won't forget. You won't see each other again come morning, so it wants to make the night last forever. It feels oddly poetic, for "I Can't Believe It's Not Hen Tie"
I appreciate how this series is not just about how bad an anime is - and gives even the positives - because I really enjoy both My Isekai Life and Black Summoner but it is pretty funny still how similar they are at face value. XD
I read Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer because of one of your videos on the subject. It was every bit as wonderful as you said it was. The Anime adaptation had me hyped but when I watched the first 2 episodes all it made me want to do was re-read the manga with The Pillows playing in the background. So that's what I did.
Please tell me they didn't dial back how much of a complete, barely restrained blood knight psycho Kevin is in black summoner. I mean that he was a fight junky to the point it was an ongoing part of his character arch. There were points where... well spoilers below. That far enough? Okay here we go. Later on in the story, he legitimately started having nightmares that his desire for violence would turn him into a demon lord and end up killing all his friends. Nightmares that legitimately scared and horrified him. I mean Black Summoner isn't by any means meant to be high art. It's your basic Shonen power fantasy, but it does try to have at least some plot and characterization. More than many mainstream Shonen. And some of the stuff mentioned or dropped off early on even comes into play later on! So them gutting one of the more important character aspects...
I’m usually someone that doesn’t mind less than stellar animation. I enjoyed shows like One Punch Man season 2 and Record of Ragnarock which I read the manga before watching the anime. That said, it hurts to see Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer get the treatment it’s getting. It’s like they took all the heart out of manga and put it into this soulless anime.
one punch man season 2 was fine, i get the animation complaint but it was fine to be honest. especially with what i’m pretty sure was a 6 month schedule to make the entire thing
@Butterscotch Candy Yeah. I’m not gonna pretend that I’m not disappointed because it really deserved better, but I still got some enjoyment out of it regardless.
I rarely notice it, but this show certainly left me wondering whether or not I missed whole scenes, either that or their cliffs and rivers change size between frames.
0:47 - 6:22 I just finished this anime, and I have to say, the thing that I enjoyed the most in it is the friendship, not the romance. Hagiwara, the last girl introduced, did have a crush on Mizuto and the two girls tried to help her but she got rejected immediately and now she and Mizuto are just bros. Like they hang out with each other like guy friends, sometimes a bit too touchy with each other much to Yume's chargin. Also, Kawanami and Akatsuki has Ex vibes much like main couple. Their past is just as interesting if not more than the main two. Really, the way supporting cast interacts with the main ones is the best part of this anime imo. And the best scene is the last scene of the anime, just really shows how chaotic their friend group is.
You know, I remember reading Lucifer and the biscuit hammer. It was absolutely beautiful and while it didn’t impact me too much, I know it impacted a lot of other people. When I first saw the anime clip, I didn’t even realize it was the same anime until the biscuit hammer was shown in the clouds. I’m worried about how it looks, but I wanna check it out to see if they do better at adapting the story and such.
Made in Abyss is interesting because I didn't actually realize I liked the show until I was awake at 3am contemplating the existential dread of the Abyss, here's hoping your packed schedule finds time for it 🤞
I think that the Tamer/Summoner isekais both fall flat at their potential. For two shows literally about taming monsters, both shows only tame two kinds of monsters. My Isekai Life has blue slimes and a wolf. Black Summoner has one blue slime and a dark knight, which I don't think even counts because of how human it looks. MIL has better monsters in my opinion, the slimes are cute and the Bohemian Rhapsody ED is the main reason I keep coming back, but despite their cute costumes, none of the slimes have a unique personality. They're just cute for being cute. I didn't even know they had names until I checked MAL. Yuji seems quiet and antisocial, but just does weird stuff when the plot needs him to. I don't think the dryad girl is a part of Yuji's party, she seems to just show up to assist, but she doesn't stand out much in both character and personality. Proud Wolf is the only character who actually has a personality. Best character in the show. BS has Clotho, who seems to have more of a personality, but is kind of forgettable in the larger scale of anime blue slimes, since it doesn't do much to stand out from the rest of the Dragon Quest copies. And for a guy who claims to be a summoner, he really only has 1 and a half monsters. He buys a Elf slave and saves the Demon Lord's daughter which he adds to his party, which makes no sense if the whole purpose of being a summoner is to have monsters as your party members. Gerard, the Black/Dark/Ghost Knight actually does have a unique personality and tragic backstory that differs from usual isekai shows, that being a grandfather/mentor kind of type. Best character in the show. I think both have potential with its leads, its world, and its narrative, its just that it lacks in the main purpose behind its premises: the monsters. I want to see a show where a guy turns former enemies into allies, where monsters are more than friends and family then just one off assets for the Protag Kun to kill. Imagine a story that has a character who tames monsters like Pokemon but the monsters have the personality and character interaction like that of Reincarnated as a Slime. Wouldn't that be cool? Guess not since no one is doing it.
You are wrong about MIL. He ends up taming fire slimes in the anime and in the source material he ends up taming any slimes they come across. Your other points are all probably right though lol The manga had way better pacing that explained things better as well. Basically, as the MC got stronger, and as the slimes leveled up they start to develop more of a personality and end up with names. It was never explicitly stated, but the slimes that end up with personalities are likely his first 5 tames. Since he still mainly uses them for combat it does explain why the others don't have names, but I think the best option would be to give them all names over time. Pretty sure they'd never do that though given he has hundreds of slimes tamed Oh and in the manga they actually introduce the dryiad properly. Since she is part of the forest she can't join his journey but she is always there to help when asked for help thanks to moving through the trees via tree teleportation magic bs
Let me finally explain the rating system to you. Let me take on the mantle of explanation (as far as I've seen as a trend) Amount/size of receptacle for trash: how many problems there are in the series, character writing, animation, world building, etc How much fire/heat is there: how actually fun it is to watch the series. No heat=boring, not worth the watch Tons of fire=it may be trash but god it is hot and god do you wanna watch it burn Things in the trash can: some reference to the types of issues in the series, or some other form of joke about its content
@cactus steven yes, but we are watchers of mother's basement, my ffriend. If we can't explain something in far too many words in order to enlighten the masses then truly what are we learning here?
7:18 This whole rant reminds me of last year when I gave up on Gen:lock season 2. I had that same realization, that the whole thing was going downhill and not planning to come up for air, two episodes in. And boy, was it yet another time I ended up being proven right *far* more than I'd imagined or wanted.
Having read the Black Summoner light novels (though the anime also does explain it), the "reason" he doesn't have any memories is also the reason why he is so OP. When he was being reincarnated, he offered up all of his memories to be given access to more stuff. Though the additional reason was that he fell in love with the goddess of reincarnation and wanted to prove to her that he would fall in love again upon seeing her "for the first time".
@Timothy McLean I was being sarcastic, so apologies if it didn't come across. But I'm sure that any isekai based goddess in this particular situation would not value MCU memories as worth anything
@wildste Not sure if you're asking that rhetorically, but if I was selling my memories for magical power-ups I'd sell my MCU memories before selling my family memories.
@Timothy McLean Very true, the memory loss was just on those pointless personal stuff like family, life experiences, basically everything that helps shape your personality. Why would it delete memories on popular culture that, as you say, makes it easier to self insert the viewer/reader in?
Geoff mentioned that part in the video. He didn't mean "Why did he lose his memories?" so much as "Why did the author write a plot device to give Protag-kun amnesia if he's still gonna act like a Japanese nerd, pop culture references and all?" The only answer I can think of is that it frees the author from the burden of giving Protag-kun any kind of backstory detail. Whether this is to make it easier for otaku of all stripes to project themselves onto him or just sloth is unknowable.
I am waiting on the isekai with slaveees where the protag actually buys them to set them free, builds a quasi country and is an actually good person for once. The theme of business men getting Truck Kun'd should make for a wonderful parallel to being overworked and enslaved in the other world. Is it okay to pick up girls bla bla bla (why do these isekai ttiles get longer and longer?!) has really good ideas, like the overall world, the job system, the characters are nice, but that slave thing is so bothersome. It has been done so often I don't even react to it like any modern human should, its just bad ecchi workarounds because the author couldnt decide if he wanted porn or fantasy.
I watched the first episodes of those two last isekais when they first were released and I could not actually tell that you were describing both of them at once for a hot minute.
Is there an isekai where a kid in an amazing fantasy world get run over by cart-kun and wakes up in 21st century Tokyo where he suddenly hasn’t got powers?
There's this season's Uncle From Another World, which is about someone who comes back to the real world after being isekaied. Not a serious anime, but funny.
Hataraku Maou Sama. Its airing right now. The Demon King of the isekai world and the hero get both isekaiyed into modern day japan with no powers. Its a legit good series. Especially if you ever worked in a part time job or are a young adult living alone, so you can really relate to the characters struggles.
Always can find a spare half hr to watch Mother's Basement vids cause I know the payoff will be worth it... Jeff- "I'm here to bring you hot trash, not soggy medical waste." And there it is 😂
I'm mildly embarrassed to admit I know this, but that "future" scene with the kid in Slave Harem was actually some sort of "could have been" scenario. No actual abandoned kid. It was only really there to tease the eventual harem makeup anyway. Also, I loved the comparison between black summoner and my isekai life. I watched both, but didn't quite notice how similar they were that way. :-P
We need a video essay of Call of the Night. Show is killing it and a good reminder of why an element of risqué storytelling is an important feature in anime.
I wonder if Extreme Hearts might have been partly inspired by Megalobox or something like that. I know there might be other sports anime that use "cybernetic enhancements" in their stories, but Megalobox was the first show that came to mind. The Girls und Panzer series & Kandagawa Jet Girls also come to mind when it comes to Extreme Hearts when it comes to "moe" & "idol" stuff. On a different note, this guy's hatred for Rent-A-Girlfriend also reminds me of Bennett the Sage's SEETHING HATRED for both Love Hina & InuYasha! 😂
With Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer I did the smart thing. When I heard they were making an anime, I used that as an excuse to reread the manga. It was a fun time! I didn't even bother watching it since I figured it would be very hard for them to adapt it well enough to meet my expectations at least.
In a darker anime My Stepsister is my Ex feels like it's going to end with Minami and Kawanami wearing the step siblings skin like a suit as they attempt to reenact a romance between the two and even try to sit at the table with the parents (they've tied to the chairs) and play faux-incest house.
I'm so glad you mentioned Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer, because I was so psyched when I saw there was an anime out for it because I remember the manga being great, and then I watched the first couple eps and wondered if my memory had just rose-tinted-glassed the whole thing because the anime is so...not. So now instead I think I just need to reread the manga, since you've vindicated my nostalgia. :)
The biggest thing that I really got from this video is that I'm going to read the black summoner next time it's on catchup in JNC. Thanks for helping me take out the trash.
Black Summoner is kinda a guilty pleasure with surprisingly good cgi. And the other characters just giving up when Kelvin starts fighting something he clearly shouldn’t is a lot of fun.
17:43 it technically was a farmer's widow (in her thirties) and it was only a what-if scenario; the anime has left out a lot of things to center on the plot (most likely because, no matter how slow the author is, it would be impossible otherwise to catch-'em-all in just 12 episodes), like the fact that he was isekaied through an ad on a suicide site or the nature and limitations of his true isekai power. Also, the missing word was taken out when it was adapted to other media from the webnovel.
I really like the slave dealer in the Harem series. His voice is great! Just wish that they would subtitle his end credit scenes lines. I bet they are great.
I actually just started Lucifer and the biscuit hammer the other day and thought something similar. The animation isn’t great, but the story seems decent. Worth watching, especially when I’m not invested in anything better right now.
Step Ex-Girlfriend isn't honestly as bad as I thought it would be. I love how that one friend wants to marry the brother not because she like him, but because she's yandere over his sister.
You know a lot of the weirdness and romantic animes make sense when you realize just how restricted and repressed Japan’s culture is seriously they need to loosen up or they’re going to die
As someone who hasn't read the lucifer and biscuit hammer. Its not a bad watch, although I've been known to be good at ignoring bad animation when fun characters are around. Extreme hearts is still fun for me because everything that happens in that anime is absurd and its a good cool down from everything else that updates that day. I agree with the rest.
I legit cannot tell the difference between the two magic isekai protags. I have no clue when your changing to a different show or if their outfits are changing.
Is there a meaningful discussion to be had on why show many isekai stories are cool with slavery? Or can it just be boiled down to 'a lot of light novel authors have issues'?
Slaves are just an easy excuse to give the MC a harem of girls who are devoted to him out of the gate. Makes it so you can avoid actually writing a romance arc cause well "he may have bought me but doesn't treat me like a slave" is a low enough bar of decency to make them head over heels.
Many, many mangaka end up getting arrested for sexual harassment and/or pedophilia. Like what happened with the creator of Act Age. They just seem to have a predilection for being terrible human beings. Promoting the idea of raping slaves and slavery being fine is just par for the course with them.
I think the single biggest reason is that Japan doesn’t have the same cultural and historical baggage associated with slavery that we do in the west. Therefore to them it’s not as taboo a topic as it is to us.
If i had to guess, it's so the author can conveniently bring together their characters without having to develop the chemistries or personalities of the characters much. So basically a cop-out. Then throw in some slavery fetishization and male-power wish-fulfillment to spice up a shriveled conscience.
That makes sense. Dog girl Harem being inspirational to a bunch of authors. I bounced out of the manga, it felt ... boring? Unrefined. Early stage development of the genre.
Man, I feel a bit guilty about laughing at this one. Poor Geoff sounded like some of these legitimately hurt him to watch. Like... if your animation gets unfavorably compared to _Ex-Arm?_ Even if it's hyperbole, you dun fucked up.
MC from Isekai Harem Labirynth commiting first degree murder just to get laid was probably THE edgiest moment I have seen in any anime. I don't think you will see a naked woman being brutally murdered like that just for shock factor anywhere else.
@Ray01X Especially since he comes from a place, where due process is a thing, so he should know for a fact, that it is completely immortal just like slavery is. He is casually killing people because he knows he will get away with it, so it's safe to assume he would do this in modern Japan as well if nobody would prosecute him for that. That's textbook example of sociopathic behaviour.
Is it first degree murder if you're legally hunting criminals to claim their bounty? I feel like in most fantasy settings, especially games, that's a pretty standard and common way to earn some quick cash for low level heroes just starting out... And you're seen as a good guy because if a person has a "dead or alive" bounty, they likely weren't a good person.
@LoreLord24 To be fair, if an ordinary Japanese citizen with no history of violence just started to slaughter other human beings without any hesitation; just clocking in for work in a way, regardless of the legality(historically, not everyone with a bounty on their head was actually a bad person, just a person that someone else wanted gone), I’d say that’s pretty psychopathic behavior. He should probably see a therapist. lmao
I feel the need to point out that bounty hunting has been a thing since the medieval ages at least, and probably earlier than that. It's where the word "outlaw" came from, it originally meant someone who was outside of the protection of the law, so people could do whatever they wanted to them. Think the Purge movie, except it's just the one guy instead of everybody. So the MC engaging in bounty hunting, where he kills sex traffickers, assassins, thieves, and rapists isn't him going full serial killer, it's the MC partaking in the fully legal judicial system. The weirdest part about it is that he's just a Japanese civilian, with no history of violence. That's the only weird part that makes the bounty hunting skeevy, because he's not used to death being a constant threat and part of life. I don't support him buying a girl, but acting like the dude's a sociopath is just a little bit too far.
The main difference i see in the last two is that Yuji has the outward personality of a cardboard cutout. I literally keep up with it because the slimes are entertaining.
My Isekai Life also doesn't bother too much about explaining the backstory and just essentially dumps you into what feels like halfway through a season and expecting you to understand what is already going on.
The uncle isekai one is pretty nice, I'd say. Cool that Netflix is finally letting shows come out one episode at a time, after Arcane. Like they're supposed to. They probably don't have a choice with this one though.
I now have a new entry on my bucket list, create a trashy Isekai harem anime that Geoff actually can't find any fault with because it's actually a really good show
That is not exactly what I Resurrected in a Dating Sym is? A trashy Harem Isekai but with very good story, and with a world building and characters that have actually arcs.
I started watching Isekai Harem Labyrinth this season with the primary purpose of seeing it end up in one of these videos. Your takes on it did not disappoint.
The oddest bit about Classroom Of The Elite is at least so far (waiting six years at a time is too long, reading to consume more of what I liked from the anime) the Protag is pretty normal in the LN at least within his personal voice, less this weird super soldier they made for the anime. And even in the 1st edition alone covers way more to make each side character endearing. Aka: Reading it first ruins the anime, because the elitist (haha) manga/LN readers were so far, actually consuming a superior product.
You should cover A Herbivorous Dragon of 5000 Years Gets Unfairly Villainized. It's probably that one show of the season that's surprisingly fun, yet flying under the radar.
4:20: If this anime was focused on Akatsuki refusing to admit that she has a big sapphic crush on Yume, this might be a worthwhile comedy. 8:40: I never knew I needed a supernatural union-busting CEO villain until I saw one. 14:55: Actually, a fan feeling unreasonably betrayed after their favorite online content creator stops making the content they like and starts doing something they don't is a perfectly mundane plot point, and not just because it's sandwiched between a sports tournament for idols and albino android teammates. 24:30: The amnesia means the author doesn't need to bother with a backstory for Protag-kun. He can't remember it, they're in another world now, it doesn't matter.
@JustMonica I like to envision the best possible version of bad anime, unconstrained by the fact that actually pursuing those goals would probably just result in anime that's bad in more distinctive ways.
Oh man GOD no on the sapphic crush angle. Anime has a troubled relation to LGBTQ+ on the best of days, you want the people who make the 'cute girls extreme sports' anime to tackle it?
CotE is GOLD as a light novel, but I'm not 100% on the anime and I had friends who also watched s1 not really feel it. I hope you get into it and I hope it keeps being presented well by the animation studio
This was hilarious. Some fantastic punch lines. I've been watching those 3 isekais, and I sometimes have trouble remembering which is which. When one of them had a girl be part of the party with no explanation who was wearing a slave collar, I got really confused and thought I'd gotten the shows mixed up.
I loved how you mosaiced the hand holding in the bit about Slave Harem... Which I kinda find to be a guilty pleasure that I enjoy more for how the explore how the world works than the nudity
Speaking of Mushoku Tensei, the writer also has a side project series about an orc looking to find a wife and have his first time with, the correct way. It's complete with artwork from Asanagi. Yeah...that artist.
I recently started playing Shadowverse and found out an anime was made two years ago. I decided to watch it and started regretting it 8 minutes in. Thinking maybe it gets better after the first episode I proceeded to watch two more episodes and now I hate myself. ...At least the card game is fun.
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