Courtesy: Crunchyroll

Anime

English Dub Review: I Shall Survive Using Potions! “My Goal Is a Safe, Worry-Free Life in Another World!”

By David Kaldor

October 29, 2023

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)Kaoru adjusts to life in this new world, occasionally running into random citizens who she gifts with specific potions that end up having bigger impacts on royalty. Later, a nobleman comes to one of her financial counseling sessions and gains an unhealthy obsession with her, so she gets the manager of her service job to kick him out.OUR TAKEHey, guess what, this show is basically living up to my expectations of being utter trash. We got the OP this episode, which mostly focuses on Kaoru’s previous life on Earth, possibly for just as much if not more time than we as the audience got to see of it. On top of that, GOOD FUCKING LUCK trying to get a sense of what the plot of this show is based on this OP. Not that you should necessarily be watching just the OP of a show over the show itself, but typically the OP itself is meant to be a 90 second music video that summarizes the essentials of the show itself. You should be able to tell what the story is about, some idea of the more important characters and their dynamics, and maybe a hint towards where certain arcs and story developments are headed to get viewers intrigued and hyped up about the show they are watching. Well, unless you’re drinking a potion that will tell you specifically what I’m missing here, this OP falls flat where it counts. And sadly, the show that the OP comes from is not much better, but we’ll get into that now.This episode’s own specific plot is…unclear, actually, but it ain’t anything good. It starts with a few random people finding her sleeping in the middle of the woods with gray hair, thinking she’s a goddess of some kind. Then she hands them oddly specific potions after listening to their sob stories, one of which being a woman knight who has been so dedicated to the way of the sword that she has apparently become too old for marriage??? She doesn’t look any older than her mid-20’s, but okay. And then later the knight drinks the potion she’s given, which doesn’t do anything very clear, but I really hope it didn’t make her into a teenager. Worth pointing out that this scene is also payoff to some mention of a royal family line that will apparently be more important later. Also in this episode, a nobleman who listens to Kaoru about how lowering taxes would help the kingdom make more money and then becomes OBSESSED with her, to the point of trying to drag her out when he’s asked to leave. Honestly, this part is just so dumb that I just don’t want to get into it, but unfortunately this guy is going to stick around if the ED is to be believed. Great, just great. The values here are all kinds of out of whack and I don’t expect it’ll get better from here.