English Dub Review: Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for my Retirement: “Kingdom of Ambitions”

Overview: Mitsuha (Marie Braam) gets the lay of the land, learning who rules over the village and other aspects of a territory that is foreign to her.

Our Take: Before you can rule the world, you have understand it first. That is the gist of Mitsuha’s goal in understanding the way the other world operates, and by extension, the audience overall. 

There are some fun differences, as is typical, of alternate worlds like their being feudal lord, Claus Von Bozes, in charge rather than a king or there being a democracy. It is also engaging how time as a construct is not measured in its specificity.   

Colette’s gorilla-like strength is also charming, not to mention Mitsuha young looking genetics being addressed by other villagers. 

How she utilizes Earth’s modern technologies such as bathing, car transportation and banking, shows how efficient they are comparatively to the other worlds carriages. It even makes you appreciate luxuries we often take for granted. It is neat how her language skills transfer over, showing the potential of how overpowered she could become.  

Mitsuha’s level of preparation is admirable. From paying a private military to be trained in firearms to understanding how many gold coins she needs to hit it big, she is refreshingly intelligent. The animation continues to be bland. While that can be forgiven, because of the series’ laid back nature, its shoddy character designs, aside from Mitsuha and Collette, become more apparently crude as a result. 

Understanding the power hierarchy, similar to a medieval European system on Earth, is interesting in stirring up ideas in the kinds of goods she will choose to sell. 

The episode alternates between little moments of research and gun safety/handling which starts off engaging. Although, it becomes a bit humdrum in how it peters off without delving too deeply into the former. 

Another pleasant facet of Mitsuha is her ambitions not being reliant on maximizing the most money and therefore greed, focusing on getting enough to enjoy a simple yet lavish life. Conversely, it is nice how flawed she is shown to be in having human weaknesses, almost succumbing to her selfishness in selling her late mom’s necklace. Her brother serving as both her conscience and temptation in her mind is a charming detail of her moral compass. 

The extent of her teleportation is also intriguing in learning about what she is capable of transferring with her. Using a scooter is a smart hack for getting around faster, such as the royal capital. With her arriving at its gates, it will be fun exploring what city life is like and if Claus lives up to his good name.