KAKANLen09
December 17, 2022
Not Recommended
This show is the epitome of false marketing, and not in the most satisfying way. Legit, I was hoping that in the sea of genericness and mediocrity, would a show like this come to be something fresh, but it ended up being one of (if not) the most disappointing shows of the season. To be very honest, I am tired of Isekai/Fantasy as a genre, because once there are winning formulas that the anime industry would settle for, the outcome is that there will be people trying to capitalize on the genre, not giving two flying effs about either quantity and/or quality. And since the worldmoves too fast for its own good with people not actually knowing the wiser, that's the result of too many "unique" premises that are only the cusp of hiding the generic power fantasy premise that we the audience, constantly struggle to understand why they are so popular. Such is the case for novelist Shobonnu's Noumin Kanren no Skill Bakka Agetetara Nazeka Tsuyoku Natta a.k.a I've Somehow Gotten Stronger When I Improved My Farm-Related Skills, or as I like to call it: Isekai/Fantasy Farming. Born out as a Syosetu title that only lasted from 2016 to 2018 with the LN only reaching a total of 5 volumes released around the same period, you'd think that some people would be wise to pass up an already completed work that sounds different from the get-go. Alas, these works are like a safeguard for any production committee wanting to adapt to completion, but truthfully, the anime only grazed about 2 volumes worth of content and was done by an incompetent team that is the definition of subpar.
The only unique thing about this show is how the MC Al Wayne is classified as: not just as a hero, but first and foremost, a farmer. That's right, even if the source material has a harem waiting for him, Wayne is a chad by always choosing to focus on his farming cultivation rather than the pleasures of the world, because they are parasites/weeds to his goal of becoming a first-rate cultivator. Naturally, you would assume that he would have accumulated as much EXP to max out his skills, and indeed Wayne does that, but how Shobonnu chose to write his character is one of absolute dumbfoundedness. First of all, it's in the title: "I've Somehow Gotten Stronger When I Improved My Farm-Related Skills". If my calculations are right, the anime which is based on the LN, chose to ignore the process and go straight for gold, thinking that those who read this work will be those "turn off your brain" shenanigan-filled type of people. I'm sorry, but we are not idiots, and the process is just as important as the objective/end goal and having an OP-ness of Wayne definitely wrote his character off from the start. Secondly, despite being a first-rate cultivator, Wayne's primary weapons should've been things related to farming, like either sickles or hoes, but nope, anything AND everything drawn from where the battle is held is a weapon. I would say both the anime and LN did a good job tricking the audience into thinking that Wayne would stand out from the typical generic MC of having magic powers, but it was all for naught as it soon was apparent that Wayne is just like the same old typical generic MC with nothing to offer than his farming skills. It's such a missed opportunity that Wayne's OP powers are excised for being equivalent that of a hero's, and while that's not wrong, I would've hoped to showcase more of the actual farming skills translated into battle (which we got some), which was underwhelming to say the least.
Wayne's endeavours as a "hero" doesn't stop there, oh no. Due to his power skills being capable to defeat monsters, demons and the like, the plot pointer shifts to the typical overused "hero saving the kingdom" plot, where it's not just evil that blocks his way, but the harem of girls that enter his life that is not effective against his will in the way of becoming a farmer. From the kingdom's princess Fal-Ys Meigis, to the guild receptionist Helen and assigned hero Ruri, all the girls easily thirst for Wayne being the hero of their lives, though he has definitely placed his farmer business above all else. They are a nice addition to an overall lackluster character cast, but it only adds value to a genre that has been oversaturated a million times over, and for that, it's just as merchants say: a side hustle, that would be assistants helping to oversee the large land of crops. It's used as a cliche here and will stick to it like a cliche.
When it comes to the production side of things, everything that Studio A-CAT puts out has the consistent 99% rate of not cracking above MAL's "fine" score of 6, and it's very obvious why: from the low-budget production to even its use of the studio's infamous CGI that's just disgusting to look at. The action scenes were subpar, and that's to be expected of a studio that never was any good for any and all matters, but only did the bare minimum to pass it off as production notes and are told to just make it work, which it certainly did. Though I would say that this does put it on par with its last produced show: Winter's Kenja no Deshi wo Nanoru Kenja a.k.a She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man. In the latter's case, the source material helped it somewhat to be the cream of the crop, the best that the studio has put out thus far. But everything else is side cheddar for this show's overall mediocrity, as it shows.
The OST sure sounds like a joke that made its "Crash Landing on You". 7ORDER's OP sounds good at times, though I would chock it up to be just a decent song by the typical J-rock band. But Pop Shinanaide's ED is a perfect example of how very little effort was put by the production: just a set of scrolling and alternating pictures along the credits line, and then a relative item towards farming. If anything, this has got to be one of the most boring and laziest EDs ever, what a record for showing that they knew when to give up and do their absolute best, which is just a slideshow of sorts.
With all the glaring faults that this show has accumulated over its runtime, it should already be a no-brainer that this show just sucks on every level. The only hope being that Wayne could pull off a one-hit-KO stunt by using vegetables to kill monsters in the opening episode definitely set the tone for the unique speciality, only to have that potential be squandered for a multi-faceted generic one. Lazy writing, coupled with stereotypical characters with lazy animation, and you have a work that's easy to recommend people to avoid it and save time by watching something else.
It's just trash, period.
