Having stood out from others most of her life due to her exceptional character, Misato Kurihara has lived without neither the joy of having close friends nor the experience of having a regular life. However, after a sudden death, she was transported to a divine realm to be reincarnated—and granted one wish to top it off. Thinking about the ordinary life that she had always wanted, she wished to be born as a normal person, with abilities that are average for the world she will resurrect in.
Reborn as Adele von Ascham—the daughter of a noble—she possesses magic powers completely exceeding what one would label average. Still desiring to carry out the life she wanted, she leaves her home and enrolls at a hunter school in a faraway kingdom using "Mile" as an alias. However, try as she might to hide her overpowering potential, attaining her goal will be difficult—especially when facing against the crazy situations that ensue!
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Comentários
Stark700
FUNA’s anime adaptation follows a common trend in recent years with the flood of fantasy isekai. Abilities Average (the shortened title I’ll be referring to) doesn’t demand much on the creative side as we witness the transformation of a teenage girl into an overpowered adventurer. Joining main female protagonist Mile includes Reina, Pauline, and Reina. Are you ready to watch an adventure with these four goofballs? Clocking in at 12 episodes, the early warning flag raised is the faithfulness of the anime adaptation. Unfortunately, it’s easy to say the anime decided to condense the material in order to maintain a flow of the overall series. Ratherthan following a faithful roadmap, the anime omits Mile's days at academy and instead puts her right into the 4-girls group as we are most familiar with. Needless to say, that cuts value into Mile's character as the audience will have a lesser time understanding her. As the novels consists of over 300 chapters, this decision didn’t take me by storm. Thankfully, Abilities Average make time to bring a comedic filled adventure.
The Crimson Vow. Remember those words well because this entire show is about them and their adventures. Mile may be the central protagonist but she retains the common interest of an otaku that being her love of anime, manga, and video games. Applying this knowledge to her adventures and battles, the show is made effectively self-aware of its standards. Even Mile herself is aware of her personality that is addressed by her own narratives. Joining her in these adventures is Reina, the crimson mage with a dark past but became a Hunter. As a crimson mage skilled with fire techniques, she plays the role of a tactical fighter and is invaluable to the party; think of her as the mage class in one of those classic WOW raids. Reina herself does have a background story that takes the show into a more emotional direction. If you care about her as a person, you will likely feel some sympathy of Reina when told from her personal perspective. Entering the familiar isekai party tropes, we also meet Mavis von Austein, the skilled knight with a noble persona. In any fantasy stories, a knight is almost like a necessity to make its series credible. Hence, we have Mavis although the show pokes fun of her character. For instance, she often gets teary eyed by sad stories despite her masculine appearance. Finally, Crimson Vow has another mage named Pauline who occasionally shows her “dangerous side” when least expected. Brace yourself for this group because they are the embodiment, heart, and soul of Abilities Average.
It makes sense that Abilities Average follows these four characters exclusively rather than developing other characters. After all, Crimson Vow is essentially the collective party of the poster characters. Even though Mile is the central protagonist, the others are featured just as much as her. FUNA’s writng of these characters puts emphasis on their personality than development. Watching their character chemistry and embracing who they are as characters is essential to enjoying the show. The more I watch these characters, the more I feel connected to them. However, I will say the show is aiming for lighthearted humor the majority of the time. There’s also satirical humor with character behaviors such as Mile’s lack of common sense at times. In other words, Abilities Life is more of a deconstruction of the fantasy isekai genre. It’s not an entirely a unique concept but does give a breath of fresh air for the Fall 2019, a season that seems to have an unusual amount of isekai.
The closest Abilities Life gets to with an antagonist is the life adventure itself. The anime adaptation doesn’t truly have a Big Bad but does introduce obstacles for Crimson Vow to overcome. This includes the battle tournament these girls participates early in the show to later facing off against an Elder Dragon. We have to remember that these are still teenage girls who have yet to step into the adult world. However, all these characters are portrayed as adorable badasses. The best way to describe them would be “dynamite come in little packages”. It’s when their opponents are caught off guard and realizes it's too little, too late. Mile’s request to be “average” still turns her into an overpowered character by the Creator. By average, she didn’t expect that her own abilities far outclasses others in this new world. The word ‘average’ itself losses its meaning when you think of the Average Joe. But in essence, it’s still fun to watch their adventure to see how they overcome their obstacles.
Project No.9’s transformed the light novel into anime by making it full of charms. It’s adorably cute with the characters made into teenage girls. If you look at first glance, there’s little reason to fear them until it’s too late. Character expressions is portrayed with a cartoony style of expressions with a vast majority of the time being humorous. On rare occasions, there’s more emotional reactions such as with Reina’s anger or Pauline’s sadism. The world setting is also decorated with light touches of fantasy such as the mystical and fairy tale-like creatures. Of course, dwarves, elves, and goblins exist because it’s part of the Isekai 101 formula. On a lesser scale, the battle cinematics is clean and crisp although looks average in style. Don’t go into this show looking into some high level caliber of animation quality because you won’t find it.
I’d normally discard the voice acting of a cast of teenage girls because most often time or not, they all sound the same. However, I do want to mention that the character voice mannerism of Average Life is more effective than some of the other isekai shows I’ve seen. This is due to how close the character connections are with each other. It’s collected together as a union of personalities coming from different backgrounds but united as Crimson Vow. Plus, who can forget the theme song of the show? When you have an adorable cast posing in ridiculous manners and catchy lyrics, it’s hard not to get into the rhythm.
Average Life always seemed like a series that would eventually get an anime and it indeed did. Here, we have an anime about a cast of goofballs poking fun of the idea of an isekai adventure. However, I do want the audience to be aware of the faithfulness of the show. Average Life is guilty of falling short on expectations when it comes to adaptation. There’s much more in the light novels that you can understand the characters better. But for an anime show of itself, Average Life is much more than just average.
simplydru
"You can attack me as many times as you like. I'll heal up every single time, and then bring this staff down upon the head of the person who insulted my friends." - Pauline, very cutely, and with a cute smile. I think you can see where this is going... My feelings about 'Didn't I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?!' (Noukin) can be summed up with four simple words: I LOVE this show! That's right, I fucking said it: I. FUCKING. LOVE. THIS. SHOW. Do something about it. Because there are a few aspects of this show which will displease those whouse a fine crystal wine glass to savor the aroma of their farts, here is a friendly little disclaimer:
- Yes, it's another isekai anime.
- Yes, there are plenty of tropes.
- Yes, it probably doesn't follow the source material to the letter.
- Yes, there is a beach episode... well, half-episode. And a bath scene or four.
- Yes, there are quite a few boob jokes.
- And yes, the plot is not 100% original.
In other words, anyone who has a stick up their ass jostled by the aforementioned should instead go watch 'Your Lie in April' or some other puke of a series that pretends to be all deep and shit. I don't want them sitting at my table anyways!
ANYWAYS...
Simply put, Noukin is ADORABLE! Seriously, everything about it makes you want to let out one of those "aw, look at the cute puppy" sighs and hug a giant teddy bear. The MC is just the most precious thing you've ever seen, and the rest of her party is a basket of cute-itude, with varying degrees of damage. And the pop culture references? Fucking golden! There were 'Dragon Ball' and 'Terminator 2' references that had me in literal tears - shit, if I were tripping on mushrooms when I saw them, I might have died of laughter. Oh, and that OP is just cute with a capital Q-T! Noukin truly is a delightful surprise that is drenched in fun & cute, and is probably my favorite show of the year.
So, about dem scores:
Story: 7
Art: 8
Sound: 10
Characters: 10
Enjoyment: 10
Overall: *9/10*
In the future, I may expand this to delve into every category more thoroughly; in the meantime, though, here is my list of the notable pros & cons:
PROS:
- Noukin knows exactly what it is: A cute & self-aware quasi-spoof on its own genre, but without neglecting the character development or story progression.
- The main characters are just delightful in every respect. The designs are somewhat familiar, yet each character still displays a refreshing uniqueness. Not only that, they flesh out each character's personality & backstory quite well, and none of the characters feel sidelined in any respect... oh, and did I mention their cuteness?
- From start to finish, this show is fucking HILARIOUS! I was caught completely off-guard by the humor, and I couldn't be happier about it. There is plenty of meta-humor, well-executed references to other works, situational comedy and even a bit of black humor here and there. Every single episode had me in stitches at some point, even if "some heavy shit was going down," as you hip kids love to say.
- The production quality is solid, including both the animation and sound design. None of the corner-cutting seen in other recent isekai releases, such as 'Arifureta' or 'Demon Lord, Retry!', is present in this series. From the very first scenes, you can tell that all sorts of well-animated cuteness is in store for you.
- Romance is rarely even mentioned in the show, and sex itself is discussed even less than that, which is incredibly welcomed. While there is some pervy-ish humor and light fanservice, it is fairly benign and not at all gratuitous, which could have easily ruined this show. At no point are the girls portrayed as mere sex objects, nor are they ever overly-sexualized. Only one character ever inspires open expressions of lust from men, due to her large bosom, but those moments are few & far between and in no way define her as a character. There is a beach half-episode, a few short bath scenes and some boob jokes strewn throughout, but the execution is more tasteful than most and always seemed appropriate: the bath scenes are pretty tame; the boob jokes are usually related to the MC's "breast envy," which actually makes sense in this case, since the MC was a young adult when she died; and much of this humor in the series comes in part from the MC's actions inadvertently clashing with the societal ignorance & modesty of her new world... plus cuteness.
- Perhaps the best part of the "sexual mildness," though, is that the girls are never subjected to any rapey behavior, much less rapey behavior presented as "goofy antics," as is the case in dumpster fires like 'How Not to Summon a Douche Lord.' Enough said. it's nice to watch something a little more on the "innocent" end of the spectrum once in a while no?
- Did I mention the cuteness?
- Oh, and before I forget: NO PANTY SHOTS!
- None of the girls' voices are annoyingly shrill or squeaky. Thank fucking god.
- CGI is used both sparingly and appropriately. THANK. FUCKING. GOD.
- That fucking OP, though! ^_^
CONS (maybe):
- Some of the mood shifts are a bit jarring, which is usually intentional, and the humor can seem inappropriate for the situation(s) at hand. Oftentimes, there are hilarious moments in the midst of dramatic situations, which can be incongruous with the overall mood of the scene. I myself enjoyed this aspect of the series, but I can see how it would be off-putting to some.
- The show is somewhat episodic and the overall story may be a little thin. I don't personally find this an issue because the story is really about the friendship & first adventures of these four girls and doesn't need to be anything more than that; however, I can understand if someone desires more suspense or a more defined plot, so it bears mentioning nonetheless.
IN SUMMATION: If you are looking for a cute, fun and accessible isekai anime about powerful magical girls that aren't glorified sex toys going on adventures in a Medieval-esque fantasy world, then you have hit the motherfuckin' jackpot with Noukin! At its core, this is a heartwarming tale of a young girl's second chance at life and the friends she makes along the way, and it tells the story without relying on cheap gimmicks or crossing into ecchi territory. Noukin is a refreshingly adorable & guilt-free comedy about four strong female characters that has wide appeal without alienating typical anime fans, and should not be overlooked simply because it happens to be another isekai about an overpowered MC.
Come for the cute, stay for the funny!
Zerity
May contain spoilers I despise this series, it has everything that I hate in a comedy series, and even being the iseaki trash I am I can't justify this. The jokes are repetitive and not funny, there were close to no moments that I generally liked, and I hate myself for watching this. Firstly I wanna say what I did like, that one episode where they were around the campfire sharing stories it was wholesome and I did enjoy that, I love the OP even though I wish I didn't, and a few of the anime references the put in. That's about it. Firstly the comedy is dreadful.It's mainly about Adele being like, "I just wanna be average", and she gets her wish just not the way she wanted. She "tries" not to show her power to anyone, but whenever someone says flat, she turns into a rage like, "YOU CALLED ME FLAT, NA-NANI, BAKANA" and then proceeds to use her OP abilities and crush her opponent and at the end be like, "OH, I did that? Teehe", like bitch that shit annoys me so much. It wasn't funny the first time and wasn't funny after the 50th time either. Also when Adele tries to use her power but not in an OP way but still does without knowing that also irritates me, I have seen that so many times in so many different ways and that joke being like the main source of comedy really just grinds my gears. it also tries to play at being to meta and it fails a lot of the time and is generally not funny (and I love me some meta humor).
The characters are bad as well. None of them stick out in anyway, never enjoyed watching them interact. They had their good moments obviously, for example, I liked Pauline just being a sadist, Mavis being a dumbass, but I didn't like anything about Adele or Reina. Even with Reina tragic backstory and understanding were her motivation comes from still didn't make me like her at all. Now because there is not much to say about the animation other than it's complete garbage and hurt my eyes to look at, I'm not gonna make it it's own paragraph.
Overall, complete garbage show, I can see why people like it and if you like parody, reference filled loli shows than I would recommend this show to you. If you don't however skip this show completely you will not find enjoyment in it whatsoever.
KANLen09
The ever expanding world of Isekai light novels just keep getting bigger and bigger with all kinds of similar but weird concepts, but what if I told you that a change will actually cast some new light onto these stories and shed an entirely new function that is still a good watch? That's the result of "Watashi, Nouryoku wa Heikinchi de tte Itta yo ne!", with the main MC being reincarnated (for reasons obvious) with a wish of wanting to be average in the next world (but who cares, the Isekai gods aren't wavering, so they STILL made her look OP instead). But as-is with theelephant in the room, I have to address this serious problem: "Do changes outside of the source materials make or break them?" This is always an ongoing issue that we have experienced time and time again, and you can say that the results of all that are quite diverse but mixed. Especially for readers of the LN (because that's where the anime mainly looks at for source adaptation), it was quite a harrowing experience to find out that the director of this show, Masahiko Oota, wanted this show to be completely "original" in ideas while still lifting off the atmosphere and essence of the LN, which actually created a rift between anime-onlys and LN readers calling it out as a butchered adaptation. To be fair and give some due credit, the "Himouto Umaru-chan" and "Yuru Yuri" director has done the same treatment to those shows and others he directed, and though it may seem that the damage is written on the wall, no one saw the adverse effect coming, that no matter how vastly different the source material may be, the anime can still prove to be as good on its own, mostly as a niche. The same it was then, and the same can be said for this show with the backlash in the very beginning, but turned out to be quite the experience at the very end. You say: "How does this experience affect the rest of the show then?" Keep on reading to find out.
In such a story like this where the CGDCT x Isekai genres have taken flight, the characters are an integral part in making all this possible, mainly the 4 girls of the Crimson Vow:
Originally Misato Kurihara, hit by Truck-kun and reincarnated as Adele von Ascham a.k.a Mile, the "seemingly average" girl, but borne with the blessing of the Isekai gods to harbor OP powers DESPITE her absolute wish to be just like everyone else in another world, to live a normal life. In order to learn and discover the Isekai world as it is, she fused herself with an alias for a royalty name to not be a sore thumb Along the way with the mysterious cat-looking creature and guide known as Nano, she comes into a consensus as she found a school to mingle with like-minded people, and the Crimson Vow was born.
Reina a.k.a Crimson Reina, the daughter of a merchant, her specialty with fire magic has made her a capable mage, but not without the fact that due to the loss of her father to evildoers in her growing-up stages of life, she has an immense hatred towards bandits. She too is the Crimson Vow's "dictionary" when it comes to practical knowledge and experience.
Mavis a.k.a Mavis von Austien, the daughter of royalty, and a swordswoman. And you know the familiarities of royal families all too well when she ran way from home against the will of family members not wanting specific children to follow in the exact footsteps (because of gender bias against her father and brothers) to shame the family of a girl being another swordsman. How depressing is that.
Pauline a.k.a Pauline Beckett (the family name isn't so much of a confirmation), also the daughter of a merchant, but the heritage of her family is quite distorted with what can be described as a façade to utilize the family in backend trading hostage, so she isn't spared from trouble as well. But despite her gentle appearance and demeanor, don't take that for granted as her ruthlessness sets her in quick so fast it's terrifying (but all in good fun).
All in all, these 4 girls truly are the fascinating points of the anime amidst their difference in personalities and goodwill to carry on their usual adventures. While Mile constantly dishes out references to the Isekai tropes that the 3 other girls will NEVER understand, it certainly was some good old-fashioned comedic banter that created a hell lot of laughs, especially towards small girls having BIG boobs and flat chests for 14/15-year olds.
In the visual department, another Project No. 9 show and an Isekai one at that, the 2nd one this season pumped out alongside "Choujin Koukousei-tachi wa Isekai demo Yoyuu de Ikinuku you desu!", but this anime is presented way better than that horrible show, while the art and animation themselves are sparse at best, as expected of the low-budget quality from the studio. The same can be said towards the music, which is mostly a mix of the usual fantasy-esque ones that we'd hear in RPGs. The OST is quite the LICC though as both the OP and ED are happy-go-lucky ones, especially the OP with that whole "WAHO! WAHA!" sequence from the Crimson Vow. Both songs are greatly enjoyable, you just can't afford to skip them!
Indeed, this anime's "origins" are basically meta reference jokes with some 4th wall-breaking from the MC that at first can be quite off-putting with the tame story and character development, and as it progresses, the entire show somehow came into a consensus all on its own, and as an anime-only (while briefly following the manga adaptation based off the LN) for the most part, I can say that it while it was nothing to scoff at from the initial settings, the development was there and soon I found myself enjoying the anime for what it is. It is self-conscious of its own environment, that's for sure.
Amidst the backdrop of a somewhat different execution, this anime is full-on lightheartedness and it's easy on the palate for so much fun. The humor is subjective though, but that doesn't detract from the experience overall. If you need an Isekai with none of the bells and whistles of overused tropes, this is no perfect show, but a good one to just relax to, not amazing but not bad either.
*In the Fall 2019 Isekai genre, the 3rd position of enjoyment right behind Cautious Hero and Ascendance of a Bookworm.*
Nyoroni
DISCLAIMER This is my opinion as someone who vividly read the source material, the light novel, and thus comparing it to it in context of adaptation. I am not saying it shouldn't be enjoyable or if it were bad but I am just talking about how this adaptation physically and mentally hurts me. END OF DISCLAIMER When i started reading the light novel i started taking a massive liking to the writing style, characterization and way of making use of a more realistic approach to young women traveling as an adventurers party. This adaptation may be enjoyable by itself but I feel nothing but massive dread when comparing it tothe source material.
Characters whos character got completely changed (Reina), complete change of morals in the world (where did the swimsuit episode come from??), skipping of the first whole half of the first light novel and only placing it at a later time making it feel weird in context, many points.
It was in no way the same story as the light novel and I feel like it made the original story look bad, while its such a great and fun story.
This is purely a slice of life look towards a comedy adventuring anime.
Do not take this personal.
Hajictan
best thing: the opening I will miss those on my Mondays. anime was okay, fun to watch and have a chill time to get back home and have an episode to enjoy. The last episode they decided to add the story, but well this one is not likely to get a second season so for those like me who will watch and forget this, the last episode was a farewell to a soothing Monday. cringe, a lot of it but fun to watch if you do not start nitpicking faults, better to do it once you have seen and enjoyed all of it >:3 characters were lovable and funnybut sometimes a little too much, especially MC from time to time was over the top 7/10
the story was, apart from the last episode, cute girls doing adventurer stuff nothing more 3/10
music was really enjoyable and catchy for the opening but during the episode, it was okay nothing noteworthy 7/10
art was more on the lines of making the characters come over cute, many corners cut and well some fights were straight-up 1 picture with some motion 5/10
but honestly, despite its flaws, it was an enjoyable watch to make my Mondays end well with a chill series to enjoy 8/10 for overall enjoyment
all in all, I give this one a 6/10 not something you need to watch but can add it if you have nothing else to do and want to just relax. Also, I do not think that this is binge watchy, what I mean by that is that the series is meant to be watched and relax and not think about anything. watching all at once to get a good story flow will not deliver.
SanaeK10
To begin with, I stress that the only reason I picked this show up and endured all the way to the end was because the creative team behind this was also responsible for some of my favourite shows from the past few years, including Yuru Yuri, Uzamaid, Sabagebu and the list goes on. Basically wacky comedies with a reliance on slapstick to get its point across. Simple, wholesome and very effective. Come Noukin however, and I honestly wondered what happened to the team. The series started out decently enough, a bit overly reliant on referential humour and running gags, but it still worked decently enough. Thencame episode 4 and oh boy after this the show was never the same again. The main problem that permeates this, (and Kotoura-san I add) is that Ohta and team can not do Drama. At all. Their attempts at drama comes across as pace-breaking and ineffectual. I could not care less as Reina described her sad backstory to us in the most boring and predictable way imaginable that added nothing to the fun and humour that came before. It was at that point where I pretty much gave up all hope on the series. After that, there was maybe one or two good episodes. One about killing a dragon and the other about Mile fearing she'd be kicked out, but honestly the damage has been done and 4 good episodes out of a bag of 12 is a fail in my book. I don't understand it. I never read the original source material and never plan to, but I do know FUNA got the team to do this anime because he liked how Sabagebu deviated from its source material and provided its own unique take on the manga while being enjoyable. To that I say "Huh?". At no point in this misery did it even feel like a fraction of the joy that was Sabagebu.
I don't hate drama in my comedy anime, I mean, I just watched Urahara recently and that blended surprisingly good drama with a surreal slice of life comedy pretty well. Or for a more recent example, Null Peta, where Null's plight does become genuinely emotional (or at least not frustrating) near the end and that was done pretty well. Hell Akari's time travel episode from Yuru Yuri S2 did more for me than this shitshow ever did.
Just don't bother with this. It just shows that good directors and their teams can sometimes churn out a turd.
3/10
Agent_Redacted
Youkosou to the review of a generic anime by a person who's simply bored and sleepy. I'll try to make this review as straightforward as possibly and not too stretched. Story : 8/10 First half of the series is good. Though its pretty much the generic MC flexing. The comedy adds a touch to it, making it amusing and enjoying to watch. The second half of the series is an utter disappointment. It was tainted with unnecessary drama which ruins the tranquil and serenity the show had built. The story can be drastically improved if it simply becomes a full-fledged comedy show like Endro. It'seither that or the story has to be very good in order for the drama to be "acceptable".
Art : 9/10
Project No.9 is known for making shit isekais. But this is probably the best one they've made. The art and quality is okay but I feel like it can be improved.
Sound : 10/10
Good opening and everything else is great. No comment.
Character : 9/10
Don't half-ass it. If you want to make an MC powerful. Make them powerful. If you want to make an MC weak. Make them weak. Sure, they can develop and become powerful later. Sure, they can even become weaker. But the story has to cover up everything and make it seem reasonable.
This anime failed on that aspect. It makes me feel uncomfortable.
Enjoyment : 10/10
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Overall : 10/10
I actually have mixed feelings for this anime. I can't decide whether I should give this anime a 9 or 10. But I'll be generous today and give it a 10 since I had a lot of fun for the first half of the series. Though the second half was disappointing. It wasn't that bad.
Recommended to those who love isekai or those who just want to chill.
lamaraptor
I see your CGDCT anime hiding behind the guise of an isekai. It's not even the first fantasy anime I've seen do that. The fact that this is an isekai is just a byproduct of it's light novel origins, that and it's stupid title and gimmicky premise. You can lamp shade isekai tropes all you want, it doesn't make them any less overused. Why not just have it be in a normal fantasy setting? The story doesn't even need to change, just have the main girl be so strong because she's secretly from that royal family. But then they can't make constant meta jokes aboutotaku culture and other Japanese stuff.
Maybe I'm just too cynical, but it's hard to come at these shows with a fresh eye every time. They just won't stop making them, and they probably won't any time soon. I guess you might as well enjoy them for what they are. 7/10 for that dance they do in the opening.
hyperwaddledee
I love me some generic Isekai trash. I’m content to watch a quirky, overpowered protagonist carve a niche out for themselves in generic fantasyland with whatever twist they bring to the formula. Even if it’s narratively stale, I’m usually satisfied, and I’m likewise happy to recommend whatever I just watched to my anime-watching kindred spirits. I can’t recommend Watashi, Nouryoku wa Heikinchi de tte Itta yo ne! (henceforth abbreviated God Bless Me?) to anyone, though. It’s a shame, since it began with such a cute premise. Story: 1/10 The story begins with a simple enough premise. Mile, with her freakishly high power level, does her best at theHunter Academy to be as average as possible. Though she blunders in hiding her skills, she succeeds in making friends and forming an adventuring party with them. Thus begins the shenanigans. Easy enough premise to run with for twelve episodes, right?
Unfortunately, wrong. As a comedy-centered show, the “jokes” are weak and frequently rely on otaku pandering. This is most disappointing, because even though I’m weeb enough to understand, for example, their nendoroid and Doraemon references, it doesn’t change the fact that it’s simply not funny. The writers of God Bless Me? think that shoehorning an anime reference and ribbing the audience with a hamfisted “hey, look, we know Japanese pop culture too, look at how hip we are ;D” makes laughs. It does not. It just makes watching the events play out on screen even more awkward than they already were.
An unignorable amount of “humor” also centered around Mile’s (who, I would be remiss to not mention, is around 12 years old or so) insecurity about her chest size, with gratuitous comparisons to her teammate Reina and innkeeper’s daughter Lenny, who are in the same general age range, all with lovingly gratuitous camera framing at the obviously underage chests in question. Ew. Worse yet was Mile’s occasional perverse behavior around said chests. Ew ew ew ew ew. I feel filthy even writing about it for the sake of this review.
Without spoilers, I can say the final episode was incredibly disappointing and a thematic 180° to the thematic build-up of the eleven episodes before it. One would think Mile’s story arc was building up to a heartfelt show of the power of friendship. Apparently not.
Art & Sound: 3/10
I normally score these apart, but they share a common feature this time: they’re not atrocious, but they are absolutely lazy outside the main squad. This can be felt especially hard at the finale. Lazy design, lazy voicework.
Character: 2/10
The main squad, Crimson Vow, is composed of four cookie-cutter character stereotypes. While Mile’s backup crew does get a bit of time devoted to their backstories, it doesn’t feel like they grow at all during their respective spotlights. They felt like afterthoughts, with limited consequence to the actual development of said characters. Of course, a slice of life style show doesn’t need significant character development as long as the characters command presence and synergize among themselves... but the writers mostly failed to achieve that. What we’re left with is a core cast of cardboard cutouts that look like young girls.
If the writers couldn’t care to carve out engaging personalities with their leads, you can be sure that the supporting and side characters were devoid of life. Lenny was memorable enough for me to remember her while writing this review, though, so I can give the show that. You deserved a better show, Lenny.
Enjoyment: 1/10
God Bless Me? could have gotten away with being an enjoyable-yet-forgettable niche title. It could have been a cute, Isekai-flavored slice of life, or a comedic parody of Isekai power levels. Such a shame it turned out to be otaku creep-bait, instead. Maybe when it reincarnates again, it will have a better creative team behind it.
Final score: 2/10
Marinate1016
Cute girls doing cute shit, the anime. Abilities Average is one of my favourite light novel series. So, when I heard it was getting an anime adaptation, needless to say, I was extremely happy. However, I quickly realised that as with many of my favourite light novel adaptations this year *cough cough Arifureta, the studio was going to butcher the source material, skip entire arcs and change the story around completely. Now, that's a big deal for me as someone who is a LN reader, but if you go into this as an anime only, you may have a totally different experience and opinion. However, forme this was a huge let down. As for the story we do get in the anime, it is still pretty entertaining, we get a unique take on the most popular anime genre. Unlike other generic isekai protags, Adele wants to be average in every sense of the word. She does not wish to stand out or be famous, and the whole point of the series revolves around this inner struggle and conflict that she has within herself.
The comedy is on point in the show, definitely have got some chuckles out, the sound design is great, the OP is great and in my playlist and the art is gorgeous. Overall, it is a truly solid series. Because of the changes they made it is not a great series. It's still worth watching for a relaxing cool down period after a long day at work or if you're in need of a laugh, but don't expect anything revolutionary here, and definitely consider checking out the source material. Overall, 8 out of 10 from me.
JayWrites101
I Wished to Be Born Average This Time! is a show with an absolutely PROFOUND concept... but tragically face plants at every available opportunity. There are som many glaring structural failings of Average that... it would take all year to name them. And that's just in the first episode! The biggest FIVE problems (and yes I am judging this after watching the full thing) are 1: The "Idol Syndrome" 2: The refusal to tell the Crimson Vow her true backstory, 3: Skipping the school days, 4: Ruining the backstory(s), and 5: not committing to the bit. I will start at the bottom. #5: Not committing to theBit-
Average REFUSES to let their dark characters BE dark. Basically, they want to have their cake and eat it too. They want a light-hearted romp with "cute" girls doing "cute" things to sell figurines, but they also want to be taken seriously and have dramatic tension. Their darkest character Pauline, a girl who is nightmarishly psychopathic, cannot truly be the psychotic monster that she is. They tease that Pauline is 120% down to do horrific things (like beating another girl's head in during an exhibition match) but her opponents always weasel their way out of danger... by surrendering... EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.
And then on the other end of the spectrum, they often ruin a good set up by skipping the joke altogether. (more on that later.)
#4: Ruining the backstory(s)-
These characters all give their backstories in one episode. We spend so little time in their past that, even though three of their pasts are plot-relevant, we could've skipped the flashbacks all together and missed nothing of value. The reason they did this is because they want us to take these characters seriously. But they spoil it because they still want to be a comedy. And Average is left in this awkward middle-ground that's not truly either.
#3: Skipping the School Days-
This one ties in with the "skipping the joke altogether" bit that I mentioned earlier. Average cuts A LOT of content that needed to be filled out. The six months the girls spent "training in school" was one of them. This was a joke waiting to happen. The teacher assigns a task, MC does it too well, her friends then go Waaaaaaaaay over the top doing the task and break every record the school ever held. And then they graduate into the lowest category of hunters...
Except that's not what happens. Instead, all of that is skipped, they fight in an arena at their graduation, and they become top-tier hunters right off the bat.
In one episode.
Another example is the literal exposition at the end of the first episode explaining how MC's so strong even though she wished to be average! Son of a — Let us have a JOKE!!
#2: The Refusal to Tell Crimson Vow her Real Backstory-
So, the MC doesn't want to stand out. That's her gimmick. But she's also God-tier. That's her problem. Her closest friends won't stop pestering her for her backstory. Does she A: Tell them the Truth so they can all work together to make her wishes come true, involving them in wacky hijinks that the MC has always wanted to do, but the CV think is totally normal for MC, or B: Lie her ass off and only tell her BEST FRIENDS the things that have happened to her since she got to their world.
If you chose B, you watched this show... Congrats? No... So sorry.
#1: The "Idol Syndrome"-
These characters are not characters; their Idols. They exist for merchandising. This is an unfortunately common problem with female characters in anime. They exist to be cute so horny men will buy their stuff. And in this setting, with this premise: it ruins the show. The girls cannot be dark because that would ruin the brand. They also can't truly shine because that wouldn't be "cute."
You end up with something that truly is: Average.
hbaby1093
Let's start by saying that I watched this in the dubbed version, and so I already know much of what I am feeling about this show relates to the version in which I watched it. Nevertheless, for me, this is what the show equates to - meh I didn't feel any kind of way about the characters. I didn't feel any kind of way about the story. I only finished it because I didn't want to bother starting a new show. I think there were just a little too many cliches and overused tropes in this story that made it feel very familiar and unoriginal tome.
I don't think I would recommend this
DarknessReality
Right off the bat Ive just got to say, this is an amazing series. This anime was honestly such a breath of fresh air with it being an isekai with a female main protaganist. We dont have nearly enough of those so this series was such a treat to watch. In the same vein Slice of life anime in my opinion have sort of reached a wall of originality or at least Im sort of tired of them so getting a slice of life anime about adventurer girls doing their day to day life is the perfect combination. It took my love for Isekai anime, andmy love for Slice of Life anime, and combined them making this beautiful creation.
The cast is absolutely lovable and all have a quirk of some sort to give them character. Mile doesnt know about the absurdness of her powers leading to some hilarious reactions when she unleashes it, Pauline is the classic cunnning merchant and the girl you really dont want to anger as when you do you know you're screwed. Reina is the typical tsundere but she can still have her moments, and finally the wannabe knight girl Mavis. Not much to say on her she's bascially the straight man always getting left behind in which she can bring more comedy to the table. My personal favourites were Mile and Pauline which I liked equally as much as the other and couldnt decide on an absolute favourite.
Comedy in this series is great. I was constantly smiling throughout the runtime of the anime and every time Mile walked up to start fighting I couldnt wait to see what she'd do and most importantly the reactions of those around her. Luckily her party dont get used to the absurdness for a while so we get some absolutely classic reactions lol. There is some really funny reoccuring jokes throughout the series such as Mile hiding the fact that she's a reincarnet by saying "Its a family secret." everytime. The comedy in this series is just as wholesome as the series itself which made me smile throughout it all so its definitely a good comedy watch.
I cant do a review of this series without talking about its OP. The OP is SOOO CATCHY!!! One thing I love about this OP and OPs of this anime season is they have some sort of quirk that makes it stand out from the rest. With this anime's OP its got this really funny "Waho Waho" that I cant stop dancing to whenever it comes on and imitating the move XD. The OP is sung by the cast which is cute and pretty standard for these types of anime but nonetheless is very enjoyable to watch and listen to. There is this one section where they have some really weird power ranger dance and I cant stop laughing everytime I see Pauline's dance.
The art is cute and moeblob so all the girls look cute and the series immedietly gives off that wholesome slice of life vibe. Because of its wholesome content, lovable characters and really funny comedy this anime is one of the most re-watchable series Ive seen and Im happy to have more re-watchable anime for my collection.
Overall absolutely loved this series. Its one of my new favourite slice of life anime and since its a fantasy Isekai with a female lead its even more re-watchable.
9/10 Highly recommend to any Isekai, Comedy or Slice of Life fans wanting some cute girls doing cute things in another world.
Tonwing
Another iseakai anime, well honestly I WANT A SECOND SEASON HEREEEE!!! The story of this anime was up and down sometimes good sometimes bad but, just like in the genre most of it are for comedy purposes, however, even though its comedy the story still quite caught my attention because, how the main character (or Mile) actually develops in the story, how she actually slowly shows that she is strong. And this kind of scenes really stir up my attention and likings. Really have to compliment this anime at the end it ended in such a way that you would really like for a secondseason, ANDDDDD, IT ENDED IN SUCH A WAY THAT THERE IS STILL SECOND SEASON. So let us support it and have patient and wait for it.
Orewayaya
you have to watch this super funny, full of parodies, overpowered main character anime.. yea yea.. another isekai movie, died because of truck-kun, and become overpowered.. BUT thats the whole point of this anime as it is doing funny stuff and parodies all over the episodes. The anime feels kinda like a slice of life, anime but in the last part, the story is going forward as they finally found a something to investigate.. too bad it ends right at there. hope season 2 will be announced soon! easily one of my favourite anime series of this season! super super enjoy this anime series. 9/10
FranqitoH
The anime is not bad in itself, but comparing it with other animes of its season then you could say that it is a not so average isekai with little touches of CGDCT. Still, the aspect of the tenderness and the regretful emotional scenes is something I can highlight about this anime. As you read, the anime adaptation has skipped the arc of the academy where "Adele" was, which is considered important to empathize with our protagonist and understand her even better, but personally, it is not that difficult to connect. with her and the main group of friends she has, they are just different personalities andnecessary for this isekai story to work.
In short, if you're going to watch this anime, do it mainly to have a good time, just enjoy it as much as you can. ☕💕
-Translated from English to Spanish by Google Translate
VengefulAura
This anime was an enjoyable watch! It wasn't exactly anything new or groundbreaking concept-wise, but it knew when to use comedy at the right moments and when for when things get serious. I think the best part of it is definitely the comedy, with the many cultural references to other animes. It was silly fun. The story is unfortunately not really even there, it just seems like an episodic series of the girls going on adventures each episode with not much of a plot till the very last episode leading up to something big for next season. The art is decent, nothing special. It startsoff looking pretty with vibrant colors and well-designed characters, then kinda goes a little downhill by the end of the season. The characters work well together, all blending with their different personalities and them building upon their friendship while Mile still hasn't told them about how she is reincarnated, but they suspect something is up. Anyways, this series was enjoyable, but nothing amazing. It knows it's a parody of the genre of Isekai. If you do watch it, just go in expecting something entertaining rather than deep.
7/10.
kawaii123456
"Oh you're a tsundere" --- Mile "I got isekaied so I could serve food in a maid cafe ?" --- Mile. I loved the first 8 episodes of this anime. It was smart, funny, endlessly poking fun at overused anime tropes, a sheer joy to watch. Then it turned stupid serious for some reason. Instead of cute girls, doing cute and silly things in a fantasy world, it turned into a bog serious isekai which aside from being a mood breaker, turned the whole thing into who cares moments. Gags that gave you lines like the above just stopped, and it would have been better if thewhole anime just stopped as well. It didn't and that's a shame.
You can do the same with this review right now. Go watch the first 8 episodes enjoy laugh consider it done. If a second season ever happens then watch the last 4 and hope for better in the 2nd season
Why was the first 2/3rds so good ? Well imagine a regretful Otaku that felt alone and isolated, finding themselves in a fantasy world that lina inverse could pop up in at any moment. She is desperately trying and failing to conceal her nature and everyone around her is seeing through it. She makes friends with 3 really cute girls and they wind up doing really cute things, in really silly ways. They get things right they get things wrong, but you just enjoy watching them on their quest. It's light, fluffy and just a really nice way to kill time and treat yourself to a smile.
Why was the last 1/3rd so awful. Well it kept the stupidity that was funny when played off of, from the first 2/3rds, but then instead of playing off stupidity with comedy, it tries to lay off that with seriousness, or with sad feels moments. it just doesn't work. You still have the stupidly OP character who hasn't got any less OP and in fact gets more OP. What's more everything that was wrong in the world, and you could just ignore, is now shoved into your face, so you can't just put aside how much things cost, why they are doing things that are funny but pointless, how supporting characters go from hypercompetent to completely incompetent in their realm. Finally you get vast swaths of "Because that's the way we wrote it", in place of actual world building. Once again something you could ignore when it was funny but not something that goes by when it starts playing it serious.
Truth be told this anime validates the old saying that, "The cruelest words ever spoken are, what might have been"
