「世間知らず、王都に立つ」 (Sekanshirazu, outo ni tatsu)
“I Will Stand in the Royal Capital”

While this season may not be isekai powerhouse summer is looking to be, the alternate world phenomenon continues its inexorable march through anime with not only Isekai Quartet, but also this little series called Kenja no Mago. It may be flying under the radar and not “real” isekai (compared to what we’re used to), but if you were thinking of passing this one over from appearances alone you’d be doing yourself a disfavour, because KnM is arguably more fun than it has right to be.

At face value KnM is what you’d expect from any other cookie cutter isekai series: ordinary guy with few attachments and one hell of a work schedule finds himself transported to a new universe after getting trucked to the face. Add on the usual magic system, generic fantasy setting, and Gary Stu-esque powers and darling you got yourself a money printer isekai story. There are some slight changeups mind you, from our main man Shin (Kobayashi Yuusuke) being reincarnated as a baby and apparently not retaining a lot in the way of real world information to the mechanism of Shin learning about this new world (parental negligence? Who would’ve thunk it), but in effect KnM is what happens when Knight’s & Magic’s premise meets Smartphone’s (and Slime’s) demeanour—i.e. your more lackadaisical kind of isekai.

While the above will probably have some running for the hills, the important thing to note is that as a whole KnM’s setup works surprisingly well, in part because of that lighthearted, slice of life coating. Shin for example may be OP as hell and built with composite grade plot armour (you know he’s got the easy road), but thanks to his family life and the show’s obvious focus on exploration it’s hard to focus too much on it. Much like the aforementioned Smartphone it’s all going to be about learning things, helping solve problems, and making a few friends along the way; if KnM succeeds with this—i.e. by keeping its various arcs fresh and interesting—there’s little reason to except this turning into classic trainwreck material. Plus the fact the show is all but throwing a lack of a true harem in our faces is something definitely worth giving it the benefit of the doubt over. Make no mistake, KnM probably won’t be setting the bar for any future isekai to aim towards, but so long as its future characters can match the fun and humour of our dorky wizard Merlin (Yara Yuusaku) and his totally tsundere ex-wife (guaranteed), this one will be more than capable of filling the void Slime left behind.

No matter how long in the tooth alternate world tales may be getting these days for some, if you’re need of a little isekai levity this season certainly consider giving KnM a shot—this one won’t leave you disappointed.

OP Sequence

OP: 「アルティメット☆MAGIC」 (Ultimate☆MAGIC) by i☆Ris

23 Comments

    1. I can understand how you feel
      https://randomc.net/image/Kenja%20no%20Mago/Kenja%20no%20Mago%20-%20OP%20-%20Large%2005.jpg
      https://randomc.net/image/Kenja%20no%20Mago/Kenja%20no%20Mago%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2039.jpg
      Instead of some Fuuka/Sakura-like character, the author has paired our MC with a Hinata-like character.

      https://randomc.net/image/Kenja%20no%20Mago/Kenja%20no%20Mago%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2031.jpg
      I find it sad that, while magic exist in this fantasy world, there obviously wasn’t any anti-aging magic made. Currently, science is trying to make such attempts I think.

      Greed
  1. Yep, this was fun. It helps that I’m very accepting when it comes to the isekai genre. I think everyone has a genre or two where they’re like that, right? Kenja no Mago doesn’t seem like a literary masterpiece but I still enjoyed it quite a bit and look forward to the next episode.

    Player
  2. With how dark the manga just got I’m really enjoying this trip back to the beginning. Especially since it’s so well done.

    Much like our lovable TenSura, the characters’ personalities are what really sell this series, so I’m glad to see they’re being allowed as much zaniness as they should be.

    Aex
  3. https://randomc.net/image/Kenja%20no%20Mago/Kenja%20no%20Mago%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2008.jpg
    Explooosion! Voiced by Rie Takahashi? Probably not.
    Talking about Konosuba, looks like they stole Kazuma’s mansion (or the animators were lazy, take your pick).
    https://randomc.net/image/Kenja%20no%20Mago/Kenja%20no%20Mago%20-%20OP%20-%20Large%2005.jpg
    Subaru (same VA) finally chooses the blue haired girl.

    I’d rather watched another season of Knight’s & Magic’s, but it’s not like this was a bad, albeit clichee, first episode, so let’s see how this turns out.

    boingman
    1. @Boingman : They could cover Vols 6-8 of Knights & Magic into 1 season, since that’s a whole continuous arc by itself. That said, there’s only 9 volumes out in Japan, and I’m not sure how overall popular the series was there.

      zztop
  4. Never read the WN, but caught a few of the early chapters of the manga. It wasn’t great to begin with, but turn to complete garbage the moment the MC started dating that annoying girl.

    Matti
  5. Shahir
  6. You need to read more Isekai manga. Not only there’s hundreds of examples with female MC but there’s many that aren’t even focused on battle but in other things like construction, food, comedy, etc

    Don

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