「黒幕の名は」 (Kuromaku no na wa)
“The Name of the Curtain”

Well if there’s one thing you can firmly bet on it’s KnM offering no real surprises going forward. As promised heading in and proven these past couple of weeks it’s pure vanilla isekai in this magical world, albeit with a hefty helping of sprinkles to complete the look. Is it going to be the best thing since sliced harem bread? Most definitely not, but KnM certainly has the concept of bubbly fun down to a fine art.

As hinted at last time with the reveal of our (first) big bad, KnM’s central premise won’t be throwing any curve balls. Oliver Schtrom for example turned out exactly as everyone probably expected—i.e. a demonoid with a greater than average fashion sense—and his first showdown with the magic prodigy wound up ensuring their next encounter will be slightly more climactic (although death by converging sun rays was pretty damn fun to watch). It’s easy to guess from Schtrom’s arguably quick reveal and the blatant teasers in the OP that the demonoid threat will only be gaining in prominence from here on out, and that Shin’s second taste of stardom is but the beginning of some more serious and complex fights. After all, given the kid’s new company and that relationship just waiting to happen, you know full well it won’t be long before someone winds up being the damsel in distress to whatever plot the enemy has planned. Rescuing Sicily and getting a cutesy kiss scene for the effort? It’s more likely than you think.

The relative simplicity of KnM’s main conflict however does mesh nicely with the show’s more comedic, slice of life focus, and it’s here where once again KnM shines the brightest. While blushing scenes and the appropriately mischievous Maria are naturally top of this list (snaggle tooth is best tooth), Shin and his reactions to the usual Gary Stu events are still proving amusing, particularly when paired with the noticeable lack of fawning and worship we often witness in similar series. The award scene for example could have easily been overblown into something less than appropriate, while the likes of sudden popularity could have quickly become a four dimensional love tesseract versus the hilariously prescient indication of monogamous relationship in the making. It’s simple and unassuming stuff overall (not to mention nothing particularly unique), but KnM has so far done a good job of keeping it entertaining, something arguably boding well for the more important things to come.

We may not know exactly where this little magic story plans on heading next, but you can bet the ride won’t be slowing down anytime soon.

16 Comments

  1. Collecting diffused light to turn into a weapon is no easy feat. One of those thing that can only done by magic and understandably not understood by the others. I was actually surprised by his explanation.

    Looks like the isekai part is combining modern scientific knowledge with magic. Ignoring the question of magic capacity, I can see how he’ll make his group OP with each having a certain specialisation. Starting to get why the opening is like that.

    theirs
    1. Funnily enough it’s not that difficult in practice, all it takes is a convex lens and a little time—i.e. the quintessential magnifying glass roasting insects. The fun part is actually making a lens big enough for the desired effect 😛

      And yeah this one will be science flavoured, the show hasn’t explained it well so far but most of Shin’s abilities derive from his scientific knowledge.

      1. Can’t say I’ve achieved his laser like efficiency using that method. 😛
        Also assumed he gobbled up the other photons besides direct sun light. At least that’s what I understood from his partial explanation.

        theirs
    2. The anime hasn’t explained it well, but the premise behind all of the MCs magic is science. It is why he is so powerful. I dunno if the anime will get into it, but there is a “good” reason why people seem weak.

      Tegual
    1. For good or bad it’s going to be like this until the end though, this one is predicated on the MC owning all while his friends provide a little levity (albeit in a better than usual sense). I’d be really surprised if KnM ever has its secondary cast do more than the usual isekai support stuff.

  2. Man, what a generic episode, whether it was the plot, villain or the off model looking characters. I’ll probably continue watching this, but it annoys me that the main is voiced by the same guy that is also Re-Zero’s Subaru who is much more interesting character.

    boingman
    1. Woah, I didn’t even realize that at all even though I loved subaru’s VA.

      I didn’t look it up but if that’s true then it’s pretty nuts that I didn’t even recognize his voice.

      Aka hes doing a good job acting like this douchebag!! (jokes…or not)

      yodad
  3. Part of the fun of KnM is the fact that the side characters all seem to be fairly competent as well – exactly as you’d expect real people to be, as opposed to standees who are just there to make the MC look good. They give you the hint that the trap for Schtrom (or whomever the possible mastermind may be) has been set at the beginning of the episode, but do a masterful job of showing how the investigators mousetrapped him.

    Of course he then turned out to be a lot more powerful than anyone expected (as they said, a majin with their reason intact is totally unprecedented) and Shin had to save the day. And Schtrom then declares he’s going to make sure Shin doesn’t interfere with his plans again… Show Spoiler ▼

    The real question, of course… is it Sicily, or Cecily? 😀

    RuneGrey
    1. what i dislike the most, and is portayed on the anime even more clearly, is the factor time. while our MC spent years to learn and use his previous life to further advance his growth, what he’s gonna achieve in his new allies and in magical tech is the real monster of the series.

      Larcek

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