「破天荒な新英雄」 (Hatenkouna shin eiyuu)
“The Brave New Hero”

While it may be all fluffy lighthearted fun and games, cannot say KnM doesn’t know when to spice things up a little. This series may not be breaking the bank in terms of new or unique material (or even characters for that matter), but the little things it’s doing and their corresponding execution are certainly leaving a good taste in my mouth. It may only be derivative OP Gary Stu isekai wish fulfillment, but I’ll be damned if it’s fun isekai wish fulfillment.

Given the importance of magic to KnM’s world it’s surprising the show hasn’t tackled an explanation yet, and though we may still be lacking the entire answer, at least some more info was forthcoming this week—and in an entertaining fashion to boot. No real shockers here, it’s all about that sweet sweet mana and literally gorging on (well, concentrating) it as much as possible and visualizing the outcome, although Shin naturally has everyone else beat. Easy to guess how the kid is doing it of course (*cough* real world knowledge, see the talk on fire), but it’s quite pleasant having the show willing to let others actively learn and match Shin’s abilities. He may be the inventor, but he doesn’t have a monopoly over the invention. Frankly it’s a refreshing take on the usual isekai shenanigans, where the master is almost untouchable strength wise, as Shin through evidence and musing both has pretty much admitted he’s going to be seriously challenged in the not too distant future. Probably not enough to lose mind you (he is the OP machine after all), but enough to need the help of friends and (honorary) parents? I’d place a few bets on that.

On the other side of the coin lies the main plot—erm, the other one—now finally cropping up. Not much of a stretch for example to assume our lovely demonoid antagonists are the main puppeteers behind the sudden threat of war on the horizon (even though the reason for it remains unclear), or that Shin will inevitably become the centrepiece to the whole show. Seriously, you honestly expected the kid to just respect authority and adhere to the promises made on his family’s behalf? Please, we’ve got friends to rescue and a girl in need of a good smooch or twelve on the lips—there’s no time for rules where we’re heading. From here on out it’s lighthearted fun with a romp through the jungles of war, and while pretty easy to guess the immediate events in store, I don’t imagine it’ll be any worse than the classroom lessons or projectile sword making.

After all we’ve got a veritable magical black hole on our hands, and it would be a shame not to see him unleash his full potential.

6 Comments

  1. What a fun isekai series so far (I just marathoned the first 5 episodes).

    Of course, he’s a kid who has not interacted with anyone his age until now, and
    manages to fit in with his new peers with the wit and grace of a seasoned pro
    (even getting best girl on his first try). That’s the wish fulfillment part;
    the magic OP is just icing on the cake to all of that! And having a friend
    (the Prince) with super-deep pockets doesn’t hurt anything!

    If something like that happens to me, forget the water goddess or the level 310
    or the smartphone (although nine is my lucky number) — this is how I want to
    be isekai’d!!!

    mac65
  2. I can conclude that that the part of Isekai is purely anecdotal and that this is mainly an anime of a magic school with the MC and his companions fighting against enemies known here as demons and demonoids ( like most of the other animes of the magic school where the MC and his friends must fight against X enemy as examples are like the magical terrorist group of Rokudenashi, the aliens of Hundred and the monsters in Seiken Tsukai World Break, just to mention Some)
    There really is not an “isekai plot” because the protagonist does not use his knowledge of past life to improve anything, it is only a pretext that he uses his scientific knowledge with his powers but could simply say that he is a genius or is Overpower.
    In addition the prota does not have a harem because only one girl has romantic interest the other women have the MC friends so that there is a couple for each.

    I am sure that if the anime had not been sold as an isekai surely people would have a better impression of this

    Bertz
    1. The protagonist actually does use knowledge from his past life to utilise in his magic. You can see this in the previous episode and the first episode. In the previous one, he used scattered light to maximize his attack (the scale is debatable though). While in the first he used hydrogen and oxygen to create nuclear fusion. Both are rather modern science.

      Whatever his previous job was we know it involves making science presentations or books to children. So it actually does help him a lot. Especially when how the magic works here is by visualisation.

      theirs
  3. I am always impressed by how this series tends to have people acting like real people for the most part, and competence isn’t the sole dominion of the main character. Of course, this also applies to all sides as well – when you have a clever main character, you need an equally clever villain to match him against, and our majin leader definitely has a few cards up his sleeve.

    Shin stating that Schtrom’s ‘destruction’ was fishy due to an unusual explosion during his attack could have been left for a dramatic revelation down the line, but for someone who tests his attacks and knows their effects, it would be strange if he just left it as a ‘well that’s strange’ moment and let it slide.

    We also get to see the other side of letting magic go out of control – usually it just results in a large explosion as our demi-Megumin demonstrated this week. Makes you wonder if there is something else going on that turns someone into a demon – it would be ironic if the protective desire to smother the out of control magic reaction was what ultimately warped the previous human demonoid into the destructive creatures described.

    RuneGrey

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