English Dub Review: Isekai Cheat Magician “Isekai Cheat Magician”

Overview:

Taichi gains new power to take down the mind-controlled army.

Our Take:

I have to give props to this final battle; I have never been this bored by a final battle before. If I didn’t have to write this review, I would’ve stopped watching this episode five minutes in. First time for everything, I guess!

This final battle was really every shonen final battle trope that they could possibly think of crammed into one episode, with the plot twist of it being done infinitely worse. I was already expecting some generic final battle things, such as Taichi saving the day by being the chosen one with chosen one power, everyone stops whatever they’re doing to watch on with awe, and a big climactic magical boss fight. The thing is, just because you know what’s going to happen in advance doesn’t mean that the watch itself is ruined. This is one of the appeals of mystery for example; it’s to figure things out for yourself and then check to see if you’re right. Even if you can guess the ending of something, that doesn’t mean that you can guess how the story comes to that point. Sure, Taichi is going to defeat the army, but how is he going to do so? What sort of threat does this dark magic pose? Getting filled in with those details is part of the fun of watching something, even if it is pretty tropey.

There is utterly no joy in watching this final battle. Taichi’s making a friendship speech again, oh boy! Aerial is revealed to be ultra-powerful, that hadn’t been set up at all. A good three minutes of solid exposition at the start to learn that the bad thing is indeed bad. Setup exists for a reason, you know?

They’re definitely trying to sequel bait a following season with the mysterious woman that wields dark magic oh no, what does she want from the world at large, what is she going to do with Taichi, what about the head of Crimson Pact that’s still actively part of the government, but I really hope they don’t make another season. The anime industry is oversaturated already, the last thing we need is subpar, shoddily animated series that contribute nothing new or exciting to the genre. This series really was a rehash of tropes from much better, more original isekai, except done infinitely worse. I am glad this is finally over.