Humanity and demonkind have been on bad terms for millennia, resulting in the continent of Leunders being split in two. Although the situation has stabilized between the races, the fragile peace breaks when the new demon king launches a fierce all-out attack. With all of the non-demon nations falling to the violence in under a year, humanity's hope rests in a special squad, led by swordsman Kyle Leonard, that must assassinate the demon king in order to bring an end to the war.
During the dangerous mission, Kyle ends up in a clash with the demon king that brings him to the brink of death. As Kyle realizes he has lost everything he wanted to protect, a mysterious gem transports him back in time before the conflict even started! Now with knowledge of future events and a strong desire to save his loved ones, Kyle sets out to become even stronger to prevent the extinction of humanity.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Comentários
Eva_PhoenixAnime
Tsuyokute New Saga does a solid job of telling a familiar “redo the past to save the future” story. We’ve seen the time-rewind setup before, but here it’s handled with decent consistency, and Kyle (the MC) actually makes logical, level-headed decisions instead of running in blindly based off his past experiences, battles and life in his desolate future where he wins but at what cost with everything he fought for is gone... :{ I’d say it’s a must-watch if you enjoy JRPG-inspired worlds, Demon Lord conflicts, and stories where the OP hero gets a second chance to rewrite fate and even if you don’t normallywatch these types of anime, it never hurts to give something new a try, right?
The cast itself is fairly well-rounded. Kyle’s companions Theron the swordsman and Kyle’s best friend (my goat), Urza the elven wizard, Liese the fist-fighter and romantic interest (very one-sided) and Sidonia (the sword) all bring their own personalities and backgrounds to the group, and while they don’t all get deep development, they add enough variety to keep the dynamics interesting and the show fun to watch.
Additionally, each arc is entertaining to watch and ensures that the show doesn’t become stale with the same stuff that the cast must do and also allows for the introduction of fun and interesting stories with new side characters.
On the technical side, the animation is decent in my personal opinion. There are definitely rough spots where it could have looked sharper, but it’s not distracting enough to take away from the overall experience. The action sequences and effects are solid for what they are, though not the anime’s biggest strength.
The OP is also a pretty great with it being energetic and packed with visuals that hype you up for the watch!
I personally really enjoyed it due to the fun cast and different arcs with new missions for them, but also the action scenes and Kyle actually using his knowledge of the past and not acting like a brain-dead MC in his scenario.
If you enjoy fantasy adventures with a clever time-travel twist, Tsuyokute New Saga is worth checking out. It’s a mix of strategy, humour, and action, tied together with strong character interactions and an overarching theme of second chances. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys stories of heroes fighting against fate while carrying the weight of their past.
PanzerIV-J
I can’t say that New Saga is outright terrible, but it’s ultimately not worth your time. The premise has promise: a heartfelt story about young adventurers who grow stronger thanks to the MC’s knowledge of a doomed timeline where the world is destroyed by a demon horde. Unfortunately, the execution falls flat. The pacing is bloated—so much so that you could probably watch only a third of each episode and still grasp the entire plot. The story feels padded, stretched far beyond what it needs to be, and could have easily been told in half the number of episodes. The characters don’t do the show any favorseither. Most are painfully generic, and the male cast often comes off as uncomfortably creepy toward the female characters, with fanservice that feels shoehorned in and adds nothing. The only one who stood out even slightly was Theron, since he at least hinted at some depth—but even then, it wasn’t much. The protagonist, Kyle, is surprisingly bland given the weight of the story that rests on his shoulders.
What makes New Saga even more disappointing is that it clearly wants to be more than “trashy” anime, but it never rises above mediocrity. It doesn’t lean into the fun excesses of trashy shows, nor does it deliver the strong storytelling or character work it seems to aim for. The result is a dull middle ground that leaves little impact.
To be fair, it wasn’t an unbearable watch. But with so many better shows out there that handle similar themes with more skill and personality, this one just feels like a waste of time.
5.5/10
Grandpa_China
Got off to a very good beginning. Hoped this was gonna be one of the top titles from the second half of the year. Then some of the character growth started to feel weaker or chaotic, filler storylines lingered by far, far, far too long and slowed the pacing, the main story felt choppy and jerky. The second half didn’t live up to the momentum of the start. I’d much rather watch the main characters running away on that carriage and becoming stronger along the way for three episodes than spend five minutes seeing them catch bandits and deal with some local village politics. It was disappointingto see the characters become caricatures of themselves by the end. There was also this idea flying in the air that your best friends could become your enemies given the right circumstances, and that your enemies might not be so bad after all, but it was really poorly done and didn’t quite land.
DaCraziGuy
Well, if you are wondering if you should watch this, I can just tell you stuff while trying to be objective and then my opinion. Animation: Low average, good enough generally but it's not enough to portrait a good fight scene. We don't have that many battles, so I don't think this is a deal breaker. Story: a fantasy story that is kinda in the gray area, it's not a dark fantasy but it isn't a normal one either. The main plain plot is to stop or win the war against demons, but there is some shady stuff going and lot of betrayals. It has quite abit of mystery and some plot twists that catch you off guard.
Characters: well, for this part I have to separate between guys and girls. The guys are kinda cold and get things done, they go with "ends justifies the means", I kinda like that. On the other hand, the girls you average kind character and a bit of a moral compass. Now, the main cast. One thing to mention is that the supporting cast has quite a bit of screen time, so if you only care for the MC you may be annoyed by that (I'm not).
Our MC - Kyle: our time traveler (and it actually shows), a magic knight and ex hero. He is your average guy on the surface, but he does some nasty stuff if he has too. Compared to other time travelers or reincarnated characters, our MC actually acts more mature (he doesn't get shy with girls, he makes them shy, lol) than the rest of the cast so that's a plus for me. He is strong but not OP.
Bro - Theron: your funny and horny guy with no luck with girls that is actually ruthless AF. He is strong but with no magic, he might be even stronger than the MC.
First love - Liese: the childhood friend our mc loved but couldn't save and the trigger to make him the hero. She is a bit tsundere, but not annoying, she has waifu skills and it's the kinder character of the party, and the strongest in raw power. Despite that, she is the weakest character.
Ex-girlfriend - Urza: the one that healed Kyle after losing Liese, the girlfriend he had at the time he fought the demon lord, she died too. She is the cool lady, a mage/summoner that is also kind... but kind of thorny.
Romance: Yes, but it's not a main plot so far, it's pretty low on the priority list. Despite being in the back, it has an interesting take that makes you curious considering how our MC is related to the girls. The only people I think that won't like this is people that wants romance as a main topic. For the rest it won't add not take much.
Overall: Your average fantasy with some dark twists that makes it kinda niche and more mature. It's not a power fantasy and despite the time traveling, our party can't save everyone. Our MC makes the pace of the story kinda unique and that is what I liked the most of the story.
That's all, I'm out.
chad001
Disappointing. To preface with a little history: Tsuyokute no New Saga was one of the earlier pioneers of the regression genre, before it caught on in the mainstream. At the time, it stood out for being a tad more grounded than most, focusing on the consequence of Kyle's actions both in the past present. Yes the slapstick was still there but it was balanced just like the character designs which were more history appropriate. Now,, years later the anime comes out and it's not only late to the party, the designs and directing has made it painfully generics. Full of multicolor anime hair, cutesier aesthetics,a pg-13 feel and the same bland design principles as every other isekai-adjacent product of the past decade. And don't even get me started on the downright wacky ridiculous soundtrack that plays at every moment even serious ones. Like who plays excited wacky party-jazz when reliving the trauma of your friends dying in the past and finally reuniting with one who can believe you? And then there's the 2FPS fight scenes. Unless you REALLY need voice acting I'd recommend just reading the manga. Its the best of the 3 imo, the LN's a bit more complete but meanders here and there and doesnt have the visuals of the manga.
PhantomRips
In the almost 15 years I've been on this site I haven't seen an anime that's this normal be so hated in reviews and ratings, please don't let negative reviews sway you from taking a chance at watching this anime. This will be short and sweet since I have work in 20 min of writing this. Let me start off with animation, I give it an 8 solid because of the fact there were much more promising titles releasing at the same time as this anime and fell flat when they had high expectations, they had still frame fight scenes and terrible pacing in most this season,this anime Infact did not have those flaws as others are stating they're reviews.
The animations were fluid with some static skips but nothing major, not some kind of crap like "The beginning of the end" type crap they laid on us this season (which had my highest expectations and fell so far flat it hit the crust of hell lol)
Story:7 It's basic but it's fun, you get to watch a guy save all his friends "well a majority" from things repeating the way it did in the past as he gets to travel back in time to change the events that occurred. It's basic but again a decent watch if you have seen Hundreds of anime like myself.
Voice acting:8 They did solid job no complaints, I actually enjoyed the soft tones of the main male Leads, no one seemed off from appearance to voice but there was also nothing majorly exciting about any of the voices like no one had anything memorable other than personalities of the characters themself.
If you see my profile and read my rating system you will understand why I gave it an 8, I watched it weekly as it came out and didn't get bored of it, it wasn't my first to watch it the day etc but again it was always worth the 24min invested.
Cheers, you won't see me review again for a long time 🤙
Anime-Lover-Weeb
There are many Anime which appears to be just made for fun (by the reviewers comments) But i would say this was the best underrated anime for the season. This Anime does have some good story building where we happen to know about this is it but we got taken out by another twist which makes it difficult to predict what gonna happen. Character Development, Side characters cast etc where the best for this tory as the way highlighted where you do not get this type of writing and screen time. Ultimately Final verdict I would say do watch it as it would keep you hook upwith many things comedy, dark and many more elements where you cant think WAS it right? Was it wrong? In the best possible way.
Otaku_Senpai
*** New Saga *** I was hooked in the first episode with its time travel and medieval fantasy settings. My early enthusiasm was hampered in later episodes. The story is to my liking but I never could understand why he didn't use the dragon heart as evidence to warn the rulers of the present time about the pending doom but try to solve the problem by keeping the whole thing a secret. I watched it in English dub and its not that good in my opinion. It is an action fantasy anime and yet the animation is lackluster. For those who are not sure if to startthis show or not despite its not so good animation quality. These are some of the elements this show has: Light politics, kingdom wars, sword and magic battles and time loop strategy.
But I do like the worldbuilding enough to look forward to the next season. Hope they up the budget.
My Rating: 7/10 (Good)
Clintyn
So many people here seem to think this is typical “return to the past” slop, but I can assure you it’s definitely NOT. 1. Story - 8/10 This show does a lot of things right, weaving a much more grounded and real take on the familiar trope. A lot of these shows like to use the “returners” idea as a premise for a wholly boring harem anime, but everything that happens in this story is always related back to the MC’s past life. It’s very refreshing to see a character not forget the life-changing events they lived and died through. 2. Characters - 10/10 What blew me away washow every character felt HUMAN, with flaws and issues and a genuine duality that many similar anime lack. The dialogue was extremely well written, while jokes and gags always had extremely good pacing. A lot of the time, it felt like the VAs could have been in the same room when the lines were recorded… that’s how good some of the banter is.
Also I’m sorry, but thank the lord we finally have an MC that doesn’t get flustered every time a girl enters a 20 foot radius! I get that it’s a classic anime thing to do, but I really feel like times are changing and I’d much prefer a realist MC that acts like a real human instead of a caricature.
3. Music - 9/10
The opening and ending songs are cool and all, but where this soundtrack SHINES is in the club jazz backing tracks done (in some part) by SOIL & “PIMP” SESSIONS, who are geniuses when it comes to the genre. It really elevated this anime and gave a refreshing sound upgrade compared to the normal medieval-tinged tracks you’d normally hear in shows like this. And I think it really worked.
4. Animation - 6/10
This is where the show falters a little. You can feel that this studio didn’t have the funding or backing to give this anime the animation it deserved… but it’s by no means unwatchable. The only time you can really feel it is during some fight scenes, and when sometimes they’ll recap the ending of the previous episode at the beginning of the next to save having to animate something new. It’s definitely not “low-quality” animation, it’s just not at the level of AAA studios when it comes to the more animation-heavy scenes.
Overall… I was VERY pleasantly surprised with this anime. Throughout the anime I’d see something and audibly say “damn, this is actually a really good show” because I expected this to be more slop… but it’s a hidden gem. If there’s ever a second season, I hope they put more into the animation, because if they do it’ll be a top tier anime for sure. They already have the voice acting, the story, the characters… it’s a fantastic start that already has me wanting more.
SuperAdventure
I have reviewed a few fantasy seasonals before, and this one doesn't rank much better than the rest of them. Apart from the opener- but I'll get to that later... The problem with these light novels is they don't require any actual skill to create, they get illustrated by someone else using anime software with zero art skill, hence why they all look the same. They lean heavily on tropes rather than trying to tell an interesting story and they have nothing new visually to offer. The story here is a plain Quarter Pounder with NO cheese: protag's hero party gets destroyed by the demon kingand he gets reincarnated, is reborn back in time, as himself. So he has foreknowledge. That's it, that's the story.
So, the PLOT is self-explanatory...
The CHARACTERS are all cardboard cutouts and I mean this literally: Kyle is MC-kun #1,789. He's not ugly, and I can't say he's a bad person... but apart from trying to figure out the pieces to the puzzle I described above, he has no real personality other than being blandly nice. Liese is cute red-haired chick #58million, Ursa is silver-haired chick etc... Kyle gets a magical companion Sildonia who when she first arrives is constantly shoving food into her face because we're supposed to think that's cute; and he meets Theron who I swear- is somewhat disturbing. If you've watched a certain television program called "the news" you're surely aware of some people going off and murdering a bunch of people without a care, but here we're apparently supposed to think that's cool. He's my least favorite character in this, but at least he stands out for being unique (uniquely a creep, but it's something)
So what follows is a bog standard fantasy-adventure where the four main characters who are actually five- work together as a team to try and track down the baddies. They save a princess; discover the mayor is stashing corpses in the basement, and run into some demons. The animation isn't much to speak of; I grew up watching anime that was becoming famous in the world for its incredible techniques, but nowadays it seems people are happy to watch stuff without any real animation. The demons were described as baddies but thanks to the least charismatic cast I've seen since... the last seasonal... I was sort of empathizing with the demons because at least they had clear motivations and didn't seem nearly as cruel as they were described.
But there were upsides to this show- the opening song "Enja" isn't well titled but sweet Lord.. that song is awesome and was possibly the motivation for me to start each episode. It's not like I was excited to see what would happen next but I could listen to that song a hundred times.
I guess I've watched seasonals that were terribly dumb and boring (Farming Life) and I was Reincarnated as the 7-year-old-prince (just stupid) or fantasy that were laughably bad like Ubel Blatt even if I sort of liked the characters....
Here, it's just another hamburger, with nothing on it. It's not terrible, most of the episodes are mildly entertaining, the visuals look nice, the girls are extremely cute, the music.... well the OPENER is good, but the soundtrack OH BALDERDASH!! now there's another thing I forgot to mention!!!! The OST is all over the fucking place, I mean one minute there's some nice strings, then there's some jazzy horn music like Yoko Kanno's in Cowboy Bebop except it's The Yoko Kanno We Have at Home kind... other times there's like really emotional stuff happening, like people getting slashed, and the soundtrack is like "Badampy-dumpty-dump isn't this fun!" and it's JARRING!!!
Okay so other than that, the soundtrack, and the shitty characters, and the unoriginal concept, and the paint-by-numbers script- you have a slamming opener, decent visuals, cute demon girls, and some CGI horses....
Oh God don't get me started on the horses.
You can watch it if you want, it's not terrible. But if you rate this any higher than I did, I'm going to demand an explanation.
thewiru
"Tsuyokute New Saga"'s premise somewhat resembles it's situation as an anime: If it could go back in time as it was, things would be different. I could've had it's niche success and love as a 90's OVA series, a 2000's fantasy series, perhaps even a chance in the early 2010's, being an adaptation of an early-Narou series before the website had solidified it's formulas. As it is, however, it's sadly just a victim of production hell that didn't catch much buzz. It's initial setting of a world divided into many kingdoms of humanoid races and a whole other part of the continent belonging to a demon racedraws comparisons to the much better produced (And also more interesting) "Clevatess" from the same season, which would also release on the same day.
As for the time-traveling premise, it is a bit... weird.
Our protagonist never tells anyone else (Aside from Sildonia) about what happened. He has zero reason to do so, he just... doesn't. Likewise we, as audience, don't know which events happened in that meantime which he has to change, the result being that we'll have many instances of "Oh yeah, there's this character, he's SUUUUUPER important, but I never ever mentioned them until now" which, while it might work in-universe, makes it hard for us to care about such characters and situations (Kyle knows a lot about Zentos, but we don't, so why care? He also knows a lot about Garnias, but rarely says any of it, so why should we care?).
Indeed, reflecting it being a Narou WN where the story would often be written on a whim, New Saga brings us no real "Roadmap" apart from it's first arc: From there on, events are as a surprise to our protagonists as they are to us, which defeats the whole purpose of it being a time-travel story apart from serving as a plot-device every once in a whole.
The characters are... fine, I guess? A bit one-note in terms of personality, but do like certain designs. Ever since the start it all give me the feel of "This feels like a 'Tales of' game". I never played a 'Tales of' game apart from more than half of Phantasia, but from everything I ever saw about the series, it REALLY gives me those vibes.
It's usually common for LN adaptation, in their first cours, adapt either 3 arcs divided into three volumes, or 2 arcs divides into 1+2 volumes. I haven't read it's source material, but it appears to only adapt two arcs, likely from two volumes. While that allows it to be thorough, it gives it a pacing that drags at times and, by my experience, fantasy LN's usually only get really interesting after their first cour.
A bunch of characters are introduced, though not really developed. And I'm not just talking about Ceraia and Layla (Which at least feel that will be explored in the future), but also at things such as the romances with Liese and Urza being totally ignored after being introduced, with them becoming hardly different from background characters.
The animation isn't spectacular, the backgrounds are often bland, which especially true for the designs of background/unimportant characters: This was the first anime from Sotsu, which is usually a producer instead of a studio (Not counting a series of 2-minute shorts they once did), and likewise Studio Clutch was established to serve as a Studio Crutch to it's production. Initially, studios such as Makaria (Which is newer studio which I don't know much about) and Yokohama Animation Lab (Which in the meantime managed to collapse two different anime productions) were listed for production, but that didn't come to be (Hence, production hell).
Yet, for some reason, I can't hate it. It's... OK, it exists, at it's final episode I found myself wanting to know what would happen next. Unlike other anime this season, I never felt "Urgh, I'm gonna have to watch it", but rather "OK, let's watch it" so... IDK, just go read the source material, either the manga or the LN.
Ellenya
There's something satisfying about the idea of going back in time to fix things. On the other hand, it's a bit boring to have a main character that is OP from the beginning. But if you don't mind main characters like that, then Tsuyokute New Saga will be a good watch! The best quality of this anime is the pacing: since our MC knows the future, he doesn't waste time and just jumps straight to what he needs to do and meets who he needs to meet. We have a well balanced team with two boys and three girls. Each character has a unique personality andsome background scenes to give them depth. The supporting characters are also pretty fine, like his mom - she's helpful and loving.
Throughout the story, the MC manages to acquire great gear (including his old legendary sword), finds out more about the relic that brought him to the past, "met" old friends, saved important people that died in his original timeline hence changing the future as he knew it, and now for season 2 he will be in a spot where his previous knowledge of the future isn't reliable anymore due to the changes he caused. That means we will probably have more obstacles for MC, more plot and developments.
It's not a masterpiece, but it's a good watch with reliable pacing, good characters, average animation, and no major issues of note.
Flacion
A story where you get a second chance to save the people you love, from an apocalypse that will bring the whole world you know into chaos. New Saga is about Kyle, who was the hero that fights the demon king, but at what cost. On his way to save the world he has lost many friends and family members, so when he is brought back in time, a new chance is upon him. We then follow Kyle as he with his friends try to avoid the war that took so many lives in his past. The plot is quite straightforward, with some points even being explainedin the series itself. This gives a plot that is easy to follow, but also very predictable, with only a little amount of surprising twists to it. But even though it is very easy to follow, does some of the twists still hold some weight with them, giving new aspects to the show, which is refreshing and helps the plot overall. There also is mostly the main plot, with only its minor goals to follow, and not really any other plotlines that could follow alongside the main plot. Combined is the plot very much what you expect for this type of show, but is still entertaining while being simple.
The main character Kyle, is simply a stereotypical fantasy main character, with him having the power and knowledge needed to whatever it is. This makes him rather easy to read in general and his battles easy to predict, with only some minor exceptions to it. Comparing him to the rest of the main group, are they also very easy to read, with some small twists to them, which fits Kyle but seems lackluster overall. Side characterwise there are a few characters that have something interesting to them, but most of them are very simple and bland. This together just gives some very simple characters that feel like they should have more to them, and are only carried by a few individual nuances.
When looking at the animation it is very simple, but has enough details to make it smooth enough and fairly nice to look at. The fights have the fluidness needed, even though it is only the needed animation and not something extra to make it stand out. Comparing it to the design is it also at the same point of quality, very bright colors and reuse of the same assets multiple times. The design in itself is not bad, but could really be helped by having some more to it, such as more variety.
At the end when compiling it all, is the show not bad, but not really something special. It’s fine to watch, but it leaves a feeling of something missing, like there should have been more to it. So if you want a simple fantasy anime to watch, can i recommend it, but otherwise i would recommend something else.
mrfried
New Saga is anything but New The premise is nothing new, the MC has a chance to redo their past actions to avoid a bad future, in this case it is to avoid the destruction of the world by a demon lord... again, not a new thing. Kyle, the MC, his reactions to encountering those he was once close to, and those he lost previously are one thing I like, and his plan of action to deal with the situation and avoid the future from happening like it did, so basically I like the first episode. The problem is that in the abstract there is hardly anything originalhere, the story plays out how you expect it to, interactions with certain characters are reliant on character tropes and clichés, the individual story arcs are generic and full of standard tropes, you can just predict what will happen and obvious bad guys are obvious. It is not a shock twist when you see it coming from a mile away.
So this is generic as generic can be, the characters aren't that interesting and are underdeveloped, the animation is subpar, but it is still sufficiently enjoyable as a trash anime. The best way to sum this up is it's a trash isekai without the isekai.
This review could be longer, but its not worth my time giving it a longer review, after all the people behind this never thought it was worth their time either, it wasn't worth their time to give it an original story or do anything new or original with the genre, whoever came up with the character designs, it clearly wasn't worth their time either as they did such a bland and basic job, it wasn't worth the studios time to put effort into the animation, or the series direction, or the OST... the insert song in the final episode is beyond questionable it is shockingly bad and tonally out of place. No care was taken to produce this series, it is just churned out mass produced slop, generic as generic can be.
I have reflected on this a little and my opinion is that it is bad, it is slightly worse than mediocre, and while I wouldn't go so far as saying I wouldn't recommend it, I feel I would only recommend it as a slop / trash anime.
Avengers007
So, I recently finished watching “New Saga (2025)” on 18th October 2025, and yep — I binged the entire season in one go 😅. It’s an isekai fantasy anime, but not your usual “get hit by a truck and reincarnate with cheat powers” type. This one mixes time travel and fantasy in a surprisingly emotional way. The story begins right after the hero defeats the Demon King — sounds like the end, right? But nope, that’s just the beginning. Even after winning, he loses everything — his friends, his comrades, and basically everyone he fought to protect. Just when he’s about to die, he discovers amagical artifact on the throne called the Divine Dragon Heart, and boom — he’s sent back in time with all his memories from the future.
Now his mission changes completely — he’s not just fighting demons anymore; he’s trying to rewrite fate. He wants to fix his past mistakes, protect his family and friends, and this time, make smarter choices. I really liked how he tries to meet people earlier than before and strategically change events using his future knowledge.
As for the anime itself — Season 1 felt okayish. The story had solid potential, but it didn’t hit as hard as it could have. The main character isn’t exactly overpowered, which is nice, but the action scenes lack emotional depth. You don’t really feel his struggle, and some parts move too fast without much build-up.
Still, it’s not a bad watch. The concept is interesting, and if you’re into time-loop or redemption-type stories, you’ll enjoy it at least once.
⭐ My Rating: 6/10
📺 Verdict: One-time watch. Decent plot, average execution. Worth checking out if you like “fix the past” kind of fantasy stories.
patkarunungan
'Tsuyokute New Saga' seems to be just another redo-your-life fantasy. When I finished watching it, it was promising but simultaneously not fulfilling. § Overview The continent of Leunders has been invaded by demons, and Kyle Leonard is humanity's last hope. He faces the demon king, but he is defeated. On the brink of death, a mysterious gem transports him back in time, years before the demon invasion takes place. Kyle must gather allies and prepare for the demon invasion. Perhaps this time, they have a chance. § Studio and Staff⚫ 'Tsuyokute New Saga' is handled by two studios: 1) Sotsu, and 2) Studio Clutch.
Even though Sotsu is not a name I recognise, it is astonishing that it has been around since 1965. Sotsu had been involved in numerous anime I watched. Old-school anime include Elemental Gelade, Master of Mosquiton ('99), Saber Marionette J, and Bakuretsu Hunters. Recent anime include Sorairo Utility, 365 Days to the Wedding, and The Stories of Girls Who Couldn't Be Magicians.
Despite its longevity, it functions more as a producer in support of main studios. 'Tsuyokute New Saga' is the first time it functions as a main studio, together with Studio Clutch.
⚫ Studio Clutch is a new studio that was established at the beginning of 2024. 'Tsuyokute New Saga' is its first-ever project.
⚫ Note that this anime should have been released in 2023, but there was a change in studio and director.
⚫ This anime is director Mizusawa Naoki's directorial debut. He seems to have no previous experience working in the anime industry, not even as a staff member, based on MAL's entry. So it's surprising that his first entry is being a director. Perhaps he had some uncredited roles and relevant experience we are not privy to.
Despite that, he did a decent job, especially for a first timer.
⚫ Comparing the original character designs by Fuse Ryuuta with the anime's character design by Asa Hinata, there is a noticeable difference. If the covers of the light novels were to be used as a basis, it seems the original character designs are more rugged compared to the anime version.
The character designs in the anime made them seem generick and therefore forgettable.
§ Let's talk about the story and everything else
1. Another reviewer loves this anime because of how tightly contrasted the original version of the characters is compared to the ones we see in the new timeline. I can certainly see how this enhances the experience. Normally, killing an enemy is to be expected. But killing someone in this timeline who had played a major role in your development in the previous timeline provides some emotionality to what people may judge prima facie as a boring, or perhaps, derivative fantasy.
2. With how Kyle is using the lessons he had in the previous timeline and how he is preparing so well so that he can do better, this is a form of wish fulfillment. It's natural to feel regret over our mistakes and imagine ourselves doing better if given a second chance. It's not something we can actually experience, but stories like this allow us to process such emotions.
I also like how Kyle is more straightforward in expressing his desires in this timeline, though I reckon Theron does it better in this aspect.
3. The narrative direction is promising. The endgame would be an epick battle between Kyle and company versus the demons.
4. That said, here's where this anime falls short. These 12 episodes function more like a prologue than an anime season that's good in itself.
It's not just the demons Kyle had to deal with. He has to deal with other humans and the power struggle of his kingdom. Thus, this anime includes a side quest of dealing with humans.
5. The battles in and of themselves are decent. But since this is technically the beginning of the story, they don't really make an impression on you.
6. Overall, this cour simply introduces certain characters and raises a lot of questions, but it leaves you with blue balls.
§ Conclusion
I believe that this anime would have been better off with two cours. If you consider this anime as the first half of a 24-episode season, it's decently paced. But since you don't see the second half (and this seems to be the meat of the story), it's ultimately unsatisfying.
If this anime gets only one season, it's a shame because the narrative direction is promising. By only having one season, it fails to give the story enough shape for one to contemplate reading the source material. Thus, it fails its underlying function of promoting the source material.
And even if a second season were to materialise, its so-so first season might not compel people to watch it anymore.
NOTA BENE: A rating of 5 out of 10 means that 1) I find this anime to be average, 2) I enjoyed it to some extent, but it has some flaws. 3) Or simply, I rank it below my 6's but above my 4's.
A 5 means a passing score. If you're the kind of viewer who treats anything below a 7 as irredeemable, I'd encourage a broader, more nuanced approach to rating.
My enjoyment spectrum lies from 4 to 10. If I have scored an anime below 4, I actively dislike it.
anoraks_spilt
It’s like watching a little school play. Even their budgets seem the same. It opened up so nicely first episode and, despite good backbone, fell flat on its face shortly after. I hate everything about it and can’t fathom how the studio(s) managed to shit themselves with how much time they had. There aren’t many other series I’ve rated this low but new saga deserves an award for most cringe per dollar value in the history. I can’t believe they green lit and approved this dumpster fire. Please don’t watch this unless you plan on using new saga as a means of torture onyour worst enemy.
no_eyes_sight
I asked here in the forum for some "regression" anime and I got this as rec, with the warning that it wasn't that great of a show, which indeed it isn't. It's not "bad" either tho. I'd call it "ok". What I liked: - the regression trope of course. - the MC is neither "dense" nor a pervert. Also not a wimp, pushover, exalted, arrogant etc. He's a generic decent MC. - demons are a humanoid "Demon Race" who aren't inherently evil/malicious. - most characters are decently likeable. - the mother as the most powerful Archmage (who seems to have lost her powers atm) is a nice trope. I can imagine thatshe will serve as Deus ex Machina at some point.
- not too much fanservice.
- a balanced tone with neither heavy drama nor out-of-place humour.
- only one loli, thank you writer.
what I did not like:
- stupid cliffhanger with unlikeable bossy new character.
- talking sword (the loli). It makes all feel so much more childish than it would have been otherwise.
- the humour albeit pleasantly moderate is rather mediocre.
- trace of harem trope.
- the pace is a bit slow for a story with little potential. This will need 3 seasons to reach a decent end. Not worthed imo.
- it feels like the writer had little to say and diluted it as much as possible. The worldbuilding is quite poor and generic, and none of the (imo too few) characters truly stands out. Generally speaking nothing in the story felt particularly engaging.
- the writing is just average. For instance several scenes felt like filler not because they were completely unnecessary but because the writing didn't give them enough depth to be interesting.
- 3/4 of the villains are quite cartoonish.
Honestly, if you are out of fantasy stuff to watch, this is imo decent enough, but if you have high standards, skip it.
skoora
The animation is shit and plot is generic but mc and his homie are characters that are devised fine and I could see them making plot intresting in the future. What i mean is that they are a little bit morally ambiguous - the ends justifies the means. You can safely skip it and maby check if any future seasons actually make something with the story (probb wont happen) in reviews. And thats if this gets more seasons which seems unlikely considering animation looks like (is a) slide show. You can also forget it or watch it sped up. Either way this aint much but not competlyass. Do as you will.
peace
