maandag 15 januari 2024

(Average) I Got a Cheat Skill in Another World and Became Unrivaled in The Real World, Too

Series in one sentence:
Lookism with a pointless sprinkle of isekai.

Series in more sentences:
Yuuya has been mistreated by his surroundings his entire life over his appearance, but when his grandfather passes away, he's given his old home, where a large door
to another, video game-like world is hidden.
Levelling up causes his body to morph in the real world, and when Summer break is over, all suddenly seems to be going well for him.


The story isn't very good. It's hardly a story, rather a series of dramatic events and opportunities for Yuuya to conveniently show off his godlike talents, while he's worshipped by every man and woman who lays eyes on him whilst he does it.
The dialogue is slow and meanders, I had to increase the playback speed to prevent myself from bailing.

It's a shame that Yuuya didn't become ripped through his own efforts by actually working out in the other world. It's always such a cop-out when they make the once ugly hero instantly attractive. I've seen multiple animes that took this route, and only two so far that had a previously overweight character become slim by doing something; this being Romantic Killer and Masamune-kun's Revenge.
Speaking of common routes, I'm surprised they didn't give this chubby boy a stupid voice. If you've seen as much anime I have, you know what I mean. It's an unnecessary, mean habit in Asian animated media.

I'm still confused by how Yuuya didn't know his face had changed after clearly seeing his reflection in the coffee slime monster he killed, but, I like that he didn't take on a fake persona when he returned to school. Sadly, this matters little in the story, as he changes schools and doesn't interact with anyone from his past again. His obviously mentally insane siblings make a return once, but that's it.

The world has been needlessly cruel to this character, to a comically preposterous degree.
The anime only works with extremes and that makes it challenging to feel immersed. Yuuya's old school and contacts are unrealistically violent and evil, while his new school and contacts are unrealistically perfect and respectful. According to the anime's own rules, though, if he had looked like his old self, he would've failed to charm his new headmaster or any of the students, and ended up feeling as lonely as before. Yuuya's success; the attention, love, and respect he gets, is thanks to superficial reasons. His face is pretty and he has abs, therefore he is deserving of love. A dubious message, truly.
I fail to understand how he can trust and feel affectionate towards his new friends, because the anime offers no certainty they would've cared about him if he still looked like his old self.
And it's sad, because the anime did try to convey at the start that it's persistent kindness that produces results. Yuuya was taught by his grandfather to always help out others, because the idea is that it'd be returned to him one day, and I suppose saving that one girl led to the opportunity of attending a prestige school.. but what else..?
This school is the work of some weird 12-year-old fanfiction writer as well.
How does a prestige school allow for their students to bring handheld consoles and are their luxurious lunches only a few dollars? Did this show forget the magical fantasy land is located in Yuuya's house?

Everything revolves around his beauty and it makes me wonder what the point of the isekai element is. Why not make an anime starring a fat boy who works out during the Summer and then gets handed all these things, while the ugly duck syndrome is still dominating his head?

On the other hand, keeping Yuuya the way he was could've opened up real opportunities. What if his love interest indeed didn't care about his appearance, and what if his new classmates weren't so eager to get to know him, but still stayed respectful, allowing for a real friendship to blossom.
Friendships and romances build themselves on character, not looks. Making the highly pursued boy pretty and reminding the viewer how pretty and perfect he is in every scene is distracting and makes every good relationship he shares with a person highly questionable. And again, it surprises me that Yuuya himself isn't questioning it.

This is somewhat of a harem anime as well. A lacklustre one at that. The one girl who should matter in the story makes the least appearances, I forgot she existed every time she showed her face.

The 3D animation during fight scenes was also distracting. If you're not willing to keep the style consistent throughout a series, then why not simplify the character's overly detailed battle gear, or really, don't start a series at all.


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