Review of Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody

IT IS IN NO WAY as bad as everyone makes out. It has flaws, sure, but find me an anime that doesn’t! It was part entertaining, part relaxing, and part awkward, but overall mostly enjoyable. It’s a lot less plot-heavy than your normal Isekai anime. Most of the season is just Satou wandering around the new world he finds himself in, getting to grips with how things work and making friends along the way. He doesn’t automatically stumble upon the main villain’s giant plot to destroy the world as we know it. He gets into a few fights helping people, but mostly he just takes thingsas they come, day by day. That’s why this is probably known as a slice-of-life Isekai. Which is nice for a change.

You might ask, if Satou is so overpowered why doesn’t he act differently in like…the majority of the situations? Why does he even bother trying to help people or getting into fights when he could easily kill any bad guy with a single strike, and make enough money to get absolutely anything he wants?

It’s a fair question, and I think the answer is: he’s simply enjoying himself as he is now. He’s still figuring out this new world, and basically just taking a break from his exhausting previous life. As he is now, he’s free, and revealing his strength would automatically diminish his freedom. He also doesn’t realise just quite how OP he is, but it’s unlikely much would change even if he did realise that he’s miles above the strongest bosses.

The world building, while not exactly original, is well-presented. There’s a lot of exposition, and great details of time can be spent on single meals or learning a new type of magic. There’re plenty of inner monologues too, but they tend to be on interesting topics or areas that prove necessary for the plot.

I thought the art was amazing, but then again I’m just partial to that type of style. The animation was great, and the music was light-hearted and fit the series well.

The harem. This is where the problem starts. So here’s the thing, Satou is actually a 30 year old guy in a 15 year old body. He has the mind and tastes of a 30-year-old, and he’s not interested in little kids or lolis. He picks up a lot (A LOT) of girls during his wanderings – saves their lives, rescues them from slaver or kidnappers, defeats them after being challenged to a fight, you name it – but he views himself as their guardian and is not interested in any of them sexually. That isn’t to say he’s celibate; he just goes elsewhere when he wants to party. A few of the girls (not the younger ones) seem to be in love with him, but it’s unlikely that will ever get anywhere. There is an awkward scene shortly after he rescues two of the girls from a slaver (which is understandable considering how they must have been previously treated), and another one near the end, but he sorts it out both times and moves on.

That’s why it’s different to your normal harem. It’s not that Satou’s merely incredibly dense and doesn’t figure out their feelings, simply that he doesn’t return them. (I’m not sure if this applies in relation to the oldest of them – who at least is an adult - but it still seems unlikely.) He’s kind and gentle to everyone, teaches them how to read and fight, and basically just views them as his new family.

There is a caveat; it feels like this takes a turn for the worse in the final episode. It’s almost like the creators realised that they had no weird moments in most of the anime, so tried to cram them all in at the end. I’d actually advise against watching the final half of the last ep, it’s a lot more cringey than the others and adds nothing to the story anyway.

The other problem (and this is the result of having so many characters) is that none of the cast really gets much development. The only character who even gets a proper backstory is Arisa, and even that doesn’t have much time spent on it. As for Satou, I had no idea he actually died in his sleep until someone pointed it out to me – even though it happens in the first episode and is in the actual name of the blasted anime. I’d just thought until then that it was like Log Horizon where everyone just disappeared in front of their computers one day. That being said though, making him a game dev was a good idea. It makes his natural understanding of the game mechanics much more realistic, because it’s the sort of thing he himself created in his job. His OPness also made better sense that way too. So well done on that part.

All in all, it’s just an anime to watch when you want to kill some time. It’s not deep, and not generally fast-paced, but it is quite light-hearted and relaxing. It has none of the heaviness of Grimgar or the horror/mystery of Re:Zero. It’s more like watching Konosuba but without all the crude and over-the-top humour. If that sort of light-hearted atmosphere is the type of thing you like, then this might be worth a watch. XD