Once in a while, I tend to get this itch to pick up a random anime. Now, with how busy my life has become, I tend to be more picky with what I want to invest my time on these days. After scrolling through Crunchyroll, I settled for Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody (Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyousoukyoku), an anime about a guy stuck in a another world, original I know but its the type of anime I tend to like, giving my nature as a gamer. Surprisingly, I found myself enjoying the anime, despite having certain elements that I tend to avoid if possible.
To give you a brief summary of the anime:
“Satou,” aka Ichiro Suzuki is a programmer in the middle of a death march. He was supposed to be taking a nap but somehow wakes up in another world… What lies before him is what looks like the menu screen of the game he was working before his nap. He’s at a complete beginner stage at level 1. However, he had three “Meteor Showers” which could level a whole map. Suddenly, a whole group of lizardmen appears in front of him. In order to survive, Satou uses Meteor Shower, his level jumped to 310 and he became extremely wealthy. Whether it be dream or reality, Satou’s journey was now beginning.
When I first started the anime, I was expecting the typical cliches I’ve come to expect from anime of this types. To be quite frank with you, I was hoping for it to be something along the lines of Konosuba. Instead, I was treated to an anime that touches on a lot of adult-oriented topics. Ichiro Suzuki, later known as Satou, was a programmer in his own world. He worked over-time and rarely went home. I’m not a programmer myself so I couldn’t relate to that type of work ethic but I could relate to been an adult and that itself kinda scared me a bit. I’ve always dreaded working in such an environment and knowing that developers in Japan push themselves to this extent, gave me a new found level of respect for these guys.
To cut a long story short, he goes asleep in his office and wakes up in another world. Having used an item that he conjured up during his office times, he swiftly defeated an army of lizardmen and grew to level 310. At that point, I thought this anime was going to be boring, knowing that this guy was going to be as OP as Kirito. Heck, he almost dresses up like him too, which I’m assuming is paying homage to SAO. However when I think about how Satou used to be a game dev, it kinda helps. Plus, Satou mostly actually plays the role of a mentor and allows the other members to fight some of the battles. I thought that twist was kinda cool.
The story gradually picks up and I began to get interested in the world itself. We’re immediately introduced to the concept of slavery, discrimination against demi-humans, demons and dragons. Now, at first I thought this anime was going to be the same type of “one guy, many girls” harem stick but from the episodes I’ve seen, it genuinely doesn’t feel like that…yet. Hopefully it will stay that way too.
Conclusion, the anime so far feels like a slice of life which is something I don’t personally mind, but I feel like it can easily turn into something serious, given the amount of time they’ve touched on some serious topics. If you’re into fantasy, MMO type anime with a bit of slice of life and action thrown in, then give this anime a shot.
