ANN’s coverage of Anime NYC sponsored by Yen Press!
Crunchyroll is premiering a sizable chunk of its winter 2023 season at Anime NYC 2023. The biggest of these new shows, Trigun Stampede, received its own panel, while other premieres are being shown in hour-long blocks of two or three shows. Friday’s premiere block featured The Reincarnation of the Strongest Exorcist In Another World, The Tale of the Outcasts, and The Iceblade Sorcerer Shall Rule the World.
The Reincarnation of the Strongest Exorcist In Another World
This series distinguishes itself from most isekai by not involving the real world at all. Instead of someone from our world being transported to a fantasy realm (or the reverse), this follows an exorcist from a fantasy realm based on feudal Japan who is reincarnated into another fantasy realm based on 19th-century Europe. The downside of this somewhat intriguing shift in the formula is that the show has to spend a lot of time trying to fill you in on the differences between how magic works in these different worlds.
Our main character Haruyoshi’s downfall in his original world resulted from being too powerful. As punishment for his hubris, he’s reincarnated into Seika Lamprouge, a boy who, unlike his mean older brothers, has no inherent magical abilities. Being born without magic, however, doesn’t mean he’s unable to learn how to do magic. Presumably, the protagonist will grow more and more skilled with magic and regain his past life’s power over time.
The biggest red flag for me in this premiere is the maid slave girl. Yep, this is yet another isekai with slavery in it for some reason. I’m honestly baffled they even included that in this setting; the story could have made more sense as just class-based upstairs-downstairs conflict without making the maid literal property. To its credit, it’s not portraying said slavery as a positive thing, but there are so many ways this could go wrong that I would need to be told this turns into the John Brown isekai for me to get excited. Combine the slave issue with fetishized outfits and a scene of sexual harassment, and yep, this premiere lost what little interest I had in the rest of the series.
The Tale of the Outcasts
More European-style fantasy settings (this time specifically in Victorian England) and more young girl slaves. This time, however, our protagonist is the enslaved girl herself, and her predicament is depicted much more punishingly. Wisteria is an orphan forced to panhandle for an abusive priest before being sold to a pedophile who tortures children. Her salvation comes in the form of Malbus, a lion-faced demon whom only she can see.
Malbus is easily the most interesting part of this show. I know my furry friends will be obsessed with him, and his sheer boredom with immortality has a Ryuk-esque charm. Other supernaturals aren’t quite as well integrated into the first episode’s plot; a cutaway amid one conversation between Wisteria and Malbus to a couple of demon hunters exploding a lizard demon’s head honestly felt like a joke in both how awkwardly edited and poorly animated it was.
I can see this story potentially becoming interesting with a solid ending hook, but this first episode leans too hard into overloading on grotesque misery. Given the weak animation and pacing, I’d probably be more likely to pick up the manga than continue watching the anime.
The Iceblade Sorcerer Shall Rule the World
Like The Reincarnation of the Strongest Exorcist in the World, this is about a hero born without magical ability in a world of wizards. Due to near-perfect test scores, Ray White has somehow gotten into a prestigious magic school despite this weakness. Rather than a “muggle” or some other made-up term, the word everyone calls him is… ORDINARY. In English. Somehow it gets funnier every time, though I’m not sure that was intentional.
There is a lot of intentional humor and silliness to this anime, though, and it’s successful enough that this is the premiere I enjoyed the most from Friday’s block. Yes, it’s horny magic school nonsense, but there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s not doing anything particularly problematic, and it even seems equal opportunity in its horniness (tiddy shots AND shirtless muscle dudes!).
Ray’s not a particularly interesting protagonist (you might even say he’s… ORDINARY). Still, I like how chill and accepting he is compared to all the more colorful characters he crosses paths with: the muscle-loving roommate, the embarrassed half-elf, the flying-pigtails girl obsessed with being seen as the cutest (probably my favorite based on first impressions). The magic was presented as akin to computer programming, a sort of nerdy silliness I can vibe with. The art’s on the generic side, but the animation is solid and even stylish. I probably won’t follow this when it airs, but I had more fun with this premiere than the other two.
