Review of Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody

Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyousoukyoku, that I'll shorten to just "Death March" after this point, is one of those anime that can be considered generally bad, but still incredibly enjoyable to watch. On the first look, Death March is your most stereotypical isekai title: OP self-insert protagonist, harem, simple fantasy world with game-like elements. Stories like those are enjoyable and sell well, so I can't really say that it's a downside, but market oversaturation and people getting fed up with cliches can hurt it. Still, you can't make a story only from used parts, and Death March has some things that make it stand out fromcrowd.
One such quality would be adult protagonist. While Satou isn’t some daredevil badass, his not being dense (!) and keeping cool head in situations where MCs usually panic is really refreshing. I blame animation (facial emotions) and voice acting for making him seem much less interesting than he is.
Other thing that makes Death March special is some focus on exploration of the world and its systems. It’s one of few isekai titles that actually show us protagonist trying to understand and test how his abilities work. It goes well in pair with Satou’s desire to enjoy this new world at his own pace, without becoming some great hero and gathering attention.

Now, you could ask where things went wrong and what’s the reason behind this anime’s low score. I believe biggest flaw in this adaptation is too small focus on things I mentioned in previous paragraph. The adult and experienced protagonist, as I mentioned earlier, has been undermined by voice acting and animation. The exploration part, that could win over SoL crowd, was used more like a filler between “story” and action, instead of being the main driving force.
The bad animation that I keep mentioning over and over again also hurt action scenes a lot. And I mean A LOT. They are truly pathetic and I don’t know why they even bothered with those.
Another weak point of Death March are characters. While Satou is pretty good himself, vast majority of main and side characters are just bad. Personalities that can be summed up in one word and no development or backstories make even main cast feel like mob characters.

So, what about enjoyment? As I said in the beginning, it’s very enjoyable anime. Even when Satou’s voice tried to put me to sleep and my eyes bleed from animation, I still had a lot of fun watching it. Don’t get me wrong, if not all the downsides I mentioned earlier, this anime would be even more enjoyable. It’s just one of those titles that don’t rely that much on more artistic values and rather make watcher enjoy it by playing on more basic desires and wish fulfillment.