*Nitsuj is giving a physical check-up to Seras*
(Nitsuj): Alright Seras, hold still while this scanner monitors your heartbeat.
(Seras): I still don’t see why you have to scan our heartbeats this way.
(Nitsuj): Would you rather strip down into your underwear?
(Seras): Scanner is fine.
*In walks Chibi Isis*
(Nitsuj): Ah~ perfect timing Chibi. Your test results came back fine. You’re in perfect health.
(Chibi Isis): Yes!
(Nitsuj): Also, it’s your turn to do a review this week, so go ahead and choose who you want it to be with it. Everyone’s anxious.
(Chibi Isis): Well I’ve been thinking long and hard about the anime I wanted to review and for this review I want to do it with Se-chan.
(Seras): You what?
(Chibi Isis): We never got a chance to do our review together, so I want to do one with you this year.
*Seras slightly blushes and gets a little teary eyed*
(Nitsuj): Did your heart just skip a beat?
(Seras): *Whispers* Shut the fuck up.
*Seras moves away from the scanner*
(Seras): Alright Chibi, I’ll do a review since you’re so desperate. What kind of candied coated goodness are we reviewing it?
(Chibi Isis): Arifureta!
(Everyone): What!
(Seras): Don’t a lot of people hate this anime?
(Chibi Isis): I guess, but because something is hated doesn’t mean it’s bad. Sometimes. Also known by its full title, Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest, the series started off as a light novel by Ryo Shirakome in 2013 and still continuing to this day. It was met with average reviews, but it managed to find it’s fandom and, in an industry, saturated with the isekai genre that’s saying something.
(Seras): In 2019 an anime was produced through the collaboration between the studios Asread (Shuffle) and the masters of dark isekai/fantasy White Fox (Akame ga Kill and Re:Zero). The anime was met with negative criticism from both the fans and critics who bashed the series for being unfaithful to the novels, rushing through stories, and even leaving out a lot of information and events from the novel.
(Chibi Isis): And yet despite this I can’t help but find some enjoyment in it. Don’t get me wrong, it has a number of problems, but compared to some of the other isekai animes that came out, this one at least tried to be something different and memorable. Let’s see what this series gives us, this is Arifureta.
Opening and Ending Theme
(Seras): The opening for this anime is “FLARE” by Void_Chords feat.LIO. What makes this opening unique is that it’s sung entirely in English. It’s an alright song, I didn’t really find myself caring for it all that much. My one complaint with the song is that I can barely hear the singer at some parts which is a shame because the vocals of the singer are really good.
(Chibi Isis): The ending is “Hajime no Uta” by DracoVirgo. I personally liked this song. I especially love the peaceful atmosphere the song creates in the first opening moments of the song. The singer is very good as feel the emotional weight with every word she sings.
Episodes 1-4
(Seras): Just going to throw this out there, but episode 1 of this anime sucks. It starts with this guy named Hajime voiced by Toshinari Fukamachi who along with his classmates got transported to another world through mysterious circumstances. They all receive good classes and are told that their mission is to save the world from extinction (Chibi Isis: The plot of 90% of all RPGs out there). Hajime unfortunately must have bad luck as his class is the synergist and only has one skill, transmutation. Because of this, he’s seen as the weakest of his classmates and gets bullied by them because of it. One day, when he and his classmates are exploring a dungeon they fall into a trap and get surrounded by monsters. Hajime uses his skills to save one of his classmates and gets hit by an attack which throws him down into an abyss where he winds up in a lower level of the dungeon where the monsters are way stronger (that moment when you’re a level 1 player in a level 70 area). They quickly establish the rushed pace of the episode and how they have no idea what they’re doing by presenting Hajime as a weak character completely scared of monsters and actually loses an arm to one of them (scene here: https://youtu.be/tq5AvyuVq3s). In his depressed state we see him slowly start to go mad as he gets back up and becomes an edgelord (they are trying really hard make him be like Dante from DMC. Don’t believe me? Keep reading). He kills a bunch of wolf monsters and eats them which messes up his body as his eyes turn red and his hair turns white (Chibi Isis: Wow, they are trying way too hard to make him edgy). On top of that, he discovers that his stats and level go up for every monster he eats and he inherits their skills (Chibi Isis: Wow, it’s like what would happen if Kirby became an edgy goth puffball. (Seras): That is weirdly accurate). He starts to eat other monsters to make himself stronger and even creates a gun with bullets and everything (Seras and Chibi Isis: You’re trying too hard) which he uses to kill the monster that ate his arm and gets stronger. Hajime now vows to find his way home and take out anyone or anything that gets in his way (scene here: https://youtu.be/tq5AvyuVq3s).
So if you thought episode 1 was awful, episode 2 turns things around for the better. We learn a little bit more about this world such as how the demons and humans have been fighting each other for centuries. Both sides were locked in stalemate (Chibi Isis: Then the Fire Nation attacked. I couldn’t resist) until the demons learned to control monsters which tipped the war in their favor. Desperate for survival, the human kingdom summoned heroes which was Hajime and his classmates which as I mentioned earlier all received good classes except Hajime (Chibi Isis: Which is questionable now, seeing as how he’s eating monsters, gaining their powers and leveling up. (Seras): Yeah true. That class seems a little. . . broken). Speaking of Hajime, we see him continue to go down into the dungeon in the hopes of finding a way out (wouldn’t it make more sense to go up then?). He continues fighting monsters and eating them to get stronger and eventually comes across a door being guarded by one red demon and one blue demon (Chibi Isis: Japanese mythology for the win). He beats the demons and unlocks the door where he finds a girl sealed within. His instincts tell him to leave (wise choice) but when she says that she was betrayed by her race, he decides to hear her out. The girl explains that long ago she fought to protect her race which were some kind of vampire race until they deemed her too dangerous as she has power to use mana without creating circles and can self-heal. Hajime frees the girl and names her Yue voiced by Yūki Kuwahara because she reminds him of the moon (scene here: https://youtu.be/sZniza-ZRG8). Yue promises to stay with him forever, which might not last long as spikes come flying at them and Hajime takes a hit in the back.
(Chibi Isis): At the start of 3 Hajime survives the spikes to the back and we see the monster that fired at them is a rock scorpion. Hajime’s gun isn’t effective against the monster but when Yue gets a taste of Hajime’s blood, she uses her powers to create a crack and Hajime delivers the final blow (Seras: Hey, that’s our combo move. (Chibi Isis): We’ll sue them later. Scene here: https://youtu.be/e5MAsTNA4rE). After defeating the scorpion, Hajime asks Yue how long the labyrinth goes to which she says she has no idea. The only thing she knows is that it’s said that these labyrinths were created by a group of people known as the Mavericks who fought against the gods of this world, lost, and went on to hide in the labyrinths. Hajime now believes that if he can reach the bottom of the labyrinth he’ll find one of these Mavericks and find a way back up. Hajime and Yue continue down into the labyrinth fighting the occasional monster here and there so not much happens (it’s pretty slow paced honestly and they skip over quite a bit from the novels. To their credit the only good change they make is to Yue who comes across livelier here than in the novels. In the novels, she had more of deadpan personality. Here, she has more comedic moments that actually get a chuckle out of me. Scenes here: https://youtu.be/9PupBxj-FRE and https://youtu.be/ydF5uaOAX4I). The time finally comes when Hajime has finally traveled down 100 floors (Seras: Milestone) and comes across another impressive door which opens for him to end the episode on.
In episode 4, Hajime and Yue enter the lair of the Mavericks which means they can find a way out. The only thing stopping them is a horribly rendered lesser version of the Yamata no Orochi (Seras: Six heads with different abilities and bad CGI that makes the PSP graphics look like the PS4). The whole episode is just Hajime and Yue fighting against the beast where one head heals, one defends, one does debuff skills, and the other 3 attack with elemental attacks (they’ve got an answer for everything). Hajime uses his new gun to take them out but one head survives and attacks Yue where Hajime uses his body as a shield to save her (I like how even though he looks like an edgelord, he still won’t hesitate to save his comrade). Hajime survives but he passes out and his new gun gets destroyed. Yue picks up his handgun and goes to fight where she gets saved by Hajime thanks to the healing potions and can now do the air walk (Seras: Or quick step as someone of us call it). Using their combined attacks they take out the final head and then pass out for exhaustion (scene here: https://youtu.be/loOleRiYRFQ).
Episodes 5-8
In episode 5, Hajime wakes up in bed with a naked Yue sleeping next to him (wow, somebody had fun. (Seras): Chibi! (Chibi Isis): What? Just because I’m cute and innocent doesn’t mean I can’t say dirty things. Scene here: https://youtu.be/oPoDMY2QDHw). Yue explains to Hajime that they’re in the lair of the Maverick which seems to be deserted. They walk around and explore the area where they come to the Maverick’s mansion and find the dead body of the Maverick named Oscar. They get a video recording from Oscar where he injects Hajime with all the knowledge he has (Seras: Namekian fusion). This allows Hajime to learn ancient magic which allows him to transmutate artifacts and such (in other words, he can bypass equivalent exchange and make anything he wants). After exploring the area and doing a bit more research, Hajime and Yue discover that if they go to the other labyrinths, they can learn more ancient magic, and possibly find a way back to Hajime’s world. Hajime decides to go and conquer the other labyrinths and thanks to Oscar’s ring they can return to the surface but decide to stay and better prepare themselves for what’s to come. Hajime uses Oscar’s workshop to create an automill arm (Seras: Wow, your FMA comment wasn’t far off), new guns, and teach Yue ancient magic (scene here: https://youtu.be/Ha-uNpgp9Ow. (Seras): As well as sex. Lots and lots of sex took place while they were down there). After two months (how do they know that?) they finally leave and return to the surface.
(Seras): Episode 6 opens up with the introduction of Shea a girl from a race of rabbit people (the best way to describe her is Aqua from Konosuba only less worthless). She’s voiced by Minami Takahashi (Kuroka from Highschool DxD). She’s being chased by a 2-headed T-Rex (Chibi Isis: Which on paper should be cool but when you see it, no) where she gets saved by Hajime who kills the T-Rex with ease. Shea explains that she was banished from her village because she displayed powers that were exhibited by monsters. She can manipulate mana, use magic that only monsters can use, and has an ability called future sight which allows her to see into the foreseeable future which is how she knew Hajime and Yue would show up. When Shea was banished, a few of her family members and friends left with her but are so weak that they can’t survive in the forest surrounded with more dangerous monsters. Shea begs Hajime and Yue for help but they say no until Shea offers to be their guide to the next labyrinth (scene here: https://youtu.be/86o9y7G2ALc). Hajime and Yue save Shea’s clan and even teach them how to defend themselves (scene here: https://youtu.be/IuW4y6iY3pA. (Chibi Isis): Hajime turned them into gangsta rabbits). Shea shows them the entrance of the labyrinth but apparently, they don’t have the necessary requirements to enter it (too under-leveled). Hajime decides to look for the other labyrinths to gain the necessary items, Shea joins them (scene here: https://youtu.be/WgG3_8k6kzA. Oh good, if they get desperate they can eat her or sell her off for the night), and the rest of rabbit people decide to stay behind and train for Hajime’s eventual return.
In episode 7 Hajime and the others find the next labyrinth which was created by the eccentric and cheerful Melidi. Unlike Oscar’s labyrinth which was long, dark, dangerous, and filled with horrifying monsters that would haunt your nightmares for week, Melidi’s labyrinth is more focused on traps and trolling people (particularly Shea). After traveling around in circles (Chibi Isis: And going up and down and side to side), they eventually make it to boss room and fight a giant metal knight controlled by Melidi’s remaining subconscious. They beat it and then find Melidi where she gives them a ring and her ancient magic which is gravity magic. Unfortunately, Hajime and Shea are too low level to use it. However, Yue should have no problem learning how to use it. Melidi than forces them out of her labyrinth via waterway and they return to the surface outside of a village where Hajime gives Shea CPR and she gets frisky with him (Chibi Isis: Guess it’s true what they say about rabbits being thirsty). They head to nearby village for lodging where Shea announces she’s going to give her virginity to Hajime (scene here: https://youtu.be/EDHF5SS9M0s).
Episode 8 starts with Hajime’s group meeting with the guild master of an adventurer’s guild. He wants Hajime’s help in finding a group of adventurers who have gone missing in the mountains with one of them being the son of a nobleman. Hajime agrees to take on the quest on two conditions. One, the guild master will give them status plates (Chibi Isis: Fair trade. (Seras): Do you even know what a status plate is? (Chibi Isis): No, but it sounds cool), and two, if Hajime should need his help in the foreseeable future he will do everything he says without question (that’s a pretty tall order). The guild master agrees to Hajime’s conditions and Hajime’s group heads out to Ur where the adventurers disappeared. While there Hajime comes face to face with his teacher Aiko and a few of his fellow classmates. Unlike the other students, Aiko’s powers are agriculture, so she’s been helping farmers to grow crops and fields with other students who are too scared or weak to go into labyrinth helping her out. Once Aiko recognizes Hajime she’s overjoyed to see her student alive and wants to know what happened to him (Chibi Isis: Well he ate a bunch of monsters, found a vampire girl, reach the bottom of two labyrinths, lost an arm, and met a bunny girl who wants to have sex with him. (Seras): There’s a bunch of other stuff but those are the highlights). Hajime of course doesn’t tell her much and says that he refuses to rejoin the others (scene here: https://youtu.be/eg3BNntfMto). Later that night, he sneaks into Aiko’s room and tells her what he learned about the Mavericks. Long ago, the world was in a constant state of war by the gods for some unknown reason. A group of people known as the Liberators discovered this and were working to defeat the gods, their plan was discovered, and they were labeled Mavericks by the people. One by one the Mavericks were captured and killed until the remaining Mavericks hid away in their labyrinths only giving their power to those who passed their trials. Hajime says he now plans to go to all the labyrinths and find a way back home. He also tells Aiko how one of his fellow classmates intentionally tried to kill him before taking his leave. The next morning Hajime’s group heads toward the mountains where they run into Aiko and his classmates who want to come with him as Aiko still wants to learn more from Hajime and promises to leave him alone when the mission is over. Hajime accepts their help and summons a jeep for them to drive.
Episodes 9-13
In episode 9 Hajime and the others find Will the noble who is the only survivor of his team. He says that his team got done in by a black dragon and sure enough the black dragon appears (Chibi Isis: In a horrible CGI rendition). Luckily, Hajime takes the dragon down single-handedly and shoves a huge rod up it’s butt (cover your eyes Chibi. This stuff is too graphic for you. (Chibi Isis): Yeah, like I want to see this. Also, I’ve watched you decapitate viruses and everything. This is pretty much a 3 for me on the graphical scale). It gets revealed that the dragon is a woman named Tio voiced by Yoko Hikasa (Rias from Highschool DxD) and she is a dragonborn. She was sent by her tribe to investigate Hajime’s classmates but when she stopped to rest a hooded figure took control of her boy and forced her to go after Will. While Tio will accept any punishment for her actions, she begs them to hold off on it, as that hooded figure has created an army of monsters under his control who are going to attack the nearby village. Hajime shows mercy and removes the rod where Tio reverts into her human form and gets dragged away by him as she’s awaken to a new fetish (scene here: https://youtu.be/K6ajJQoPnRU. Wow, if she is Aqua than Tio is Darkness. (Chibi Isis): That makes Yue, Megumin).
With the monster army’s attack on the village eminent in episode 10, Aiko begs Hajime to help them defend the village which he agrees to do only because of the immense respect he has for Aiko. Together with Yue, Shea, and Tio, Hajime is able to protect the village and capture the mastermind behind this attack (scenes here: https://youtu.be/_RCoWr8hwXk and https://youtu.be/Owx4miSEqF8). To the shock of everyone, the mastermind is Shimuzu (Chibi Isis: Who? (Seras): I don’t know either) another classmate of Hajime who left the group and teamed up with the demons to prove how capable he was. He was ordered by the demons to kill Aiko as apparently her powers are more problematic than the others (she can help cultivate human land thus expanding human territory and driving demons and monsters back). Aiko tries to extend a helping hand to Shimuzu only for him to capture her and try to escape where he gets attacked from behind by the demons (scene here: https://youtu.be/Oj44MKmzQsM). Hajime soon kills Shimuzu saying he’s an enemy but also to protect Aiko. Aiko would have blamed herself for what happened to Shimuzu but like this, the blame shifts to Hajime (he cares for his teacher and wants her to stay the way she is). Hajime and his group leave with Will while Aiko and the others bury Shimuzu.
(Chibi Isis): In episode 11 Hajime and Shea go on a date (scene here: https://youtu.be/kXBZsHPauiA) where they find out some slave traders have merfolk child. Hajime senses the merfolk and rescues her. The merfolk is named Myu and she quickly takes a liking to Hajime and Shea so much so that when Hajime hands her over to the proper authorities she cries her heart out. Her safety doesn’t last long as the slave traders capture her again and Hajime goes a rampage in the city looking for her destroying every slave trade organization in the city along the way. Hajime finds Myu and rescues her easily (scene here: https://youtu.be/4Xi01-zh8TY?t=88).
In the final two episodes of the series, Hajime’s classmates get attacked by a demon while down in the labyrinth and are about to be killed. One of Hajime’s classmates Endo managed to make it back up safely using his skill which makes him invisible (Seras: I wonder how many times he’s used that to peep on the girls?) and runs to Hajime begging him for help. Despite the fact that one of his classmates left him for dead a part of him can’t abandon them and he goes to rescue his classmates (Seras: More like he can’t abandon his first girl. Scene here: https://youtu.be/a6Zr1uOHL18). Hajime and his team reach the others using a pile bunker to reach the floor they’re on and Hajime shows off just how strong he is by beating every monster the demon throws at him (that rare moment when you re-visit that one dungeon that gave you such a hard time at the beginning and just mow right through it. Satisfaction). Hajime soon corners the demon to try and get information out of her where he finds out that she’s the lover of another conquer of the labyrinth and was just following his orders. Hajime kills her and then they all start making their way back up top. Once at the top, Kaori makes the decision to join Hajime on his journey since she loves him. Even though Hajime says he loves Yue, Kaori vows to make Hajime fall for her more (and thus the battle of the healer and the vampire began. (Seras): What about the rabbit, dragon, and mermaid? (Chibi Isis): The spoils of war). The anime ends the next day with Hajime and his harem driving off (scene here: https://youtu.be/jwErKha4oII).
(Seras): The anime had a few specials months after anime aired. The first special serves as a recap episode told from the perspective of Yue. It starts off with the girls about to take a bath when they notice Yue is missing. They suspect her of sneaking into the men’s bath and go to look for her when Tio notices that Yue left her diary out in the open. The girls read her diary (Chibi Isis: No secrets between allies) where it recaps all the major events that happened in the anime told from Yue’s perspective. Because of this we get a few insights into how Yue views her companions. We see how she respects Shea for being strong after everything that’s happened to her and will do anything to keep her safe. She acknowledges Kaori as a love rival and vows to crush her (Chibi Isis: What about Tio? (Seras): Oh, she thinks she’s most perverted thing in the world). Yue finds them reading her diary and blasts them away to end the special.
Final Thoughts
(Seras): Arifuerta is an anime that has a number of problems. The story is rushed, a lot of important things are left out, and the character develop is skipped over. Yet, despite this a part of me still finds some enjoyment out of this anime.
(Chibi Isis): A large reason for that has to be the characters. Hajime is a cool lead who doesn’t fall into the typical harem tropes you find annoying. He doesn’t get dragged around by the girls, not dense, indecisive, or a pushover when dealing with others. He knows he’s strong and won’t back down from his beliefs or ideas no matter who he’s facing. If you’re his enemy he won’t hesitate to kill you without mercy. It’s actually refreshing to see an MC not show mercy to his enemies. Even though his transition from whiny coward to cool edgelord happened way too quickly, it’s understandable why he’s the way he is. He may come across as heartless and uncaring, but he cares deeply for those he calls his comrades and even if he’s not fighting with his classmates anymore you can tell a part of him still cares about them. The girls are also good here too as they don’t argue with one another over Hajime and have a level of competence. They have an understanding with one another, and even though they know that Yue is number one in Hajime’s eyes, they fight fairly and work to get Hajime to see their charms and make him realize that they’re the best for him.
(Seras): Yeah, truth be told, I do admire Yue’s confidence in letting other girls be around Hajime and go after him without getting upset about it. It’s as if she saying that she’s confident that no matter how many girls come along she knows that no one will beat her when it comes to her feelings for Hajime and dares them to try and take him from her. The fight scenes are decent. While they’re not great there is a level of strategy and risk to these fights and seeing Hajime use his ingenuity to overcome these opponents who out number him and at times are stronger than him does remind me a little bit about Berserk. Plus, it’s fun seeing Hajime and the others just mow through everyone like it’s nothing.
(Chibi Isis): The animation is alright, not best we’ve seen but not the worst either. I did like the various monsters they fight against but the music was barely noticeable in the anime.
Final Score
(Seras): Alright final score, as a fan of the light novel I’m giving this anime a 4.5/10.
(Chibi Isis): I’m giving this anime a 6/10 which brings the final score to a 10.5/20 and after averaging out the score we get 5.3/10 which going by our scoring system gives the final score for this anime a 5/10.
(Seras): A fair score for this anime. Like I said, despite the flaws of the anime I did find some level of enjoyment to it thanks in large part to the characters as they don’t fall into the typical tropes. If they would have worked on story a little more, I would have given the anime a higher score.
(Chibi Isis): Maybe they’ll get it all figured out for the second season.
(Seras): Second season?
(Chibi Isis): That’s right, this anime is getting a second season and I can’t wait to see it. Will the studios realize their mistakes and fix the problems for the next season, I hope so.
(Seras): Until then, feel free to check out the light novel to see what the anime skipped over. It’ll make you appreciate this series more and see what a hidden gem they have. Until then, thanks for reading!
(Chibi Isis): And we’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
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