Review of CHOYOYU!: High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even in Another World!

Anime isn’t the only place one finds the Isekai genre – a genre where the name literally means “another world” or “different world”. One place in particular the genre is popular is fanfiction, but why bring up fanfiction when discussing this particular Anime? To truly understand the problem with this particular Anime, I think it helps to bring up what’s been done in fanfiction, which while at times does the genre quite well at other times does not. Imagine a story where an OC (original character) falls into say Lord of the Rings and ends up solving the political problems of the race of Men insteadof Aragorn and he instead steps back. Imagine a world where an OC falls into the world of Naruto and they’re far more gifted than any of the shinobi there. Or how about a fanfic where an OC whose never had any medical training on the college level falls into the world of Black Jack and somehow manages to solve problems even he can’t.

That’s effectively what this series does, except instead of a single individual character solving the problems of the given world, it’s amped up by a factor of seven. Some might argue – but the world itself is comprised of original characters, so this isn’t at all the same. That ignores what the real issue regarding the above scenarios is – it’s not just that the main characters get the spotlight stolen from them, but the fundamental problem of the world the characters fall into being incapable of solving their own problems despite the fact they should be able to do so.

We’ve a world which is primitive in ways it shouldn’t be. They’re incapable of making delicious meals, but their tools for farming and such is treated as inferior. They can’t solve any of their problems on their own. In other ways the addition of a character makes all of the characters on their side invulnerable – as invulnerable as the actual so-called geniuses are. By making their side invulnerable I mean introducing a alloy to the world which is stronger than iron, but also mass producing items made of this alloy with an ease that even the greatest inventor wouldn’t have given the limited resources.

As for the whole issue regarding the geniuses being invulnerable, they lack the issues real world geniuses actually have unless it’s tacked on for an interesting quirk – and only on a few of these characters. How the characters came to have the skills they are such geniuses is almost never touched upon for any of the characters. They just are. This is a stark contrast to series such as No Game No Life where the protagonists are geniuses yet definitely flawed in some manner.

In the long run, the series feels like a major cheat where the characters never really struggle, but the story is about showcasing how amazing the main characters are.
- The politician really isn’t a good politician but is there to solve the political problems the group faces without lifting a finger.
- The doctor wouldn’t be allowed to practice medicine as a high school student but is there because they needed a healer in their party.
- The inventor, as I’ve already said, shouldn’t be able to make a lot of the things she ends up making with the fact there should definitely be some kind of limitation regarding supplies, but her equipment for building is just that special.
- The magician’s magic feels majorly fake compared to real world magicians.
- The merchant solves problems others could have solved.
- The two with fighting skills are skills which should be there in the series already.

There’s also no getting around how the series treats the people of the world as unintelligent beings, which is rather ironic given the fact the series tries framing the enemy as treating the people as mere peasants. That’s how busy the series tries celebrating how amazing the seven heroes are, which in turn makes it hard to find oneself getting attached to any of the characters. Sure, the series talks about the strain everything has on everyone, but it falls flat given – well, things move way to quickly and it feels like an major after thought.