English Dub Season Review: ISEKAI QUARTET Season One

ISEKAI QUARTET is a Kadokawa-themed chibi anime that brings the characters of KonoSuba, Overlord, Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World, and The Saga of Tanya the Evil together for one thrilling purpose: to put them all in high school together?

Based on that synopsis alone, it doesn’t take a genius to say, “Yeah, this was solely made to make money.” Roping in fans of not one, not two, not three, but four different series is already a smart tactic to attract a viewer base, and on top of that, they used a fan favorite, low effort trope as an excuse for a plot. Considering how cheap the setup was (not to mention the fact that it’s a chibi show — what could be cheaper than that?) it really seemed like ISEKAI QUARTET was a recipe for a pandering, fan-servicey disaster.

But was it?

Let’s review.

Animation/Art Style

What’s a sure-fire way to save money and look cute while doing it? Don’t bother fleshing out an art style — just make it chibi! Gone are the days of animating with a high frame rate and dynamic movement — why even think of doing something so arduous when it’s way more cost-effective to have the characters flap their mouths and jump around sometimes?

No one watches a chibi show for its animation quality. Sometimes, though, ISEKAI QUARTET would throw in some pleasant surprises, like Lord Ains’ snow spell sequence in the talent show episode. Sometimes expressions would have a broader range — even if it was only for a few seconds. Even if it’s not a lot, it’s definitely more than expected.

Plus, it was really cool to see four different casts of characters be stylized the same way. There were even a few tiny details which were kept from their source material, like how Tanya didn’t have a black outline, but a blonde one. They could have done a little more to individualize them all (KonoSuba and Re:Zero’s characters looked like they could have been from the same show) but again — no one should expect much out of a chibi show.

Plot

It’s about as pointless as anyone could imagine. And yet…

There’s something so undeniably charming about the whole thing. The characters press a button, magically appear in a high school, and can’t leave unless they live out all the most iconic, anime high school scenarios together. Is ISEKAI QUARTET’s plot low hanging fruit? Yes. Does it have some annoying fan-service here and there? Yes. It’s clearly pandering and unimaginative — but at the same time, it couldn’t possibly be a more fitting premise for the combination of series it aims to combine.

Thematically, what is an Isekai? It literally translates to “another world.” The plots of KonoSuba, Overlord, Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World, and The Saga of Tanya the Evil have all to do with their protagonists getting mystically transported to another world, usually without explanation. It’s exactly what happens in ISEKAI QUARTET itself! So what if it’s not a high fantasy world? That’s the point. It’s taking these characters and putting them in a new environment that they need to find ways to adapt to. This one just happens to be a traditional, Japanese high school.

Characters

From the start, ISEKAI QUARTET was very dialogue-heavy, with loads of characters from four different worlds that were all fighting for screen time. At first, it seemed like it would be messy, or that most of the characters would be there solely for background support. The latter statement is pretty true — many of ISEKAI QUARTET’s characters (who don’t play the main role in their mother series) also take a backseat in this show — chiming in with an occasional quip or being involved in a short scene here and there.

It was easy to see that character interactions were going to be the meat of the show’s content (since it didn’t really have much of a plot beyond high school antics/trying to escape the high school.) Cartoony back-and-forths were expected, since it seemed like the show wasn’t going to have too much depth beyond, “look at these funny anime characters hitting each other.”

But once again, ISEKAI QUARTET had delivered another surprise.

Some of these characters, through their interactions, actually got character development. For example, watching Lord Ains and Tanya sit on a park bench and vent about their past-life secrets was not only charming but served to take two closed-off characters to have them be open and vulnerable. Characters in the show are learning how to let go of biases (Aqua’s racism towards monsters.) They’re learning how to have fun, outside of their usually unforgiving worlds.

Maybe this is what Roswaal and the teachers were aiming to do all along.

Sound Design

First off — what a huge voice cast. It’s pretty great that they were able to get all of these voice actors together for this show. Quality-wise, every single one of them did a good job — aside from the occasional, “ow, this anime girl’s high pitched voice is going to cause hearing loss” thought (looking at Aqua, here) the dialogue and voice lines (even the corny ass ones like the outdated meme references) made it all worthwhile.

Both the opening and ending songs are catchy and fun — it’s just a bummer that there’s no translation in the subtitles. It’d be nice to actually understand what the main four characters are singing about (step up that game, Funimation.)

Did it do its genre justice?

There’s one final, imperative compliment that needs to be given to this show.

Was it a successful Isekai? Of course, it was. But through all of ISEKAI QUARTET’s highs and lows, it did something besides entertain. It did something besides being a tactically genius cash grab — something that is unclear whether the writers intended to do or not.

It made me genuinely interested in the other shows.

Watching these characters and learning about them made me want to know more about them — beyond the ones I’d already seen. This show may have been a marketing strategy, but god damn, what a good marketing strategy. It’s simple, effective, and introduces their characters in an appetizing way that gives you a sample of every story they have to offer.

Considering ISEKAI QUARTET announced a second season before the first one had barely sunk in with the public, it’s clear that they have more plans with the show. Brava to the creative team who found a clever way to promote their stories: it’s a delight for current fans of these series, and future fans, too.

Until next season — class is dismissed!