Through the first five episodes, Kaoru lied as she breathed.
The last two episodes were an isekai war arc. As unimpressive as usual.
Episode 7 feels like a series finale, making the series feel rushed in retrospect.
Maybe the remaining 5 episodes are worth it?
This season’s big sister isekai I Shall Survive Using Potions! (Potion-danomi de Ikinobimasu!) had just concluded its 7th episode, and we’ve got some questions. For example, why does this episode feel like a season finale?
Kaoru’s web of lies
Let us first have a summary of what our main character did in the season so far. After arriving in the new world, Kaoru quickly finds out healing potions are unheard of, and escapes a corrupt noble through trickery. Then, after giving some potions to a few passersby, she lies low in another fief, posing as a simple waitress who also gives fantastic advice for a low price — which attracts attention of another noble, so she tricks her way out of that fief as well. Then she poses as a semi-religious figure as she heals the impoverished and creates an information network using peasant children. And then, she announces herself for the entire kingdom, though once again, she doesn’t do so in a straightforward way.
Through a series of abusing legal and logical loopholes, Kaoru manages to ensure she can’t be forced to go anywhere, even by the highest political and religious authorities. She then holds a public conference announcing herself as a friend of that world’s goddess, and starts distributing potions publicly — through giving them a short shelf life to avoid wartime usage. And of COURSE this leads us straight to a war arc, as an unfriendly neighboring kingdom and the Holy Land ally themselves to take Kaoru away.
The war arc was… There.
War arcs in isekai are usually really weak. The stories love to have big armies of tens of thousands of combatants, yet we barely see more than a few dozens of soldiers on the screen — and most storyboarders don’t seem to know how to mask it either. Just look at Overlord, and how its adaptation slaughtered its battles even worse than how Ainz slaughters his enemies!
Well, the war Kaoru takes part in is about as impressive — a couple of skirmishes that lack the proper scale, with a bad cliffhanger in the middle, and a conclusion that makes Overlord’s CGI eldritch goats look impressive. Still, the story does get better at the end of this arc, as Kaoru attends a public peace conference, hands the neighboring nation a solution to their issues, and watches the Pope make a fool of himself by summoning the goddess she’s friends with, and…
Look, between various story beats of the “epic war” ending, multiple conflicts being resolved, literal goddess descending from the sky to talk to Kaoru about her adventures so far, and followed by a 4 year time skip after which our heroine decides to leave the kingdom to look for a suitable husband someplace she isn’t known? It really feels like a season finale. Maybe if it was, the series could’ve been much better paced — we don’t know. Hopefully, the remaining 5 episodes will make the rush worth it.
And a kinda rushed one at that.
Summary:
Through the first five episodes, Kaoru lied as she breathed.
The last two episodes were an isekai war arc. As unimpressive as usual.
Episode 7 feels like a series finale, making the series feel rushed in retrospect.
Maybe the remaining 5 episodes are worth it?
This season’s big sister isekai I Shall Survive Using Potions! (Potion-danomi de Ikinobimasu!) had just concluded its 7th episode, and we’ve got some questions. For example, why does this episode feel like a season finale?
Kaoru’s web of lies
Let us first have a summary of what our main character did in the season so far. After arriving in the new world, Kaoru quickly finds out healing potions are unheard of, and escapes a corrupt noble through trickery. Then, after giving some potions to a few passersby, she lies low in another fief, posing as a simple waitress who also gives fantastic advice for a low price — which attracts attention of another noble, so she tricks her way out of that fief as well. Then she poses as a semi-religious figure as she heals the impoverished and creates an information network using peasant children. And then, she announces herself for the entire kingdom, though once again, she doesn’t do so in a straightforward way.
Through a series of abusing legal and logical loopholes, Kaoru manages to ensure she can’t be forced to go anywhere, even by the highest political and religious authorities. She then holds a public conference announcing herself as a friend of that world’s goddess, and starts distributing potions publicly — through giving them a short shelf life to avoid wartime usage. And of COURSE this leads us straight to a war arc, as an unfriendly neighboring kingdom and the Holy Land ally themselves to take Kaoru away.
The war arc was… There.
War arcs in isekai are usually really weak. The stories love to have big armies of tens of thousands of combatants, yet we barely see more than a few dozens of soldiers on the screen — and most storyboarders don’t seem to know how to mask it either. Just look at Overlord, and how its adaptation slaughtered its battles even worse than how Ainz slaughters his enemies!
Well, the war Kaoru takes part in is about as impressive — a couple of skirmishes that lack the proper scale, with a bad cliffhanger in the middle, and a conclusion that makes Overlord’s CGI eldritch goats look impressive. Still, the story does get better at the end of this arc, as Kaoru attends a public peace conference, hands the neighboring nation a solution to their issues, and watches the Pope make a fool of himself by summoning the goddess she’s friends with, and…
Look, between various story beats of the “epic war” ending, multiple conflicts being resolved, literal goddess descending from the sky to talk to Kaoru about her adventures so far, and followed by a 4 year time skip after which our heroine decides to leave the kingdom to look for a suitable husband someplace she isn’t known? It really feels like a season finale. Maybe if it was, the series could’ve been much better paced — we don’t know. Hopefully, the remaining 5 episodes will make the rush worth it.
