I'm the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire! is an anime defined by its tonal dissonance. On one hand, it's the light-hearted tale of a man reincarnated in a sci-fi world who is determined to become an evil galactic overlord. However, the trick is that he's comically bad at it—so bad at it, that his “tyranny” improves the lives of everyone he's ruling over to a ridiculous degree.

The issue Liam is facing is that he is a good man who has no idea what it means to be an evil one. His idea of “evil” is either the stereotypical evil seen in fiction or the type of more mundane evil he experienced as a Japanese office worker on Earth. Moreover, the evil plans that he suggests are rather tame compared to how the average noble lives inside the highly corrupt galactic empire.

His most actually evil want is to have women that hate him be forced to bow down before him—to reluctantly submit to him in all ways because the power he wields is just that great. Unfortunately for him and his ego, every woman he comes across is more than willing to do anything he wants. He is, after all, rich, intelligent, and powerful. Moreover, he has the subconscious habit of helping out every damsel in distress he comes across—making each one utterly devoted to him.

The issue at the heart of Liam's character is that he is unable to trust anyone. Thus, he refuses any and all advances by the women around him—no matter how attractive he might find them physically. His only true companion is Amagi, a custom built android maid who is literally unable to betray him. Beyond that, she is a literal sex-bot and he is far more interested in her “ample assets” than those of any flesh-and-blood woman—and as you might expect, humor ensues.

Of course, the reason why he is unable to trust people is the flip-side of the tonal equation. The majority of the first episode is just the train of suffering that is Liam's life on Earth. Everything that could possibly go wrong for him has. His wife cheats on him with his boss. His daughter isn't his (and prefers her real daddy). His boss frames him for embezzlement—getting him blacklisted and fired. He is left working hard labor to repay his false debts until he literally works himself to death. It feels like we're being beaten over the head with his character motivation—and this is not the only prolonged scene like this.

Christiana is a princess who is betrayed by the Imperial Navy, captured by pirates, watches as her family and planet are annihilated from orbit, and is forced to witness as her companions are tortured—twisted into eldritch-looking abominations—before she, herself joins them as one. She then spends decades being debased, humiliated, and tortured by her captor until all she dreams of is the sweet escape of death.

These scenes are so unbelievably different in tone from the rest of the series that it's shocking. This leaves the anime as a comedic male empowerment fantasy that occasionally dives headlong into the grimdark. And the crazy thing is that it almost works. The despair and suffering is so over-the-top that it almost circles back around into becoming dark comedy—but doesn't quite make it. Instead, if feels like these scenes belong in a different anime—even if they do their job when it comes to defining the characters' motivations.

As for how the I'm the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire! looks, to call it a mixed bag would be an understatement. While the humanoid characters generally look fine, it's the mecha that are the big issue. Their animation ranges from highly detailed CG models making complex, realistic movements, to 2D animated slop that looks like the worst in-between frames from any other mecha series. Proportions are wrong, details are unclear—it just looks unbelievably cheap. As as for the music, it's so completely forgettable that I don't remember a single bar of it. But, to be fair, that does mean that it wasn't terrible enough for me to notice that either.

When it all comes down to it, there's a lot of questionable choices made in this anime. From the tonal clash of comedy and the grimdark to the often abysmal mecha animation, there's a lot here that doesn't work. However, I still found the show ultimately watchable. Liam's failed attempts to be evil (not to mention the little side skits of people's everyday lives being ruined) bring some solid comedy and the more dramatic parts of the story work because of how concretely his character motivations and backstory are laid out. This is one of those anime I would encourage people to give a shot if they are at all interested in the premise as watching the first two episodes will give you all you need to know about this show and if you'll enjoy it or not.