Apocalypse Bringer Mynoghra

Episode 13

Several weeks later, Mynoghra is finally over—and on an uncharacteristically off-putting note, no less, but we'll get to that. Despite being a last episode, it didn't had much of the fanfare I would normally expect from the finale of a show. Sure, it had some plot-relevant moments, which I have little doubt feel much bigger in the source material. But maybe it's just because we're on the last episode, but none of these would-be hooks really grabbed me.

First, there's the JRPG-equivalent to Takuto and his slave girl—the latter of whom comes across as being sort of a parody or satirical take on slaves in isekai anime, but she had so little time on-screen that I'm not entirely confident on that read. That could just as easily have been an accident caused by making her a bit too chipper and upbeat. Then, there's the witch, who it now seems is our D&D or tabletop equivalent to Takuto. Nothing ever really came of her short-lived storyline, come to think of it. Makes me curious why she even appeared before this episode.

That being said, I'm not sure if it was intended to be a comedic moment, but it got a chuckle out of me when Takuto spawned an entire pile of fully modern guns into the room where he had everyone gathered, and essentially told everyone that's how they were going to conduct warfare moving forward. Obviously, the contrast between the literal pile of modern guns and the fantastical-ness of it all—the room is mostly full of elves for crying out loud—is hilarious. But unless the anime continues, or anyone feels inclined to pick up the source material (which I, for one, don't), I guess that's just the very jarring note this anime is ending on, huh?

Overall, this series had a lot of potential at its start, which made its eventual disappointment all the more disappointing. It was a cool, original spin on a familiar concept, but bogged down by lackluster visuals, poor writing, and an unwillingness or inability to push itself further. It could've been a lot worse than it was, but even though it had a few episodes—especially in the middle—that were better than others, even the best episodes never rose above just being okay. It's a textbook definition of an underwhelming anime, the likes of which usually get largely forgotten after its first week off the air.

It's not like this show did nothing right. Even if the execution couldn't match the idea, the fact remains that Mynoghra has a pretty unique concept. And I warmed up to the characters—especially Atou and Isla—as the show went on. And even if those better moments are nothing spectacular and take place entirely in the second half of the show, it still has its moments.

But the good, alas, doesn't even come close to outweighing the bad. While I don't necessarily think it would've solved all of Mynoghra's problems, it could've been considerably better off overall in the hands of the right studio. The grim tone of the show, the darkness (figurative and literal), the gore, the brutality of it all—all of those got severely understated in this anime, and that did it no favors. And even if improving the visuals and overall atmosphere of the show wouldn't do any favors for the writing, it still could've made for a much better viewing experience.

And the final nail in the coffin: even if someone had the oddly specific itch for an isekai anime in which our protagonist is the villain of their world, I'd much more readily recommend just about any of the growing list of villainess anime over this one—including, notably, I'll be a Villainess who goes Down in History, which shares a director (Yūji Yanase, who I interviewed about Mynoghra not long ago) with Mynoghra.

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Apocalypse Bringer Mynoghra is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.