My Isekai Life

Episodes 1-3

It's no secret that I'm not a huge fan of most modern isekai works, but I think we might be onto something here. My Isekai Life has a pretty by the books opening, yet it both lacks a lot of elements that typically annoy me and adds in a few critical ones that make me optimistic for the season ahead.

First of all, a big positive here is that Yuji is not self-centered. While he's clearly a powerful magic user with entire folders full of magic spells, he has to coordinate with his team to make anything work and treats them with respect. He also helps the town out of genuine concern and at a risk to himself, without seeking any reward or letting people fawn all over him. He seems selfless and courageous, downright… heroic, one might say. We also get a brief flash (in an eye-catching alternate art style) of his life in the real world and get a sense for why he would seek out a renewed purpose here in this secondary world, something I wish more isekai shows would touch on.

Lastly, he has a team of adorable slime friends. With facial hair! I don't say it very often, but you can absolutely bribe me into liking your show by putting eyepatches and pringles mustaches on cute talking glorby slimes. I'm not an impartial reviewer and I'll admit it.

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Another hilarious and fun episode from My Isekai Life. There's nothing necessarily all that original in the setup per se, but it doesn't matter when the execution is so fun and exuberant.

The entire setup with the guild and Rodis, Tina, and Lisa is all standard fare fantasy adventuring in the classic mold. Having one adventurer betray the party to bandits under the guild's nose is the kind of plot hook my friends and I were coming up with back in the early 90s – and it wasn't original when we did it either. If you've played a fantasy game, read a fantasy book, or watched a fantasy anime you've probably seen some variation on this in the past.

But that's completely okay, because this version has adorable talking slimes in it. The way Yuji utilizes his slime familiars in creative and fun ways is a real joy to watch. Even if there is no real challenge that Yuji faces here, watching him send out the slimes to perform various tasks – or even chucking them up into the stratosphere for a better vantage point – is incredibly satisfying. I particularly enjoy all the goofy little noises they make, like the big “mwah” sounds as they puked up tents for the rest of the party to sleep in after the battle was done.

I didn't touch on Proud Wolf from last episode but I like his vibe too. He kind of reminds me of Cringer/Battle Cat from He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, so that's another easy way to make a character endearing to me specifically. The way he runs while the slimes bounce on his back like little playful kids is terrific. Yuji of course uses him in smart ways as well, having him scout ahead and provide a mobile platform for the otherwise slow and diminutive slimes. This is great stuff.

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A bit of a slower episode from the prior two, and more in line with other isekai shows I have seen. This episode of My Isekai Life revolves pretty heavily around the sort of nuts and bolts fantasy shtick that most other works absolutely live in.

First off is that quintessential showcase of the hero's unparalleled power. Yuji displaying his magic to others involves two pretty standard tropes – when he tries to show “weak” magic it ends up being a way of illustrating his immense power, and when he tries to show “moderate” magic it ends up showing even MORE immense power. Whether he's wordlessly casting spells that usually have verbal components or blowing up boulders with low-level fireballs, it all serves to show how special Yuji is to the dumbfounded onlookers.

Even the slime component of this episode is mostly about how powerful Yuji is. Without realizing it, he has almost completely wiped out all of the monsters in the forests surrounding the town. When larger beasties rear their ugly heads, the slimes are bouncing about and blasting them with repeated fireballs. It's all a bit perfunctory and the rest of the cast keeps responding with shocked faces – again, nothing special here as far as isekai stories go.

There is a bit more meat to the blue dragon and Yuji's summoning. The thirty-year-delay summoning spell gives us an idea of how Yuji arrived here and why the slimes are so eager to help him become ultra powerful. There's also a bit more about the church and Yuji using a unique spell in the form of a Thoughtography ability that lets him insta-Bob Ross a mental image to paper. I am glad that he does still seem to be concerned about the well-being of others though he appears more detached than ever before. I guess we'll find out if that becomes the norm or not.

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My Isekai Life is currently streaming on HIDIVE.