Seirei Gensouki

*Spoilers be warned, this review will have some context that's relevant to the overall story* What comes to your mind when you hear of the word "Isekai"? As a genre made famous from the tropes it originated from, the popularity that literally started its rise and downfall with SAO, and the momentum of shows like it has never stopped. Giving us the great likeness of Re:Zero to the horrendous worsts like Isekai Smartphone, there exists an Isekai for everyone, but not all of them are masterpieces of their own right. Seirei Gensouki on the other hand, touts to be just that and more: a carbon copyof SAO, but there is a major key difference that sets it apart. Let's get the similarities out of the way for most of the anime-onlies being simpletons for comparison: Haruto Amakawa a.k.a Rio (in the fantasy world) is pretty much a less-refined version of Kirito, from the behaviour (which looks more lax than said character) to even the costume which looks eerily similar the the Black Swordsman coat. Rio no doubt has a harem of girls kissing up his ass, but just hold that thought for later on. Most of the baddie villains are similarly one-toned evil with boisterously filled egos that are meant for the MC to trump justice with good against evil, but most of the time he does nothing against it. Which begs the Gary Stu of a character of questioning why wouldn't he be rescuing those in danger, but like the others before it, there's a very specific reason behind all of this ordeal. If you can get past all the blatant similarities of how Seirei Gensouki is just another work of literate copy-and-paste Isekai tropes, then this is where the proof of the redemption story of novelist Yuri Kitayama's writing capabilities lies at: it's not just your typical, generic Isekai story plot, but something that will have you going back and forth of reading between the lines of what was presented and piecing those plots together in the span of different timelines. I would like to give a shoutout to Typecero, because this guy is a devout fan of Seirei Gensouki, and most of the analyses done was in no small part his work, and this review is made possible because of his episodic breakdowns which made the big picture clearer between the anime adaptation and its changes when compared to the source material. So, in the beginning, characters do get brutally Isekai-ed in a wayward bus onto an incoming train, but the thing is that the characters in the bus are not one-trick ponies who are just Isekai-ed into the fantasy world. See, for the main character Rio, he isn't just some generic Isekai character, but one that's of reincarnation and fused with the original person's (Haruto Amakawa) memories. An orphan living in the slums of the new world, and wanting to find revenge on the person whom killed his mother at a young age. To make things more complicated, the kidnapping of princesses gets him unequivocally involved (which he saved), which lands him in the walls of royalty for a commoner such as Rio to attend school, only to get ridiculed by the usual hierarchy social status of commoner and arrogant nobles, children or adult, they're all the same. Being falsely accused of anything and everything of noble status, Rio is labelled as a fugutive to the point of literally being forced to escape from the Bertram kingdom, which continues smearing his name left and right. It's not just Rio who suffers this kind of usual historic barbarism of instigating the superiority of nobles. Take the young fox girl Latifa for example. Like Rio, she was subjected to slavery, and being a tool for the royal family as their controlled assassin to hunt Rio down to kill him when he was forced to flee from the kingdom. Thankfully Rio was able to get her out of her predicament, to which then she followed him on his lone journey, becoming his adoptive sister. If anything (and this might come off as a spoiler) that you should pay attention about, Latifa is one of the passengers on the bus with Rio (the real world Haruto), and she is known as Endo Suzune, another charcter reincarnation into the new world. See, I told you that characters in Seirei Gensouki aren't just walking tropes. The thing that's so interesting (but sadly generic for a "prologue" of sorts) about Seirei Gensouki is the world-building that's between characters, the factions within kingdoms and not to mention, Rio's "harem" of girls that admire him for what he does like Maou Gakuin's Anos Voldigoad. Most of the content would already be going into spoilers since the anime's plot had one major development skipped that made or broke the overall tone of the series, but I can share a few details while keeping vague. Let's take Rio's teacher, silver loli Celia Claire for example: she was the one whom took care of Rio when he was being taught at Betram Royal Academy, overseeing his progress to the point of gradually being in love with him. Yes, you saw that right, a teacher-student relationship that built up to a point where the anime resurfaced back again with the passing of timelines to make it relevant. Another significant character is the pink-haired Aishia, whom is Rio's spirit of a contractual awakening of a "special power", and for better or worse, this is where novel fans went all gaga about her. Because from the time she appeared in the original source material, everything appears to have a drastic change of course within the timeline of its spectrums, and for good reason to shift the tonal direction of the novel. Even villains (or rather antagonists) like noble Charles Arbor accumulated all karma from oppressing Rio at the initial stages of the anime, get their break from being served that under their noses. You see, the various intertwinings of the factions and the characters belonging to the faction they come from, carries the weight of the name they bore, So for Rio to sense any injustice and fight back, he literally cannot do so as it would be treason on the part of the family and people held responsible, not Rio. The dreaded "harem" is something that I'd left must be concerned, because it's through the actions that Rio does to infatuate the girls' hearts, not by sheer looks alone. Rio is admired because he is a hero to them, and ladies fawn to heroes because of this. On that note, I'd highly recommend you to read the manga or light novel if you're interested, because while I cannot cover that much hidden context of what the anime presented, the world of Seirei Gensouki is much larger than life when compared to the anime adaptation. Because while it isn't bad, the tropes that we've seen time and time again are the result of compressing such a big story as this from the hands of the production team. Led by veteran director Osamu Yamasaki in both direction, script and series composition, they tried their best to stack as much content, while making some questionable narrative decisions that relegated Seirei Gensouki to the average Isekai lookalike of a show that even novel fans have to concede that it's labelled as such. What a disappointment. Other than that, I'd feel that this is a show where without the knowledge impartation from novel fans, anime-onlies will not feel lost, but just feeling that average, mediocrity of subpar-ness of tropes seen one too many times before, compiled in one complete package that is this show. If you're like me, seek out the forum discussion topic that I created explaining all about the adaptation comparison so that everyone can be on the same page. Bear in mind that it's full-on spoilers, so watch the anime before reading the hefty few-thousand word episodic essays. At first, I was gonna shrug this show off as just the typical "not bad, but not good either" Isekai show, but thanks to people like Typecero, I get to understand this show better a lot and have some appreciation for Yuri Kitayama for a generic story that can go as deep as it could to prove the naysayers wrong. The novel truly has its hardcore fans for reasons such as this. Animation-wise, Seirei Gensouki just exists. Given that this is TMS Entertainment with WAO World for co-production, it just looks fine and nice while smelling that limited budget work. Not spectacular, but as I've mentioned time and time again, it's serviceable on all fronts. While I feel jaded that the OST didn't really come off as something unique, there is at least some creativity in the OP/ED visuals which are foreshadowing the story. For one, there are 2 versions of the OP: one that you normally see on Crunchyroll, and there's the Bilibili version which has the same narrative tone, albeit with a few differences that novel fans (and eagle-eyed anime-onlies) will recognize very subliminally. Are you surprised to hear of this? I bet you were if you're paying attention. The songs and the artistes helming them also sound very generic, but Aguri Oonishi's "Elder flower" for the ED is one hell of a good song. But just like the rest of the show, you've guessed it: it's average across the board. Back to the main point, Seirei Gensouki a.k.a Spirit Chroncles won't ever break the bank out of the hellhole that is the Isekai genre. And since it originated from the Isekai lands of Syosetu (which is where you'll see works like Mushoku Tensei, TenSura etc.), be prepared for some of the most average Isekai tried-and-true formulas just repeatedly conspiring together for a story well short of initial expectations. I also highly doubt that anime-onlies like myself will ever want to read the original source material since the adaptation has some minor missteps that gave it a major disservice. All in all, it's the same average and repetitive "You can pass this show up for better shows" cliche rhetoric or metaphor, and my hope has already diminished since Day One when this anime started to tingle my bored antennas, that slowly but surely spearheaded into pure disconnect.

Seirei Gensouki (2021) One day a show won't skip the fight or make the MC move faster than fast, they will show it to you and that shall be a statement. I do find it funny when he asked if he could run faster then it zoomed out like he was jogging lightly. The show itself is a typical Isekai style show but has more connection to the previous world especially as evident in the final episode. I must say the show is very typical throughout and rushes a few bits like the school arc but it isn't that bad necessarily. The art is pretty goodoverall, it is very consistent and nicely animated in fight scenes. The OP and ED are both fun, the general sound is good with voices but the combat is a bit hollow. Characters are wide and that means not so developed. One minute they are important and then suddenly don't matter at all for a few episodes but then the story does move quite quickly. The show is fun from start to finish. I do wish the MC had a bit more of a struggle to gain power or showed you gaining it more than straight to the elders for a party. I would say the show is good, it sort of hints at a second season or something but then it could be a really great set-up for the manga since it switched to that before saying thank you. 7/10.

*This review contains any spoilers* This text will be an analogy. Actually, a generalization. What is your favorite food? This can be a difficult question. In fact, it is a varied subject and depends on many external and internal factors, personal tastes, experiences and expectations. Anyway, imagine that you have the opportunity to eat the same thing every day. Well, this is somewhat of a dream. Who wouldn't want to spend a moment of their life overindulging in what they like most? I myself feel that it is something unique and that this utopia would be nice eventually. However, think how nauseating it can be to livewith the same thing over and over again. It is uncomfortable, isn't it? Now think that this analogy resembles Seirei Gensouki, a show that started out delivering interesting ideas and was managing to be a good (almost utopian) experience, but that lost its rhythm, got out of hand, and is now another one of the animes that today is just... cloying. To begin with, Seirei Gensouki starts out like many other shows of the genre and of light novel adaptations of isekai: a boy who, with a noble and honorable occurrence, changes his life and becomes a special person in a Kingdom of his Universe. Saving the princess was something unexpected for the character who still had memories of his past life, but this first stage follows with a chance at the Royal Academy, becoming a respectable person, even with the interpersonal problems and scorns by other classmates. Oh, I forgot to mention that in his other life, Rio ("Haruto" in the real world) died as a result of a bus accident, with two other girls. One of these girls was apparently the same person with whom Rio was friends in the past. Well, fate prevented this reunion from happening amicably. Generic, no? However, even with these simple and expected archetypes, the show was not exposed in a negative way at first. In fact, it really felt like a utopia this introduction. The anime inserted a teacher named Celia as Rio's tutor while he learned for 5 years, from reading and writing, to the art of fighting and social etiquette. The universe of the show is a medieval fantasy, but it possessed its beauty, even if this very beauty was more evident than the story of the show itself. All expectations were projected to build 12 episodes that would guarantee a good experience, right? Wrong!!! What if Rio has some trouble along the way and ends up escaping from Bertram's Kingdom? Well, that's what happens. The monotony and coexistence nurtured for five years within the story collapses at an unexpected moment. Flora, the same princess saved by Rio in the past, is saved in a near disaster during a test, by Rio. The problem is... Rio starts to be accused by evil people of being the very culprit of this incident. Rio then decides to flee the kingdom and begins his adventure, far from his classmates and especially far from his teacher Celia, his best friend during all his life. This kind of thing was quite unexpected frankly. For those who remember, Rio had already been through moments like this and it would not be very difficult to reverse the situation and graduate from the school. Even so, he did not wait and continued to follow his own path. The protagonist really was unfortunate to make this illogical choice, yet Rio was never a meddlesome character or one who conveyed scenes where he turned into a "two-face." His courtesy and formality is a unique trait and one that captivated me throughout the show. Celia also had her charisma and striking presence that enveloped the story, even though she was far removed from the events surrounding the anime. Time passes and Rio is attacked by Latifa, a slave girl ordered to kill him, but who is saved by himself from this cruel fate. Latifa is a demi-human, yet another common element in isekais today. Over time, their trust and trustworthiness becomes a relationship between two brothers and they spend time together, until they find a region where other demi-humans live in harmony. This is an interesting moment, as it is in this place where Rio is able to discover more about his amazing powers. Rio then goes on to live a life where living still was impossible, after all, the character had one objective: to visit the place where his mother was born and who had promised to take him, if she were alive. There, in this village, more friendships and relationships made Rio known as a humble young man who always liked to help people. His strength and affinity with various types of fighting is a unique ability that had a fair highlight at the time it was introduced, and the existence of a Spirit that made a pact with Rio is the cause of this being a story recounted in the future. And this is where I begin to question the show. So far, Rio thought little of remembering what he experienced in the real world, much less wanted to know what occurred so that it was his main goal. As much as he wanted to, his honesty was enough to convince him that it was something beyond his own control. Then the unexpected occurs. During his return to the Kingdom of Bertram, Rio is contextualized about an unexpected political marriage. And this involves his teacher and dear friend, Celia, and one of the knights who mistreated Rio for a long time in the past, when he was still a suspect in the kidnapping of Flora, the princess. As much as the anime tried to make the story more intriguing, it was rushed, forced, and purposefully moved to end open-ended without much explanation. I don't know what really went on in the heads of the staff at TMS studio (the same as Dr. Stone, Furuba, Takagi-san, and other always interesting titles), but the story's inability to possess a longer pacing time hampered the realization of this outcome. Even though the ending was a moment of glory for Rio managing to help Celia and not getting married and fleeing the Kingdom, yet another new context is invested in order to progress the story, but it was a deplorable execution. Remember the bus accident and the two girls who were with Rio on this fateful day? Well, Latifa was one of them and the other was still far away from Rio. However, a great amount of power appears without much explanation and Rio, advised by his Spirit (who is now called Aishia), helps a group of humans who have also been summoned into this fantasy world. The problem is that one of the girls is possibly Rio's best friend and... the show ends. Yes, the show ends. Nothing happens to explain the last 5 minutes, there is nothing to explain the blue-haired man's goals about the Kingdom, there is no conclusion. The show ended in a pathetic, immature way and was pretty much left aside, as if we, the viewers, had to continue the story for ourselves. Look, I know that the Light Novel has more plot and that the anime has its reasons, but this kind of thing really is a disappointment. It's not bad to put the anime at a point where it can move on without losing momentum, but when Seirei Gensouki is planned to end this way without a precise sequel announcement, we have problems. It is clear that the project wants to continue, but this moment has drastically shaken the future of the show, as the reception towards this has not been good. In fact, for an anime that started out average and was doing well, continuing to improve would be a must, which in fact did not happen. I don't really blame the studio entirely for this, much less the author of the original material, but it is a really uncomfortable feeling to wonder what could have been done instead. Some filler episodes, some side story, but that would help and not give the feeling of wasted time, but in the end it will be a utopia again. Seirei Gensouki was a decent production and one that I recognize the value it had during its time here this season, but unfortunately it is another one of the animes that you can compare to a favorite food. You love it, you love it, you always want to be enjoying it even though you know it can be bad for your health and cause nausea, but you still have hope that it will be profitable, just like isekais, just like Seirei Gensouki. Whether we will ever have a show that can again have such a chance I don't know, but until then you have to accept the deep sadness that is a show being wasted by the end of time.

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