Review of Summoned to Another World for a Second Time

The last review I wrote was for, Shijou Saikyou no Daimaou, Murabito A ni Tensei suru. Where I lamented how derivative the Isekai/Reincarnation/VR Anime genres had become. Well, Isekai Shoukan wa Nidome desu managed to surprise me at just how bad that tendency can get. I don’t think this will be much of a spoiler, given that the name pretty much tees this synopsis up. Our MC was once summoned to a another world; does the typical OP hero thing, returns victorious; but at the “victory party” is betrayed; is reincarnated in (yet?) another world (or perhaps his own?), it’s a bit ambiguous;lives there up until the point he and his middle/high school class are transported to the same world he had originally been transported (Eclair?). All so we can have a “new” Isekai adventure that requires next to no world building or character development. Why is that you might ask? I imagine the author would retort, “Well, because that already happened the first time around. You just didn’t see any of it!”

I don’t want my criticism to extend to the source material, as I haven’t read it. I tend to watch far more Anime than read Manga or Light Novels. So, perhaps the source light novels were far superior. On the other hand, if this Anime is a faithful adaptation… How, and more importantly WHY, did this garbage get optioned in the first place?!

Here’s how I can best describe what Isekai Shoukan wa Nidome desu was like to me. This was either accidentally or (more likely) intentionally designed to feel like a sequel to an existing block buster franchise/genre. Only that original was never made. Instead, you get a B-Movie style cash grab ripoff off, where they grabbed all the tropes, basically clone a bunch of characters (including character design), and then reference just enough from other entrants in the Isekai genre to hook you. Well, at least until you realize, Isekai Shoukan wa Nidome desu, is not actually part of some other IP. For example, the MC Yuki née Setsu, looks a lot like Kirito from Sword Art Online. Though he behaves more like other characters from other Isekai Anime. I just can’t be bothered to hunt them down.

Anyway, the point is, this Anime is rotten to its core. The writing was atrocious. If I get into it anymore, I’ll rant for pages and pages The art and animation, relatively speaking, were only slightly better than the original Mobile Suit Gundam… Or maybe The Transformers Gen 1? You might say that’s harsh, but if you look for the cut corners, you realize, “Yeah, where did all the merchants faces go?”; “There were too many missing frames in that scene.”; or “Were there any frames in that scene!”. The sound design, well, it was just dull and completely forgettable. The music sounded like it was canned royalty free music. The sound effects were worse. I cringed the first time I heard Levia roar (last minute of episode 2). Common people! Don’t throw in the Godzilla roar, unless you’re doing Godzilla! The rest of the sound was, again, canned, unimaginative, and flat. It sounded as if they only used a four track that had one missing channel.

If I weren’t a completionist and insomniac, I would have given up on Isekai Shoukan wa Nidome desu by about the fifth episode… And that’s because I was still convinced this was supposed to be the sequel to something. I’ve given up on better. But I tend to monitor train wrecks.