Tensei shitara Dainana Ouji Datta node, Kimama ni Majutsu wo Kiwamemasu – 01

Sometimes a season will start off with one of the really big premieres.  Not often though.  Usually it’s more like this, where it’s just the opposite.  We have a couple of bottom feeders here – almost literally the last two series in the preview in fact.  Tensei shitara Dainana Ouji Datta node, Kimama ni Majutsu wo Kiwamemasu was the last one to make the cut, only because I often take a punt on one of the categories which almost never work for me, including isekai LN adaptations.  A few sources claimed it was better than most, so I gave it a shot.

This wasn’t truly awful in the way some of its ilk can be.  Primarily I enjoyed Ohtsuka Akio as the Grimoire, because he’s always great and it’s nice to hear him in a rare straight comic role, though I gather he won’t be around much after that transformation into Ai Fairouz at the end.  But on balance this looks pretty bog standard for the profile, apart from the overtly shotacon presentation of the protagonist.  I did enjoy that he was a bit of a freak, but there’s not nearly enough here to hold my interest.

Ookami to Koushinryou: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf – 01

Spice and Wolf is also adapted from a light novel, but the similarities certainly end there.  The light novel as it was defined two decades ago isn’t much like the isekai-dominated models which dominate the medium today.  And that’s very evident in the premiere, which provides quite the contrast to 7th Prince.

That said, I’ve just never quite grokked Ookami to Koushinryou.  The series has already had a two season plus OVA adaptation (though the second season aired fifteen years ago), but it never made much of an impression on me.  Three of the main players are back – Fukuyama Jun and Koshimizu Ami as the leads and director Takahashi Takeo – though the studio has shifted from Brain’s Base (itself a shift from S1’s Imagin) to Passione.  This seems to be a reboot as far as I can tell, starting from the beginning and scheduled to run (for now) for two cours.

I always feel like I should like Spice and Wolf more than I do.  It’s pretty, it’s dignified, it has a Shinto element.  But it just bores me silly.  Always has.  Different as they are from today’s LN’s, it does represent a distinct character class of light novel that was once very popular, this kind of rural fantasy that’s obsessed with economics and social commentary.  And I’ve never found any of them interesting, really.  I thought maybe after 15 years I’d changed enough in my perspective that things might be different now, but early evidence suggests not.  This was pretty good, but it still didn’t really float my boat.

But to be clear, there’s nothing wrong with this adaptation as far as I can tell.  It looks nice enough, and as you’d expect Fukuyama and Koshimizu slip into these roles as easily as comfortable old clothes (possibly too much so).  I can’t say whether it’s as good or better than the 2008 take on these events because honestly, I don’t remember anything much about it.  But while I wouldn’t call it riveting, this was pleasant enough to draw me back for at least another episode or two to see if the switch finally clicks on.  I doubt it but you never know, and this figures to be a pretty weak season so there’s certainly room for surprises to make the grade.