Posted inFirst Impressions Kenja no Mago Series Introduction

Kenja no Mago – 01

23 Comments

(Sekanshirazu, outo ni tatsu)
“I Will Stand in the Royal Capital”

While this season may not be isekai powerhouse summer is looking to be, the alternate world phenomenon continues its inexorable march through anime with not only Isekai Quartet, but also this little series called Kenja no Mago. It may be flying under the radar and not real isekai (compared to what were used to), but if you were thinking of passing this one over from appearances alone youd be doing yourself a disfavour, because KnM is arguably more fun than it has right to be.

At face value KnM is what youd expect from any other cookie cutter isekai series: ordinary guy with few attachments and one hell of a work schedule finds himself transported to a new universe after getting trucked to the face. Add on the usual magic system, generic fantasy setting, and Gary Stu-esque powers and darling you got yourself a money printer isekai story. There are some slight changeups mind you, from our main man Shin (Kobayashi Yuusuke) being reincarnated as a baby and apparently not retaining a lot in the way of real world information to the mechanism of Shin learning about this new world (parental negligence? Who wouldve thunk it), but in effect KnM is what happens when Knight’s & Magic’s premise meets Smartphone’s (and Slime’s) demeanouri.e. your more lackadaisical kind of isekai.

While the above will probably have some running for the hills, the important thing to note is that as a whole KnMs setup works surprisingly well, in part because of that lighthearted, slice of life coating. Shin for example may be OP as hell and built with composite grade plot armour (you know hes got the easy road), but thanks to his family life and the shows obvious focus on exploration its hard to focus too much on it. Much like the aforementioned Smartphone its all going to be about learning things, helping solve problems, and making a few friends along the way; if KnM succeeds with thisi.e. by keeping its various arcs fresh and interestingtheres little reason to except this turning into classic trainwreck material. Plus the fact the show is all but throwing a lack of a true harem in our faces is something definitely worth giving it the benefit of the doubt over. Make no mistake, KnM probably wont be setting the bar for any future isekai to aim towards, but so long as its future characters can match the fun and humour of our dorky wizard Merlin (Yara Yuusaku) and his totally tsundere ex-wife (guaranteed), this one will be more than capable of filling the void Slime left behind.

No matter how long in the tooth alternate world tales may be getting these days for some, if youre need of a little isekai levity this season certainly consider giving KnM a shotthis one won’t leave you disappointed. OP Sequence

OP: MAGIC (UltimateMAGIC) by iRis

23 Comments

  1. dxanato
    April 10, 2019,

    I am looking forward next episode. I was enjoy it so much lost the track of time make me crave for more.

    • Greed
      April 11, 2019,

      I can understand how you feelhttps://images.randomc.net/Kenja%20no%20Mago/Kenja%20no%20Mago%20-%20OP%20-%20Large%2005.jpghttps://images.randomc.net/Kenja%20no%20Mago/Kenja%20no%20Mago%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2039.jpgInstead of some Fuuka/Sakura-like character, the author has paired our MC with a Hinata-like character. https://images.randomc.net/Kenja%20no%20Mago/Kenja%20no%20Mago%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2031.jpgI find it sad that, while magic exist in this fantasy world, there obviously wasn’t any anti-aging magic made. Currently, science is trying to make such attempts I think.

  2. zztop
    April 10, 2019,

    Kenja may only have 12 episodes.Its main website only lists 3 BD releases, so assumption is it’ll be 4 eps/BD.http://kenja-no-mago.jp/bd/@Pancakes : Rather then multiple arcs, Kenja has one big overarching plot arc involving its main villian. Also, no harem.

    • Pancakes
      April 11, 2019,

      Oh I know there’s an overarching plot haha (kind of spoiled myself on a bit of it), I was just referring to the smaller “make work” stuff which will happen as a means of introducing it.

  3. Brown
    April 10, 2019,

    All I know is that I can’t truly hate an anime that has a subtle boob chart in its OP.

    • Pancakes
      April 11, 2019,

      It’s always a good thing when a show is willing to embrace the obvious 😛

  4. Player
    April 11, 2019,

    Yep, this was fun. It helps that I’m very accepting when it comes to the isekai genre. I think everyone has a genre or two where they’re like that, right? Kenja no Mago doesn’t seem like a literary masterpiece but I still enjoyed it quite a bit and look forward to the next episode.

  5. Sun Ce
    April 11, 2019,

    Garchomp Used Eartquake to Truck!!!!!!!!

  6. Aex
    April 11, 2019,

    With how dark the manga just got I’m really enjoying this trip back to the beginning. Especially since it’s so well done.Much like our lovable TenSura, the characters’ personalities are what really sell this series, so I’m glad to see they’re being allowed as much zaniness as they should be.

  7. boingman
    April 11, 2019,

    https://images.randomc.net/Kenja%20no%20Mago/Kenja%20no%20Mago%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2008.jpgExplooosion! Voiced by Rie Takahashi? Probably not.Talking about Konosuba, looks like they stole Kazuma’s mansion (or the animators were lazy, take your pick).https://images.randomc.net/Kenja%20no%20Mago/Kenja%20no%20Mago%20-%20OP%20-%20Large%2005.jpgSubaru (same VA) finally chooses the blue haired girl.I’d rather watched another season of Knights & Magics, but it’s not like this was a bad, albeit clichee, first episode, so let’s see how this turns out.

    • zztop
      April 12, 2019,

      @Boingman : They could cover Vols 6-8 of Knights & Magic into 1 season, since that’s a whole continuous arc by itself. That said, there’s only 9 volumes out in Japan, and I’m not sure how overall popular the series was there.

  8. Matti
    April 11, 2019,

    Never read the WN, but caught a few of the early chapters of the manga. It wasn’t great to begin with, but turn to complete garbage the moment the MC started dating that annoying girl.

  9. starss
    April 11, 2019,

    Well they totally ripped off the mansion from Konosuba, so this is automatically off my list.

  12. Shahir
    April 12, 2019,

    https://images.randomc.net/Kenja%20no%20Mago/Kenja%20no%20Mago%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2003.jpgTruck-Kun strikes againSeriously, how many murders is dude gonna get away with?https://images.randomc.net/Kenja%20no%20Mago/Kenja%20no%20Mago%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2004.jpgEvery pervert’s greatest Christmas gifthttps://images.randomc.net/Kenja%20no%20Mago/Kenja%20no%20Mago%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2019.jpgHe’s a good dudehttps://images.randomc.net/Kenja%20no%20Mago/Kenja%20no%20Mago%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2025.jpgI laughed at this parthttps://images.randomc.net/Kenja%20no%20Mago/Kenja%20no%20Mago%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2037.jpghttps://images.randomc.net/Kenja%20no%20Mago/Kenja%20no%20Mago%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2039.jpgBest girl 1 or best girl 2?https://images.randomc.net/Kenja%20no%20Mago/Kenja%20no%20Mago%20-%20OP%20-%20Large%2001.jpgTITLE SCREEN OLD PEOPLE!

  13. Name~kun
    April 12, 2019,

    why does the blue haired gerl look like a mild mannered “Aqua” with a bit sprinkle of “Darkness”?

  14. Don
    April 13, 2019,

    You need to read more Isekai manga. Not only there’s hundreds of examples with female MC but there’s many that aren’t even focused on battle but in other things like construction, food, comedy, etc

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