Discussion Best isekai season is this season!

So this year we are blessed with a full blown new animes with all awesome isekai, and awesome quality.

Yes you heard it right, awesome quality for all new isekai animes this season. To anyone who wondered why i emphasized this so much, you must be new in this genre, or you're just casual anime watcher who probably only watch anime on streaming site.

Spoiler: so let me get this straight

Most of anime that are adapted from novel, especially isekai related animes, are done so sloppily, or have budget less than your monthly allowance budget, or the most usual, bad ass quality. Only a very few of them got animated decently. Like Danmachi, Log Horizon, SAO.

Take a look at Overlord. I freaking love the webnovel no matter what badshit people say about it, and when season 1 came, i was excited and satisfied with the quality. When i said satisfied, i means it just pass the bare minimum of my quality check, and I am being bias here since i am a fan of it's webnovel.

Then come episode after episode... The quality dropped so much, the way it was directed is as if they just take things from the LN, and put it as anime, and they'll cut anything "unimportant" event they thought as "unimportant. This is when me and almost all of overlord fanbase screamed "SLOPPY!".

But taking it out on overlord probably my fault for putting my expectation on Madhouse, i knew better that all of their anime is 1 season and will never gets another, unless they feels like it (remember, No Game No Life). If anything i should thanks them to at least put some effort to not make overlord or any other anime they produced as bad as Arifureta's anime.

Aaah arifureta, the only few anime that have too much contrast on every single color scheme. Yellow is blindingly yellow, dark is almost total black, had to increase my screen brightness just to watch this, and then when light color come, my eyes are blinded yet again, smh....

Huh? Isekai smartphone?? Sorry but i never heard or realized that anime even existed. Whats that? Is it cookie?

Well if i want to rant about quality control, there's no end to that, and who am i to be demanding things yeah?

So all the anime that supposed to be aired this season have all got at least episode 1 released, this is why I am making this thread.

So what anime I'm talking about?

Spoiler: New isekai/sword and magic animes

1. Mushoku Tensei (abbr: MT)
2. Tatoeba Last Dungeon Mae no Mura no Shounen ga Joban no Machi de Kurasu Youna Monogatari (abbr: Last Dungeon)
   
3. Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter (abbr: Hidden Dungeon)
4. Kumo desuga, Nani ka? (abbr: Kumo)
5. Kaifuku Jutsushi no Yarinaoshi (abbr: Redo Healer)
   
6. Ura Sekai Picnic (Ura Sekai)
7. LBX Girls (LBX)

Spoiler: Returning animes

1. Log Horizon
2. Re;zero
3. Kings Raid
4. Nanatsu no Taizai
5. Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken (Tensura)
6. Yashahime

There might be other who should be in these two category, but these are the eye-catching this season.

So, what is your opinion/impression on this new season?

Spoiler: My impression?

I've watched all the new anime except ura sekai since its Shoujo Ai / yuri themed. My impression was holy shyt they're much much much better than i expected!! Especially Kumo!!! I means we knows that kumo will be animated in 3D one way or another since the one who animate it also did the infamous 3D for Berserk. I love how CGI were used in Ajin and Sidonia no Kishi, but not Berserk. So yeah, nobody, literally NOBODY, even youtube reviewers etc, even expected that kumo animation will be very very fluid. You can still notice the 3D animation, but they're on par with the best 3D animation i ever watch, which is Fireball Charming (go search youtube that name, if you like monogatari series, you gotta love fireball charming for sure too). And because of this fluid 3D animation, watching using SVP (Smooth Video Project) at 144fps really worth it. The way it is directed is not totally how the novel goes, but remember, not all novel can be adapted 100% into the anime, so they had to change or rearrange something. However, the way kumo's script rearranged are so damn good.

Then we got Mushoku Tensei (MT)... Remember when Rifujin na Magonote (author) hinted at us reader about MT getting anime? I don't remember which chapter or that hint is, but i remember it was at the end note of some chapter. And remember, mushoku tensei been long finished, since 2015. And we all been waiting from 2015 for the anime. And now we got it, how do you guys feel? For me, episode 1 was lit!!! I never expected they would make Sugita Tomokazu to be Rudy's seiyuu omg...!! Sugita-san perfectly fit rudy's inner voice!! And the quality of details in MT is so much that I am crying of happiness. Look at those background, every wooden, every cloud, looks so alive and not just some clear bubble. The way this anime is directed, is even more impressive than kumo. The infancy period is rearranged makes as if we are seeing not 2 episode of growth, but as if we already been watching for long time...! And this is so important for this anime because mushoku tensei is all about growing up! To the director and Studio Bind (collaboration between Eggfirm and White House), thank you so much for not fcking this up like how white house did with Arifureta, and not only that, even making it surpass my expectation.
There's (at least not that i noticed) no skipping anything at all, and instead of skipping, they chose to accelerate or show the routine only for 1 time only, in a so natural way.

And, Last Dungeon, Hidden Dungeon, and Redo Healer.... I never expected them to be this good too. I thought they will be just another novel to anime adaptation then got dropped by the studio later on after 1 season, but this probably wrong.
All three of them are done pretty nicely. They're not at the same place as kumo and MT as those two can't really be said as generic isekai, but in comparison to other generic isekai adaptation, while Hidden Dungeon animation quality is good (and borderline ecchi-hentai) and Redo Healer didn't skip any important scene (some scene got rearanged just like kumo, but this anime already can be considered as hentai lol. P/s: uncensored version will always be released around 5 days after the censored release, hehe, uncensored already out for ep 1 now lol. only 1 day. GG), Last Dungeon unexpectedly top among my generic isekai now. How? Animation quality, smart detail skipping, and the story itself is funny. Of course, these three anime plays a lot with cliches so anyone who hates cliches probably find these anime boring, but im loving it.

Also don't forget we got 2 non isekai too

Spoiler: Non-isekai

New anime : Jaku Chara Tomozakikun

The main character is totally like hachiman, except that while hachiman is actually much more observant and clever, tomozakikun only behaved like hachiman but think differently.

Returning anime : Gotoubun no Hanayome

About that 5 idiot quintuplets siblings and 1 dense muthafucka. Final season.

Yakusoku no Neverland and Shingeki no Kyojin also already out 2 episode.

Yakusoku no Neverlane OP this time is not by Uverworld (im sad) but at least this new OP is also one of my most fav op this season. It synergize with the teamwork feelings.

Spoiler: Sources

- https://www.livechart.me/winter-2021/tv
- some torrent site (pm me in discord if anyone want details)

Spoiler: Disclaimer:

I didn't watch anime using aggregator site (yes im talking about those anime streaming site that steal the works of fansub from torrent site and shamelessly put their own watermark on it. ). Just like how NU's group translators hates aggregator site stealing their work, fansub group also hates those streaming site that steal their work and never give them credits. If you want to truly support anime industry, watching anime legally won't help much, because anime industry profited the most from selling merchandise instead. So buy original merchandise like figurine or original disk if you want to support this industry.

Woah it seems like I wrote an entire essay, and the way i describe things is almost like a thesis . Lots of people might get bored of reading all these, but if you did read all of 'em, thank you very much you da bros!

 

I'd argue best isekai season was... a no isekai season!

 

Is kumo going fast enough to see the twist in season 1?

 

I see what you did there

Hmm this is hard to say.
But so far

Spoiler: Contain a bit spoiler

Episode 1, kumo already building her first nest, which as readers already knows, will be burned later on. And the anime itself already tell the anime watcher the next episode title which is "my home is burned?!" Or something around that line.

We could say the early episode progression don't seems too fast, and probably only contained few chapters per episode. But it seems like while they didn't cut much of kumo screentime, they cut a lot of otherworlder screentime and event.

In the novel, the other people reincarnated into that world all are separately and they had to find each other first, and the one who did the searching is their teacher. But in the episode 1, it seems like she already found almost all of their classmate.

So if my prediction is correct, kumo's time will be a lot slower than outside world. And by the time the twist happened, the outside world twist probably also happened. Both event should be happening around at the same time, but since

Spoiler: Spoiler from novel

..since kumo's reincarnation is actually a lot later than all of her classmate (while everyone else should also have almost the same time of reincarnation) we gonna be watching a time skip when its outside world and real time when watching kumo... Hmmm does this makes sense? I am getting confused too now.

 

@Havisu
Not a fantasy isekai, but you might want to add LBX Girls to your new isekai list & Yashahime for returning/continue list
Also, isekai = transported to another and/or alternate world (be it literally transported or reincarnated)
So you might want to recheck & rewrite your list

Spoiler

Nanatsu & King's Raid should be in non-isekai

My impression w/ Kumo-chan (the anime's definitely better than it's abominable 1st PV) & Tensura are good so far, can't say anything about LH 3 since I haven't seen it yet
As for non-isekai, my impression so far are good for Yuru Camp 2 & Horimiya
As for the worst, EX-Arm -> JFC, most of you guys probably have seen the 3D CG dragon in Kumo-chan 1st PV? Now try to imagine it being used entirely for the anime (backgrounds, characters, etc). It's like the company who did it didn't even have/use a QC section or just spent it's budget half-heartedly

 

Yeah i know this and that exactly why i also used the word "sword and magic" instead of "fantasy". Because fantasy genre encompasses anything fantasy, that might not even have anything to do with sword and magic. Example of this is Yakusoku no Neverland. But how about Nanatsu no Taizai, Kings Raid, Hidden Dungeon and Last Dungeon? They're not isekai'd but they're native of the world of sword and magic, which is the staple of every isekai.

Also, because i didn't watch it, I've been contemplating to add Yashahime or not since it's the sequal of Inuyasha, but since you said it, i'll update the list. I also never watched LBX Girls but I will put it just in case.

For LH 3, i would say it just the same as before maybe? But Neverland is the same as before for sure.

I didn't watch yuru camp or horimiya, I guess for this season my anime that are based on the real world would be tomozakikun and Gotoubun only.

As for Ex-Arm, I have watched some clips of it and i can see their camera angle is really good, but yeah, good camera angle still can't hide the worst CG usage. We expected kumo to be exactly like Ex-Arm, but it became so goof instead, watching it (kumo) in 144fps looks so natural and didn't give that "weird" feel that most 2D anime gave when being played in 144fps.

I don't think that they didn't have/use the QC, but I think they're actually using that anime to train their animator in CG usage. However, this act is akin to betraying the mangaka who made Ex-Arm. Being used as training dummy is rare nowadays, and mostly its only used in small/casual/non-manga anime series, this might be that rare instance where a good manga is being used as training materials.

Ex-Arm now beat Berserks in being the worst CG anime now, and a lot of the manga readers are so disappointed they stopped reading at all (based on twitter and kotaku).. i just hope the mangaka didn't give up on his manga after feeling like being scammed by a studio.

 

You spell isekai wrong
It-shit-'kay

 

Dude its spell isekai, but pronounced as just you said, "it-shit-'kay"

 

Mushoku tensei ep 2 is out, and im already crying.

And no, im not crying because of the story in ep 2, but rather

Spoiler: Contain heavy spoiler

Because in the ending song, it shows so much of what happened to his home later on, and it shows what he lost (including his first childhood friend) when he came home from his long journey.

Moreover, this ending is done so greatly that people who didn't read the novel would never be spoiled about the story, and only keen novel reader would realize that the ruined building he's at, was actually his family's home.

Fck who cuts the onion here..?!!!!

 

Blame it on the infamous Onion Ninjas

 

if anyone watching Redo Healer / Kaifuku jutsushi no yarinaoshi, be noted that this anime is being aired at :

...three broadcast censorship levels: a TV version, a streaming-exclusive "Redo" version, and an uncensored "Complete Healing" version, also translated as "Complete Recovery", shown on AT-X.

you know which one you want

 

How about the interval for each release?

 

spent like ~10 minutes looking around, but could not find a full, comprehensive timeline, so i'l just list out what i found

1. AT-X version (the uncensored one) airs on Wednesday, 11:30 PM, japan standard time, (Wednesday, 2:30 PM UTC)
2. the censored version (not too sure which one of the two - streaming or tv), airs somewhere around 4 to 4.5 hours earlier.
3. for episode 1, the censored version has at least 2 missing lines (in the script) around timestamp 19:29 if you try to pair/compare the script with the uncensored version. not sure if this is intentional, however.

 

I somewhat realized the uncensored version will be out around 5 hours after censored version, but now i have timestamps, this will be easy to wait.

For that missing lines, i found z4st1n have been editing the sub, and as far as i know when it comes to quality content he is one of the best uploader, but nowadays he's been uploading with anon names haha. anyone can download it from you-know-where. I didn't use it though because I can somewhat understand the missing lines tho.

Also, apparently there's two version of uncensored version, the first version with 1440x1080p resolution and v2 is 1920x1080p resolution. Obviously, 1920 quality is above that 1440 since it have more pixel (from my understanding at least)

 

is z4st1n the guy from [Rom & Rem] that previously restores 'Onii-sama' and other stuffs to the recent Mahouka episodes?

 

I bought Arifureta. Don’t care how bad it is. I also bought John Carter and Childhoods End. Sometimes you have to support the novels you love, no matter how bad the video version is.

I’m thinking of buying Legend of the Galactic Heroes, new thesis. I’ve never seen the original, is it worth it?

 

I never said i didn't support nor do i recommend anyone to not support it. I am in fact agreed to supporting all and any studio. While i do say arifureta anime is bad, i still watched it all, and i in fact are a fan of it's novel.

For Legend of Galactic Heroes, its not my cup of tea so i didn't watch it. Soz.

Hmm i'm not really sure. He's very elusive and sometimes didn't even put his name or anything that indicates that he's the uploader, he used to do so though. Nowadays he normally would just upload it as anon .. most of his uploads also now are gone.

I bet something happened between him and fansub and that demotivated him to do all these work anymore. Everyone who used that site loved his release, his encode can be said the best (at least for anime).

Also, iirc, Rom & Rem is a new group and only doing sub editing, most of the time they didn't touch the source video. So probably not z4st1n since he always do great touch up on videos

 

Yes definitely great isekai this season, I’ve been binging Log Horizon recently for S3 and it’s making me want to play mmorpg again, too bad there’s no good mmorpg game

 

How about Tree Of Saviour (ToS)?? I heard great thing from a lot of players of ToS, and i used to play for short time too, too bad i didn't have that much dedication for mmo game, but i remember its being really good

 

I played it before and it was ok, don’t how it is nowadays