English Dub Review: Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for my Retirement: “The Messenger Goes into Battle”

Overview: Mitsuha (Trina Nishimura), with the help of Wolf Fang, takes on the Alder Empire’s monster army. 

Our Take: Mitsuha’s world-hopping is ingeniously utilized in dealing with the invading goblins. Her powers make her strategies fun to watch unfold in how she thinks her way out of binds with modern tech, like explosives. Too bad the visuals couldn’t pull off the same feat, continuing to splatter flat and shoddy imagery, let alone animation. 

There’s cheesy writing that is surprisingly out of place. It feels like something that Mitsuha and her inner conscience in the form of her brother would mock. The Messenger of Lightning persona makes for clever humor through citizens’ limited knowledge, who rationalize firearms as “godly” abilities. 

Her use of fear tactics without causing fatal damage focuses on how equally smart and empathetic she is. Unfortunately, there’s more corny dialogue behind Wolf Fang’s deity and Mitsuha’s angelic status that’ll continuously bewilder and make you groan. 

With a dragon’s arrival, hopefully Mitsuha on the backfoot again will result in an engaging battle to end on, putting this cheesefest to bed.