English Dub Review: Hell Mode: The Hardcore Gamer Dominates in Another World With Garbage Balancing “The Sovereign of Spirits’ Prophecy”
Overview:
A new school year brings big changes as three new members join the No-Life Gamers.
Our Take(Spoilers):
The beginning of this review is going to come across as more negative than I would like it to, but there’s something I have to get off my chest. I understand that the anime we get here in the West is bid on by Crunchyroll and HIDIVE to see who gets it. Back when VRV was a thing, they were mixed, and you would have had no idea which streaming service carried the show unless you looked a little deeper. But for whatever reason, it feels like the shows HIDIVE gets have an off-brand feeling to them. Occasionally they get a show that really stands out, like Oshi no Ko, but even that they’re sharing with Crunchyroll now. HIDIVE doesn’t make these shows; they supply them to us, but I don’t think I’m alone in saying that their shows have a distinct feel that you can tell what streaming service they’re on.
If you live in the United States, then you might agree with what I’m about to say as well. If something is off-brand, that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily bad either. This show and The Forsaken Saintness and Her Foodie Roadtrip in Another World are two anime that I’m enjoying a lot so far this year. It’s more of a thought I had because it almost feels like they never get those big-time anime that people are really looking forward to. In my free time, when there’s an anime I’m interested in, if I see that it’s on HIDIVE, I oftentimes don’t watch it.
There’s a reason I brought that up for this specific episode. There was a fight in a tournament that looked pretty bad. I would never describe this show as a technical masterpiece by any means, but it’s usually passable. But between the fighting looking bad and the lack of effort put into the crowd, it was way too noticeable not to say something.
We were introduced to two new members of the team. An elf and a dwarf, so now we can complete the fantasy dream that I’m sure Allen has been having. They seem interesting enough, but we haven’t gotten enough time with them yet.
Allen doesn’t like to participate in tournaments, so you might be wondering why he decided to do this one. Well, Helmios the hero gave him an offer he couldn’t refuse. Allen has been wanting an MP recovery ring, and Helmios said he could get one if he participated. I love a tournament arc, so let’s see how this goes.
