English Dub Review: My Isekai Life: I Gained a Second Character Class and Became the Strongest Sage in the World! “I Wanted to Protect the Town”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

What can a single Tamer do against an entire army of 10,000 monsters with just a wolf, a dryad, and a handful of slimes?

Our Take:

Many of us dream of being a fearless hero chosen to save a fantasy world from evil. When that dream becomes a reality, most of us are left confused yet excited about the given title. However, the rest of that group may not want anything to do with their newfound life. One ordinary salaryman, in particular, is the unfortunate victim of the latter. This latest addition to the isekai genre shows how one man unexpectedly transitions from a bland corporate drone to a novice Tamer in the fantasy world. Since I’m used to the genre so fast, I have no issue checking out this recent series.

The first episode of My Isekai Life follows Yuji Sano (Scott Gibbs) as he traverses through the new world as a Monster Tamer but is actually a Sage in secret. During his stay in the village of Phastan, Yuji discovers that an army of ten thousand monsters is attacking the town, resulting in him helping the adventurers defend their land. With the help of his tamed slimes, the wolf monster Proudwolf (John Gremillion), and forest spirit Dryad, Yuji successfully defeats the army and captures the person responsible, a member of a cult called the Blue Moon of Salvation. Unfortunately, the cult member committed suicide before he could be taken in.

My Isekai Life is another series that wastes no time in getting into the good stuff: its action sequences. Instead of starting with Yuji’s origin story on how he came to this world, the first episode has him helping the Adventurer’s Guild members defend Phastan from an invading monster army. Although the plot showcases Yuji’s previous life via a brief flashback, in which he was originally a salaryman in Japan.

Judging by the first episode, the show delivers what fans would expect from an action-packed isekai series. It’s got violence, monsters, magic, and RPG elements, mainly Yuji’s stats and skills. It also has decent pacing for the episode’s single sequence, and the animation by Studio Revoroot, while limited at times, was passable for its designs, Yuji’s flashback, and action.

Additionally, its character introductions weren’t that bad, with Yuji being the most interesting of the bunch. His approach to magic offers a sense of mystery of how he can obtain an insane amount of power despite being an ordinary tamer. Unfortunately, the only characters I had mixed feelings for so far are Yuji’s slimes. Each of the main slimes carries a different trait, with one wearing an eyepatch while the other has a leaf on its head. To put it briefly, they’re basically the minions from the Despicable Me films, but they speak perfect English and are a tad annoying. They’re overly ecstatic, and their pitchy voices came close to being irritating. Hopefully, the slimes will change my opinion as the series progresses, but until then, consider me unimpressed with these helpful yet intolerable blue balls.

Overall, “I Wanted to Protect the Town” is far from a fantastic start to the latest addition to the isekai collection, but it’s watchable. Aside from the slimes and familiar genre elements, the episode did its job in introducing its concept with a simple “defending the village” objective and a tease of Yuji’s upcoming adventures in the fantasy world.