Review of The 8th Son? Are You Kidding Me?

This is the first review I have ever dared to write. It is also coming as I begin to properly populate my past viewings of Anime so it won't appear at a time when my profile looks worthy of writing reviews. However, this is an Isekai Anime, and if there is any Anime I can review; that particular genre is absolutely one of them. This is my attempt to be as spoiler-free as possible, though you will probably not lose out much here if you are spoiled. The fact this anime has a rating above a 4 is appalling! The reality is, with as criticala mindset as I can bring myself to give... They avoid many of the things that make an Isekai good. The most important thing, I feel, about an Isekai is seeing the individual growth of the people surrounding the MC (Main Character), and the connections those side characters make with the main character (MC) and each other. This Anime seriously fails at this. The first two episodes seem promising, but then it stumbles through this task like it forgot side characters even exist. There is one singular and enjoyable moment with a side character introduction, but everything else was left on the cutting room floor. Every character is a one-note cliche at best with no reason to follow the MC around outside obligatorily following the harem format. You are legitimately made to work for a feeling of connection to anyone within this show, MC included. As some other reviews here have said; This is an anime requiring you to turn your brain off. I feel more engaged when I watch youtube minimized for background noise, and saying that makes me feel like this review is gonna come off as crass, belligerent, and unsatisfiable, but in reality, I am VERY easy to please, so this Anime makes me considerably upset. I hate that it was so bad it made me feel the need to give it a poor review. I rarely write reviews anywhere, it puts me in the public eye and I don't care for that.

Maybe your Isekai interest is actually the flashy worlds or impressive power, but that's even worse with this anime. The comments on this anime no matter where you watch it will be flooded with "they had a budget of 8$ so they couldn't be bothered to show any combat" They lacked consistency with what the magic looked like after the first episode, eventually landing on "it all looks the same because that's cheaper" I'd love to say there are glorious landscapes and epic fights, but the creators really only did the absolute minimum for the obligatory format. . I am certain the manga was good, but the anime didn't understand what makes an Isekai enjoyable to watch. Even the story, the bread, and butter, didn't know where it was going until the 10th episode. You legitimately can watch this series' first two episodes, then skip to episode nine and miss so little that it still makes sense.

It is clear that they tried to smash multiple story arcs into these twelve episodes when they should have done one arc per series, and just accepted if they couldn't get the green light for more. The unfortunate part is that the majority of the cut content is the character development, the relationship building, and even the more expensive scenes like drawn-out fights, or grandiose landscape overviews. Leaving it a bland husk just like the MC's family tea. There is no actual sense of advancement, nor a sense of achievement until the very last episode, and if you made it that far, please, for the love of your own self take the time to actually read the manga because having the memory of this anime be all you have of "The 8th son? Are you kidding me?" would be an actual travesty.