English Dub Review: Million Arthur “Rebel into the Past”

Listen, strange women traveling through time destroying swords is no basis for a system of government!

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Dancho Arthur is one of many given the title of Arthur throughout history, each with their own “Excalibur” that grants them special abi-

…hang on, this isn’t another Ulysses, is it? You’re positive? Alright…

So, because there are so many Arthurs, it’s causing time to go out of whack because of each Excalibur’s sheer power, Dancho is tasked with assembling a team of like-minded Arthurs to destroy up to ONE MILLION ARTHURS (see, like the name). She’s also kind of a huge perverted weirdo who likes to get naked a lot much to her new team’s dismay, but she’s hot so the show gets to pretend it’s just a gag when it’s really shameless pandering and fanservice.

…are you ABSOLUTELY SURE this isn’t another Ulysses?!

Anyway, She’s joined by her fairy assistant Nuckelavee and fellow Arthurs named Tekken, Yamaneko, Renkin, Kaka, and Ruro, who all have their own fairies. And they all have one thing in common: they all really don’t respect their new boss Dancho. To her credit, she tries her best to win them over by throwing a party to gain the team’s trust…but no one shows up. She gets her next chance soon when Yamaneko is attacked by ten thousand other Arthurs who have been directed to attack their group, so she springs into action and leads her team to their first victory. They then have that party properly and gauge their progress…one percent of their mission completed.

OUR TAKE

This was certainly a curious show to get assigned, considering everything surrounding its background and how it’s being released. For starters, it’s a video game adaptation from Square Enix, so my first thought was that probably meant the story was way over-complicated but the gameplay was fun. Then I find out it’s actually based on a MOBILE game, which typically have plots about as sturdy as a damp piece of cardboard and made just for the sake of justifying all the flashy action that gets you to drop your lifesavings into micro transactions. Turns out I was kind of right about both, as the story turns out to be both overly complicated AND completely nonsensical, seeing as it involves time travel, fairies, giant monsters, world ending distortions, and likely a thinly veiled metaphor for the Russian Revolution of the 1917 in there somewhere.

Slightly less odd, but still pretty dang odd, is how Funimation is releasing this show. See, in Japan, it started airing in October, ended its first ten episode season in December, and then took a break until last month. Over HERE, Funimation just started airing the second season first which is getting its simuldub at the same pace as other Spring 2019 shows, but NOW it’s also releasing episodes of this FIRST season at that same pace too, meaning anyone who is starting with the first season like I am is going to have to wait like two more months before they can watch the second. Guess it’s good that I got assigned the first season, but something tells me following along with this story isn’t exactly going to be either an issue or a priority for the key demographic of this series.

As for this first episode itself, it’s a pretty standard intro to the cast and Dancho in particular. Putting aside the VERY gratuitous fanservice, which I have no doubt will be constant throughout this show, I will say that it did an okay job establishing everybody’s characters off the bat and how they’ll have to learn to like and trust their new wacky leader. It’s a very thin plot that’s padded to hell and back with gags and fanservice just to get to an overly flashy fight scene with characters who look like a Pixiv account exploded all over them but…what can I say? I had fun with it. Guess nine more episodes of this won’t be so bad.