Isekai Quartet S1

It's a plot that I'm sure many anime fans have come up with before: "what if we took all of the characters from X and Y and put them together?" In the real world, we call it a crossover. Well, in any world we call it that, but we add a whole different dimension to the situation with Isekai Quartet. Rather than allow our characters just be forced to interact with each other by happen stance (which is impossible given the circumstances of each series it borrows from), the series takes place no neutral turf. The main challenge is to convert all of these different genres of anime and create a slice-of-life school-based anime, something none of these shows actually are.

That's a challenge to say the least, and frankly, it's unbecoming considering the series that were selected.  As of the end of the first season, the show effectively tricked members from Konosuba, Re:Zero, Overlord, and Saga of Tanya the Evil and forced them against their will into school life.  Sure, it's not all that creative, but it's the fact someone actually managed to kick this up the chain enough to make it an official series that is worthy of praise.

The story for Isekai Quartet is rather straightforward and really isn't all that spectacular when you consider each of the shows that it pulls from.  None of the characters nor the people who are watching the show should be surprised by the concept of being pulled into another world.  The whole premise of the story seems to be "we need to get home."  However, that's never fully explained - nor will it probably.  The overall point here seems to be to have fun, and that's great.  However, to say that there really is a story would be incorrect - but again, that's kind of the point.

If you want the cliff notes: the story utilizes a button that throws each character into a neutral world that for some reasons compels them into school life.  We don't see how some of these characters get lured in, but we're kind of forced to be left to our own imaginations on that.  Plus, it's not really described how roles are established.

The story for Isekai Quartet is a strange one, and that leads into the oddity of how it progresses.  In general, things seem to be on a day-to-day basis, but the fact is that you can't really tell for sure because of how off-the-wall the series is.  This is neither a bad nor good thing.  If you are watching this show, chances are you aren't watching it for it's story content anyway - and that's okay (it's also not why I watched it).  The point, as previously mentioned, is for the characters to return to their homes, but there's no finish-line that's anywhere in sight.  There are at least a few points in the show where it's hinted at what might be required for any of the individuals to return home, but this never results in a correct presumption.  Furthermore, there is no single entity or being that has been defined as an antagonist at this point, so progression at this point outside of new ideas is pointless.  Think of the show kind of like other animated sitcoms that reset at the end of each episode (see: Family Guy, Simpsons, Futurama, etc.).

Couple that with the fact that this clearly takes place outside of the canon for each of the advertised shows, and you really have no real reason for progression to begin with.  I'd have given this a lower grade if this were any other situation, but again, since this is the overall point of the show, it wasn't graded harshly with good reason. 

I am arguably at a disadvantage when it comes to the characters present in this season.  My limited knowledge of characters comes from the inclusion of Konosuba and Youjo Senki.  However, if you know either of these, you know just how different those two are from each other.  Likewise, the series includes characters from Overlord and Re:Zero.  I have not watched either of these and have no intentions of doing so - sorry.  Instead, I'll just rehighlight and focus on the characters that I do know from these two series that appear in the show thus far. 

Somehow, Tanya von Degurechaff's entire brigade get sent into this world - which confused me since she was the only one around when her "plot device button" got pushed.  I feel like this incarnation of Tanya was (Warning: this comment will offend everyone, especially Jay Leno) what would happen if she was given the order to do a bad USO show and decided to imitate a chinless Jay Leno ("have you heard about this?").   Regardless, she maintains her ruthlessness - if not a bit more candid and nonchalant about it - in the series with her entire brigade still fearing her...plus Aqua.  She scares the piss out of Aqua.

Also, Aqua is here because she's useless.  Her usefulness it to start trouble and be the common punching bag for everyone.  Megumin and Darkness of course are both here (as are a few other Konosuba characters), because Kazuma's only purpose in life is to just lament on how utterly useless his party is.  Without them, he'd just be a normal "neet."  So these two serve as the all-things-inappropriate crew - especially Darkness.  Because she's Darkness.  Look, guys - if you haven't seen Konosuba yet, that would explain why you're scratching your head.  These characters are there just to be there, it's basically the South Park of anime except Eric Cartman is played by a shut-in that doesn't have a beating staff and would rather steal panties than telling people to "respect his authoritah."

Really how this series shines is how all of these characters interact with each other.  There's of course common themes amongst the four main protagonists from each show, but the new lines and cliques that get drawn are truly something special.  The series has a good grasp of how to handle the nuance of feeling another person out, and we see that constantly in Isekai Quartet.  The other key thing here is character development, which the series excels at.  Tanya and Ains seem to have this piece down in spades.  The sheer fact that Tanya expresses forms of humility is shocking in comparison to her other depictions, and the diffusing abilities by Kazuma permeate into the other groups almost flawlessly.  Again, this in of itself is nothing short of art.

The soundtrack is a bit goofy, but that's to be expected. Most of the music that is used was made internally, and that's something I usually give big points for.  In the case of Isekai Quartet both the OP and ED's are handled by a cross-section of their cast.  Aoi Yuki, once again proving herself to be the anime version of James Franco appears in all of these.  Season one had two ED's and one OP - but I only found references for the two online.  The third track (second ED, that isn't really a "second") has higher production quality and likely was associated with other albums and artists similar to how other anime OP/ED's have been in recent years. 

Regardless, the soundtrack for the show was absolutely excellent.  I had no issues with the selection of music or how it was used throughout the show and for someone who is conscious of musical intricacies (me) that is a big deal.

Two things I want to point out on these OP/ED's:

1. The animation is extremely entertaining, as are some of the lyrics and dialogue.
2. "Who makes the world fun? We do? We do."  Essentially makes up the basis of the OP.  As one YouTuber pointed out "the characters" therein make the series fun.  Take it as a statement, because it is - and it's true.

Aside from the built-in soundtrack, the series borrows from the the other shows that it's emulating.  It does so rather sparingly, likely to emphasize that this world is different from the others.  There needs to be a cold-cut for such things, and I feel that the shows director and sound engineers knew this all too well.  They handled it exquisitely.

Player: Oppo UDP-203
A/V Receiver: Denon AVR-X4200W
Route 1, HT Bypass: Parasound 200 Pre
Route 2, Stereo Amp: Parasound 2150v2; Parasound 2125v2
Route 3, HT Amp: Emotiva UPA-5
Driver Environment: Klipsch Reference II (Generation 1)
Array Arrangement: 3 Main, 2 Object, 4 Surround, 1 LFE (2-way)
Monitor: LG 49UH60 Series

Codec: Linear PCM
Amp Return: (7.0.1)
Amp Override: Auto / Use Source Formatting
Video Output: 1920x1080p
Output Environment: HDMI 2.0, HDCP 2.2
Sample Rate: 120 Hz (Video), 48 kHz (Audio)

Origin Audio: (7.0.1)
Origin Video: 1920x1080p, 24 bit, 60 Hz
Language: English
Type: Dual Layer Bluray Disc

Signal paths and routes indicate how audio and video is processed. The graph on the right represents the audio playback versus the native audio format. The closer the output is to the input, the better the playback generally speaking.  LP refers to the listening position of the viewer, while red icons indicate active channels.  Grayed out icons on the output chart mean that these objects are not used in this system.

The data shown here does not necessarily reflect what everyone will experience, and all data in this section is purely experimental.

The series pushes itself on the premise of the "chibi" art design. There's not a lot of room for variation when it comes to shading or anything. That being said, the show still accomplishes some rather impressive special effects and some beautiful use of colors. The backgrounds somehow are both plain and impressive at the same time.  Transitions from one scene to the next don't seem to have any issues, and the series of storyboards available seem to be rather plentiful. 

Something that did bother me, and this may be story fodder, was the lack of other individuals in the series.  Clearly there is a commerce system of some sort, additional school faculty, retail workers, etc.  However, we never see any of these people.  We never see anyone outside of the main cast of characters.  I'm sure this has to do with limitations of a number of things, whether that's budget, time, importance, etc.  It doesn't impact the story at all, but it is a feature that is noticeably missing.

Outside of this, the animation was smooth, and no issues in bandwidth were noted in this season.  If you were concerned about blocky movement, fear not - that's not the case here.

I was surprised. Of all the anime I've seen, Isekai Quartet needed Hi-Res the least - yet it got it. The BD pushed Dolby TrueHD, which is what I allowed it to do. The problem with the mastering came in ways that are typical of Dolby TrueHD masters that have problems with volume normalization. That is, dialogue needed to be turned up at certain points. The result of this is that all of the accompanying sound effects - regardless of how loud - also had to get turned up. Therefore you had times where you needed to increase the volume to hear what was going on, and a random explosion makes you jump because it's over ten times louder than anything else in the scene. Imagine the early days of HD air-TV, where your show would sound fine, but when a commercial came on it was like it was trying to call out to aliens in outer space. Kind of like that.

This was a show that I could have probably watched at reference level, but knowing how Aqua is - I chose not to (room correction value was -30 dB for all except <60 Hz where it was +5 dB).

There was little need for the surround track, to be honest.  There were a few instances where the surround channels were active, but generally they were unused, instead providing ambient reverberation for voices coming from the front stage.  Isekai Quartet is a dialogue-centric anime, so the center channel was the primary worker, with music being handled in stereo.  Even in more action emphasized scenes, the full breadth of Dolby TrueHD was not used.  A choice was made here, and I appreciate it, but the choice was baseless for the material presented.

Acting could only be spot on consider they imported the talent from the origin series. I would have expected nothing less as by the time the show aired, most of these actors were the definitive voice for their respective characters.

Faye Mata reprised her role as the Hunniepop--I mean useless Goddess Aqua.  And as I've said before, Aqua is Aqua.  Though I thoroughly enjoyed a lot of the chemistry that seems to be working out between Aqua, Tanya, and Kazuma (and Ains).  The energy that is required for Aqua is no doubt extreme, and Faye seems to have really embraced her - although I'm not entirely convinced that the reason for this is because of her hair color.  Ahem.

Monica Rial also reprised her role as the totally-bat-shit insane Tanya.  What I noticed in the Isekai Quartet version of Tanya over her Youjo Senki original version was that this Tanya seemed to be more on par from what I expect from Rial.  She often does have serious characters, but they also are frequently known to have their brilliant moments of comedic relief.  That's something that the Youjo Senki War-Loli did not have in her original incarnation.  Both shine, but this one shines a bit differently.

Erica Mendez is someone who I'll always point out whenever I get the chance.  What better way to do so than as the explosively ridiculous Megumin?  No, I meant what I said.  I said it.

The cast for the entire show is huge, and they all rock.  I could mention each of them, but I'd rather not bean you to death with specifics on an anime such as this.

The comedic value is just one of many reasons to enjoy this show. Some of the characters break their own molds, while others use their pre-existing nature to change others. It answers many questions as to what might happen is A encountered B, and brings a smile to your face. For the brief moments of sincerity and seriousness in the show, it often snaps back to a sea of chaos and unstable organization. In other words, it accomplishes exactly what the shows creators set out to accomplish. For that reason, the show is an absolute gem.

I have never been so much of a puritan of my characters that I've said they couldn't have changes of heart or different interactions in different circumstances.  Isekai Quartet is a fine example of these scenarios.

Fan fiction writers should take note of how these different character interactions work as well, as I think the cringe would be a lot less serious if more people put some thought in how the environment, situation, circumstances, and individual influence different characters at different times.

Isekai Quartet doesn't pretend to be anything short of a sea of chaos. It is not trying to sell accuracy, nor is it trying to sell a certain point. It is there to be a fun show, and to be entertaining. For that reason, even if there were small things here and there that I do think the show could have improved on from either a technical or storytelling perspective, they are meaningless in the face of that fact. As such, I have subtracted no points from the series arbitrarily as doing so would overlook the whole point of the show's existence.

Hypothetical minus 1,000 points because Aqua is Aqua?