Review of Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody

This is a harem-ish isekai with a ludicrously overpowered protagonist who tries to keep his strength hidden. This type of thing is right up my alley, in theory anyways. I've seen people call this "laid-back", and ChatGPT described it as "cozy OP tourism", but those descriptions seem like cope. Simply put, it's completely unambitious. It does little more than shamelessly re-enact every isekai trope it can get through. It's also not particularly good at executing those tropes. It's not bad per se, but everything is so perfunctory that it's as if the show is trying to go through a checklist as fast as possible. Awoman falls out of the sky and is infatuated with the protagonist in <60 seconds of knowing him. Then in <120 seconds of screentime she's already jealous about any mention of other girls, demands to go on a date with him, etc. Then a few minutes later we have enslaved monster girls that are almost immediately totally loyal and willing to do anything for the protagonist. Nothing is given any time to breathe whatsoever, except for the protagonist's meals, which weirdly get more characterization than almost any of the supporting characters.

After a while it becomes like 80% slice-of-life, which is fine I guess. Ascendance of a Bookworm was much better in this regard, but this is at least passable.

My 6/10 score is indicative that I innately like this genre. Thus, I'm willing to give middling or decent scores even if it's vapid trope-filled slop, which this series very much is. It's 2AM in a bar and my standards are very low. If you're like me then this type of show is decent enough to pass the time. If you're not a fan of this genre, then there's just nothing here for you.