Review of The 8th Son? Are You Kidding Me?
This show is an "Isekai"? Are you kidding me? "The 8th son? Are you kidding me?" was quite a pleasant surprise in contrast to its overall rating. This show is very underrated. I believe it sits firmly in the top half of most of the "isekai" genre. It was quite funny at times as well as interesting. It will seem, on the surface, your average, boring, played out "isekai" but the deeper it goes, the more it intrigues you as it ushers you into more nuanced parts of it's world quite splendidly. The story is a very strange mix of brilliant moments, concepts, and shortcomings all with utterly terriblepacing. They end up off-screening important moments butchering entire arcs resulting in wasted potential all around. The show presents initially with a pseudo-episodic structure of the plot, my observation is more evident when looking at the titles of each episode. This simply doesn't work for this type of story and definitely in my opinion, robbed it of true glory. What I will say is that most of what they spent time developing was actually very pleasant.
The first victims of the pacing are the characters, many will say they lack depth or individuality, I do not. Whenever they're on the screen, they shine well and the interpersonal interactions or relationships felt authentic some even invoking goosebumps from me. I watched the show in the Dubbed in English and I never felt the need to switch to the original audio, they performed quite well. While most of the characters do a decent job but the MC suffers the most from these issues with the structure of the show.
MC is a missed opportunity, it's supposedly an isekai, but anyone who's watched the entire thing will say, if you removed the entire setting of an isekai, not much would change, it might actually become better since time would be used better elsewhere.
For comparison, If you've ever watched Soul Land(A Chinese series) this show almost perfectly intertwines the MC's knowledge and character from his past life into the new one in this world. On the contrary "Hachi-nan tte" basically ignores it all together. If we're honest it's a fantasy anime with "isekai " tacked on to broaden it's reach and because of it, the depth of the MC suffers. A sore consequence of this is that you will notice that the MC ends up reacting to the entire story, to no avail, instead of directing it. How we are transitioned from his old life to his new one, as well as liaison between them(the basis of the isekai experience), is amongst some of the worst this show has to offer, the exposition is lacking or seems forced.
The animation was ample in general, but the fights suffer quite a bit here. Especially if you're sensitive to CG you will notice the pitfalls here, they weren't particularly proficient here.
The fanservice is there however it's the tamest I've seen in a while so quite frankly I didn't notice it. Of course none at all would be ideal but this will do. The harem makes sense in general. Probably added one girl too much, but it didn't ruin it for me, they at least made sure to develop a guy alongside them to keep it all in check.
The sound held up quite well, OP was quite good, the first 20s of it were practically unskippable. They do try to enhance some of the more audacious scenes with fitting music. The ED did the job.
In short.
Pros
The first 20 seconds of the OP
Well though out and Intimate character interactions.
Wise and logical story with nuances.
Animation and Sound supports the experience well.
They follow the rules of their own story well.
Last 4 episodes were alright.
Cons
Rough start.
Animated Fights were generally lacking decent choreography or tact. CG was poor.
Garbage Pacing
Isekai genre/tag basically editor tacked-on
Plotlines barely developed. Off-screened important moments.
MC development or characterization suffers as a result of the failed shoehorned isekai genre
People will also claim that the characters lack individuality, i disagree. Apart from the MC it was apt, I worry that if they did waste time on such things it would only hurt the story. The time it takes to add development and the depth of individuality(in question) commonly ruins these experiences.
Animation 6
Sound 7
Story 6
Characters 7
Enjoyment 7
33/50 (6.6/10)
It's been almost 4 years since they released this with almost no sign of a sequel.
I think it's best to read the source, either the Manga or the Light Novel.
I enjoyed this show enough to anticipate a sequel, the highs were quite interesting and out of the norm in terms of depth for most "isekai". The manner it was all stitched together, however, will not leave a lasting impression.
At this point It's very obvious that these authors write their fantasy story first, then replace the origins with a bland and uninspired isekai opening, presumably after a tip from the editors. This show is a great example of this pervasive phenomenon.
To conclude, this is a pure fantasy show, not an isekai for all intensive purposes. Calling it an isekai only makes it worse than what it truly is. Watch this show after all the other better fantasy stories have been fleshed out.
Hope this helps.