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My thoughts on Isekai Quartet

Shiroe

Entry posted by Shiroe

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Isekai Quartet is one of the anime airing this season. It's not finished yet, but I'd like to give my thoughts about it here.

 

Overlord

Overlord is by far my favorite out of the four. I love the characters; they bounce off each other in a way that I find hilarious, especially in the spin-offs like A La Carte and Ple Ple Pleiades. A common complaint I see about Overlord is that the guardians have no/the same personality because they're all loyal to Ainz. This might seem true to an outsider, but as someone who's a bit closer with the series, I feel that the characters are distinct and interesting.

Overlord has, in my opinion, carried Isekai Quartet so far. Ainz has done the most legwork interacting with the other characters, which is the point of a crossover show. He even ends an episode in the most comfy way possible, but I'll let you experience that yourself if you haven't seen Isekai Quartet yet. Ainz should also be the most relatable for the average viewer, even if he's a skeleton lich Sorcerer King.

Image result for overlord

 

KonoSuba

For some reason, r/anime and /a/ just love KonoSuba. While I actually used to like KonoSuba a lot, constantly hearing exaggerations about how hilarious or based it is has turned me off of the show. (So much, in fact, that it has made me lower my score of it on Anilist.) My biggest issue with KonoSuba in Isekai Quartet is the repetitiveness of their gag humor. This is especially true of Darkness, who pretty much has one joke in both Isekai Quartet and the KonoSuba anime. I still do like Darkness in KonoSuba, but in Isekai Quartet, she's just outright annoying. Megumin also hasn't done much in Isekai Quartet yet either, so sorry if you're a Megumin fan.

Honestly, watching Isekai Quartet made me realize why Aqua is so popular, even if Megumin is the "canon" ship with Kazuma. Aqua and Kazuma are hilarious. Their jokes felt the least repetitive, and in Episode 8, Aqua has a hilarious interaction with Albedo and Shalltear that just made me laugh because of the connection that was being made across the two anime. I still find /a/'s constant praise of KonoSuba to be worrying, but I shouldn't let that stop me from enjoying an otherwise good anime.

Image result for konosuba

Re:Zero

Oof, Re:Zero has pretty much always been polarizing. A lot of people (including the characters IN the show) find Subaru obnoxious, but I actually like him. He has a wholesome hikki-esque sense of humor that a lot of people think about but don't say. Also, the Re:Zero anime (out of these four anime) is the most compelling to watch on an episode-to-episode basis. I still remember sitting on the edge of my seat watching Re:Zero for the first time and having the ending theme send chills down my spine.

As for Re:Zero's role in Isekai Quartet, I personally find it to be the weakest link. Roswaal's voice is grating, Emilia & Beatrice have minor roles, and Rem's character is just "I love Subaru" now. However, I find Ram's smirk to be hilarious, and I still find Subaru's antics to be endearing, even if annoying.

Image result for rezero

Youjo Senki

Youjo Senki is by far the most unique isekai on this list. It's ugly, unfamiliar, and features a completely unrelatable protagonist. Because of that, it is the least popular of the four anime, but I would say it has the most purpose to it. Overlord (in the anime so far) has mostly been a power fantasy. KonoSuba is a comedy. Re:Zero has had more meat to it, bringing out the most extremes of its characters to grip the audience, but the ending of season 1 made it feel like the show had no purpose. On the other hand, Youjo Senki has a goal and path to the story with unique themes, settings and power system that're interesting to learn about. However, because of Youjo Senki's heavy focus on these topics, the characters are sparse and extremely boring.

A comedy like Isekai Quartet is carried by the interactions between characters. Although Youjo Senki brings a squadron of people, it really has two characters, (Tanya and Viktoriya) and Viktoriya has yet to do anything interesting. But, Tanya has had a golden moment with Ainz where they enjoy themselves, which is honestly a breath of fresh air for me and the both of them. Both of them live stressful lives, feeling alone and disconnected with the people around them due to their leadership status, so it was actually nice to see them become good friends that can relate to one another. Tanya also gets along with Ainz's close "friend" Demiurge, which also brought a smile to my face.

Image result for youjo senki

Summary - Is it worth watching?

Honestly? Is this show worth watching? If you've already seen all four of these shows, then sure, it's a nice filler anime. But if you don't like one of the anime on the list, (for instance, you think Overlord's characters are boring or you don't appreciate KonoSuba's humor) then it may not be for you. Either way, it's not a huge waste of time, as it's only going to be 12 episodes that are around 12 minutes long each. So far, I would rate the show somewhere between a 5 and a 7, but it's not finished yet so it's hard to say definitively. 

Image result for isekai quartet

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Ohayotaku

Even though I enjoy Konosuba, I get what you’re saying about it being overhyped. Whenever I’ve tried to analyze why I like it as much as I do, I’m unable to come up with a satisfying answer (the only thing that really stands out about the series is how the main characters are jerks to each other most of the time :P )

Also agree that Overlord is the most refreshing reimagined as a parody/comedy considering how dark and down right disturbing the main series can get at times.

I haven’t seen Tanya the Evil or Rezero but still seem to get the gist of the jokes and definitely want to watch them now.

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Shiroe
6 minutes ago, Ohiotaku said:

Even though I enjoy Konosuba, I get what you’re saying about it being overhyped. Whenever I’ve tried to analyze why I like it as much as I do, I’m unable to come up with a satisfying answer (the only thing that really stands out about the series is how the main characters are jerks to each other most of the time :P )

Yeah, I think the cast being jerks to each other but still being friends at the end of the day is hilarious and sweet. It really sells you the characters in a way that gets you attached and interested, like in The Office.

7 minutes ago, Ohiotaku said:

Also agree that Overlord is the most refreshing reimagined as a parody/comedy considering how dark and down right disturbing the main series can get at times.

Definitely agree here, but it's sad to see that the anime has downplayed how dark the novels are.

8 minutes ago, Ohiotaku said:

I haven’t seen Tanya the Evil or Rezero but still seem to get the gist of the jokes and definitely want to watch them now.

I don't know if I'd recommend either, to be honest. If you find Subaru annoying in Isekai Quartet, I would definitely not recommend Re:Zero. Re:Zero is almost entirely focused on Subaru and his character. As for Tanya the Evil, the Youjo Senki anime is, well...

It's kinda boring, honestly. It has the best action sequences and animation out of all four of these anime, but I just can't avoid this complaint. It is boring. Even though people are dying and it's an anime about the World Wars, religion, etc., it's just so boring sometimes. I never felt bored in Re:Zero or KonoSuba, and I only felt bored in Overlord when the focus was taken away from Ainz.

If you do decide to watch them, I hope you have fun with them! I'm open to all thoughts and discussion.

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Ohayotaku
1 hour ago, Kinbaryu said:

Definitely agree here, but it's sad to see that the anime has downplayed how dark the novels are.

I’ve read a number of comments on other forums detailing how the anime has been toned down. While it’s certainly a valid complaint considering it’s darker tone distinguishes it  from other series, I personally don’t think I would continue watching if it was much darker. While I’m not against series that make me uncomfortable at times,  in recent  years I need to balance it out with lighter fare to keep from getting too depressed. (Tangent: I haven’t read the Attack on Titan manga, but if the anime ends the way I suspect it will, I’ll need to pull a cgdct series out of my backlog pile :P )

Thanks for the input on Rezero & Tanya. Honestly neither sounded that appealing to me initially, but after watching IQ I’m at least curious enough to give them a try. Of course since IQ is a parody of those series, I could very well wind up dropping them. For what it’s worth, I thought Tanya’s set up for arriving in the IQ world was the best.

Edited by Ohiotaku
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Seshi

So.. maybe I’m under a rock or something but I’ve never heard of KonoSuba til just now.. sounds interesting- so love that I didn’t get spoiled by the hype... once that happens it’s almost certain that I won’t watch the anime 🤣

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Shiroe
48 minutes ago, Seshi said:

So.. maybe I’m under a rock or something but I’ve never heard of KonoSuba til just now.. sounds interesting- so love that I didn’t get spoiled by the hype... once that happens it’s almost certain that I won’t watch the anime 🤣

Really? On pretty much every anime site I've used, (Instagram, YouTube, reddit, 4chan, etc.) KonoSuba has been loved. I think you might like it because of the video game and humor elements, though.

Edited by Kinbaryu
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