English Dub Season Review: My Isekai Life: I Gained a Second Character Class and Became the Strongest Sage in the World! Season One

Overview (Spoilers Below):

When Salaryman Yuji Sano gets isekai’d into a fantasy realm, he accomplishes the enviable feat of developing a second character class by making the most of his Monster Tamer abilities and keeps getting roped into major events!

Our Take:

My Isekai Life is an anime adaptation of a light novel series written by Shinkoshoto and illustrated by Huuka Kazabana. It is directed by Keisuke Kojima, who also provides the show’s character designs, with the scripts written by Naohiro Fukushima. Kiyotaka Suzuki is the assistant director, while Gin from Busted Rose composes the series’ music. Non Stop Rabbit performs the opening theme song, “Mujikaku no Tensai”, and Surachanzu performs the ending theme, “Gohan da yo! Dadadadan!!”.

The isekai element is one of the more common tropes that constantly appear in any media, especially anime. So it doesn’t surprise me that we see many isekai shows appearing left and right. Some of these shows went on to become fan-favorite classics, while others wound up being forgotten memories regarding their quality. My Isekai Life marks the latest addition to the ever-lasting list of content involving the genre. Unfortunately, it doesn’t offer much besides the character being transported into another world and fighting a bunch of monsters.

The first season follows Yuji Sano (Scott Gibbs) traversing through the fantasy world with his tamed slimes after getting transported into the game he’s playing in the real world. After discovering a deceased sorcerer’s hut, he unintentionally gained the title of Sage by receiving all the skills and knowledge from the books. Feared that he may have grown too powerful, Yuji attempts to keep a low profile by pretending to be an average tamer. However, he’ll have to put his abilities to the test when a mysterious cult known as the Blue Moon of Salvation plans to destroy the world for their beliefs. 

Throughout the season, the series provides brief flashbacks of Yuji’s origin, including his previous life as a Salaryman and how he gained the power of a Sage. They also showcase Yuji’s first encounters with his allies that assist him on his journey, including the slimes he quickly tames. Others include Proudwolf (John Gremillion), a wolf monster that’s brave and ferocious but also kind-hearted, and Dryad (Kira Vincent-Davis), a forest spirit who occasionally helps him with expositions.

One thing to know about the show is the structure. The series follows a familiar pattern from other isekai and fantasy shows, where the main characters visit a different village and encounter simple tasks that lead to a massive boss fight. For example, episodes five and six showcase Yuji collecting firewood in the town of Ricaardo when it’s covered in snow. He then discovers an underground lair belonging to the Blue Moon cult and protects the world from their Cleansing Flame weapon.

Regarding Yuji and the scenarios, these episodes lacked a compelling sense of urgency and uniqueness to overshadow their repetitive formula. However, they offer a few instances where Yuji struggles to hide his incredible power or defeat the more brutal bosses, including the Fire Dragon in “We Fought a Fire Dragon” and Walter’s dragon form in “The Revelation Came True”. Because of this, the narrative and action became less boring than they should have, but they’re still not enough to join the ranks of other exhilarating isekai shows before it.

The characters also didn’t make much of an impression due to their fundamental personalities and average English dub performances. Yuji is the series’ main character who gains substantial power from absorbing so much knowledge and uses it to eliminate his enemies quickly. But with some exceptions, of course. Regardless of the genre, it’s challenging to make a character like Yuji interesting since their immense strength makes them unstoppable, resulting in their struggles being dull or unfair. Saitama from One-Punch Man is a great example of making an indestructible character engaging through the show’s unique and humorous jabs at the superhero genre.

While Yuji isn’t in the same range as Saitama, the show made a small effort to provide some interesting stakes for the character’s abilities. The best example of this is the seventh episode, “Assassins in Pursuit”, where Yuji tries to hide his powerful skills from the assassins sent by the cult to examine him. The other examples are the last two episodes, with Yuji battling the resurrected Sage, whose powers are similar to Yuji’s, and learning to rely on others for help. Scott Gibbs was all right regarding his performance as Yuji, which is enough to excuse his average character arc.

The only characters I wasn’t fond of were Yuji’s tamed slimes. They’re supposed to be the show’s comic relief to elevate some of its dark moments. Unfortunately, they’ve proven to be a bit more annoying than hilarious. Regarding the voices and dialogue, the slimes did nothing to enhance the experience but provided obnoxious color commentary and spell transfers. While they slightly grew more tolerable as the season progressed, the little monsters aren’t powerful in delivering the laughs compared to them delivering the spells.

The animation is produced by Revoroot, the same company behind FLCL Alternative, Babylon, and I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level. Regarding isekai shows, the animation style has a track record of delivering decent designs in their fantasy worlds, even if some weren’t as fantastic as others. My Isekai Life is no different with its RPG-like setting. It’s nice to look at, but the world-building in season one was too bare-bones to stand out in the massive sea of isekai series and movies. Although, the animation does compensate for it by showcasing the visual flair in its entertaining action sequences.  

Overall, My Isekai Life doesn’t offer much to its formula regarding its story and characters. However, it has enough tolerable moments to tame its noticeable flaws and provide enjoyability in its scenarios. The episodic structures can be repetitive after a while, and its characters aren’t as powerful as Yuji’s magic regarding their personalities. Additionally, the English dub for the characters ranges from average to forgettable. Although, I did enjoy its action scenes and the animation that represents them. Those things alone should be enough for me to revisit this isekai life if it moves forward with its second season. Hopefully, that would allow the show to improve its stats for the next level.