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Am I Actually the Strongest? (TV).


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Tony K.
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Joined: 18 Nov 2003
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Location: Frisco, TX
PostPosted: Thu Jun 15, 2023 11:58 am Reply with quote


Am I Actually the Strongest? (TV)

Source: Light Novels (ongoing @ 6 volumes, written by Sai Sumimori, illustrated by Ai Takahashi)

Demographic: Shounen

Animation Studio: Staple Entertainment

Genres: adventure, comedy, drama, fantasy

Themes: aristocracy, conspiracy, demons, isekai, medieval, reincarnation, royalty, sorcery

Plot Summary: Reincarnated in an alternate world where magic rules all, a socially reclusive twenty-year-old is determined to build the perfect new life as a shut-in. But unlucky for him, his magical potential is deemed so ridiculously low that his royal parents abandon him immediately after his birth.

Left to survive alone in a wild world full of magical dangers, the newborn prince manages to thrive against all odds…because, little does he know, his true magic power is ridiculously off the charts. Join Haruto, the socially awkward guy who just wants to chill out, as he navigates demon friendships, royal feuds, assassination plots, secret superhero identities, and having a little sister.

Air Date & Platform:
July 1, 2023 (Saturday)
Available on: Crunchyroll

Episode Count / Runtime: 12 episodes


Last edited by Tony K. on Thu Apr 11, 2024 12:22 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Edjwald



Joined: 03 Aug 2017
Posts: 1132
PostPosted: Sat Jul 01, 2023 3:15 pm Reply with quote
A bargain basement isekai. this one's got most of the standard elements with slightly different window dressing. So of course, I'll give it three episodes unless something specifically annoys me, cos that's the kind of isekai doormat I am.

Right now, the thing that bugged me a bit was how the ill defined "Barrier" magic seems to be a catch all for letting the MC do anything as needed. spoiler[The dude has literally only been around for a couple of hours when he says something to the effect of, I know, I'll create a barrier that translates thought into sound. ??? And he does! How the hell do you just come up with a barrier that translates thought into sound on the spur of a moment? Does this guy have an instruction manual that I'm not aware of? Then later he creates a robot clone using the same barrier magic?]

This one seems to be aiming for a "Mushoku Tensei-Lite." vibe. The MC isn't as creepy as Rudy, but unfortunately, the anime doesn't have anywhere near Mushoku's production values or attention to detail either.

Four anime in (I gave up on the one about a tiny office senpai after five minutes or so) I haven't seen anything I feel strongly about yet, but I haven't seen Horimaya Pieces yet either..
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smurky turkey



Joined: 30 Jan 2022
Posts: 1929
PostPosted: Sun Jul 02, 2023 10:22 am Reply with quote
That was an okayish start and having heard some details about the manga I suppose okay is what we should expect. It is a story that consists of elements that have been in plenty of other isekai before and the overall tone seems to be not that serious. It reminds me a bit of that other noble isekai of last season in how wacky the whole thing is. The animation is also nothing beyond okay.
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smurky turkey



Joined: 30 Jan 2022
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 09, 2023 6:16 am Reply with quote
The second episode mostly dealt with two attacks from the empire and with that a pretty close call near the end. I do indeed have to wonder what a barrier is at this point though, it can basically do anything. As for our mc, he may like to act lazy and just chill, but when enemies approach he has very much no chill.
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Edjwald



Joined: 03 Aug 2017
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 10, 2023 8:13 am Reply with quote
smurky turkey wrote:
The second episode mostly dealt with two attacks from the empire and with that a pretty close call near the end. I do indeed have to wonder what a barrier is at this point though, it can basically do anything. .

Yah, this was kind of a deciding factor on why I gave up hope on Smartphone in Another World in its first season. Toya? Touya? I went along for the ride, but then this episode came along where the MC was in this Japan like country. Nishan? Ishan? Nieesan? It's been awhile, and the specifics are a little blurry. But I remember this scene where he whips out his smartphone, has it identify all of the enemies in an opposing army, and then has the smartphone eliminate them with some weird kind of satellite magic effect. And I was like, "Yeah, that's enough."
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smurky turkey



Joined: 30 Jan 2022
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 16, 2023 6:13 am Reply with quote
Another week of barriers being able to do anything you can possibly imagine. This week the ultimate barrier magic was used to access internet from another world, watch anime, do transformations and absorb magic. We also had a mild case of anime addiction that had to be cured (I can relate) and a prince who got smacked.
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smurky turkey



Joined: 30 Jan 2022
Posts: 1929
PostPosted: Sat Jul 29, 2023 3:00 pm Reply with quote
You know, it is rare that a villain in a show that I watch has not a single redeeming point. This anime has one of those in the form of the queen consort. Dumping your child in the woods to get eaten becase he seems weak is already pretty bad. Now we learn that the attack this week and those of the previous weeks were to get rid of Charlotte just because she might become a problem in the future. Kind of impressive how nasty she is.
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Sonnyshultz



Joined: 30 Jul 2023
Posts: 1
PostPosted: Sun Jul 30, 2023 5:57 am Reply with quote
I too was looking askant at the magic approach used here, but for veterans of Isekai and for complainers among the review crowd always moaning about wanting something new for an anime form going on so long, I say..."at least the protagonist is not a vending machine".

It seems like there is no pleasing some of these critics/reviewers. This whole barrier thing being explored is cool but funky, so even more cool. Let's see how far they want to push it. The beginning where the protagonist just gets reincarnated and immediately is thrust into peril is a welcome change for me. All in all, as I'm waiting for so many of my favorites to begin another season, I'll take this one as it comes and see where it goes.
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smurky turkey



Joined: 30 Jan 2022
Posts: 1929
PostPosted: Sun Jul 30, 2023 6:22 am Reply with quote
Going into the average isekai expecting well explained abilities grounded in some kind of balance is a fool's errand. Logic in general is not a strong point of the genre. As for the vending machine anime, that one is better than you may think.
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asoka



Joined: 16 Jul 2023
Posts: 15
PostPosted: Mon Jul 31, 2023 2:41 pm Reply with quote
So far a typical Isekai, there are somethings I'm fine with that others might find offensive.

Leaving your kid outside to be eaten while not fair & definitely cruel was a pretty common occurrence. You don't want to delve to deeply into parenting practices in the middle ages so I guess you could say that it is historically accurate.

Likewise all of your royal relatives frequently schemed or paid to have their rivals killed, scratch the surface of any European dynasty...

I'm fine with the square barrier thing...Boxxo uses the same thing basically in the Vending machine anime, many other shows have barriers that are impossibly large able to prevent a wide variety of calamities, chemical attacks etc. Barriers seem to follow no logic just doing things that work for the characters of a particular show.

The Outbreak company is the only Isekai show that I can think of where there was internet connections between worlds, but the way it was used here didn't make a lot of sense. Saving 80,000 gold was a more recent example...plus now that I think about Campfire cooking also had that feature...maybe something that could become a more common feature in shows going forward?

I not a fan of the Black Knight, don't like his voice or the concept in general. The MC little sister is pretty chill though...brothers doppelganger hanging out public lounging around the house is fine with her...

Show seems to have a good episode followed by a weak one, story is moving in new direction next week I will hope for the best.
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smurky turkey



Joined: 30 Jan 2022
Posts: 1929
PostPosted: Sat Aug 05, 2023 2:55 pm Reply with quote
Well, we did indeed have some interesting developments this week. First was dealing with evil mom and it did not go down at all like how I expected. I thought we would get a whole episode about making his way over to the capital and it being drawn out, but instead he went over there and dealth with her by easily winning in combat and applying a slave collar. She seems to be dealth with....for now.

The other interesting developments are going to school and the whole clone thing. It seems like he can not get out of going to school, I doubt his plan to get rejected will work either. As for the clone, he seems to be a full copy in mind and body of the original, just without any magic. That makes for some interesting/disturbing moments this week.

Also, teleportation is possible with barriers because why not.
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Gisan Otaku



Joined: 25 Mar 2023
Posts: 86
PostPosted: Sat Aug 05, 2023 6:14 pm Reply with quote
Having read the web novel, Shiva (Black Knight in the anime) dealt with his evil mom in a much different way. spoiler[ Shiva used his "barrier" magic to decapitate her then put her head back on then applied the collar with the same warning.]
As for Haruto's use of the word "barrier", since he thinks his mana level is only at 2, maybe that is all he thinks is what he can do. Remember what his "father" said to the princess about the ancient magic.
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smurky turkey



Joined: 30 Jan 2022
Posts: 1929
PostPosted: Sun Aug 06, 2023 1:04 pm Reply with quote
Oh boy, that is a pretty metal of dealing with a villain, let alone your evil mother.
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smurky turkey



Joined: 30 Jan 2022
Posts: 1929
PostPosted: Sat Aug 19, 2023 2:52 pm Reply with quote
You know, episodes like the one this week are not amazing, but the characters are so quirky that it just works in being very entertaining. Especially the chatty skeleton and maidenly golem, everyone in the series keeps it fun. It also seems like it is nearly time for the school arc.
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camseyeview140



Joined: 26 Jan 2021
Posts: 211
PostPosted: Mon Aug 28, 2023 9:40 pm Reply with quote
I really want to interview a bunch of these isekai authors and honestly ask them why they don't bother with going the distance with their fantasy shows. Like, for example

this show of the kid being abandoned, why not build up on that instead of giving him a hot wolf mommy character, and a sister who is really just edging on close to wanting to have incestual relationships with her brother, and...just how uninteresting it became when they showed how they got streaming anime to work...in a [expletive] fantasy world.

Like, stop catering to the most insular market with these shows already. I can watch other fantasy isekai shows from this season and previous seasons that go the distance and this one doesn't when it needs to.
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