|
|
||||||||||
| Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Watch |
 Stretch
|
[series:4778#628] | ||||||
|
(All episodes watched): The story begins from Alicia Ehnleit's point of view, and was seeming very simplistic and lightweight until we learn of the isekai angle and Yumiella's take on the situation. What had seemed rather two-dimensional now had at least two-and-a-half dimensions, though it was still not exactly groundbreaking. Another 'I am trapped in the position of a villain character who will meet an awful fate if something isn't done to prevent it' subgenre anime. It sounds like the real villain will be a Demon Lord who Alicia is fated to fight someday, and already I bet Yumiella will wind up providing critical help to Alicia in order to defeat him or maybe even replacing her in that role altogether (Not surprisingly, I was more-or-less correct.). Yumiella has the unusual disadvantage that her black hair is seen as indicative of bad luck or even a symbol of evil. She has concentrated on leveling up and building skills since she first realized as a child that she had been reincarnated. Her father has sent her to the academy to attract an influential husband. Curiously, she has somehow never actually met him--maybe he never appeared in the video game. Anyway, this show did not enthrall me by any means, but I figured I would watch some more to see if the premise would pan out and become more original. Episode two was kind of lacklustre as well. Everyone assumes that Yumiella was somehow faked her aptitude test which assigned her an incredible Level 99 of magical aptitude. She demonstrates her genuine skills to shut them up. But the magic was very ordinary and the characters did not seem to be developing either. It seems that some guy with pale brown hair will ally with Yumiella, which might be interesting. But so far this show was seeming rather mediocre. The 'I become a villainess' bit has been done before, so yet another one needs something truly novel, and as of yet I was not seeing it. Yumiella's amazing magical skill--the feared and distrusted dark magic--comes to the attention of the King himself in episode three. Yumiella meets various VIPs and learns of the two main factions in the Kingdom, Royalists and Anti-Royalists. Both sides would love to have such a powerful magician allied with them. She is fairly smart and can read between the lines, which was sort of fun. More fun than more magic, at least (she is rather naive when it comes to romance, however). She also learns that the Demon Lord is expected to reappear in two years or so, and like it or not she will be the main actor in opposing him. In episode four Alicia and her buds suspect Yumiella herself is none other than the Demon Lord. This seemed to me like a pause in the otherwise interesting tack the plot had been taking in episode three. Yumiella meets Patrick, a gray-haired teen who is looking for a way tho distinguish himself (I had thought maybe he would be the intermediary that the King suggested he would set up to coordinate with Yumiella, but not so). One thing that seems to be typical of isekai anime--for me, at least--is that although the main character is supposed to have originated in modern day Japan, after the first episode that factor typically gets so little mention and plays so small a part that I often basically forget about it. The character might as well have simply been born in this alternate world and have lived their entire life there, because they make little use of skills or knowledge that they picked up in our world (there's no magic here), and have no pressing problem(s) which they must solve that would affect this one. Their origin in this world is basically unimportant to the story so I forget about it. This show is pretty much the same, though Yumiella's real-world origins are brought up once or twice in episode five. The fact that she knows how the game plays out does make a difference now and then. She comes to know Patrick better and we wonder if things might become romantic. Suspicion of Yumiella lingers, but it seemed to me that the writers hadn't being pressing this angle with much enthusiasm. That is, it felt as if they were shooting for 'good enough', not 'outstanding'. Episode six was likewise underwhelming. A magical competition takes place and Yumiella is tempted into participating, though it wasn't clear why. Many viewers must be thrilled by magic, but I find it to be largely boring. It seems like little more than wishful thinking to me; a fanciful exploration of 'what if I didn't have to live by the laws of nature that I don't like'. Maybe I don't like it because it is often used as another excuse to have simplistic, uninteresting characters in an anime. But all the magic in the world can't break the iron rule that in order to be good, a story must have interesting characters. Yumiella would rather just be left alone, but Theodora, daughter of the leader of the Anti-Royalists, will not go away. The dimwitted Theodora once hated her as a potential rival for the attention of Prince Eric, but since Yumiella disavowed any interest in the Prince Theodora now considers her a close friend. But this situation wasn't particularly amusing and I didn't see how it might matter to the plot. This show was looking very average at this point. Meanwhile Patrick shows more signs of affection for Yumiella but she does not notice. Yumiella is more interested in acquiring an infant Dragon which grows quickly. An admitted spy from another Kingdom offers Yumiella whatever she wants if she will relocate to his homeland, but the plot of the game will not allow that. She does learn that the Demon Lord only has a grudge against her land, however. 3/4 of the way through the season I was not really sensing any mounting climax, at least not a noteworthy one. In episode ten things get a little more interesting when Yumiella detects some unknown power forcing Alicia to do things that automatically happened in the videogame. Of course she doesn't ask herself how the F she has wound up in such a world, but this was something. Yumiella basically forces Alicia to level up tremendously so she'll be ready for the Demon Lord. They even do a little scouting for signs of the Lord's approach, but again something prevents them from altering the progress of the game scenario radically. In episode 11 the Kingdom finally mobilizes for the battle with the Demon Lord and his minions. Yumiella has been accepted as a comrade of Alicia and her male friends, and even Patrick has levelled up a good deal. It seems that Yumiella has forced a distinct change upon the game system, and I wonder if anything will go wrong in the presumably final episode or if we'll just get a big battle that ends in unconditional victory. As it turned out, there were no major surprises. The Demon Lord's story wasn't all that novel and I don't think a single human got killed in what was supposedly a big battle. Through a mix of quick thinking and good luck, Yumiella does manage to cobble together a scenario that is acceptable to both the game system and to her, but again no major surprises. Level 99 was indeed a thoroughly average show, one that was just good enough for me to continue watching to the end, not so much because it was good as because it didn't make any egregious mistakes. Last updated Monday, April 01 2024. Created Monday, January 15 2024. | ||||||||
