Kenja no-
Kenja naaaa~
*Takes a deep breath*
Kenja- Nope! Can’t do it! Won’t do it! Fuck this anime! I quit!
*Nitsuj gets up and goes to the kitchen where he prepares a drink of Kool-Aid mixed with whiskey when all of sudden his phone rings*
(Nitsuj): Hello?
(???): Nitsuj, what the hell are you doing?
(Nitsuj): Justin!
(Justin): Yeah, this is Justin. Now what’s this I hear about you not reviewing Kenja no Mago?
(Nitsuj): I don’t know how you heard about that. Hell, I’m even more concerned with how you’re breaking the 4th wall.
(Justin): Remember when they did construction on your street last week- doesn’t matter. I’m here to talk about you. Since when are you a quitter?
(Nitsuj): I can’t do it Justin. I’ve watched it once before; I can’t go through that again.
(Justin): Yes you can! No character of mine is a quitter. I know it’s awful, but there are still people out there who don’t know that yet and it’s your job as a reviewer to let them know. Everyone needs to know that it’s the worst isekai known to mankind and needs to never be seen by the eyes of man. If you don’t, some other poor schmuck will watch it and Japan will keep making these shitty isekais.
(Nitsuj): Oh man you’re right. I never thought of that. Okay Justin, I’ll do it. I’m gonna hate it and it’s gonna be a pain to sit through but I’ll do it.
(Justin): Awesome! Good luck to you Nitsuj. I know you’ll make me proud.
*Phone calls end*
(Nitsuj): Kenja no Mago or Wise Man’s Grandchild is a light novel written by Tsuyoshi Yoshioka in 2015 and still continues to this day along with a manga adaption running beside it. When people talk about the worst isekai they’ve ever seen most people point to Conception or Isekai Cheat Magician which are bad beyond a shadow of a doubt, but for all my money the worst isekai of the bunch has to be Kenja no Mago. Released in 2019 under the production of Silver Link (Baka and Test, Strike the Blood) this was the studios second attempt at trying to cash in on the isekai market after Death March and this was their worst attempt yet. It’s an anime I’d soon like to forget but it’s an anime that deserves a vocal beatdown for just how stupid and unacceptable of an isekai anime this is. This is gonna be painful but we’ll get through it together. This is Kenja no Mago.
Opening and Ending Theme
Our opening is “Ultimate☆MAGIC” by i☆Ris. I actually do like the energy this song brings. Like they’re trying to make it sound like this is going be a fun anime to watch and boy did they trick us good.
The ending is “Attouteki Vivid Days” by Nanami Yoshi. Would have worked out better as an opening. That’s all I got to say.
Episodes 1-4
So the anime starts off on a predictable note. Your everyday office worker is on his way home after a long day at the office (this cliché will never die). On his way home he gets hit by truck-kun and dies where he gets reborn in another world as Shin voiced by Yusuke Kobayashi (Subaru from Re:Zero. What the hell Yusuke! You’ve been in a great isekai, you should have known this was shit). While he has memories of his past life, he can’t remember how he died (well you died in a more dignified way then another character I know). He was raised by his surrogate grandpa Merlin, a master of magic who taught Shin how to use magic as well and was trained in martial arts as well. Shin excelled in both areas and by the time he was 10 years old he’d killed his first demon. The only thing Merlin (and everyone for that matter) failed to teach him was common practice. He knows very little about the world and can’t do simple things such as shopping. In order for him to get the knowledge he needs to know about the world as well as be around others his age, a friend of Merlin (who is a king) invites Shin to go to his country’s magic academy (where hilarious hijinks and beautiful girls are a plenty). Merlin agrees to this and together with his ex Melida, the three go to the kingdom where they’re famous and have their own mansion with servants and everything. Shin goes for a walk in the city where he saves a girl being harassed by a bunch of demon hunters and meets the girl’s friend who is a blue-haired beauty (scene here: https://youtu.be/TwqsNvRZJtc).
In episode 2 the two girls Maria (red-haired girl) and Sizilien treat Shin to some hot coffee as a token of their thank you (actual coffee not the hot coffee from GTA). We find out that they’re also trying to attend the kingdom’s magic academy so there’s a good chance they’ll be classmates in the future. The day of the entrance exam arrives where Shin already finds an enemy in a young noble named Kurt an arrogant fool who thinks he’s better than everyone around him. He does however make friends (and powerful ones at that) with August the crown prince of the kingdom who enjoys teasing Shin and August’s two retainers. As you would guess, Shin gets the top scores of the incoming freshmen class and has to give a big speech at the opening ceremony where it gets revealed that he’s Merlin and Melida’s grandson (as if eyes weren’t on him already). He gets put into the elite S-class with August, Maria, and Sizilien which pisses Kurt off as he failed to get into the S-class. He takes his frustrations out on Sizilien as he tries to force her hand in marriage, but Shin is there to protect her from him. Knowing that Kurt will most likely do something in the future, Shin decides to stay close to Sizilien and invites her and the others to his house where he wants to enhance her uniform for protection but Melida stops him as she calls Sizilien for being a parasite and latching on to Shin for protection and taking advantage of his good nature (you act like prey but really you’re a predator. You use your innocent looks and shy nature to make people feel sympathy for you and have them do all the work for you). Sizilien admits that Melida was right and decides that she won’t rely on Shin but Melida stops her from leaving and tells her she was just testing her. She allows Shin to re-enhance her uniform which amazes everyone and can be labeled a national treasure that must be kept a secret as it could start a war. Shin enhances the uniforms of everyone else except Maria who opted not to walk around with kingdom secrets. Shin also shows them his teleportation magic and takes Sizilien home to end the episode.
Nothing much to really say about episode 3. We see Kurt become a demonoid after meeting his old teacher Schtrom who is responsible for his supremacist outlook on life. Kurt attacks Shin and tries to kill him on school property (they’re just talking, let them work it out). Despite becoming a demonoid, Shin can still sense a bit of humanity within Kurt and tries to save him, but when Kurt is about to destroy the academy and everyone in it, Shin is given no choice but to kill him. The episode ends with Shin killing his first human being (scene here: https://youtu.be/W6KqCnW7b40).
Still not much to say in episode 4. Shin receives a medal and becomes famous for defeating a demonoid. The knights figure out that Schtrom is the true culprit because he knew it was Kurt who became a demon even though his family name was never made public. The guards fight Schtrom but he’s too much for them. Their fight gets the attention of Shin who annihilates Schtrom with a solar beam attack destroying his body entirely (scene here: https://youtu.be/xjo8SnSmm5A). While everyone praises Shin for a job well done, he wonders if Schtrom is really dead (in an anime this cliché, no)?
Episodes 5-8
In episode 5, Shin is convinced that Schtrom is still alive and sure enough he is. He somehow managed to escape the kingdom and fled to the Blusfia Empire, a neighboring country that are on bad terms with the kingdom and wishes to go to war with them (Blusfia Empire: We have an army. (Nitsuj): We have a Shin). In order to better prepare himself for Schtrom’s return, Shin and his schoolmates take a trip to a smithing shop where following Shin’s instructions, they construct a new sword with disposable blades (it’s sort of like the swords from Attack on Titan). Shin also buys Sizlien a ring accessory and imbues it with protection magic to keep her safe. Shin also decides to re-teach his friends how to use magic. Shin’s classmates view magic as just magic, something not explained that just happens (sort of like not questioning what makes a fire). Shin on the other hand views magic from a scientific perspective (in other words, he knows what makes a fire, and is trying to teach what he knows to someone who doesn’t). Rumors begin to spread around the kingdom that a war with the Blusfia Empire is coming and there’s a chance that that the students will be drafted to fight in the war. In the event that were to happen, Shin vows to join the army and protect everyone.
At the start of episode 6 we see Schtrom has all but destroyed the Blusfia Empire. While the king and his army were off waging war, Schtrom turned a bunch of people into demonoids, and had some demons lay waste to the empire. Schtrom also killed the king when he returned. Back in the kingdom, with the news of Schtrom and not knowing what his goals are (anarchy. Joker style) the kingdom begins joint training between the students of the knight and magician academy. This is of course bad seeing as how the two academies don’t like each other (such is the case when mages and knights team up together). They have joint training where they go into a forest to fight some demons. Shin, Sizlien, Maria, and August get put into a group with the top first year students in the knight academy who belittle them and are confident that they can take down a demon themselves despite not having any experience whatsoever (you’re all gonna die). Since they’re so confident and miss the point of this exercise, August tells Shin and the others not to help them out in their first fight with a demon. They come across a boar demon where sure enough they almost died and got saved by Shin. A few of the knight boys become enamored with Sizlien after she heals them (an angel has blue hair and wears a school uniform. Huh, this sounds like the pitch for a hentai) which makes Shin jealous that boys are hitting on his possible future wife (if you love it than you should have put a ring on it. (Isis): He did. (Nitsuj): Then he should have put his lips on it for good measure). He does get a chance to blow off some steam by killing a whole horde of demons earning the respect of the knights and once again showing off his alpha male traits in front of Sizilien.
Nothing much to say about episode 7. The training exercise gets completed where August drops the news that Shin’s class will most likely be put in a special unit when war comes because of their increased skills and magic under the tutelage of Shin. At first Shin feels bad for forcing his friends into a life they didn’t want but instead they’re happy (yeah, they’re pretty much set for life. They have guaranteed jobs where they’ll be free to study magic all they want without restrictions). The group does decide to go on a training camp at a hotsprings town to get ready for the coming war with Merlin and Melida as chaperones for their trip.
In episode 8 we get to meet August’s fiancée Ellie and his little sister May (who has the most annoying voice in this anime. It’s almost to the point where I want to mute the episode just so I won’t hear her voice). May is upset that August went to a training camp and didn’t invite her when she’s such a big fan of Melida and Ellie is mad with August not because he went to a training camp with bunch of women but because he went with Shin and believes they might be in a possible relationship with each other (you and a lot of other ladies wish for that. *Nitsuj receives a notification on his phone* How is there already doujins of these two?). August is able to sweet talk Ellie and the two are allowed to join the training camp. During this time, August encourages Shin to confess his obvious feelings to Sizlien (you can see it from space) and he does. That night, after a nice dip in the hotsprings he runs into Sizlien sitting at a gazebo (I think that’s what they’re called) and they confess their feelings for each other becoming boyfriend and girlfriend with everyone eavesdropping on them (they had nothing better to do). That’s pretty much the highlight of the episode. The only other thing of note that we see in this episode is that Shin introduces volleyball to everyone as a training exercise to help them better control their magic.
Episodes 9-12
The relationship between Shin and Sizlien jumps ahead big time in episode 9 as the two announce that they’re dating to the parents/guardians and by the end of the episode the two are engaged to each other (what the hell you haven’t even been on one date yet). Oh and they’ve gotten strong enough to defeat high level demons with ease and Shin creates flight (also, wasn’t there a kingdom that was taken over by a crazed teacher who’s turning people into demonoids for whatever reason? Shouldn’t we do something about that?).
In episode 10 we learn about the past of Schtrom. In the past he was a noble lord who cared for his people, had a wife who was soon to give birth, had the respect and trust of his people, and was even rumored to be the next in line for the throne. Yep, things were going his way until the other lords plotted to ruin him. They tricked him out of his land and began slowly tricking the people into believing that he was engaging in illegal slavery with the women of the land. This resulted in an angry mob going to his house and killing his pregnant wife out of vengeance only for him to return and the people to realize the foolish mistake they had made. The death of Schtrom’s wife awakened the darkness within his soul and transformed him into a demonoid where he vowed to get vengeance on everyone who wronged him. The nobles who plotted against him, the kingdom who would overlook this atrocity, and the commoners who were so easily swayed (scene here: https://youtu.be/6iF3E8fK1wQ. Now, this is a decent backstory to Schtrom. We see how he’s a good man who fell from grace because of people who were jealous of his success, but there is a problem). Fast forward and we see that Schtrom has accomplished his goals and seems pretty satisfied (pause! Here’s our problem. He accomplishes his goals and then does nothing else. He falls down the same hole as Scar from Lion King. He becomes king but sits around all day doing nothing. Just like he did before he became king, so why become king in the first place? Schtrom accomplished his revenge and does nothing after that. He should have been a villain consumed by rage and vengeance declaring war on the world just like Doflamingo from One Piece). The other demonoids aren’t satisfied and want to wreck more havoc on the world so they attack a neighboring kingdom to expand their territory (see, this is why I said we should have stopped them many episodes ago).
So in the final 2 episodes Shin and the others go to fight the demonoids that invaded the neighboring kingdom with ease (normally, this would be exciting but everybody is so bland and has no character that I honestly don’t care. I’d much rather watch the battle in Isekai Cheat Magician than watch this shit). So Shin and others destroy a majority of the demonoids with only a few remaining. The demonoid Miria attacks (she’s basically Schtrom’s side piece) where Shin finally gets some competition as she pushes him to his limits giving the other demonoids enough time to retreat. Once all the demonoids retreat, Miria also escapes from Shin. After the battle August calls for a united front against the demonoids from all nations so Shin and the others have to go on a world tour to get their support (and I could care less).
Final Thoughts
Oh thank God I’m finished. While Conception and Isekai Cheat Magician are bad, I can at least remember one or two things about them. This anime on the other hand leaves nothing for me. It was boring from beginning to end, had bland and uninteresting characters, low quality animation, non-entertaining fight scenes, and lazy writing that was written by a 5th grader. My second-grade short story was more interesting than this shit. It’s clear nobody working on this anime had any investment in this anime, they just saw it as a paycheck and were just looking to cash in. The worst part is this studio would go on to make better isekai animes in 2020, so you could say 2019 was a test year for them. A year full of failures and some of the worst isekai I’ve ever seen.
Final Score
The final score for Kenja no Mago is a 1/10. A boring and pathetic excuse of an isekai anime that remains to be the worst isekai I’ve ever watched. Stay away from this anime and other animes like it. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna have that drink now. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
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